Well-Nourished Woman Membership

All traditional cultures consumed some sort of animal food such as fish and shellfish; land and water fowl; land and sea mammals; eggs; milk and milk products; reptiles; and insects.

The whole animal is consumed—muscle meat, organs, bones and fat, with the organ meats and fats preferred.

All traditional diets emphasise nutrient–dense foods: organ meats, animal fats, eggs, raw dairy, shellfish, fish liver oils and fish eggs.

The diets of healthy, non-industrialised peoples contain at least four times the minerals and water-soluble vitamins, and ten times the fat-soluble vitamins found in animal fats (vitamin A, vitamin D and Activator X, now thought to be vitamin K2) as the average American diet.

All traditional cultures cooked some or most of their food, especially plant foods like grains and vegetables, but all consumed a portion of their animal foods raw.

Primitive and traditional diets contain a high content of food enzymes and beneficial bacteria from lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages, dairy products, meats and condiments.

Seeds, grains and nuts are soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened to neutralize naturally occurring anti-nutrients such as enzyme inhibitors, tannins and phytic acid.

Total fat content of traditional diets varies from 30 percent to 80 percent of calories but only about 4 percent of calories come from polyunsaturated oils naturally occurring in grains, legumes, nuts, fish, animal fats and vegetables.

The balance of fat calories is in the form of saturated and monounsaturated fatty acids.

Traditional diets contain nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 essential fatty acids.

Modern diets based on industrial seed oils can contain almost 20 times more omega-6 than omega-3, because industrial seed oils contain very high amounts of omega-6.

All traditional diets contain salt.

All traditional cultures make use of animal bones, usually in the form of gelatin-rich bone broths.

Traditional cultures make provisions for the health of future generations by providing special nutrient-rich animal foods for parents- to-be, pregnant women and growing children; by adequate spacing of children; and by teaching the principles of right diet to the young.