tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-227024062024-03-13T16:07:52.357-07:00Gordon & Susan WelchStriving to be simple Christians in the Anabaptist traditionGordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.comBlogger132125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-26374595921019821932013-01-14T17:51:00.000-08:002013-01-14T17:51:20.028-08:00Gun laws... a response to a friendIt's been a while since the shooting that has gun laws on the table again. That Connecticut school shooting wasn't the first and it won't be the last. There have been several public shootings in the weeks since that one, anyway. So my friend John wrote and asked me to respond to <a href="http://www.cbc.ca/news/world/story/2012/12/16/f-rfa-macdonald-guns.html" target="_blank">an editorial by a Canadian journalist</a> on that shooting and gun laws. I did so and thought it might help someone to openly share my response, so here it is in full:<div>
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Hi John, nice to hear from you. We've both read the editorial you'd linked to and have a few thoughts... so since you asked: </blockquote>
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We are Christian before we are anything else, so as Christians, we believe the taking of human life is not right under any circumstance. However, governments do what they will and make laws for the protection of their citizens and the restraint of evil - and they do this by evil means. Governments maintain military and police whose job it is to carry weapons and restrain evil. Sometimes there is misuse power of this due to personal moral lack. For example, soldiers often kill civilians purposely in war zones and they are usually punished for this as it does not represent the government's wishes.<br />So we see that it is the heart of the individual that matters and no one can force another to have a heart change. No law or police force can obtain safety for people. There is no safety in this world, other than the solace we find in the bosom of our Lord. </blockquote>
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Let's say there were no guns that shot more than 5 bullets... so he carries 6 of them and kills the same number of people.<br />Let's say there were no guns that shot more than 5 bullets... so he killed people more slowly.<br />Let's say there were no guns... he could have killed them all another way. There is no end to this, because it is the heart of the person that is the problem, not any material thing. </blockquote>
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Neil, as a Canadian, is heavy on socialism and believes that laws are good things and the more, the better. His solution is to "take weapons of war away from people who aren't soldiers or police." Every gun is a weapon of war... knives, swords, javelins, discus, shot put... And really, the ubiquitous car takes far, far more lives in our societies than guns. And what else should they take away from people? </blockquote>
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So they'll make a law restricting some kind of gun and the public will be happy with the compromise. But it will be arbitrary, and no one's heart will change, and God will continue weeping.</blockquote>
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<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-19165308856470564842012-08-01T15:09:00.000-07:002012-08-01T15:09:36.297-07:00Chapter 21: Practical Application of Primitive Wisdom<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></div></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">If an interested person's time was limited, a reading of chapters 16 and the present chapter (21) would be sufficient to gain the gist of Weston Price's observations and conclusions as well as be of help in nutritional thinking so that a person can make appropriate changes in their diet.<br />
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As a sort of summary of the previous few chapters, Price writes:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">One of the most urgent changes in our viewpoint should be to look upon the assortment of physical, mental and moral distortions as due, in considerable part, to nutritional disturbances in one or both parents which modify the development of the child, rather than to accepted factors in the inheritance. (p359)</blockquote>This is the same now, as then. The general thinking in our society is that physical and mental problems are random "genetic" events without cause and I'm not sure there is room at all for acceptance of the concept of moral distortion... I think it has shifted entirely into the realm of mental health. But it's not as if there isn't contemporary evidence: I heard the other day on the radio about school lunch programs not only helping children's physical needs, but also teachers remarked how hungry children who were admitted to this food aid had increased attention in the classroom and their grades improved. I suspect if pressed, we might find that these children were also less irritable and thus less likely to be involved in problems with their peers. I don't think that Price was trying to say that proper nutrition would solve all of society's ills, but it is a basic starting point that would go a long way; and yet I can't help but notice his constant references to the lack of prisons and asylums in traditional societies.<br />
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I think we know far less than admitted about heredity, genetics and the like. I recall my mother asking a doctor when I was 10 or 12 years old about whether I was in danger of passing on my Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome. He didn't think so based on my relative health at the time, but urged me to get tested further before having children. Now I realize that he had no clue whatsoever, but as a doctor, was not able to admit that. In the first half of the 20th century there were many forced sterilization programs for "defective" people. Perhaps if I had lived at that time I would have been included in one of those programs? But even back then Price was able to observe that these were unnecessary and senseless:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">The normal determining factors that are of hereditary origin may be interrupted in a given generation but need not become fixed characteristics in the future generations. This question of parental nutrition, accordingly, constitutes a fundamental determining factor in the health and physical perfection of the offspring. (p368)</blockquote>Note the difference between the teeth of each sister in these photos:<br />
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2EZQwm88RROFh3xyNP5ocl_G2XmfHKfB2XpbsPPGxKW-WSCiBg2poV-1RlNavuDaAIO99tgfDK4-8Tb3rRQfmdon_3QqbrFNG-g1pxwl3NmB5OitfSD6DBCZByqYSvmrevURz8w/s1600/Fig.133.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi2EZQwm88RROFh3xyNP5ocl_G2XmfHKfB2XpbsPPGxKW-WSCiBg2poV-1RlNavuDaAIO99tgfDK4-8Tb3rRQfmdon_3QqbrFNG-g1pxwl3NmB5OitfSD6DBCZByqYSvmrevURz8w/s1600/Fig.133.jpeg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fig.133 In this family the first child to the left was most injured in the formative period as shown in the form of the face and dental arches above and x-rays below. The first child required fifty-three hours of labor and the second three hours, preceded by special nutrition of the mother.</td></tr>
</tbody></table>Fig. 133 shows a striking example of how poor nutrition of the mother during pregnancy shows up in the children. The child on the left most obviously has crooked teeth but also narrow nostrils when compared to her younger sister on the right whose mother had proper nutrition during the pregnancy. Now the chance for a North American woman to have proper nutrition during pregnancy is relatively low because as a society we have no special foods for pregnant women other than prenatal vitamins. Price notes how traditional societies all had a special set of foods for young women and pregnant women to supply their bodies with the extra nutrients required of the demands of having children. It seems in our contemporary society maternity clothing is given more importance than nutrition. And when the pregnant woman's food is talked about it's usually in a joking manner about pickles and ice cream or about how much she eats.<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">One of our modern tendencies is to select the foods we like, particularly those that satisfy our hunger without our having to eat much, and, another is to think in terms of the few known vitamins and their effects. The primitive tendency seems to have been to provide an adequate factor of safety for all emergencies by the selection of a sufficient variety and quantity of the various natural foods to prevent entirely most of our modern affections. Their success demonstrates that their program is superior to ours. (p382)</blockquote><br />
Now in North America unless we are part of a recent immigrant family, there is generally little cultural tradition when it comes to food, so the question naturally arises: What pattern of eating should one follow?" Price recognized the nutritive factors which gave rise to the excellent health of the peoples he studied. It was not because of what was on the menu that they were healthy, but because of what was in the food on the menu. So he encourages the reader: "It is not necessary to adopt the foods of any particular racial stock, but only to make our nutrition adequate in all its nutritive factors to the primitive nutritions."(p379)<br />
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Weston Price believed that tooth decay (and poor health in general) was caused by violations of the laws of nature... I would say that nature was created by God and he is the architect of our bodies - therefore we must live in this world following the ways of God if we are to be healthy. As a farmer, I see everyday that different animals have different food needs in order to fulfill their different nutritional needs, and it is my responsibility as their caretaker to ensure that all these needs are met. Shall I not do the same for me and my family?<br />
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"Tooth decay is not only unnecessary, but an indication of our divergence from Nature's fundamental laws of life and health."p.379<br />
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</div></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-12691009520739893572012-07-12T18:02:00.000-07:002012-07-12T18:02:24.735-07:00Chapter 20: Soil Depletion and Plant and Animal Deterioration<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i> Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></div></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Given my vocation as a farmer, chapter 20 represents an important part of Weston Price's message. The general concept is that soils the world over have been losing their capacity to produce nutritious food and that it is not an easy problem to solve. He calls this "<i>the most serious problem confronting the coming generations</i>" (p.358)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He sees the demise of all great civilizations as tied to a loss in agricultural fertility - and he sees the United States as standing squarely in this lineage of fallen cultures. </span><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He writes, "</span><i style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The complacency with which the masses of the people as well as the politicians view our trend is not unlike the drifting of a merry party in the rapids above a great cataract. There seems to be no appropriate sense of impending doom</i><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">." (p.355)</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">And so the modern and contemporary farmer has attempted to counter this effect of reduced fertility by adding endless chemicals to the land - which works to a point - but runs counter to the will of the Creator. Organisms and microorganisms - all animals - have a role in the fertility of the soil and the practice of monocultures with chemical additives destroys the cycle of life that is the wisdom of God. The only answer to this problem is the slow methods of farming which not only keep fertility but even add to it through nature-observant methods of farming. And that is what I seek to to through farming in a permaculture context. May it be the will of the Lord.</span></div></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-22122464350435483402012-07-02T17:38:00.002-07:002012-07-02T17:38:48.217-07:00Chapter 19: Physical, Mental and Moral Deterioration<br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">This is likely to be the most controversial chapter in the whole book - it is certainly the most difficult to read for the postmodern.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">As I go through this book, I have a choice to simply summarize the content and/or add my own thoughts to critically reflect on the content. This chapter shall be no exception, but I'd like to be very brief. Neither Price nor I are judging people based on their looks - what he has written and what I am reflecting on is an observation of physical, mental and moral characteristics. At no time is there a prescriptive personality matrix - there is only description of the defective and undesirable abnormal with an eye to their prevention via nutrition. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The premise seems to be that a lack of proper nutrition can lead to a poorly developed mental capacity and also poor moral character. Personally, I have no trouble whatsoever understanding the connection with mental capacity, but the extension to a moral deficiency is not so easy to follow. Mostly Price refrains from making a direct causal relationship between poor nutrition and deviant behavior such as criminality, but he attempts to show that the statistics suggest some sort of correlation. He reports that prenatal injury was seen in all but two patients in a prison (p.330), and suggests that criminals rarely have normal physical appearance.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">There is much in this chapter concerning childbirth and I will save it for a later post specifically on Price's childbirth writings in this book. </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So for now the take home message from this chapter is none other than it is important for prenatal development to occur properly so as to not handicap a person for life - either physically or mentally.</span></div>
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-67409460742662219392012-05-07T23:11:00.001-07:002012-05-07T23:17:23.275-07:00Chapter 18: Prenatal Nutritional Deformities and Disease Types<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i>Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-small;"><i><br />
</i></span></div></div></div><div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">It is here at the beginning of chapter 18 that we find an explanation for his world trip. He writes that he became convinced that the problem of disease could only be studied in the context of having a control group that was free of disease - something he felt he could not do in his contemporary society - so he "extended the search to isolated primitive racial stocks".</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Throughout the book I have often found that some of the terms that Price uses are so heavily weighted that I have to stop mid-sentence and contemplate. On page 297 he used the term "prenatal injury". It's not a difficult one, but the way in which he uses it is from his nutritional viewpoint. On page 319 he uses a magnificent phrase that so encapsulates all that this book seeks to convey. In summing up what the degenerative problems are, he says the problem is "not heredity, but intercepted heredity". What a fantastic way to put it. So I cannot say that my Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome is inherited from my parents (because no one else in my entire family history has had it - and my daughter doesn't), I can rather say that the heredity that would have been passed on to me was blocked.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">On page 302 Price writes of lions eating only the organs from a zebra. His point is clearly that a healthy animal like a lion only eats the organs, so… wait a minute, though… the jackals come around after the lion and clean up, don't they? So are the jackals unhealthy? Certainly not. So I'm not sure the analogy holds up or is even valid. More thought needs to go into this.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Always of particular interest is the anecdotes about childbirth. On page 305 we read that at the point of contact with modern civilization "is a decrease in the ease and efficiency of the birth process." This is a very important point as for most people in our society, childbirth is not viewed as something that could be easy or efficient. This fact has tremendous implications for the natural birthing movement that I will delve into in a later post.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He spends some time discussing pig studies on heredity. Of note, he writes about eyeless pigs who were bred, and we saw: </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">"…the production of pigs with normal eyes, born to parents both of whom had no eyeballs due to lack of vitamin A in their mother's diet." p.309 Again, proof that what we are dealing with is "not heredity, but intercepted heredity." I raise Tamworth pigs, and I wonder about all the processes that occur in passing down traits to each new litter. my boar is a distinctive ginger color and my number one sow is a dark red, yet when a litter hits the ground, I see ginger, red, dark red and spotted piglets. We're clearly beyond a Mendelian view of genetics! How wonderful and complex it is that we all have recognizably different features, yet I often hear, "Your daughter looks so much like you." We pass on good things and hopefully not bad ones - the key is nutrition. Poor nutrition and we intercept heredity.</span></div></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-68803222184913054262012-03-02T10:54:00.006-08:002012-03-03T08:14:38.597-08:00So why do I have Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome?I sort of glossed over this in my last post. The commonly accepted "reasons" for BWS are as follows:<br />
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<li>unknown</li>
<li>unclear</li>
<li>complex</li>
<li>genetic mutation</li>
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So it's not different at all from the majority of human maladies that the medical profession seeks to explain with many studies showing… nothing useful at all, but make them a lot of grant money.</div>
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To me, the answer is clear, although admittedly complex. It is a genetic mutation on chromosome 11, manifested by poor gene copying. So everyone knows DNA… it's the blueprint for life! How is it made? Well, glossing all the chemical processes, DNA makes RNA, and gives it a copy of itself, which the RNA then copies back to replace DNA. This process is constant in our bodies.</div>
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So what happens if there's a mistake? Of course, we all know - genetic mutation. Simple question and answer. Okay, then try asking why there is a mistake in copying. Go on, you can do it: Why would there be a mistake in copying?</div>
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Well, as an ink pad takes up ink from the stamp, sometimes we don't roll the stamp around enough and it doesn't get fully covered in ink. You could say, the stamp is lacking in ink. So when you make an impression on paper with that stamp… the design is mostly there, but missing a little bit.</div>
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So goes gene copying… and the ink is nutrition. Lack of nutrition and the RNA cannot copy the DNA properly. This is the cause of my Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome and the vast majority of all genetic problems.</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-82837438935566021282012-02-29T10:48:00.001-08:002012-03-01T10:50:22.611-08:00Chapter 17: One Origin of Physical Deformities<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">From time to time, there are certain phrases which stand out to me as beautiful. On page 276, Price writes as a description of poorly formed dental arches and crowded teeth that they are "the inhibition of Nature's normal procedure." For that is what happens when nutrition is not correct for the body to build itself, let alone do activity.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">A lady asked me the other day, "How do you know your daughter's healthy?" I was so dumbfounded I could hardly reply, "When I look at her I see perfection, and when I look at most children today, I see deformity." Our society takes this as an affront, and dismisses such comments out of hand. Nevertheless, it is what I believe. We must be able to look at people and know if they are healthy or not. Price has helped me to open my eyes and see healthy people and unhealthy people; deformed and well formed. We are so afraid of passing judgement on others, that we cannot see what we need to see in order to make informed decisions about whether what we are doing is working or not. This is not about passing judgement on others - in fact, it is for the express purpose of helping others. A person's genetic problems are largely not their own fault (although they can be) - genetic problems are almost exclusively a result of parental nutritional deficiencies.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">The caption to Figure 103 reads: "This is depressed reproductive capacity of the parents." Price said what our society no longer allows us to say: parents are at fault for unhealthy children. I will state what I know to be true here succinctly: "Almost all genetic problems are congenital problems, which are nutritional problems." Environmental factors such as toxins can play a role sometimes, but lack of nutrition is the main problem.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So in looking at races, we can see that there are racial patterns which are inherited. For example, if we see someone with red hair, we generally think of Scotland. Slotted eyes is East Asia. These are simple examples, but there are many barely perceptible features which allow us to recognize a "stranger". Price writes:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2d3kt6graOY_BWF5D9d7ahtVQov2WjBl9zcJdW2m9jgPc8ysUNgabIAItnvn0SY1NFuN9ZBFX1VqeApx5tLj_gz-qQ-KVjDi8_nPEgxCNpSPt_Wd_H2oABO6-hyYWG68P0fmjg/s1600/Fig.103.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiu2d3kt6graOY_BWF5D9d7ahtVQov2WjBl9zcJdW2m9jgPc8ysUNgabIAItnvn0SY1NFuN9ZBFX1VqeApx5tLj_gz-qQ-KVjDi8_nPEgxCNpSPt_Wd_H2oABO6-hyYWG68P0fmjg/s320/Fig.103.jpg" width="267" /></span></a></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">If the change in facial form were the result of racial admixture, we should not have the types of deformity patterns that these cases show. Indeed, in the same family we should not find several different deformity patterns. The lack of development downward of the upper anterior incisors and the bone supporting them is illustrated for the younger child, in Fig. 103 lower right. It will be noted that when this girl's molar teeth are in contact her front teeth still miss occluding by a considerable distance. p.281</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I had the same problem when I was young, so I had an appliance to try to correct the situation - and it did for a few years, but guess what? My front teeth don't occlude:</span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGYAkV9rmKZjnj5pbhp25bdT5-Yd5Nc0D0STI-zs6m27Jl_bDrYZ7MFXQLWjk5FMRBsld-iNE9W64aKUtIpBkNiq6KCdXSVRnD0MJy-FRqDDQn-ZQrsFqlyHihV48X4pqqhEUuA/s1600/non-occlude.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><img border="0" height="115" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiZGYAkV9rmKZjnj5pbhp25bdT5-Yd5Nc0D0STI-zs6m27Jl_bDrYZ7MFXQLWjk5FMRBsld-iNE9W64aKUtIpBkNiq6KCdXSVRnD0MJy-FRqDDQn-ZQrsFqlyHihV48X4pqqhEUuA/s200/non-occlude.jpg" width="200" /></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Part of this problem in my mouth has to do with the <i>macroglossia</i> that came with my <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beckwith%E2%80%93Wiedemann_syndrome" target="_blank">Beckwith-Wiedemann Syndrome</a>, but because of the position of my teeth in general, and the fact that I'm missing a couple of the back molars, it is clear that my arches did not form correctly. Thankfully, I can chew and swallow just fine, although breathing was difficult when I was younger because of the largeness of my tongue.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">I am a product of modern civilization: "Two serious defects from which many individuals in our modernized civilization suffer are impacted teeth and the absence of teeth due to their failure to develop." (p.294) These don't happen in healthy individuals and are not a normal part of the human condition - and they are not random events as has been shown in Price's research. He claims much of the problem is lack of Vitamin A in one or both parents before conception or during gestation, and will discuss the cause of this in the next chapter.</span></div>
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</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-49576742288150284472012-02-20T16:32:00.000-08:002012-02-20T16:36:20.418-08:00A new calf!<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnx9vYjU7y2NjO_LQcWT7gt9TYd8dDG1TcnUNFG853cZh2jTLIEHHu9uHkHYrrGzQ7rwJePDCNrSyBzQeXwH1D7O_QH9nFuFXYtpwzuWbdLTKgTTWsZZaXZAonVnYHV0PEXY2KQ/s1600/Comet+and+1st+calf.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhUnx9vYjU7y2NjO_LQcWT7gt9TYd8dDG1TcnUNFG853cZh2jTLIEHHu9uHkHYrrGzQ7rwJePDCNrSyBzQeXwH1D7O_QH9nFuFXYtpwzuWbdLTKgTTWsZZaXZAonVnYHV0PEXY2KQ/s320/Comet+and+1st+calf.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Comet & her heifer calf</td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Our Milking Shorthorn, Comet, calved this morning - it's a little heifer! </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">She calved just fine - mother and daughter are doing splendidly, learning to know each other.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">To read more and see a video of the pair, please check out the new blog section on farmergord.com. (The post is <a href="http://www.farmergord.com/blog/comethasaheifercalf" target="_blank">here</a>.) </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;">Finally, we have our own pure, unadulterated, raw milk to drink!</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com3ORO45.966923688690073 -122.9053036613769345.733007688690073 -123.20826666137694 46.200839688690074 -122.60234066137693tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-38560077215450954432012-02-13T18:40:00.000-08:002012-02-13T18:40:55.383-08:00Maine Traditional Diet?It's been just over a year since I started reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price. Somehow I thought I'd have had time to finish it more quickly. At any rate, I'm still progressing with my reading as I get the farm geared up for this growing season. Our new cow, Comet, a Milking Shorthorn, is due to calve in less than three weeks, so I've been reading all I can on the subject of cattle and nutrition. In one of those books, I came across this:<br />
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<blockquote class="tr_bq">I once knew a family with eleven children who lived about forty years ago in an isolated area of Maine before food stamps and convenience foods. They seemed to live most of the year on nothing but home-baked beans and the milk from their cow. They were all magnificently, bloomingly healthy. They obviously knew how to use milk right. p.87 Keeping a Family Cow (rev. ed.) by Joann Sills Grohman (the book was originally published in 1975)</blockquote><br />
I couldn't help but think that perhaps this sort of people could have been studied to great benefit by Dr. Price. Maybe he didn't know about them? Or perhaps because it's just one family, it's not a big enough sample. Anyway, being financially poor is not a prescription for poor health, so long as we eat properly!<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-90701639004682134102011-12-29T20:32:00.000-08:002012-02-26T18:37:56.186-08:00Chapter 16: Primitive Control of Dental Caries<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><i>Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">In the first paragraph of chapter 16 we read:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">We are concerned now with discovering whether the use of foods, which are equivalent in body-building and repairing material to those used by the primitives will, when provided to our affected modernized groups, prevent tooth decay or check it when it is active. p.253</span></blockquote>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">!! What ?? He's now going to tell us if we can stop tooth decay by the food we eat? Yup.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Price has categorized the dietaries of the primitive peoples he studied:</span></div>
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<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Dairy</b> (high Alps Swiss, Arabs, certain Asians)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Animal organs and eggs</b> (North American interior natives, Andean tribes)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Seafood</b> (Islanders, coastal peoples)</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><b>Small animals and insects</b> (Aborigines, African interior tribes)</span></li>
</ol>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Each group he observed used foods from two or more sources, and the sources don't really matter - only the adequacy of the minerals and vitamins present in those sources are important. He writes that we should obviously focus on foods near us, but understands that "It would be fortunate indeed, if our problems were as simple as this statement might indicate." (p.254) He then lists <i>three problems</i> to overcome:</span></div>
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<div>
<ol>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Strength of character and will power to eat what our bodies need rather than the foods that we like.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Sedentary lifestyle of the modern = little energy needs and little hunger.</span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Nutritional content of food.</span></li>
</ol>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>To the first problem</i>, I have no answer... It seems that each of us must struggle with our own character and listen to our own bodies. Perhaps we can find good ways to support one another in this struggle. I am surprised that in 1939 he wrote that 25% of the energy of the North American diet was supplied by sugar. (p.256) As our diet has changed over the past few years, Susan and I have noticed a change how "sweets" taste to us.... they're easier and easier to resist.... but not entirely, yet.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The second problem</i> is an interesting one, and perhaps we live in a time when more people on earth are sedentary than ever before. Each person controls what they do during their day. Bodily movements, while perhaps subtle, are one of the most important aspects of "exercise". While I pity someone with a desk job, I, too have had such jobs in the past and found a simple way to overcome the lack of movement: walking to work and sometimes hiking on weekends.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><i>The third problem</i> is one I am trying to solve in my work. As I work with my animals and plants, I am seeking to improve the soil (and thus the nutrient content of my food) based on what I see working in nature. This relates back to chapter 15 and the quote about wild animals having perfect health. That's what I want to replicate in my farming. That means rebuilding the nutrition of the soil.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Price mentions that drying foods better preserves the vitamin content than canning. While in the past we haven't done a lot of canning, this advice might keep us from investing too much in canning equipment and have me build a solar food dehydrator instead.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">He writes a bit about what he did to improve his patients' diets and seemed to universally recommend </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">butter oil and cod liver oil, a 1/2 teaspoon 3 times per day. He believes that they are more powerful when given together. For certain these are nutrient dense foods, but it seems to me that those who live near the sea did not have dairy, and those who had dairy did not live near the sea. At any rate, it is a reparation formula for nutritionally deficient moderns, not a part of the diet of primitive peoples.</span><br />
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</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">So was his program of nutrition for his patients successful? If one can believe what he writes, it was:</span></div>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">Clinical data demonstrate that by following the program outlined dental caries can be prevented or controlled when active in practically all individuals. This does not require either permission or prescription but it is the inherent right of every individual. p.271 </span></blockquote>
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"> The last part of this quote is the second to last sentence in the chapter, and it speaks to me on several levels. Simply, it is an empowering statement and a radical idea, coming from a man who's living was earned "fixing teeth". Teeth fixers earn they're living from people with bad teeth, not perfect ones. Why was he so eager to have people fix their teeth and prevent dental problems? I think the answer lies in his love of humanity. In all of his writing I feel that he loves the idea of humans living in a natural state and eating natural, local foods - and he recognizes that this possible perfection comes not from commerce, but as an "inherent right."</span><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-39017988704748182162011-12-28T10:00:00.000-08:002012-01-24T20:19:08.690-08:00Beef Horn Broth<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d7fnv22Sxik/TvtXUHrJxpI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/v-HAypR46f8/s1600/fern" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-d7fnv22Sxik/TvtXUHrJxpI/AAAAAAAAAJQ/v-HAypR46f8/s1600/fern" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fern the Highland cow</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUzOUMjPC1k/TvtXWVxGV0I/AAAAAAAAAJg/-JlncifbQb4/s1600/fern+horns" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AUzOUMjPC1k/TvtXWVxGV0I/AAAAAAAAAJg/-JlncifbQb4/s1600/fern+horns" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fern's horns</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--vWYCxzJK8k/TvtXWIvt5yI/AAAAAAAAAJY/UK82aoxg-_A/s1600/fern+horn+broth" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/--vWYCxzJK8k/TvtXWIvt5yI/AAAAAAAAAJY/UK82aoxg-_A/s1600/fern+horn+broth" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Beef Horn Broth</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div style="text-align: left;">So the other day I made a beef horn broth from a Highland cow named Fern. It's taken me a few days to get up the gumption to try it as I had never read or heard of anyone doing this before. I probably added a bit too much water for the amount of horn, so it didn't gel solidly, but nonetheless it gelled nicely. It smelled okay, so I heated up a little in a cup and added some salt. The result was actually very smooth. It wasn't what I was expecting (which was something I was prepared to spit out!). What to do with it now?</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-45273942624233656062011-12-27T20:47:00.003-08:002012-01-11T22:15:21.986-08:00Chapter 15: Characteristics of Primitive & Modernized Dietaries<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</span></i></div></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">As I farm in a permaculture context I look to nature for the prime example of the way plants and animals grow. What this means is that I forget whatever the experts have said and look at what exists in as natural a form as I can find. This is my way of farming - observation. It was also Weston A. Price's way of doing science. Nowadays science has been largely relegated to observations that can be made in a lab, but the vast majority of what exists cannot be studied in a lab. So as Price travelled, he looked at peoples with good health and recorded a bit about what made them healthy. Here he notes a general concept that I have held for a long time:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">As a further approach to our problem, it is important to keep in mind that, in general, the wild animal life has largely escaped many of the degenerative processes which affect modern white peoples. We ascribe this to animals instinct in the matter of food selection. It is possible that man has lost through disuse some of the normal faculty for consciously recognizing body requirements. In others words, the only hunger of which we now are conscious is a hunger for energy to keep us warm and to supply power. In general, we stop eating when an adequate amount of energy has been provided, whether or not the body building and repairing materials have been included in the food. p.230</span></span></blockquote></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">There are many things which differentiate us from the lower animals, but it could be that we have tried to distance ourselves from their world, too much. We all have cravings at one time or another, but rarely do people pay attention to these cravings. A few years ago, Susan was craving salt... not just a little, now, but she was eating handfuls of salt. Unfortunately, we didn't think anything of it at the time and until it was almost too late. Uncontrollable salt cravings may indicate a diagnosis of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Addison_disease" target="_blank">Addison's disease</a>. And so every craving has an underlying reason. That reason may be innocuous, serious, or even life-threatening, as in Susan's case.</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The point here is that moderns are not very good at listening to what their body's tell them. And in some cases they ignore their bodies. I confess that I have often recognized that my body has been telling me that it is tired, but it translates into "hungry"... and I eat something sweet to keep me going on into the night. I should have just stopped what I was doing and gone to sleep. Most of those occasions happened at university while I was studying. The pressures and volume of study required is not good for the human body... so I am glad I gave up that life.</span></span><br />
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</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Here in Chapter 15 price gives a summary of all foods from the groups studied. There are things here that are not in the preceding chapters, so it is worth wading through the repetitive text. This is the goldmine of information that one could use to build their own diet. In fact, I'd say that a person could reasonable skip the whole of the previous chapters and pick up the book at chapter 15 and do pretty well. </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">I was quite surprised to read that Price is complaining about vegetable oil being a big problem, since he published in 1939. I was under the impression that it came into widespread use in the 50s. So I did a little digging and found that cottonseed oil was common at the turn of the century and that Crisco vegetable shortening started selling in 1911. So it's a lot earlier than I had thought. I've been having to dismantle my timeline for processed foods lately and create a new one. I'm actually working on a processed foods timeline that I hope to share at some point. For now, I'll direct the reader <a href="http://www.foodtimeline.org/" target="_blank">here</a> to a massive database of the history of food</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">So what was the reason that vegetable oils, among others, were so commonplace by his time? It has to do with that phrase again: MODERN FOODS OF COMMERCE. And here the key ingredient in transportation. Price lists the foods that are good for transportation: </span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div><ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><ul><li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>white flour</b></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>sugar</b></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>polished rice</b></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>vegetable fats</b></i></span></span></li>
<li><span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white; color: #222222; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><i><b>canned goods</b></i></span></span></li>
</ul></ul></ul></ul></ul></ul></ul><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Today, our transportation system is vastly quicker than it was in Price's time and we can get fresh salad greens all over the continent from southern California in a matter of days. If I wanted to, I could sell the organs from my pigs to someone who lived in Maine. And yet it seems we are left with the legacy of the development of our food system and even more boxed, bagged and canned food than ever.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">He mentions it merely in passing, but it is clear to Price that vegetarian or vegan diets are not an option for those interested in optimal health:</span></span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">As yet I have not found a single group of primitive racial stock which was building and maintaining excellent bodies by living entirely on plant foods. I have found in many parts of the world most devout representatives of modern ethical systems advocating the restriction of foods to the vegetable products. In every instance where the groups involved had been long under this teaching, I found evidence of degeneration in the form of dental caries, and in the new generation in the form of abnormal dental arches to an extent very much higher than in the primitive groups who were not under this influence. p.250</span></span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The last sentence of the chapter was inspiring at first: </span></span></div><div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The space of the entire book might be used for discussing the nutritional wisdom of the various primitive races. It is a pity that so much of their wisdom has been lost through lack of appreciation by the whites who early made contact with them. p.252</span></blockquote></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">But then a sort of aggravation came over me. I got to thinking, "Why didn't you write that book, then?" Or why didn't somebody... And is it even possible to every get this knowledge back?</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;"><br />
</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif;">One of the most common complaints I hear about this kind of diet from people with whom I share these ideas is "It'll be so much work to even find these foods. If you can even find them." And I haven't had a ready answer for them, until now. Price writes that "The primitives have obtained, often with great difficulty, foods that are scarce but rich in certain elements." (p.231) So it is not unreasonable that we too should work hard to find foods to nourish our bodies? Humans cannot live in unmitigated convenience. So back to the farm work it is then...</span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-21272505503020046892011-12-12T12:24:00.001-08:002012-01-24T20:19:18.684-08:00A video that's helpful...This here video is funny and close to how we think... we're not paleos, but much of the thinking is the same... one major difference is that dairy and grains are good for us, contrary to paleo diet - with the caveat that dairy must not be heat treated and grains must be fermented. Anyway... I thought the video was cute, so I wanted to share it...<br />
<br />
<iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/uCFZoqmKf5M?rel=0" width="420"></iframe><br />
<br />
I like the way Paelos think... at least they're trying to understand what humans were meant to eat. God provided all we need in relatively simple forms.<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-10325374396476187032011-12-09T21:59:00.000-08:002012-01-11T22:15:21.987-08:00Chapter 14: Isolated and Modernized Peruvian Indians<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</span></i></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Again, Price reminds the reader of the plight of the natives he is studying - and with clear disdain for the white perpetrators. Do these look like healthy people? I think the average contemporary North American would have no ability to discern. If we are to regain our health, we must be able to discern good health from poor health.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOCB_jZJMYtgr9xNgs4eUkwqFUWqGUqCGENppkkUgO45m1uxDvpjRQKIUIhyphenhypheninedfIz9Ux_SITOYImxhwxBuWu6KtYuMJrUmVtV2v4knthwdw7eDeLltUHWXrbdRc6A-sQ31hwA/s1600/Fig.88.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEirOCB_jZJMYtgr9xNgs4eUkwqFUWqGUqCGENppkkUgO45m1uxDvpjRQKIUIhyphenhypheninedfIz9Ux_SITOYImxhwxBuWu6KtYuMJrUmVtV2v4knthwdw7eDeLltUHWXrbdRc6A-sQ31hwA/s1600/Fig.88.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Times New Roman', Georgia, Times; font-size: small;"><table border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" style="width: 325px;"><caption align="bottom"><span style="font-family: Arial, Helvetica, Geneva, Swiss, SunSans-Regular; font-size: x-small;">FIG. 88. The modernization of the Sierra Indians through the introduction of <u>foods of modern commerce</u> has produced a sad wreckage in physique and often character. The boy at the upper left is a mouth breather because his nostrils are too small to carry sufficient air. The girl at the upper right has a badly underdeveloped chin and pinched nostrils. Both boys below have badly narrowed arches with crowding teeth. (my underlining)</span></caption><tbody>
<tr></tr>
</tbody></table></span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">Of an Amazon tribe he writes, "In the entire group associated with this chief I did not find a single tooth that had been attacked by dental caries." (p.224) That would be 0%! I'm not one for sarcasm, but that seems to be all that comes to mind...</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><b>My, those poor, uncivilized, naive, backwards barbarians - perhaps we should go down and help them modernize so they too can enjoy all the benefits that we do!</b></span></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">The native foods of the Amazon Jungle Indians as Price records were: fish, animals, birds, water fowl, eggs, plants and fruits... nothing special listed here... and no details... but there's probably not much that modern folks would recognize as "food".</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">So I'm trying to get my head around what should be recognized as healthy and what should be recognized as food. When we look at the cupboard or fridge and declare: "There's nothing to eat!" what is going on? Why is it that at times like that it has to be instant snack food or it feels like we might die? Or is it that we're tired? Or overhungry? Or undernourished? </span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">At any rate, how do we get past those moments? Perhaps we should prepare some healthy snacks ahead of time? Or perhaps develop more will power? Or maybe it has something to do with eating proper meals on time each and every day?</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-41068842246962385402011-12-07T12:09:00.002-08:002012-01-11T22:15:21.987-08:00Chapter 13: Ancient Civilizations of Peru<div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</span></i></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWexnKosdTJwpPWrWvb-S2D7K261v3tRgevSoBkyUQwl1pGxNBTUCkX1WNP8DBQqUgTrX3STj7UD3rUw9LQV4TI_FwoaBvzxjxRKkKqOgqyvxGRPfpsjjOpYsJNK6OBVZzX6Jkw/s1600/4266384071_7446c25c8d.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhkWexnKosdTJwpPWrWvb-S2D7K261v3tRgevSoBkyUQwl1pGxNBTUCkX1WNP8DBQqUgTrX3STj7UD3rUw9LQV4TI_FwoaBvzxjxRKkKqOgqyvxGRPfpsjjOpYsJNK6OBVZzX6Jkw/s320/4266384071_7446c25c8d.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">photo by alex.val</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">How did Weston A. Price's mind work? It seems he wasn't just an average fellow. When he looked at Maccu Piccu, he knew that it "probably represents the highest development of engineering, ancient and in some respects modern, on the American continent." (p.209) But he wasn't content with that observation - indeed, anyone might readily see this - but Price wanted to know what kind of people were capable of making this place. That is what drives him - he wants to know how great peoples are great, from a health standpoint. He wants to know what sort of human beings were strong enough and healthy enough to make Maccu Piccu.</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUxUfomD-pqukuxumpmN80qfkHBGgBn1JzNb_-rMn4TuM6UFSCK2PVzB92lg7j6fvKIz2pq49N1h04rF9xU4-lU5pkg-KojtgsWlAoZZfeYYa0TEyKrh5ONWR5aa9C_Fess02AQ/s1600/Fig.83.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="248" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgxUxUfomD-pqukuxumpmN80qfkHBGgBn1JzNb_-rMn4TuM6UFSCK2PVzB92lg7j6fvKIz2pq49N1h04rF9xU4-lU5pkg-KojtgsWlAoZZfeYYa0TEyKrh5ONWR5aa9C_Fess02AQ/s320/Fig.83.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Figure 83</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">Figure 83 (p.212) shows a perfect arch in an ancient skull. The 3rd molars (wisdom teeth) are formed perfectly and nothing is out of place. There's hardly a North American today that can say the same! Price asks the reader to look at the "broad sweep of the dental arches and freedom from tooth decay." (p.213)</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">I don't remember the history of my teeth and don't have a comprehensive record, but I do know that I have had many trips to dentists and many fillings. As for wisdom teeth, I must have had two pulled on the bottom, as I have 16 teeth on my top and only 14 on the bottom. Susan had all of her wisdom teeth pulled (surgically extracted). They just looked at the x-ray and told her parents that there was no room for them to come in - so they were pulled before they even broke through the gum line. The same for her friends.</span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjy2-qAN11ogs4FBiGapyK7BJ4EENRNQAjZsrRGxOyq0wV1H4gQ2YOhHn0deJiDPwvKLq77M5wfuK4PK4sZ2DUaWZcgFykhfJ9l2U_XZawXpJT9E9C8bukCibOSBW6eRtozngR7g/s1600/Photo+on+2011-12-07+at+11.51+%25233.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjy2-qAN11ogs4FBiGapyK7BJ4EENRNQAjZsrRGxOyq0wV1H4gQ2YOhHn0deJiDPwvKLq77M5wfuK4PK4sZ2DUaWZcgFykhfJ9l2U_XZawXpJT9E9C8bukCibOSBW6eRtozngR7g/s320/Photo+on+2011-12-07+at+11.51+%25233.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">my teeth</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">My dental arch is poorly formed and my teeth have always been crowded. As you can see from this photo, my 3rd teeth top & bottom, left & right are all sticking out and too long. When I was young, I had the nickname of "Dracula" because my canines stuck out even when my lips were closed. Also, you can see a gap between my upper and lower front teeth - even though my jaw is clenched shut. And this is after having had an appliance in for several months when I was about 12. Part of the problem has been my enlarged tongue, which continually pushes those teeth apart, but it is clear that there were other problems in the development of my arches.</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">According to Price, the ancient Peruvians ate seafood, plant food, llama, alpaca, guinea pigs, potatoes, corn, beans and quinoa. Sounds pretty good to me!</span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-51882267056221411502011-11-22T18:31:00.002-08:002012-01-11T22:15:21.987-08:00Chapter 12: Isolated and Modernized New Zealand Maori<i style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 18px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</span></i><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">The Maori are being described here as the most perfect people. We are told that a previous researcher found 1.2% of the population had dental caries, which Price calculated to be 0.05% of teeth. Wow.</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span><br />
<span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif; line-height: 18px;">"The breakdown of these people comes when the depart from their native foods to the foods of modern civilization, foods largely consisting of white flour, sweetened goods, syrup and canned goods. The effect is similar to that experienced by other races after using foods of modern civilization." (p.188) This quote could be from any of the previous chapters as well. It is such a pattern that has become apparent. As is the result produced from this change: "Particularly striking is the similarity between the deformities of the dental arches which occur in the Maori people who were born after their parents adopted the modern foods, and those of whites." (p.189)</span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;"><br />
</span></span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">As I looked at figure 72, I thought I could have been looking in the mirror. It started me thinking... just what foods did I eat when I was younger? How has what I've eaten changed over the years? For me, it is part of a larger question: Do I have a culture? I ask that question here because our food comes out of our culture... and if we don't identify with a culture, how do we identify with a food tradition? Or do we even have one?</span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #222222; font-family: Arial, Tahoma, Helvetica, FreeSans, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 18px;">In the last chapter, I noted the connection that Price had discovered between commerce and health. It seems it became a fundamental part of his thinking as he continues to use the term. In the caption to figure 74 he writes, "It is much easier for the moderns to exchange their labor for the palate-tickling devitalized <u>foods of commerce</u> than to obtain the native foods of land and sea." (p.190, my underlining) This is an observation so far removed from contemporary society that it is almost incomprehensible at best and wrong at worst. Most people don't think of trading their labor for anything, but in reality, that's what pay is. So what should we trade our labor for? What would it have been better for the Maori to trade for?</span></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-37434490037763616062011-11-18T08:37:00.000-08:002012-01-11T22:15:21.987-08:00Chapter 11: Isolated and Modernized Torres Strait Islanders<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</span></i><br />
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<div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #bf9000; font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; font-size: x-large;"><b style="background-color: #f4cccc;">MODERN FOODS OF COMMERCE</b></span><br />
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<div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">This headline is a phrase that stuck out for me in this chapter - more than a phrase it seems it has become a mantra... It might need a bit of work to fully understand it, though. By modern, it is meant that the traditional ways of the ancestors have been ignored in favor of processes developed for mass production. Food is an interesting label to apply to these items... they might better be referred to as poisons. And commerce, which we think we know... is so pervasive now that to the vast majority of people it seems to be the only way to exist. Commerce is the buying and selling of goods - it is not an exchange of goods of equal value, but an invention of the rich and powerful to make themselves richer and more powerful. Commerce is what the U.S. Congress regulates - and yet everywhere commerce has usurped individual rights and made many dependent upon handouts. In short, this phrase, "modern foods of commerce", has a deep, dark meaning that Weston A. Price discovered.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Throughout the book, the photographic evidence of the effects of these poisons is presented. What struck me in this chapter, was the captions that went with those proofs. Figure 65 has this caption:</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The contrast between the primitive and modernized natives in facial and dental arch form is as striking here as elsewhere. These young natives were born to parents who had adopted our <u>modern foods of commerce</u>. Note the narrowed faces and dental arches with pinched nostrils and crowding of the teeth. Their magnificent heredity could not protect them. p.176 (my underlining)</span></blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij86WIw5bTqslYI1CyZh_Oh_f_npeAOkZIGFjuAeKXGoKSqozEXE-Jt2ZL72SAaEBYW10AtXEbzoi2D2l-TDNziPN0_NkHyhjrmp_8yS3dSNr3dW9UucL_vpAd-6oudhA0Wb2QEQ/s1600/Fig.62.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEij86WIw5bTqslYI1CyZh_Oh_f_npeAOkZIGFjuAeKXGoKSqozEXE-Jt2ZL72SAaEBYW10AtXEbzoi2D2l-TDNziPN0_NkHyhjrmp_8yS3dSNr3dW9UucL_vpAd-6oudhA0Wb2QEQ/s1600/Fig.62.jpg" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">And figure 62 shows a group of native school children contrasted with white school children on Thursday Island:</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Note the beautifully proportioned faces of the natives, and the pinched nostrils and marked disturbance in proportions of the faces of the whites. The dental arches of the natives are broad, while many of the whites have very crowded teeth. The parents and children of the natives used native foods while the parents and children of the whites used the <u>modern imported foods of commerce</u>. p.171 (my underlining)</span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It seems to me that it is as if the captions for this chapter could have constituted the meaning of the whole chapter, apart from the statistics. The caption for figure 67 reads:</span></div><blockquote class="tr_bq" style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">As everywhere these whites prefer the modernized foods and pay the penalty in rampant tooth decay. They are in pathetic contrast with the superb unspoiled natives. They are within reach of some of the best foods to be found anywhere in the world and yet do not use them; a typical characteristic of modern whites. p.178</span></blockquote><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It is as if there are no breaks between the chapters, such similar information, data, evidence, and conclusions are found. Chapter 11 aptly follows chapter 10, as Price continues his connection with modern foods and tooth decay: "The result of our examination indicates that dental caries on these islands shows an incidence which has an apparent direct relationship to the length of time government stores have been established there."(p.169) So why don't the natives just not buy food from these government stores? They were forced to buy food there.</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Now it is true that they were not forced to eat the food they purchased at the government stores, but who buys food in order to let it go to waste? No, these people were forced by the government system to use their labor and resources to trade for credit at the government stores for the government supplied food - even though the people had all the food they needed around them. Modern governments are little more than complex businesses which seek to oppress their people under the guise of helping them. But it was always thus... rare indeed has been the leader who cared about the commoner. One of the differences in our day is that the commoners have little desire to be unenslaved. They are content with entertainment and chemical dependencies to see them through. It is true that most people have had a huge shift in their standard of living... but at what cost to their freedom?</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: left;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Times, 'Times New Roman', serif;">In speaking of a particular island (Murray Island), Price writes that "the natives of this island are conscious of the superior food of their locality and wish that their people were not required to purchase food from the government store." (p.173) How many of us could look at our surroundings and be able to wish the same?</span></div></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-20453514195251301472011-11-17T18:05:00.000-08:002012-01-11T22:15:21.988-08:00Chapter 10: Isolated and Modernized Australian Aborigines<i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</span></i><br />
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Weston A. Price began his world travels for this project in 1931, so I have gathered - the present chapter is his reflections from a trip he took to eastern Australia, Figi, Samoa and New Zealand in 1936. He compared inland populations to coastal populations and found that even though the foods they were consuming were different, the results were the same.<br />
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On the first page, Price describes needing to study children between 10 and 16 because "the deciduous dentition or first set of teeth may be in normal position in the arches with a correct relationship between the arches, and the permanent dentition show marked irregularity." (p.146) This was one of those "of course!" moments for me where something I've felt before has been put into words by someone else. Most babies look at least moderately healthy (of course many don't look healthy at all here in the U.S.), but almost all adults have poor teeth and are sick in some way. There's so much available to us at birth and in those first years of life that sustains us through even poor nutrition for a few years, but then later on, if it's not corrected, serious problems erupt.<br />
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It is always striking that the same patterns of deformity and degeneration manifest throughout the world, regardless of race or location:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq"><blockquote class="tr_bq">One of the most important phases of our special quest was to get information that would throw light on the degeneration of the facial pattern that occurs so often in our modern civilization. This has its expression in the narrowing and lengthening of the face and the development of crooked teeth. It is most remarkable and should be one of the most challenging facts that can come to our modern civilization that such primitive races as the Aborigines of Australia, have reproduced for generation after generation through many centuries-no one knows for how many thousands of years-without the development of a conspicuous number of irregularities of the dental arches. Yet, in the next generation after these people adopt the foods of the white man, a large percentage of the children developed irregularities of the dental arches with conspicuous facial deformities. The deformity patterns are similar to those seen in white civilizations. p.155</blockquote></blockquote>It is difficult to believe that less than a hundred years ago white people thought it okay to put other races in small plots of land and limit what those people were allowed to eat. It happened in Canada and the United States with the first nations, and then later with the Japanese during World War II. It also happened in Australia:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">One can scarcely visualize, without observing it, the distress of a group of primitive people situated as these people are, compelled to live in a very restricted area, forced to live on food provided by the government, while they are conscious that if they could return to their normal habits of life they would regain their health and again enjoy life. p.160</blockquote>He continues with his assessment of their situation two pages later:<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">The rapid degeneration of the Australian Aborigines after the adoption of the government's modern foods provides a demonstration that should be infinitely more convincing than animal experimentation. It should be a matter not only of concern but deep alarm that human beings can degenerate physically so rapidly by the use of a certain type of nutrition, particularly the dietary products used so generally by modern civilization. p.162</blockquote>It concerns me even now... or most especially now, as my reading of this book is to improve my family's health. I find myself to be unable to be fixed. That is to say, I have medical issues which are the result of poor prenatal nutrition and poor nutrition during my youngest years. In short, I cannot do anything about these problems because their cause prohibits a remedy. So we are starting to learn while our children may not end up being perfect, they will absolutely enjoy better health than their parents - because of better nutrition.<br />
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Price ends this chapter obviously deeply saddened by what he has seen happen to the Aborigines, writing "They demonstrate in a tragic way the inadequacy of the white man's dietary programs." (p.166) I found my own diet to be inadequate and I still struggle with its inadequacy... constantly making corrections and finding that the old cravings are hard to deal with... One of the common threads between all the peoples Price studied is their isolation. What does that mean for my family in 2011?<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-13372786418529020172011-08-27T01:08:00.001-07:002012-01-16T11:30:07.590-08:00한이 무엇인가?내가 볼 때는...<br />
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한이 그리움</div>
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한이 행복</div>
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한이 섭섭함</div>
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한이 말하고 싶은데 말을 못함</div>
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한이 가고싶어도 못 감</div>
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한이 후회</div>
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한이 희망이며 기대</div>
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한이 아쉬움</div>
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한이 슬픔</div>
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한이 아름다움</div>
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한이 이런 것들 외에도 한이 있다.</div>
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잘 살펴보면 한이 인강의 처지다.<br />
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위태산</div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-11996400152102370462011-08-20T17:24:00.000-07:002012-01-24T20:20:02.446-08:00"Grass Fed" is not sufficientI have not found reference to this anywhere, so I want to post this for the world to know: grass is not enough for ruminant animals. These days we see reference to grass fed beef, grass fed pork... and so on. While that is definitely an improvement over feedlot or factory conditions, it is not sufficient to supply the full range of nutrition for animals. There needs to be a mixture of forest, swamp, meadow, and riparian areas to provide the full range of nutrition for cows, sheep, pigs, etc. Animals, like humans, are very resilient. Human beings can exist on Oreo cookies and pasteurized milk with some mac and cheese thrown in... likewise, animals can exist on crappy rations and artificial light and come out looking like meat - but the nutrition isn't there.<br />
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Have you ever heard or experienced that grass fed beef (or whatever) is lean and a bit tougher than feedlot beef? Well, that's not a good thing. It's because the animal didn't have the best nutrition.<br />
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I'm not saying that grass fed is a gimmick, but ultimately people desire good tasting, well developed, easy to chew meat. And generally speaking, grass fed cannot provide that. Ever had wild venison or elk? You'll know what I'm talking about.<br />
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Grass is not enough.<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-74412171059104741852011-07-12T13:46:00.004-07:002012-01-11T22:15:21.988-08:00Chapter 9: Isolated and Modernized African Tribes<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; line-height: 24px;"><i></i></span><br />
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<i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span><br />
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</i></span></div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">I have noted previously Price's respect for the native peoples he has encountered. This is again apparent in these next few chapters as he describes the wisdom of these (otherwise known as primitive) peoples. In 1935 he travelled through central Africa, looking at the teeth and general health of primitive peoples and compared it with those who had modernized and who were foreigners. That he understands the plight of the African people and evil of slavery is apparent as he makes this astute and careful observation:</span></span><i></i><br />
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<i><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">While slavery of the old form no longer exists in the so-called civilized countries, in its new form it is a most tragic reality for many of the people. Taxes and the new order of living make many demands.... This naturally has produced a current of acute unrest and a chafing under foreign domination...</span></span></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></i></blockquote></i></div></div></i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"><i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><blockquote><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The native African is not only chafing under the taxation by foreign overlords, but is conscious that his race becomes blighted when met by our modern civilization. I found them well aware of the fact that those of their tribes who had adopted European methods of living and foods not only developed rampant tooth decay, but other degenerative processes. p.142-144</span></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote></div></div></div></div></div></div></span></div></blockquote></div></i></span></span></div></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><blockquote><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"></div></blockquote></div></i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;">Early on in this chapter he states an important finding:</span></span><br />
<blockquote><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If any one impression of our experiences were to be selected as particularly vivid, it would be the contrast between the health and ruggedness of the primitives in general and that of the foreigners who have entered their country. That their superior ruggedness was not racial became evident when through contact with modern civilizations degenerative processes developed. Very few of the many Europeans with whom we came in contact had lived in central Africa for as much as two years without serious illness or distinct evidence of physical stress. That the cause was not the severity of the climate, but something related to the methods of living, was soon apparent. p.118</span></div></div></blockquote>So what are the methods of living that bring health? What are the methods of living that bring disease? <i></i><br />
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<i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><i></i><br />
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<i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; display: inline !important; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;">He begins to answer the question when he notes that the native peoples of Africa had immunity to the diseases that were rampant around them, but not to degenerative processes. Those degenerative processes were noted in those who had modernized their diets, but not in those on traditional diets.</div></div></i></div></i><br />
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It is telling to note Price's observation of the husbandry methods of the Masai. He was clear that, unlike American dairymen who select dairy cows on the basis of the quantity of milk, the Masai select based on the quality of the milk. Bigger and more is better for economic gain, perhaps, but certainly not for wellbeing. And to those who might say that we need quantity in order to feed everyone, I would answer that if the quality were better, not so much food would be required to meet nutritional needs.<br />
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This quote reveals the stark contrast in what he saw as the differences between those who ate traditional diets and those who were on white man's foods:<br />
<blockquote><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><i>Native Hotel Staff at Goma, Belgian Congo.</i> This group consisted of the inside and outside servants of a tourist hotel on Lake Kivu. </span></div><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">An examination of 320 teeth of ten individuals revealed twenty teeth with caries, or 6.3 per cent. It is significant that all of these carious teeth were in the mouth of one individual, the cook. The others all boarded themselves and lived on native diets. The cook used European foods. p.133</span></div></div></div></blockquote>By this point in his travels, Price has begun to see patterns with the use of modern foods. Here is one:<br />
<blockquote><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">While the primitive racial stocks of Africa developed normal facial and dental arch forms when on their native foods, several characteristic types of deformity developed in children of the modernized groups. One of the simplest forms, and one which corresponds with a very common deformity pattern in the United States, involves the dropping inward of the laterals with narrowing of the upper arch making the incisors appear abnormally prominent and crowding the cuspids outside the line of the arch. p.136-137</span></div></div></blockquote><br />
This describes my mouth precisely. Often others have referred to my teeth as 'Dracula teeth' as my cuspids (canines) stick out so much from crowding. It was embarrassing in the past, but now I know the reason for it. No one ever told me it was because of nutritional deficiency. I suspect many people would even deny it was so; they'd say it was just a random genetic anomaly and nothing could be done about it. Well, <i>post facto</i> there is nothing that can be done, except try to remove wisdom teeth and then try and realign the whole of the teeth (whilst they later on get loose), but there is much that can be done to prevent these abnormalities. Although, thinking about it now, it's likely that these former abnormalities are the new normal - but we mustn't forget that it isn't the way our bodies were designed. We were designed perfectly and given all the tools we need to maintain that perfection.<br />
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Price beings to close his chapter on Africa by speaking about wisdom and food. In our modern society, wisdom is not something that is considered applicable to food. Food is thought of as sustenance, perhaps something to enjoy, and everyone <i>knows </i>it's best to eat a 'balanced diet'. But in the past, our ancestors did not have the health problems that we have today. Sure, they didn't have the same standard of living, and perhaps they died younger - but they enjoyed good health. I shall contemplate on this paragraph for some time to come:<br />
<blockquote><div style="display: inline !important; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><div style="display: inline !important;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">In my studies of these several racial stocks I find that it is not accident but accumulated wisdom regarding foods that lies behind their physical excellence and freedom from our modern degenerative processes, and, further, that on various sides of our world the primitive people know many of the things that are essential for life―things that our modern civilizations apparently do not know. These are the fundamental truths of life that have put them in harmony with Nature through obeying her nutritional laws. Whence this wisdom? Was there in the distant past a world civilization that was better attuned to Nature's laws and have these remnants retained that knowledge? If this is not the explanation, it must be that these various primitive racial stocks have been able through a superior skill in interpreting cause and effect, to determine for themselves what foods in their environment are best for producing human bodies with a maximum of physical fitness and resistance to degeneration. p.145</span></div></div></blockquote><br />
And in what seems to be his characteristic style, Price goes from such eloquent philosophizing straight back to percentages and ends the chapter telling us that the spacing of children was achieved through plural marriage. This is certainly not one of those books that has been so heavily edited that you can read the first and last chapter of each chapter and get the entire book. There's weeding through detailed statistics to find the nuggets of commentary. But then, it is those statistics which brought Weston Price to his commentary.<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-89109659716222205592011-06-27T23:32:00.000-07:002012-01-11T22:15:21.988-08:00Chapter 8: Primitive and Modernized Polynesians<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i></i></span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: medium;"><i><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span></div><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i><br />
</i></span></div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;">From page 105:</span><div style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 0px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 0px; border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; line-height: normal;"><br />
<div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">A trader ship was in port exchanging white flour and sugar for their copra.</span></div><div><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">They have largely ceased to depend on the sea for food.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">Tooth decay was rampant.</span></div><div style="text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div>All the Pacific islands that Price visited in this chapter could be considered paradises for their climates and available food. And yet the inhabitants were duped into trading something healthy and valuable (copra) for something worthless and poisonous (white flour and sugar).</div><div><br />
</div><div>The chapter is basically the same story of trader ships bringing disease and tooth decay wherever they stopped throughout the Pacific islands. The chapter ends with this:</div><div><br />
</div><blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The incidence of tooth decay varied from 0.6 percent for the most isolated groups to 33.4 percent for the modernized groups. Those individuals living in their native environment on their native foods have universally normal facial and dental arch form reproducing the characteristics of the race. Those living on the normal environment except for using the imported foods of white flour, sugar, sugar products, syrup, polished rice, and the like, have in the succeeding generations marked changed in facial and dental arch forms. p.116</span></blockquote><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">What this says to me is that in order to fulfill genetic potential, that is to make use of all of the appropriate possibilities provided for us by our genetic makeup, nutrition must be perfect. (Assuming no poisoning has taken place.)</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;"><br />
</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">----------------</div><div style="margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px;">Lately, we have been trying to eat less and less and less refined foods, but it is so very hard in this society. Anywhere we travel, the food that is available is practically all refined. And at home as we eat, we're still drawn to the quick and easy. Potato chips are the latest craze in our home. I hate potato chips, but we've been eating a lot of them. At the same time, we have all the produce from the garden available to us, as well as flours from our grain mill and our pastured pork chicken and eggs - oh and our friends' raw goat milk. So my question is... we know what foods poison us, and cause us to be undernourished, and yet the draw is so strong. We've cut back on sugar to a great extent: any recipe is automatically cut by 50% and it tastes great to us. But what to do for the rest of that 50%? We eat a lot of honey - and some malted grains, which helps a lot, but coming up with recipes which don't use sugar is sometimes difficult. Our current dilemma is mousse. By definition it needs the sugar... maybe honey could work? Should we try it, or abandon all hope? </div></div></div></i></span><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-11108933460492578632011-06-13T11:38:00.003-07:002011-06-13T11:38:03.309-07:00What do I know?!In my last post I wrote that Piggy-Pooh's club hoof would never be normal. Hah! Silly me. I have to look hard out there to see which piglet she is! She's 100% healed. The scar on her back leg - there's no sign of it. Her club foot - has straightened out. She's as happy as a pig in mud!<div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-63489752703046853182011-05-27T10:21:00.003-07:002011-07-16T08:42:49.496-07:00A new addition to our family!This past Saturday, our main sow, Clover, had her first litter. 10 piglets, 9 of which are flawless, and one which got injured somehow before we got there, so we took it home for a few nights... it's now back with mama and doing fine, although it has a club foot, so it'll never be normal.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRqkLVceAcbHs7M5B4zhpo46TGZk1d9GYiAhZh1w8-eduZB5PqE0dIRMwRTSf23njoE6oEhHGQ18Rsfn2yxQ0wLvTgTqAJyeE8dUzAIwcehiDrw2hyphenhyphenkP7WSWIp8Leug8R7K31Sw/s1600/IMG_0005.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFRqkLVceAcbHs7M5B4zhpo46TGZk1d9GYiAhZh1w8-eduZB5PqE0dIRMwRTSf23njoE6oEhHGQ18Rsfn2yxQ0wLvTgTqAJyeE8dUzAIwcehiDrw2hyphenhyphenkP7WSWIp8Leug8R7K31Sw/s320/IMG_0005.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Piggy Pooh at the infirmary</td></tr>
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<div>Clover decided to give birth under a large Douglas Fir just out in the field... since the pigs don't really have any other shelter at the moment other than the trees. But those trees are so massive that they provide excellent rain protection and all is well with all the piggies. Here's a photo from the day of with mother and babies doing well about 6 hours after birth:</div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBh67ofAWYtgTfD6hFVz4c3INGu817W6qyaSGBLX2dB5gg7ZIBBTsYgdwq09Gc4HzlTXrZJgP3H4fdRwwrCTnO_Facrw9VgmO8AfMAY1uLqZ6mjYhQ7iqa1EHv2f8Lq2q2QtS9A/s1600/IMG_0035.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgGBh67ofAWYtgTfD6hFVz4c3INGu817W6qyaSGBLX2dB5gg7ZIBBTsYgdwq09Gc4HzlTXrZJgP3H4fdRwwrCTnO_Facrw9VgmO8AfMAY1uLqZ6mjYhQ7iqa1EHv2f8Lq2q2QtS9A/s320/IMG_0035.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Clover my Tamworth sow</td></tr>
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</div><div>Check out videos at <a href="http://www.farmergord.com/pigs">www.farmergord.com/pigs</a></div><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-22702406.post-39932234388988805942011-05-15T14:43:00.002-07:002012-01-11T22:15:21.988-08:00Chapter 7: Primitive and Modernized Melanesians<span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-border-horizontal-spacing: 2px; -webkit-border-vertical-spacing: 2px; border-collapse: collapse; color: #333333; font-family: 'trebuchet ms', verdana, arial, sans-serif; font-size: 15px; line-height: 18px;"><i>Continuing my review of Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price...</i></span><br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">If the causative factors for the physical degeneration of mankind are practically the same everywhere, it should be possible to find a common cause operating, regardless of climate, race or environment. p.94</span></blockquote>This quote from the first page of Chapter 7 struck me somehow. This chapter is not much different from the previous ones, in that Price finds a group of isolated people and finds them to be in exemplary health. And the closer to the white man he finds people, the more tooth decay and poor health in general he finds. But he is now starting to make a generalization and see the pattern in his own work.<br />
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Everywhere the white man's processed food of white flour and sugar go, disease and poor health follow in a proportionate measure.<br />
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In this chapter we have primitive diet = 0.42% tooth decay, modern diet = 30.1% tooth decay.<br />
<blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;">The change in nutrition included a marked reduction in the native foods and their displacement with white flour products, sugar and sweetened goods, canned foods and polished rice. In the succeeding generations after the parents had adopted the modern foods, there occurred distinct change in facial form and shape of the dental arches. p.104</span></blockquote><br />
Last night I ate a piece of carrot cake that was from a grocery store. I enjoyed supper and was thankful for the feeling in my stomach - I felt satisfied. But when I ate that cake I was almost sick. How can I learn to say "no thank you"? The host made an interesting comment to this effect: I don't know of any cake that's healthy. Well, I think I can come up with one, but it involves sourdough and no sugar. We've been enjoying applesauce cake lately that is made with pretty much only sourdough and applesauce. It's delicious and sweet and there's no sugar in it! It's not that difficult once you know what is needed and have a bit of a system going.<br />
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And if I haven't made the comment before, let me make it now: freshly ground flour is not healthy. Freshly ground flour is only good if it has been soaked and sourdough is the easiest way I know to do this.<br />
<blockquote></blockquote><div class="blogger-post-footer">We are striving to be simple Christians.</div>Gordhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/16048974985405689777noreply@blogger.com0