Some of the Nutritional Pioneers
Weston A Price, DDS was one of the first modern researchers to make the connection between eating habits and health.
Lessons from his research include:
There is a great variety of diets that are healthy.
There are certain dietary laws that are inflexible and unchangeable.Must get the fat soluble factors from animal sources
In order to be healthy, foods must be properly prepared and in their whole form.
His biggest disappointment was that he could not find a vegan culture that was truly healthy.
While the diets of healthy cultures varied greatly, there were several commonalities.
Contained NO refined or denatured foods
Used some type of animal products, with some raw.
Diets were four times as high in calcium and other minerals and encompassed 10 times the amount of fat-soluble vitamins as the modern diet.
Included foods with high enzyme content.
Seeds, grains, and nuts were soaked, sprouted, fermented or naturally leavened.
Fat content varied from 30 to 80% of total calories (only 4% from polyunsaturated fatty acids)
Contained nearly equal amounts of omega-6 and omega-3 fatty acids.
Contained some salt.
Made use of bones, usually as broth.
Francis Pottenger, MD
Conduced the famous cat study that clearly shows the connection between degeneration and heated/processed foods. Also showed the generational effect of improper diet. His findings showed marked differences in health for cats fed raw meat and raw milk diets versus diets of raw meat with pasteurized milk, evaporated milk or sweetened condensed milk. With the last showing the worst overall health.
The profound lessons from this study are not in the first generation cats but in the following 2 generation. The de-generation of those cats mirrors our current social and health situation. Structural deformity, social stress, allergies, reproductive problems. Dr. Pottenger reversed the diets of the first and second generations but it took four generations for the cats to return to normal!
Melvin Page, DDS
• Came up with the diet later popularized by Atkins. Endorsed eating proteins and vegetables rather than large amounts of carbohydrates
Royal Lee, DDS
• Discovered glandular therapies and documented the benefits of whole foods and natural vs. synthetic vitamins.
Dr. Forrest Shaklee