Balance!
In Africa Dr. Price went to areas where very few white men had been before. There, Price was able to compare three different diets practiced by the same racial group.
Cattle-Herding Africans
First, he looked at the diets of the cattle-herding people, the Samburu, Masai and related tribes. Their diet consisted of milk, meat and blood. A warrior at his prime would consume a gallon or more of milk per day. It was very rich milk that gave him the equivalent of three-quarters pound of butterfat per day—that’s three sticks of butter per day! He also got fat from the meat and the blood. Scientists have studied these people, by the way, and found that they have very low levels of cholesterol and no heart disease.
A typical Masai warrior was very, very tall – typically seven feet or more - slender and very good runners with a lot of stamina.
They often sent dry grass on fire so new green grass would grow up, fertilized by the ashes of the old grass. They understood that the milk and meat of their cows would be healthier if they ate green grass. Marriages took place during periods when the grass was green.
Hunter-Gatherers
Other tribes, the hunter-gatherers, did not keep cattle but hunted game and fished. They also had a lot of plant foods in their diet, such as vegetables, fruit and grain. Their sacred food was liver, which they ate both raw and cooked.
Agriculturalist
The third group was agriculturists who did not keep animals and did not hunt, but grew corn, beans, squash, and so forth. Their diet was largely based on plant foods but they were not vegans because about 10 percent of their diet consisted of insects like termites– a very important food for them.
Comparison
When Price compared the dental health of these three groups, he found that the first two groups had no cavities (these were the 7 tribes with 100 or more in each tribe). The agriculturists suffered from about 6 percent tooth decay. They were certainly healthier than the people he was seeing back in Cleveland but they did have a certain amount of tooth decay, and some of the elderly were toothless. They were also of shorter stature, with more weight on them, a little bit heavier, and not as robust as the other two groups.
Comparing the cattle-herding people with the hunters, Price came to the conclusion that the hunters with the mixed diet were the healthiest. They had better proportions and were stronger.
Herders
Mostly Animal Foods
No Tooth Decay
Very Tall and Slender
Hunter-Gatherers
Mixed Plant and Animal Foods
No Tooth Decay
Tall and Muscular
Agriculturalist
Mostly Plant Foods
Some Tooth Decay
Short and Chubby
Conclusion
So one of the conclusions of his African trip was that the optimal diet avoids the extreme of too much animal food or too much plant food – but has a balance somewhere in the middle.
Source: From Sally Fallon Morell's PowerPoint on Traditional Diets
