Drum roll, please …
- Eggs are healthy: Eggs are nature’s perfect food, providing excellent protein, as well as the gamut of nutrients and important fatty acids that contribute to the health of the brain and nervous system. Americans had less heart disease when they ate more eggs. Egg substitutes cause rapid death in test animals. Chris Masterjohn, PhD, teaches us about the Incredibly, Edible Egg.
- Butter is good for you: Butter contains many nutrients vital to growth and brain function. Butter has nourished healthy populations throughout the globe for thousands of years. Read more about why Butter is Better from the Weston A. Price Foundation.
- Saturated fats and cholesterol are vital for optimum health: Cholesterol helps babies and children develop a healthy brain and nervous system. Saturated fats provide integrity to the cell wall, promote the body’s use of essential fatty acids, enhance the immune system, protect the liver and contribute to strong bones. Saturated fats do not clog arteries, nor do they cause heart disease. In fact, saturated fats are the preferred food for the heart. Learn more in an article titled The Skinny on Fats.
- Foods from grass-fed animals are important for good health: Red meat is a rich source of nutrients that protect the heart and nervous system, including vitamins B12 and B6, zinc, phosphorus, carnitine and Coenzyme Q10. The fats of grass-fed meats contain vitamins A, D, E and CLA, a substance that prevents obesity and protects against cancer. Read more in an article tilted Splendor in the Grass.
- Lean meat and low-fat milk should be avoided: Lean meat and low-fat milk will cause depletion of essential vitamins A and D, needed for protein and mineral assimilation, proper growth, thyroid function, healthy brain and nervous system and normal cell function. Learn more about low fat diets and about how to take the fear out of eating fat from the Weston A. Price Foundation. Read about our recommendations for milk.
- Modern soy products are dangerous: Modern soy foods, such as soy protein powders and soymilk, block mineral absorption, inhibit protein digestion, cause endocrine disruption, depress thyroid function and contain potent carcinogens. Read about the Ploy of Soy. We recommend The Whole Soy Story by Kaayla T. Daniel, PhD via our Amazon affiliation.
- Hydrogenated and liquid vegetable oils contribute to heart disease and many other health problems: During the period of rapid increase in heart disease (1920-1960), American consumption of animal fats declined, but consumption of hydrogenated and industrially processed vegetable fats increased dramatically. Processed vegetable oils have also been linked to cancer, bone problems, growth problems, learning disorders, autoimmune dysfunction and infertility. Read about The Oiling of America in an article by Sally Fallon Morell and Mary Enig, PhD. We also recommend the DVD Sally recorded.
- A vegan diet leads to serious nutritional deficiencies: Vital nutrients found exclusively in animal foods include complete protein, cholesterol and vitamins A, D, B6 and B12. We can’t get sufficient true vitamin A from plant foods, nor can most of us get enough vitamin D from the sun alone. Vitamin B12 is not absorbed from plant sources, and modern soy products actually increase the body’s need for B12. Those who do not eat meat can have a healthy diet by consuming eggs and raw dairy foods from animals on pasture, and by avoiding modern soy foods. Take a Vegetarian Tour from the Weston A. Price Foundation. We recommend The Vegetarian Myth by Lierre Keith.
- Not all “organic” foods are healthy: Organic pasteurized milk, breakfast cereal, chips, cookies, crackers and fruit juice are highly processed, refined convenience foods lacking vital nutrients. Although the organic label for meat and milk ensures the absence of hormones, antibiotics and pesticides, such products may still come from animals in confinement and therefore lack vital nutrients for growth and immune function.
- Breakfast cereal is a junk food: Cold breakfast cereals, even organic ones, are produced by a process called extrusion, which causes the deformation, disruption and dispersion of the proteins in grain. Studies indicate that these chaotic protein fragments are toxins, causing havoc in the gastro-intestinal tract and nervous system of test animals. Read more about the concerns we have about breakfast cereals. We also recommend Fighting the Food Giants by Paul Stitt.
Learn more in our Nourishing Our Children’s educational materials!
66 Responses to Top 10 Facts You May Not Know About Your Diet
Sandrine, thanks for the list of truth about food. I find that clarity and reinforcement of the things I am learning about food are very helpful.
How about a 10 list of quick and easy truly nutritious meals, to make without a recipe or prep when there’s little time? For example, things we enjoy are: bacon and eggs, grilled cheese, salad with leftover meats and cheeses, ground beef sauteed with added tomato sauce and cheese, cheeseburgers, yogurt with maple syrup and granola, cheese omelette, a milkshake blended with fruit and cream, a bowl of Sarah Pope’s (The Healthy Home Economist) grain-free Nutola with milk, leftover chicken in a quick cheese sauce.
Of course use the best ingredients you can and when you do have time to cook a big roast chicken or meat, cook lots.
I know it’s not a list of facts, but it’s 10 meals that are almost as quick to make as processed box food, and probably about 10 times more nutritious.
6 out of 10 on this list have cheese? Isn’t cheese processed? Where’s the dark green leafy vegetables? And beans/rice?
Don’t confuse processed with refined.
Even vinegar or bread are processed (fermentation). Cooked meat or potatoes are processed as well (the process in this case is called cooking).
Elizabeth, do realize how much sugar is in yogurt ..then you maple syrup to it? And what kind of cheese are you using, is it organic, low fat, non-processed?
Yogurt, granola, maple syrup….do you realize this is a low carb/ketogenic article? You ought to doo some reading before commenting info that will confuse someone still learning.
This is not a low carb/ketogenic article. Traditional diets had a wide range of carbohydrates included in their diets.
Elizabeth Stuart,
Your eating allot of Sodium also..Sodium is going to be the next big topic of un-heathy foods that is causing major Heart decease.
Sodium is called the silent killer for a good reason. You do not know you have it, and it does cause, Stroke and heart decease..
Now it’s proven Organic pastured soy free eggs are healthy, but its what you eat with it that is NOT.
Is you bacon at least Nitrate free?and less salt?
Is your cheese your feeding to your family, Organic, or fake cheese that is Omega 6? The Pasteurized diary you buy in the market is junk food..
Annie; Actually it is high blood pressure that is called the silent killer and it has been proven that of those with high blood pressure, only a small percentage is sensitive to salt. You need to do some more research. Pink himilyan salt is extremely good for you! Not plain old table salt though. It is high blood pressure that cause heart attach and stroke – not salt.
What makes something an organ? I’d like a list of the top 10 organ meats (or semi organs) and easy ways to prepare them. Do all organs produce enzymes? Is tongue an organ? Is tripe? Are chicken gizzards? I’ve read the skin is our largest organ, does that go for chicken or other animals? Does any seafood have edible organs? Liver, sweet breads (thymus & pancreas), brain, kidney, spleen. Anything else?
Love this list! Sandrine Love I wonder what your thoughts are on fermented soy like Soy Sauce, is it ok is moderation? Surely the traditional Japanese way of dealing with the bean eliminates the toxins?
It is important to distinguish between traditional and modern soy foods. In Asia, traditional soy foods were consumed in small amounts, usually as a fermented condiment.
The soybean contains many naturally occurring toxins. All legumes contain toxins but the problem with soy is that the toxins are found in very high levels and are resistant to the traditional ways of getting rid of them.
Long, slow fermentation (as in the traditional production of miso, tempeh and soy sauce) gets rid of the phytic acid and other digestive inhibitors but not the phytoestrogens in soy.
One of the most common myths is that soy estrogens (isoflavones) are beneficial for your health. Isoflavones are the estrogen-like compounds occurring naturally in soy foods. They act as the plant’s natural pesticides, causing insects to become sterile.
Thanks for the explanation as I’m always perplexed about the fact that the Japanese are of the healthiest people on the planet and their consumption of soy .i continue to enjoy it in moderation and only buy the Japanese organic brands of soy sauce and miso and avoid everything else soy.
The health of the Japanese comes, I suspect, mostly from their true sense of moderation in all things. They have worked hard to establish healthful customs to live sustainably together in their small space. It’s not their consumption of soy that they can attribute their good health and longevity to–perhaps fish and fermented natto, but not tofu! Light meals and soup (bone broth!) are also a cultural aspect that is overlooked. It’s like saying they’re healthy because they eat white rice. It certainly isn’t the white rice either (and they even eat that in moderation–not in the heaping piles we Americans think is appropriate to dish out in restaurants!).
Daily movement is a huge part of Japanese culture–imagine if every American child were taught to do daily regular movements to sustain their health–that would go a long way. Do you have recollections of your childhood PE classes? I clearly recall hiding with the other non-athletic girls and one boy while the others ran around playing games such as dodgeball, kickball and whatnot. Baseball? That was a laugh of a game for people worried about getting whacked in the head with a ball. The thing about daily movement is that ALL people can do it and should do it. It’s non-competitive and all-inclusive. Check out the Japanese daily movement exercises–they’re very fun!
Chocolate kills dogs and therefor its toxic to humans. (I’m using the same ”logical” as you here).
Great reminders thank you!!
Excellent article! I’ve been eating like this since July and have no more migraine headaches!
Hi Sandrine,
Thanks for a great article. Was wondering if you would be able to have an option to save as a pdf file, for those of us who would like to print it.
Also, a list of references at the bottom would be great, especially those that come from peer-reviewed studies. I find these very helpful if I am going to share something with friends who have a scientific background.
Best regards,
Josie
Follow each link for further reading and you’ll find the references there. There are simply too many for us to cite here in a brief summary list. We don’t have a pdf version of this article at present but, I will consider your request!
The whole Food farmers diet of good fats are very difficult to find these days. Conventional modern day farming has hi-jacked the small family farm of the past and the retail stores around the world are not stocking free range grass fed organic land meat products . Our entire food supply has been tainted beyond belief. Holistic Chef Barry Gourmet “Your Good Earth Chef “
Chef Barry there are some of us who are “raising food fit to eat”® as small farmers. We have pastured beef, pork and poultry. Don’t give up!
Your research on veganism is lacking. Spreading misinformation is a terrible offense.
If you want to generate a discussion, you should offer a counterpoint instead of a complaint. Citing supporting research wouldn’t hurt.
Here you go: http://qjmed.oxfordjournals.org/content/92/9/531 This is one of many. I know robust vegans. While I agree that, if you choose to eat meat, grass fed, free range is best, I don’t subscribe that eating meat, or eating animal products at all, is the only way to be/stay healthy.
Mushrooms are a great source of vitamin D, for example. The amounts of B12 you need are also pretty small and you can get plenty from either small amounts of meat or supplements. I eat meat less than 2 or 3 times a month. I’ve been doing it for a while and I feel great. A diet heavy in meat is a lot more likely to lead to deficiencies. Vegetables in general are high in nutrients and low in calories. Whoever wrote this article sounds like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.
you’re obviously not a vegan if you do eat meat or animal products at all.. we’re also not meant to be herbivores..
Yes! Thank you. I agree
the book the china study provides all the supporting research necessary to show that a plant based diet is the healthiest
Yes, I totally agree with you.
This article has good points, but most are misleading.
All the research you need to show the problems with The China Study are right here : http://rawfoodsos.com/the-china-study/
Professor Campbell did respond to this
People who eat animals will always fine ways to justify there blood lust.
Find, not fine. Their, not there.
This is great, however, fermented foods are so important, I think they deserve a Top Ten assignment.
I concur 100% … fermented dairy, veggies, fruits, et cetera … and beer!
I will have to add a note of caution regarding soyfoods. My great uncle
Dr. Artemy Alexis Horvath (1886-1979) studied soybeans and soyfoods. Although my interest is merely academic, my short advice would be to stay clear of soybeans unless they are cultivated using organic or natural methods. Most crops in North America are comprised of GM varieties. These soybeans are processed for industrial* uses only.
Personally, I grow my own soybeans using a natural farming method. After experimenting with various soyfoods I have concluded that fermented soy natto may be the safest known soy based food product. It’s taste may not be to everyone’s liking though. It’s healthful properties make up for it. Feel good about your food!
* One would hope that this is the case as GM soy is toxic.
ANY diet can lead to serious nutritional definiciences. key word here being “can”. a healthy vegan diet WILL NOT lead to nutritional deficiencies.
Vegan diets do not necessarily lead to serious nutritional deficiencies. Vegans who properly plan their diets out can get the right amount of nutrients. The fact that this article says this makes me unsure about whether the rest of it is good information or not.
Because of your lack of research on a plant based diet, I can’t take anything else you say on here seriously.
There is very little (if any) research published in respected journals that shows a significant health benefit from consuming organic labelled foods instead of conventional foods.
[…] From Nourishing our Children on WordPress […]
The American Heart Association estimates that 102.2 million (almost 50%) of adults in the United States have total cholesterol levels above 200 mg/dL, placing them at risk for cardiovascular disease – elevated cholesterol is one of the most important risk factors for heart disease. (1) High cholesterol and heart disease deaths are more closely associated with saturated fat intake than any other part of the American diet. (2) If you have heart disease or significantly high cholesterol, avoid animal products altogether. Animal protein consumption directly increases heart disease risk. (3)
(1) American Heart Association. Cholesterol Statistics. 2011.
(2) Mozaffarian D, Micha R, Wallace S. Effects on coronary heart disease of increasing polyunsaturated fat in place of saturated fat: a systematic review and meta-analysis of randomized controlled trials. PLoS Med. 2010 Mar 23;7(3):e1000252
(3) Menotti A, Kromhout D, Blackburn H, Fidanza F, Buzina R, Nissinen A. Food intake patterns and 25-year mortality from coronary heart disease: cross-cultural correlations in the Seven Countries Study. The Seven Countries Study Research Group. Eur J Epidemiol.
Studies document a definitive relationship between diets higher in saturated fat and elevations of LDL cholesterol. 4-8
(4). Hodson L, Skeaff CM, Chisholm WA: The effect of replacing dietary saturated fat with polyunsaturated or monounsaturated fat on plasma lipids in free-living young adults. Eur J Clin Nutr 2001;55:908-915.
(5). Abbey M, Noakes M, Belling GB, et al: Partial replacement of saturated fatty acids with almonds or walnuts lowers total plasma cholesterol and low-density-lipoprotein cholesterol. Am J Clin Nutr 1994;59:995-999.
(6). Barr SL, Ramakrishnan R, Johnson C, et al: Reducing total dietary fat without reducing saturated fatty acids does not significantly lower total plasma cholesterol concentrations in normal males. Am J Clin Nutr 1992;55:675-681.
(7). Ginsberg HN, Kris-Etherton P, Dennis B, et al: Effects of reducing dietary saturated fatty acids on plasma lipids and lipoproteins in healthy subjects: the DELTA Study, protocol 1. Arterioscler Thromb Vasc Biol 1998;18:441-449.
(8). Siri-Tarino PW, Sun Q, Hu FB, et al: Saturated fatty acids and risk of coronary heart disease: modulation by replacement nutrients. Curr Atheroscler Rep 2010;12:384-390.
Also a saturated fat-rich diet may promote insulin resistance. 9
(9)Riccardi G, Giacco R, Rivellese AA: Dietary fat, insulin sensitivity and the metabolic syndrome. Clin Nutr 2004;23:447-456.
You are seriously misinformed. Who stands to gain from spouting 60 year old research? Grain, big pharma, metal and agricultural industries are getting rich because we’re afraid of fat. The SAD has made the US the sickest and fattest nation in the world. Diabetes, PCOS, autoimmune diseases, cancers have skyrocketed since we started eating whole grain, carb filled, low fat diets. Cholesterol has been proven time and time again to have ZERO affect on heart disease. Inflammation is the root cause of cardiac and all other diseases. Cholesterol is vital to your brain and every single cell and hormone in your body. Saturated fats increase HDL and converts particle B LDL to non harmful particle A LDL. Carbs increase triglycerides, LDL-B, and VLDL. Read current credible research, not old, unproven, debunked opinions.
Woo hoo! great response, Kim.
For those who is still worried about cholesterol. I would highly recommend video presentation The oiling of America.
I LOVE this! Thank you. About the vegan diet – I always thought I needed to eat a vegan diet to be optimally healthy, before I knew anything about anything. But now, I eat about 1/2 a pound of meat per week and that keeps me feeling so much better than when I don’t eat meat, so I’ll keep doing what seems to be working for my body! And how could I ever give up gut healing bone broth? Never! :)
Reblogged this on Marius Cruceru and commented:
Oul este bun, untul este sănătos, cerealele sînt rele, soia prelucrată este otravă …
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Organic milk cannot come from animals kept in confinement, it’s one of the rules for organic status
That’s inaccurate. The requirement for sunshine can be fulfilled by having a couple small windows to let in minute amounts of sunshine.
That is not what we teach. From our educational materials: “What the research on vitamin D tells us is that unless you are a fisherman, lifeguard, or otherwise outdoors in the tropics and exposed regularly to overhead sunlight, you are unlikely to obtain adequate amounts of vitamin D from the sun. Historically, the balance of one’s daily need was provided by food. Modern diets usually do not provide adequate amounts of vitamin D, however, partly because of the trend to low-fat foods and partly because of the industrialization of agriculture, which puts our animals inside. Thus
there will be little vitamin D in traditional sources such as egg yolks, butter and lard.” https://nourishingourchildren.org/Presentation_files/ebook-Chapter-4.pdf
[…] Chapter of the Weston A. Price Foundation. Here’s an article describing the “surprising” health benefits of eggs, butter, cholesterol, and more.Helping us nourish our children, #NourishingOurChildren wins award for Best Traditional Food… […]
Lots of dubious and misleading information on here. Vegan diets are among the most healthful diets and it’s not that b-12 isn’t absorbed from plant sources, it’s that is not there. It would have been possible before modern industrialized farming and water treatment to get b-12 from eating vegetables directly from b-12 rich soil or from the water supply, but these days it’s as simply as taking a b-12 supplement. It’s the ONLY supplement I take and my bloodwork is stellar. It’s also important to check who is supporting a study (for example, the dairy industry likes to sponsor studies that will inevitably show dairy is healthful) and there is SO MUCH research done with respect to soy anyone could cherry pick a study to support their own agenda. Many of those studies are animal based (even those that show a correlation between soy and improved health) so it’s wise to look at human population studies, especially those studying Asian populations who have been eating soy for ages (I’m not referring to highly processed soy, btw). and dairy in all its iterations is just not good for you OR the planet. sure there are some healthful nutrients, but the negative aspects (hormones, growth factors, allergens etc etc) far outweigh any of the positive effects.
We feel very confident that the information we’ve provided is neither misleading or dubious. We care deeply about the health and well being of the larger community, which is why we don’t recommend a sticky plant based diet http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/vegetarianism-and-nutrient-deficiencies/ nor soy http://www.westonaprice.org/soy-alert/.
Hi, thanks for the response. I just find it interesting that actual healthy people who are plant based are telling you they are quite healthy or sickly yet it falls on deaf ears. For every bit of “proof” you provide that vegan diets are unhealthy, I could counter with studies and information that shows opposite. For example, since you provided two links from Weston A Price Foundation I give you this : http://www.vegsource.com/news/2010/07/the-truth-about-the-weston-price-foundation.html
I’d also like to point out that getting adequate vitamin D is not a problem unique to vegans … It’s a problem for anyone who lives in cold climates, which is why there are foods fortified with vitamin D.
We sincerely wish you good health! We don’t accuse others who don’t sure our perspective of having deaf ears. We respect that you have a different perspective than ours. We will not be swayed about the merits of a vegan diet. Nutrient dense, grass-fed and wild-caught animal foods are at the heart of the dietary recommendations we make. We are a project of the Weston A. Price Foundation and focus on these dietary principles, as discovered by Dr. Weston A. Price: http://www.westonaprice.org/wp-content/uploads/healthy4life2011.pdf
Sure our perspective? Death ears? No need to say anything more.
I was referring to deaf ears, not death ears. Thanks for highlighting the typo!
11. Nuts are to be eaten raw. They should not be roasted and flours obtained from nuts are not suitable for baking.
Actually, we don’t recommend they be eaten raw but, rather soaked in salt water and dehydrated at low heat. http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/living-with-phytic-acid/
I’m totally on board with all of this and have heard it before except that lean meats are bad. When I think of lean meat, I think of an elk steak that has very little fat on it and is grass fed but I would assume that’s healthy! So what kind of lean meat are you talking about here? <– no snarkiness, I really do want to know!
From our educational materials http://www.nourishingourchildren.org/Education.html on the topic:
“The aboriginal diet was most interesting. It had a lot of variety, including fruits, vegetables, grains and legumes. The grains and legumes were prepared with great care. They were placed in leaching baskets in a running stream for two weeks and then prepared by roasting, pounding and cooking. We see this careful preparation of grains and legumes in all traditional societies that ate these kinds of foods.
Nevertheless, the diet was still based on animal foods. They hunted birds, they fished, they hunted game animals. As in other cultures, once again we find the tradition of never eating lean meat. They hunted animals at times of the year when the animals would have the most fat. If a certain bush was in flower, that meant a certain animal was fat so they hunted that animal. They left fruit on the trees so that the birds would get fat, they wanted the fat. If they killed a kangaroo and it was too lean, they discarded it.”
We would not recommend a skinless, boneless chicken breast. Rather, we recommend you be sure to have the skin with it or add mayonnaise to make chicken salad … or add avocado.
If the meat is lean, prepare it with added fat.
Dietary Avoids
Avoid products containing protein powders as they usually contain carcinogens or damaged proteins formed during processing. Likewise, avoid lean meat, skinless poultry, reduced-fat milk and egg whites without the yolks. Consumption of protein without the cofactors occurring in animal fats can lead to deficiencies, especially of vitamin A. – See more at: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/abcs-of-nutrition/dietary-dangers/
Another article: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/caveman-cuisine/
Present-day hunter-gatherers, as well as those of the ancient past, possess greater dietary wisdom than the majority of our modern Ph.D.’s. They understood that a diet of lean meat, lacking in fat, was the surest route to weakness, disease and death. Steffanson, who studied the Eskimos and Indians of the far north, reports that when lean caribou was the only meat available, anxiety set in. These natives knew that a month or more on such meat, without the addition of marine animals or fatty fish, would make them sick and prone to disease. The ancient tribes of the American West would not eat female bison in the Spring because nursing and pregnant bison cows burned off their fat reserves during the winter months. In fact, most bison hunts occurred in the late Summer and Fall when the bison were naturally fattened on the ripe grain of prairie grasses. Anthropologist Leon Abrams reports that the Aborigine will throw away a kangaroo he has killed if he discovers that its carcass does not contain sufficient fat. Members of Randolph Marcy’s 1856 expedition to Wyoming grew weak and sick consuming a politically correct low-fat regime of six pounds of lean horse and mule meat per day; Dr. Wolfgang Lutz reports that a very efficient way of eliminating jailed political prisoners in South and Central America is to feed them a diet composed exclusively of lean meat. They soon develop severe diarrhea and succumb. The explanation is that fats contain nutrients like vitamin A that the body needs to utilize the amino acids and minerals in flesh foods; without fat in the diet, the body rapidly uses up its own stores of fat soluble vitamins. When these vital nutrients are depleted, the human organism can no longer fight off disease. – See more at: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/caveman-cuisine
Also see: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/guts-and-grease-the-diet-of-native-americans/
The Indians preferred the older animals because they had built up a thick slab of fat along the back. In an animal of 1000 pounds, this slab could weigh 40 to 50 pounds. Another 20-30 pounds of highly saturated fat could be removed from the cavity. This fat was saved, sometimes by rendering, stored in the bladder or large intestine, and consumed with dried or smoked lean meat. Used in this way, fat contributed almost 80 percent of total calories in the diets of the northern Indians. – See more at: http://www.westonaprice.org/health-topics/guts-and-grease-the-diet-of-native-americans
Liver is not a filter and does not store toxins. Organ meat is more nutritious than muscle meat.
I would love to know more about nut butters and seed butters (almond butter, tahini, etc). Are store-bought nut butters good, bad, or a compromise (raw/organic or otherwise)? Are the anti-nutrients/enzyme inhibitors neutralized at all after nuts become butter, or is eating non-pre-soaked nut butter equivalent to eating non-pre-soaked nuts? Are American almonds (which must be pasteurized by law) still somewhat healthy, or are they a food to be avoided like pasteurized milk? And should I avoid store-bought Almond Butter for this reason? And so on. The entire subject of Nut Butters is full of questions.
I think I found my new favourite blog. Totally agree on the all 10 facts.
Wonderful! Thank you for your support!
Great summary. Thank you