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Resurrecting Native American Diets
RalfLott
Posts: 5,036 Member
Here's another fascinating podcast from Gastropod:
https://gastropod.com/what-is-native-american-cuisine/
https://gastropod.com/what-is-native-american-cuisine/
Most of us couldn't name a single Native American dish from any one the vast network of tribes, cultures, and cuisines that spread across the U.S. before Europeans arrived. Today, farmers, activists, and chefs are trying to change that. They're bringing back Native foods—not just to teach all Americans about the indigenous foods of their country, but to improve the lives of Native Americans themselves, who suffer from some of the highest levels of debilitating and often deadly diet-related diseases. Can a return to a Native diet help?
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Dr Mark Hyman said that one of the tribes he worked with called their tendency to be overweight "comod bod" because it was from eating the commodities given them by the government- white sugar, white flour and shortening. These replaced their traditional foods and now they have an even higher rate of diabetes and obesity than the general population.3
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I think the podcast said some tribes can expect 1 out of 2 kids to develop diabetes.
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It's the same crap that gets shipped to 'developing' nations who have food shortages. Straight up processed starch carbs.3
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Again, I just would comment that without incorporating the more...unconventional aspects of their dietary intake, we're unlike to gain anything from going at this plan halfway. You're in or you're out. Having the worst of both sides really isn't a fab idea...0
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Even traditional native foods were pretty carb heavy weren't they? The "three sisters" of agriculture (corn, squash, beans) is well-known for a reason.0
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The only common thread in all Native American trad foods is that they were minimally processed (I am thinking corn with slaked lime). Some tribes were hunter-gatherer, others were agriculturalists.2
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Even traditional native foods were pretty carb heavy weren't they? The "three sisters" of agriculture (corn, squash, beans) is well-known for a reason.
Depends on what tribes you are thinking of. Up here, Canada, We had the Inuit who were carnivores, the plains tribes (basically carnivores), the tribes around the great lakes (paleo largely carnivores) and the groups on the coasts (meat heavy with lots of fish). We had no farmers at all as far as I know.
I remember reading somewhere about the first impressions of the natives when the Europeans first landed. Apparently they were very tall, lean and healthy people. Quite a bit bigger than the Europeans. Intimidating.... That changed - a lot.6 -
Yeah, @nvmomketo I was thinking in terms of the whole of N. America down to Central America. Warmer places had more ag. There was actually quite a bit of plant food involved in traditional western province diets. fnha.ca/Documents/Traditional_Food_Fact_Sheets.pdf1
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I surprised my husband on more than one occasion with foraged dinner recipes while camping. A favorite of mine is fireweed bud salad. It's very easy to collect enough when you are hiking near an old burn.3
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canadjineh wrote: »Yeah, @nvmomketo I was thinking in terms of the whole of N. America down to Central America. Warmer places had more ag. There was actually quite a bit of plant food involved in traditional western province diets. fnha.ca/Documents/Traditional_Food_Fact_Sheets.pdf
Interesting link. Thanks.
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I think we also have to remember the energy expended on collecting and hunting for their food. They couldn't drive to the grocery store. It took a lot of calorie expenditure to eat. The diabetes statistic is kind of skewed also because of heavy alcohol use on reservations now. But just the same ..it's like any other culture that immigrates here. The fast food nation is a novelty to those who haven't had easy access so first generation provide it for their children in excess and they become obese. It's a cycle.4
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I think a return to ANY traditional diet of ANY culture would be beneficial. The common thread to all traditional diets regardless of origin is that by virtue of history, they would be minimally processed, not infused with chemically altered sugar or any other synthetic products. Win. Fast food and chemically altered food seems to be a novelty to almost everyone either because its convenient, cheap or addictive.1
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My native diet would be mainly fish and red meat, potatoes and carrots for dinner, spices: salt and pepper. Tuesdays pea soup and pancakes with blueberry jam, Saturdays: rice porridge with sugar, cinnamon and a dollop of butter, Sunday: dessert: rice pudding (leftovers from Saturday) and usually chops/ham/beef with potatoes and carrots for dinner. Sunday dinner was always special, and once every few months we would have chocolate pudding with custard.
Lunch: open sandwiches made of home made bread with liver pate/cold meats/cheese, milk and a piece of fruit.
Drinks: water, milk, kefir, home made squash. Occasional dessert would be berries or poached plums that has been sitting in a glass jar for about 30 years which made it really potent.
Snacks: berries, fruit and dried fish. When skiing we would mix nuts/raisins/dark chocolate pieces and bring hot chocolate and oranges.
Exercise, hiking in the mountains, skiing, family walks every Sunday. Building snow castles with the kids, playing soccer and walking pretty much every where.
I do wonder sometimes if I had stayed if I would have gone low carb or stayed with the natural diet I grew up with.2 -
@Bonny132 as I was reading I was thinking poached plums as in 'stolen', til I got to the 30 years part, lol.0
