Unique and Healthy Indigenous Diets
It is interesting to study indigenous food habits, and the health that was experienced by these people when they follow their traditional diet. Here are a few to consider:
New Zealand Maori: Common foods in the Maori’s diets include: sclae fish, lobsters and oysters (including the organs), sea clams, and shellfish. These seafood sources are often combined with plants such as seeds of the land, fruits and and kelp, in addition to a fern root which is very similar to the potato commonly eaten in modern diets.
Masai of Africa : A staple of their diet included fermented and raw milk. The Masai cattle are treated extremely well, with the highest respect. Other foods in the diet included tree bark, fat, and blood. Vegetables were no eaten by humans, because they were considered plant matter to feed cows.
Other African Tribal Diets: There are other groups in Africa that have high levels of health, and their diets include dairy products from goats and cattle, along with bananas, cereals, and sweet potatoes. Also included were fresh water fish found in the Nile River, and storage food consisted of a fly that plentiful in Lake Victoria, which is used fresh and dried for storage. Additionally, they eat ants and their eggs. Locusts are made into flour. (Many modern food problems could actually be solved with insect flour because they are generally high in fat-soluble vitamins.) Also eaten a variety of freshly ground and roasted grains.
South Pacific Islanders: Liberal portions of of sea foods (including most or all of the organs), such as sclae fish and shellfish. The seafood is usually eaten with a variety of fruits and plant roots, whcih are consumed both cooked and raw. Fermented taro root was eaten (poi). A common dish is soup with fish heads, which is a highly nutritious meal because the fish eyes are high in nutrition.
Modern South Pacific Islanders: Currently, the rates of obesity and diabetes are soaring in the South Pacific islands. Some of the people in these cultures have deviated from their traditional diets, and chosen modern foods instead, including: breakfast cereals, cookies, candies, carbonated beverages, mayonnaise, margarine, canned fish and meat, white sugar and white flour. In fact, another source suggest that the most obese people in the world are the South Pacific Islanders, which is the the sad result of using modern foods to try to fulfill the nutritional needs of the body.
Resources for Healthy Indigenous Diets
Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6 th Ed. 148.
God Gave us Cattle and Grass, Wild Watch, ,
Cultures and Countries, Maasai, ,
Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6 th Ed. 148.
Price, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, 6 th Ed. 260.
Pacific Islanders, Diet of, Internet FAQ archives,
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