THE THREE FOOD GROUPS

Whole Grains

The whole grains food group includes brown rice, millet, oats, corn, buckwheat, rye, wheat, and alternative grains such as quinoa, spelt and kamut. About half of the grains you eat should be whole grain as opposed to flour, pasta, etc. People often choose brown rice or millet to eat as unprocessed whole grain because of their taste and ease of cooking. The other half of grains should be eaten as breakfast cereal, such as rolled oats, Ogi (a breakfast cereal made from millet, for which the recipe is found in Nourishing Traditions, as are all the recipes mentioned), hot cereal mixtures, sprouted grains (such as Essene bread), or flour products. Grains possess enzyme inhibitors that prevent them from sprouting prematurely. These enzyme inhibitors also make grains difficult to digest for many people. This problem can be overcome by first soaking or sprouting your grains and by grinding your own flour if at all possible. Specific instructions on these techniques and sources of grain mills can be found in Nourishing Traditions.

Vegetables

Vegetables should form the next third of your diet. You should try to eat vegetables at least twice a day; in fact, many people find a hot vegetable soup in the morning very satisfying. Among vegetables, there are three types and three ways to prepare them. Try to eat at least some of each type of vegetable, prepared in each of the ways, every day.

Studies repeatedly have shown that the daily consumption of lacto-fermented vegetables aids in digestion, relieves constipation, helps re-establish and maintain a beneficial intestinal flora and aids the immune system. A recent study in the medical journal The Lancet demonstrated that the daily consumption of fermented vegetables was associated with a decrease in allergies and infections in children. Lacto-fermented vegetables should be a part of everyone’s diet, and include sauerkraut, pickles, pickled daikon, kimchee and many other wonderful choices. Numerous recipes are found in Nourishing Traditions, or you can buy them at many health food stores. When purchasing lacto-fermented vegetables, make sure they are raw, lacto-fermented vegetables that have never been heated or canned. See our Resources page to find currently available, good-quality products.

Animal Foods

Although few people have difficulty accepting the beneficial properties of grains and vegetables, many question the wisdom of the consumption of animal products. In my articles on butter and raw milk, I go over some of these questions and explain why I feel it is important for everyone to include some animal products in their diet. Animal foods provide certain nutrients, such as vitamin B-12, cholesterol (necessary for hormone production and cellular repair), vitamin D (needed for calcium absorption) and fat-soluble vitamins, which are best absorbed when eaten in animal fat. Certainly, temporary periods without animal products can be cleansing, but all of the healthiest cultures ever studied included a liberal amount of animal products in their diets.

As with vegetables, there are three ways of eating animal products, and again it is wise to include something from each category in your daily diet. Also, it is especially important to choose organically grown animal products raised under the best conditions possible, prepared with minimal processing. This includes avoiding techniques that remove the fat, such as in skim milk or low-fat dairy products. The fat contains the necessary nutrients for absorption and utilization of the nutrients, including the protein and minerals. Do not make the mistake of eating low-fat animal products!

The three ways of preparing animal products are:

Raw – While it is foreign to most Americans to think of eating raw animal products, in fact, raw animal foods are the richest sources of the valuable food enzymes so important to our health. The best source of raw animal foods is dairy products. Especially beneficial is raw milk (especially for children), kefir (made from raw milk) and raw-milk cheese and butter. Fish can be eaten raw in various sushi dishes, and raw meat dishes (e.g. steak tartare and kibbeh) are the national foods of many cultures. Please consult the guidelines in Nourishing Traditions for advice on the best and safest way to prepare raw animal food dishes.

Cooked – This is the usual way of preparing animal foods, with a variety of cooking options. The only caveat I would add here is that, traditionally, the organ meats were the most prized part of the animal and considered the healthiest. Animal meat, whether beef, lamb, pork or poultry, does not need to be eaten in great quantities but rather should be alternated with eggs, organ meats and various dairy products.

Soup broth – In healthy, traditional cultures, when an animal was slaughtered, all the parts were put to use, including the bones, and to make mineral-rich broth. Our modern diet, having largely forgotten the use of broth as the basis of our cooking, is estimated to have less than half the mineral content of more traditional diets. This rich mineral content and the fact that soup broths greatly aid digestion are just two of the many reasons why everyone should make soup broth a part of their daily diet. Instructions for making of this broth can be found in Nourishing Traditions.

More Nutritional Guidelines

The above guidelines are only a start in making good food choices. I have included additional principles below in a list that is far from a complete but touches on some crucial points.

• Eat organic or biodynamic foods as much as possible. This is especially important for those trying to recover from an illness, children, and others trying to regain their health. It is also true for anyone concerned about the health of our planet, which we hope is all of us.
  
• Use non-fluoridated water for all internal consumption, even brushing your teeth. Fluoride is a potent enzyme inhibitor, and therefore is exactly the opposite of what I am trying to foster. We want to promote healing through the enzymes in your body and the enzymes in your food. The best water to use is deep well water or clean spring or mineral water.
  
• Use utensils made of stainless steel, cast iron, copper or lead-free enamel. Do not use aluminum utensils or cookware of any kind.
  
• Salt – Celtic sea salt and Lima sea salt should be the only salt that you use. These are the only two currently available commercial salts that have not had their minerals stripped during processing. Many illnesses are caused or exacerbated by trace-mineral deficiencies. These can be avoided by the liberal use of Celtic sea salt in your cooking and the complete avoidance of all other salts, all of which contain only pure sodium chloride.
  
• Beans, Seeds and Nuts – Beans, seeds and nuts are generally considered part of the grain category. Like any seed, they are, on the one hand, very nutritious, and on the other hand in need of proper processing. All seeds have enzymes inhibitors built in to prevent premature sprouting. These inhibitors need to be eliminated during cooking so they don’t inhibit our digestion as well. Improperly prepared beans cause digestive problems, as is well known. Seeds and nuts often leave a funny taste in your mouth or cause bloating if not well prepared. Pay careful attention to the preparation instructions in Nourishing Traditions when using these foods. Lentils and chickpeas are particularly healthful beans, and flax seeds are a seed that can be used on a daily basis. Peanuts are probably best avoided except occasionally.
  
• Soy – Although soy has gained a reputation in the past ten years as the new wonder food, there is a side to the soy story that is almost never told. Soybeans probably have the highest concentration of enzyme inhibitors of any commonly eaten food. Fermentation, which breaks down these inhibitors, was therefore part of every traditional preparation of soy beans. Choose soy products subject to long periods of fermentation, including such products as miso and natto. Eating nonfermented soy products will inhibit the absorption of calcium needed for healthy bone formation, zinc needed for immune system functioning and mental development, as well as other needed minerals. For this reason, I recommend using only miso and a small amount of tempeh for soy products, and completely avoiding tofu, soy milk, and other non-fermented soy products.
  
• Sea Vegetables – Sea vegetables, including nori, dulse, wakame, arame, etc., contain valuable trace minerals such as iodine, which are needed in small quantities in the diet. These vegetables should be eaten two to three times a week. Again, see Nourishing Traditions for proper preparation instructions.
  
• Sweeteners – Use raw, unprocessed, unfiltered, organic honey on a regular basis. Raw honey is full of the enzyme amylase, which greatly facilitates the digestion of carbohydrates, so a bit of honey adds to the digestibility of any carbohydrate meal. Honey should never, ever be cooked or heated in any way, as this causes it to lose all its beneficial properties. Raw honey provides benefits to allergy sufferers, people with prostate problems, and even diabetics. In fact, an article in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition concluded that the more honey one ate, the longer one lived. Other sweeteners that may be used include maple syrup and sucanat, both of which can be used for baking. Everyone should take care with the amount of any of these sweeteners consumed, and people trying to lose weight should eliminate them almost entirely until their weight normalizes.
  
• Fruit – In my opinion fruit is an overrated food. Certainly, local, organic seasonal fruit in small quantities is a wonderful addition to anyone’s diet. Fruit is a good source of many water- soluble vitamins such as vitamin C. However, I would like to discourage a dietary strategy that emphasizes increasing the consumption of fruit or fruit products. Fruit juices, except lacto-fermented types, should be totally avoided as they are mostly nothing more than a form of concentrated fructose. Fruit dishes should be minimally cooked or eaten raw, as the beneficial properties of fruit are lost through the cooking process. Adding wild berries to the tops of pies, using apples and pears as snacks, and adding fruit to homemade hot cereal is the most satisfying and appropriate use for fruit.
  
• Fats and Oils – In the case of fats and oils, it truly pays to get the best quality products you can find. Virtually everyone would benefit from eating pasture-fed, organic cultured butter as their staple fat. Butter should be used both uncooked, as a spread, and in all cooked dishes. For those few people sensitive to butter, ghee (clarified butter) often can be tolerated. Olive oil is the other all-purpose oil for everyone to use, both uncooked, as in salad dressing, or in various cooked dishes. Most people will be helped by the addition of about 1 Tbsp/day of unheated flax seed oil, especially as part of homemade salad dressing. Another oil that should be used daily is coconut butter, a truly amazing food that can be used much like butter. Studies have shown that the predominant fat in coconut butter is lauric acid, which is found in nature only in human breast milk and coconut oil. Lauric acid is a potent anti-viral and anti-fungal agent, making it a very valuable food component. Lauric acid also increases thyroid function and therefore increases the rate of our metabolism, another widely beneficial effect. Plant oils should be purchased in opaque containers as light is detrimental to the freshness of the oil. Particularly good brands of oils are Omega Nutrition and Barleans. Plant oils besides olive oil should rarely be used for cooking, except sesame oil on occasion. Avoid as much as possible the use of any hydrogenated fats or any foods containing trans-fatty acids. Other animals fats such as lard and beef tallow can also be used, provided they are organic and not hydrogenated or processed.
  
• Fish – Fish has to qualify as one of the healthiest foods mankind has ever eaten. The question today is how to obtain fresh, unpolluted fish. The best advice is to always try to obtain your fish from a local fish market and choose non-farmed, deep-water ocean fish, such as white fish, some salmon, swordfish, halibut and herring. Most people can include fish in their diet two to three times a week.
  
• Herbs and Spices – Most herbs and spices can be used liberally for seasoning. Especially good are chives, garlic, parsley, and watercress.
  
• Beverages – By far the best strategy with beverages is to consume some lacto-fermented drink as your main beverage. Many examples are given in Nourishing Traditions, but my favorites include Kombucha, Beet Kvass and Rejuvelac. Each of these qualifies as a medicinal drink, as each is full of beneficial enzymes. Kombucha is on the sweet side, whereas Beet Kvass and Rejuvelac are slightly sour, so when these three are alternated, they provide an array of tastes. Other tonic beverages can also be used, as can lacto-fermented fruit juice. A wide variety of herbal teas can also be enjoyed, but all caffeinated products, soft drinks and fruit juice should be avoided as much as possible. The above fermented drinks are also much better than the popular sports drinks on the market, which are full of toxic artificial ingredients.