Subhuti Dharmananda to response to Chef Jem's inquiry after reading his essay: "GIVING OUT BAD ADVICE?"

Date:   6/25/2010 12:36:06 AM ( 14 y ago)

"Many years ago, I was visiting Palenque, Mexico, and followed a trail that went into the jungle behind the pyramids. There I encountered a native tribe of Mayans who were the healthiest looking people I had
encountered in my travels. I believe their healthy condition was largely due to their physical activities (running, climbing, carrying,etc.) as well as their natural and simple diet. I think we tend to focus too much on diet, and not enough on the physical activities and
living in nature. Nonetheless, I am a supporter of the reliance on basic diets, like the ones Weston Price examined for his studies.


When people are very active physically, they rely on high density of nutrition because you can't run on a stomach full of vegetables, and you can't do a lot of labor without adequate calories. Today, people devise truly bizarre 'healthy' diets based on the experience of a relatively
sedentary life (where doing half an hour of gentle Hatha yoga each day is considered to be 'exercise'). Food neurosis, avoidance, and sensitivity are a natural result.

What adults want to do with their own body is up to them, but when this is imposed on patients by licensed
practitioners, it becomes problematic, hence my article. (http://www.itmonline.org/arts/dairy.htm)
In labor cultures, food sensitivity issues are rare. Also, in cultures where breast feeding of infants is normal, food sensitivity is rare. Usually, these two cultural aspects go together.


One aspect of traditional diets is that they are prepared at home. That is not to dismiss certain community contributions, such as someone makes tortillas and sells them to you, so that you don't have to make that
component, and someone gets the meat and divides it up among many. The transition from preparing meals from basic ingredients to purchasing prepared food alters the diet and also one's concepts for making food choices.


I've gotten a number of favorable responses to my article on bad dairy advice. (http://www.itmonline.org/arts/dairy.htm)
Only one or two mentioned Weston Price. Because my main field is traditional medicine, I try to point out how traditional medicine is used in the original culture, because we run into similar problems with the remedies as we do with foods. That is, people start making up
various alternative systems that are not grounded in any tradition."

By permission from:
Subhuti Dharmananda, Ph.D., Director, Institute for Traditional Medicine, Portland, Oregon

All the cultures that Price studied had lifestyles that either included physical labor or vigorous physical activity.

 

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