Weston A. Price in a Nutshell

Dr. Weston Andrew Price was a dentist, who traveled the world studying the diets of various genuine cultures which were not affected by the western civilization. He documented and carefully compared the relationships between diet and dental health which turned to be his most important work:Nutrition and Physical Degeneration ( published in 1939 ).

His research serves as a truthful reference point to the modern human and his attempt to understand evolution and nutrition. Dr. Price could be really viewed as the "Charles Darwin of Nutrition". And while the paleo idea leads back to our divine roots: " if man made it, don't eat it ", Dr. Price's work represents the added layers of pleasure, human touch, creativity, and culture which brings us closer to modern society. He shows how adaptive and divers life could be. There isn't one answer, one way, one best diet. People can be healthy and vivid in various latitudes and longitudes as long as they are connected to nature. Based on the environment peoples' diets varied from almost all animal food to almost all plant food. It is easy to conclude that there are no truthful principles and anything goes. But this isn't the truth. There are common characteristics in the human - nature connection which needs to be noticed so we can understand our place better.

The first and largest disappointment for Dr. Price was that he couldn't find a truly vegan culture. No matter what the choice of food, or ratio between the macro-nutrients (carbs, proteins, fats),there was always an important animal source.The sacred foods of all cultures represented some sort of animal fat, rich in cholesterol and saturated fatty acids - eggs, fish eggs, butter, liver and so on. Another feature was that genuine people never ate lean meat. They would dry, cut, smoke, or ferment it and then combine it with saturated fat. The most common food was fish and shellfish. Although there were African agriculturists who ate over 90% percent plant food ( 10% came from insects and especially termites ), and the Eskimos who ate over 90% animal food, the healthiest cultures avoided the extremes. They followed the middle way.

Here is what Sally Fallon ( a co-founder of Weston A. Price Foundation ) says:

"Some had no plant foods
 Some had few animal foods
 Some had mostly cooked foods
 Some had large amounts of raw foods
 Some had milk products; some did not
 Some had grains; some did not
 Some had fruits; some did not"
The key points to remember about traditional cultures:
- people did not extract, refine, or denature their food in great extends; ( no refined sugar, salt, flour, vegetable oils, or any kind of refined fat );
- every diet contained animal food and cholesterol;
- people did not preserve their food through sanitation; people co-existed with microorganisms; they used fermentation, not refrigeration;
- people cooked to extract nutrients but part of their diet was always raw;
-people were physically active, barefoot grounded ( or wore leather shoes ) , and spend their day outdoors under the sun;
-people drank clean (non-chlorinated ) natural water from natural sources;
If I need to describe what Weston A. Price found out in a short burst, it would be: People were still fully connected to nature, they cherished fat as the most important source of life, vitality, and fertility, they ate moderate amounts of protein and varied the carbohydrates based on the season and the environment.