Diet, Chronic Disease and Optimal
Health
Weston Price showed
us that the fundamental cause of disease is inadequate
nutrition. In virtually every indigenous culture
he visited and studied, from tropical regions
to the extreme north, people who were eating entirely
according to the traditional wisdom of their ancestors
were immune to chronic diseases. His interviews
of medical practitioners who served in these areas
confirmed the fact that diseases such as rheumatoid
arthritis, cancer, tuberculosis and gastrointestinal
problems requiring surgical intervention did not
occur until the people began eating "the
white man's foods"--sugar, flour, vegetable
oils, canned goods and other refined foods.
Price was not
alone in his discoveries. In the first three decades
of the twentieth century, many explorers, anthropologists
and physicians who traveled in remote areas and
lived amongst traditional people described the
splendid health and absence of chronic disease
these people enjoyed.2
I first read
Price's classic work, Nutrition
and Physical Degeneration, in the 1970s
when I was studying to be a naturopathic physician.
I began incorporating the dietary principles I
learned into my own diet, and this step was instrumental
in healing my chronic intestinal problems. Then,
as I began my work as a physician, I used the
principles I learned from Dr. Price with my patients.
In 1987, I published my first book, Traditional
Foods Are Your Best Medicine, in which
I wrote extensively about Dr. Price's work and
its application.
And yet,
many of the people who have consulted with me
over the years have had the same problem that
I had: despite having some understanding of the
nutritional principles that Dr. Price discovered
and elucidated, they often have great difficulty
in finding and implementing a diet that will prevent
or reverse chronic diseases.
|
