Technology has brought us countless advantages over the past century. It has made the world a smaller place in that it is much easier to travel; it has made many tasks more convenient and brought us comforts of light, heat and entertainment etc. Unfortunately, it has not brought us freedom from disease. Chronic illness in industrialised nations has reached epic proportions. In order to understand why this has happened we just have to take a look at some of the things that have come with this technology-fast foods, fake foods, substitute / imitation foods-all of the ‘foods’ that fill the shelves of our super markets, restaurants, take away outlets and vending machines.
Modern food choices are very far removed from the natural foods that have kept us nourished and disease free for thousands and thousands of years.
During the 1930’s Dr. Weston A. Price travelled the world to study population groups untouched by civilisation, living entirely on local foods, and compared them with people in industrialised nations living on the typical ‘western’ diet. Please bear in mind that this was over 60 years ago and that things have got much worse since then. While the diets of these people varied from location to location, they had many characteristics in common. Almost all of the groups he studied ate liberally on seafood and other animal fats and proteins in the form of organ meats and dairy products. They valued animal fats as absolutely essential to good health. They ate fats, meats, fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts, seeds and whole grains in their natural, whole, unrefined state.
Dr. Price found groups from isolated Irish and Swiss, from Eskimos to Africans-in which almost every member of the region enjoyed excellent health. They were free from chronic disease, dental decay and mental illness. They were strong, sturdy and attractive.
In comparing these groups with the same races in industrialised areas living on a modern diet of high carbohydrates, sugar and refined foods he found that people living on this so called civilised diet had rampant tooth decay, infectious diseases, degenerative illnesses and infertility.
Heart disease and cancer were rare at the turn of the century but today they are much more common. Diseases and health problems that were extremely rare a few generations ago are commonplace today. This is all in spite of the fact that billions are spent each year in research and major advances in diagnostic and surgical techniques. In America one person in 3 dies of cancer, one in 3 suffers from some sort of allergy, one in ten have ulcers at some time and one in 5 is mentally ill. One in 5 pregnancies ends in miscarriage and birth defects are on the increase. Other diseases that were rare until recently are now affecting a large percentage of the population; arthritis, multiple sclerosis, digestive disorders, diabetes, osteoporosis, alzheimer’s, epilepsy, chronic fatigue etc… These diseases are also afflicting people at a much younger age than previously. The solution to this problem is to go back to eating foods closer to nature: unprocessed meats and dairy products, organic eggs, unrefined grains, fruit and vegetables.
