In 2009 I started my journey into the science of nutrition, and I had good cause to do it. It was the time when my kids suffered from chronical illnesses and ailments, and doctors could not help their condition. I began to gradually change the nutrition patterns in our family, which proved to work outstandingly better than any modern pharmaceutical treatment. Today I have two healthy kids who have not seen a doctor for years because there has been no need for medical consultation. No more allergies, no more neurological problems, no fevers, no bad colds, and beautiful, caries-free teeth instead.
So what have we changed about our diet? We step by step moved towards natural foods, quitting hypermarkets, supermarkets and ordinary corner groceries, turning to farms and farmers who grew their plants and animals in accordance to the laws of Nature. What does it mean? Such farmers fertilize the soil only by natural methods (such as the use of manure or compost, rotation of crops, etc.) and they do not use any chemicals to protect their plants. The farm animals are grass-fed and have access to the sunlight. I find such farmers in the country or just at street markets in towns and cities. A good example of a street market, where a lot of organic food is offered, is Targ Pietruszkowy in Cracow (The Parsley Market of Cracow). This place gathers organic farmers from various parts of the countryside in the south of Poland. Some of them have the certificate of organic farming, and some of them do not, but it does not matter as long as they have mastered the art of natural husbandry. We do not buy industrially processed foods any more, we cook using only simple, unprocessed ingredients: fresh meat, fish, eggs, raw milk and cream, cheese made from such milk, various nuts, raw butter, lard, unrefined, cold-pressed olive oil, unrefined, cold pressed coconut oil and unrefined red palm oil, fresh and dried fruit, vegetable, honey, whole grains, kasha. We do not buy any bread, pasta, sugar, pasteurised milk, UHT milk or refined oils. We make flour at home straight from grains. Occasionally we bake some rolls, cakes or biscuits, or make delicious pizza from old species of wheat (such as einkorn, emmer). Sometimes we supplement our diet with whole grain rice, buckwheat, barley, millet or oats.
We also changed the proportion of protein, fat and carbohydrates in our diet; we use natural fats liberally, which means we do not restrict them, and we eat less grains compared to an average family. We do not eat bread or cereals on an every-day basis. We eat so called “unhealthy” foods such as full-fat milk, cream, butter, lard, yolks, meat with fatty streaks and other animal source foods, because these foods are the best source of very important nutrients – the fat-soluble vitamins: A, D, E and K. These vitamins are practically essential and they help the body to absorb other important nutrients such as minerals and proteins. Such diet determines the proper development of the body, delivering adequate building material, as well as its regeneration (healing) and reproductive functions.
Quite recently I have come across a book by Dr. Weston Andrew Price, firstly published in 1939, and several times republished afterwards. The copy of the book I read came out in 2016, which means its content is still relevant today. The book confirms my own individual findings about what a healthy diet really is.
Dr. Price, who actually was a dentist, travelled around the world in the thirties of the 20th century. He went to secluded valleys of the Alps, Outer Hebrides, Alaska, North and South America, Africa, Australia, New Zealand and South Sea Islands. He visited genuine racial stocks of so called primitive people who had not been touched by modern civilization at the time. They lived only on natural foods as they had no access to processed, modernised foods such as refined flour and rice, condensed milk, canned meat, jams, sugar or sweets. They did not suffer from any diseases typical of civilized countries, either physical or mental, and they had no social problems. They did not need any doctors, nurses, dentists, hospitals, or prisons. Neither did they use pharmaceuticals or vaccines. They lived happy and healthy lives. Dr. Price could also witness the change that appeared in those stocks who adopted modernised foods, through contact with the white, civilized man. Within just a couple of years those people lost their natural immunity, going down with diseases such as dental caries, tuberculosis or arthritis, as well as mental problems.
An interesting thing about the findings of Dr. Price was that the primitive racial stocks coming from different parts of the world, who were exposed to different geographical and weather conditions ate different foods. Some stocks used mostly animal source foods (meat, fish, eggs, milk, cheese), others – mainly carbohydrates (grains, vegetables, fruit). Some ate a lot of raw food, others – chiefly cooked stuff. But all of them were in an equally good condition. However, some features of their diets were common and distinctive: they ate natural, unprocessed (i.e. not commercially produced) foods, they did not limit the use of fat, and they always had animal source foods. Dr. Price did not come across even a single vegan among those people. And another important aspect of their overall health was the fertility of the soil of the regions they inhabited, which resulted in outstandingly high nutrition density of their foods.
In conclusion, today’s dietitians have some sound guidance to follow, and, with a view to the 21st century civilization diseases and nutrition controversies, Dr. Price’s book deserves recognition as a “Dietitian’s Bible”. The basics for any type of diet, whether it is a prophylactic or therapeutic diet, should be always the same: it should consist of a broad range of natural, unprocessed and whole foods coming straight from plants and animals which have been raised on fertile soils without any chemical or pharmaceutical support.
Apart from Dr. Price’s science, I follow some other rules for healthy family eating, in particular the taste, health and feelgood factors. Every member of a family should eat what they really like, and what keeps them healthy and makes them feel good. We cannot feed our children with foods they do not like or foods which make them feel bad or show an illness symptom, for example a rash on their skin, no matter how healthy (in theory) a particular type of food is.
Diet is a key determinant of good health, however we should bear in mind some other factors, such as:
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- limitation or elimination of chemical substances, such as drugs, vaccines, household detergents, toiletries such as soaps, shampoos and toothpastes loaded with harmful chemical agents, and also cosmetics, air fresheners, etc.
- limitation or elimination of the artificial sources of electromagnetic radiation (e.g. mobile phones, Wi-Fi, cell towers, etc.)
- everyday exposure to fresh air and the sunlight
- everyday exercise
- adequate sleep
- a loving family environment.
I have only outlined the issue of diet and health in this article, much more I presented in my books – Healthy Kids – how to keep your children healthy and help them to recover without any medication or supplements, Food and Human Health – about natural and processed foods and their impact on the human body, Healthy Family – cookbook and dietary guide (https://zdrowedzieci.org.pl/sklep/), and on this website – Healthy Kids (https://zdrowedzieci.org.pl/). You can find there a lot of practical information how to bring up your children in good health and help them to recover from chronic illnesses which doctors are sometimes helpless about.
Ewa Gierula
Certified Dietitian with a Holistic Approach to Treatment
Psycho-Dietetics Specialist