In a time when our wellbeing has been attacked from all angles and moved up the scale of importance, I have spent a lot more time researching the best options to stay healthy as we transition into this next stage of our evolution. One of the greatest influences in this area has recently been the book: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston Price plus Sally Norton’s work on Oxalates (which I will write about separately).
As some background, Dr. Price traveled to hundreds of cities in a total of 14 different countries in his search to find healthy people, investigating some of the most remote areas in the world in the context of looking for tooth decay. This was in the 1930’s. In my most simplistic summary, he observed that a diet rich in meats, fat, eggs, dairy and basic grains resulted in impeccable health and strong immunity. It was only when modern foods such as white flour, canned vegetables and sugar were introduced that health started to decline and tooth decay became obvious.
However this wasn’t the first time I came across this way of eating as a way to remain healthy and strong. About 5 years ago I had some swelling in my thyroid area and was looking for some new healing options. I was drawn to visit a healer in Canada who specialises in bio resonance devices. During my visit he introduced me to a Varman diet which is heavily focused on using fats, meat, eggs, some dairy & honey to heal all sorts of ailments and diseases. He conducted a bio-resonance scan and correction and within a day the swelling disappeared (and hasn’t bothered me since) and after adopting his Varman diet I felt my entire system feel balanced and healthy within about 2 weeks. So needless to say I am a fan.
The only difficulty I had was staying on this way of eating for long periods of time plus the added problem of getting the kids to eat 100% like this. It was only until I came across Weston Price’s work and the Weston Price Foundation that it all fell into place.
Since this time I have completely adjusted our lifestyle in terms of food preparation. I ferment my flours before cooking, opting for spelt flour as the preferred choice, cook up more simple dishes with meat and broth, have lots of good quality dairy, used sourdough pasta and also incorporated more oats into my diet due to my Scottish ancestry and feeling like this would be the most compatible with us all. You should try baked blueberry oatmeal for breakfast – delicious.
The kids are always the best test for these things, and I can report that they have adapted really well to the new foods even though I am still tweaking some things here and there. They aren’t a fan of my whole spelt sourdough bread but I am investigating doing a flour mix with white spelt flour (can’t say I am super successful with sourdough yet anyway). Regardless of my own shortcomings in food prep, what I have noticed is that the children looked healthier and behaviour improved.
Of course, it takes me a lot more thought about what we eat in advance so I tend to prepare a lot of foods for the week ahead on a Sunday. It’s paying off though as we are all feeling good, more energy and I have more confidence that we are investing in our health wisely. We have had a few falling off the wagon weeks but we go back to it quite quickly and things improve.
Before I finish up, I do have an additional key takeaway from Weston Price’s work t share which goes with his way of eating, which is the fact that our wellbeing depends on sufficient Vitamin A and D (which most of us are lacking these days). The best source is Vitamin Butter with Cod Liver Oil. It doesn’t taste too pleasant I must admit, but we follow it with a small sip of orange juice and it hides the taste well enough. We incorporate this into our daily wellbeing plan along with taking homemade Elderberry syrup (also high in Vitamin A and a natural source of Vitamin C).
In my opinion this way of eating makes sense so does that vitamin butter and cod liver oil, at least to our family. It’s all relatively simple, you buy most of your products in bulk and make wholesome nutritious meals that give peace of mind that during a time of great upheaval. Knowing that you can still nourish the body as much as possible.
I wanted to share this for anyone who is looking for options such as this to help their family thrive even when it may not be seen as politically correct eating (quoting Sally Fallon). For a range of recipes visit www.westonaprice.org and so many interesting articles on health and wellbeing. If you try this eating plan, I would love for you to leave a comment about how it has worked for your family.
P.s here are some pics of my latest cooking attempts from Sally Fallon’s Nourishing Traditions recipe book (inspired by Weston Price) – spelt scones and macaroons:
