Native American Diets | The Paleo Diet

Dear Dr Cordain,

As we visit NYC and the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian today, I decide to write you about a situation that is pressing (burning) in my mind. This letter provides you with some background followed by a potentially pivotal question that in my opinion could improve the health of many Native American tribes in the US.

I am an RD who currently works with a tribal public health program in CA, developing and facilitating classes for Elders with diabetes and providing staff education (mostly to people who are of Pomo descent). I happened upon the research of Dr Eaton about 16 years ago and have since been following you and Paleo research ever since. After reading the majority of your research articles and books (as well as Robb Wolfe?s book) and hearing your presentation in San Francisco (you might recall receiving my husband?s Chapman Stick CD if it made it to you at the LaLanne Fitness- Bob Culbertson), ?I finally changed to the Paleodiet and predictably have seen dramatic improvements in the health of myself and my husband. A giant heartfelt ?thank you? for going out on a limb to promote research that has and will save lives and dramatically improve the quality of life of so many people from a physical, mental, emotional, and even spiritual standpoint.

I come to you with a conundrum that I would like to keep discrete until some sort of workable approach is determined. To my knowledge (and I am fairly new to working in tribal nutrition) the food patterns of the Native American (NA) tribes towards the West are H-G and overlay (perfectly) with the Paleonutrition paradigm. Going East the NA food patterns are supplemented with agricultural staples such as the three sisters (corn/squash/beans) and perhaps wild rice. The dilemma follows and I am guessing that you have thought to some degree about this topic or know someone who is working on it.

First, there is interest out here in my developing a grant-funded interactive virtual Food Medicine Wheel, modeled after an existing Food Medicine Wheel. My version would be Paleo. ?Tribes could use the Wheel to input their precontact traditional foods into the Wheel for archiving and sharing as public information. The Wheel could be printed and would secondly serve as a nutrition education piece to promote and educate the community on traditional foods (and revive them) again using the Paleodiet as an underlying foundation and premise. Other interactive pages would include traditional recipes and food stories. I believe that the potential is amazingly powerful in terms of the large numbers of tribes who could be reached and making the information readily accessible in a format that is easily shared. Lastly, the interactive pages could be not only modified (including the insertion of local images from the tribe) and arranged, they could be printed into a book so that each tribe could write and print their own book of local, traditional foods.

So I am in touch with a RD who is NA and has worked with many tribes across the US and an expert on NA historical food patterns. Although she doesn?t value grains and dairy as relative to the NA traditional foods experience, ?she is quite new to Paleo research and is not yet sold. ?She also brings up concerns about excluding the traditional NA agricultural foods listed above given their cultural significance and ?contribution to the modern food supply.? I am aware of the Hardin Village study.

I want to help the tribes to make dietary changes based on the healthiest, evidence-based diet (Paleodiet) and yet somehow address the sacredness and tradition of the sister agricultural foods. ?This obviously is a very sensitive issue that I want to avoid turning into an impasse. Further, please keep in mind the significant levels of unresolved historical trauma that underlie the perceptions of many of the tribes and NA individuals to this day. In the very least I could focus the grant on tribes to the West and others who have had a H-G only food pattern until modernization. It would be so much more expansive and healing to be able to offer all tribes a tool that respects their cultural traditions yet provides a diet for optimal health.

What suggestions or opinions might you have?

Again I deeply value your contribution to the health of my family, clients, and to people around the world. I am personally and professionally a dedicated advocate and promoter of the Paleodiet (and an RD too!). Please note that if you view my website, we are almost done updating the project examples to be meet the Paleodiet guidelines.

Thank you you in advance for your time and consideration.

Andy Culbertson MS, RD, CDEP

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Dr. Cordain?s Response:

Hi Andy,

Good to hear from you and many thanks to your husband, Bob for the Chapman Stick CD which I listen to and enjoy. ?I have worked on and off with a variety of people and organizations who are passionate about the health/wellbeing and diet of ?native Americans. ?The closer we can mimic the nutritional characteristics of our ancestral hunter gatherer diets, the healthier we will be. ?As I have mentioned again and again, it is nearly impossible or impractical to attempt to exactly match the foods our ancestors consumed because they simply are not available to most of us, ?do not exist, or are culturally distasteful. ?Hence, for most of us the foods of contemporary ?Paleo Diets? must come from our local supermarkets, farmers markets, health food stores and local farmers, ranchers and producers. ?Although not precisely identical to hunter gatherer foods, modern day Paleo foods contain nearly all of the nutritional characteristics of pre-agricultural diets and frequently are ?superior to foods our ancestors ate. ?I have addressed these issues more thoroughly in my latest book, The Paleo Answer.

Getting back to certain foods with which you may have concerns: corn, squash, beans and wild rice. ?These foods frequently formed the staples in native Americans who practiced agriculture. ?All squashes are tasty, healthful vegetables that shouldn?t be avoided. ?As I have extensively pointed out in my scientific publication (Cereal Grains: Humanity?s Double Edged Sword) and in my new book, The Paleo Answer, cereal grains such as corn and even wild rice are nutritional lightweights when it comes to the 13 vitamins and minerals most lacking in the US diet when compared to meats, seafood and fresh fruits and veggies on a calorie by calorie basis. ?Further cereal grains contain multiple antinutrients which may interfere with gut, hormonal and immune functions and promote ill health and disease ? particularly when they are consumed as staples on a regular basis. ? Beans and legumes are similar to grains in their low bioavailability of micronutrients (vitamins, minerals) but contain even a higher dose of antinutrients. ?In my new book, The Paleo Answer, I devote an entire chapter to health problems caused by beans and legumes.

I believe that fresh and lightly cooked/steamed squash of all kinds should be encouraged in the diet of all Americans including native Americans. ?Fresh corn on the cob with butter is a wonderful summertime dish and when consumed a few times a month in season will have little adverse effects upon most people ? however autoimmune patients should be extra cautious here. ?Refined and even whole grain corn products (Doritos, corn chips, fritos, corn tortillas, corn flake cereals, corn meal etc.) should be eliminated from the diet of all Americans, including native Americans ?or rarely consumed. ? Most of us don?t consume wild rice as a staple, so if it is used infrequently as in a Thanksgiving Turkey Stuffing or otherwise- enjoy! ?When employed as a staple, wild rice like all grains will reduce the nutrient density of your diet and increase its antinutrient load.

Some healthy native American foods that we all should try to regularly consume are: avocados, squash of all kinds, pumpkins, chili peppers, jicama, Jerusalem artichokes, ripe red tomatoes, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, currants, guava, papayas, gooseberries, pecans, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconuts, venison, elk, bison, turkey, dove, quail, grouse, duck, geese, rabbit, salmon, cod, snapper, halibut, trout, mackerel, catfish, bass, walleye, crab, lobster, crayfish, clams, oysters, mussels, abalone, squid, octopus.

Best wishes,

Loren Cordain, Ph.D., Professor

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Source: http://thepaleodiet.com/native-american-diets/

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