Traditional Diets

Traditional Diets: The Heart of the PPNF Message

The Price-Pottenger Nutrition Foundation teaches that maintaining a traditional diet is essential for achieving optimal health.

PPNF's teachings are based upon the research of Dr. Weston A. Price. Seeking to understand the causes of disease and physical degeneration in modern man, Dr. Price undertook a decade-long scientific study of tribal peoples from around the world. The data Dr. Price collected shows that people who maintained traditional diets were healthier, more energetic and happier than those who had shifted to modern eating practices. Traditional diets, Dr. Price concluded, are the key to health and vitality.

What do we mean by "traditional diets"?

In his studies, Dr. Price found that people maintaining "traditional diets" are healthier than those adopting modern eating habits.

Because of the global scope of his research, the healthy diets studied by Dr. Price were not identical; the foods eaten reflected the geographic, cultural and agricultural diversity of each tribe. However, Dr. Price's research did reveal common threads running through all of the healthy diets that he studied. These commonalities are what define the "traditional diet."

Dr. Price's decade-long global study of tribal nutritional practices revealed several common dietary factors that existed regardless of region.

These similarities can be identified and understood by examining the types of foods that were eaten, how those foods were cultivated, the manner in which foods were preserved and prepared, and the lifestyle choices made in regards to health and nutrition.

The Foods that Were Eaten

Dr. Price's research shows that healthy traditional diets:

• Contain foods naturally rich in body-building nutrients
• Include minerals and fat-soluble vitamins found in butter, sea foods, fish oils and fatty animal organs
• Incorporate raw, unaltered proteins from meats, sea foods, nuts, raw dairy and sprouted seeds
• Use sweeteners rarely and sparingly

Diets based on these guidelines provide optimal nutrition for preventing disease and slowing physical degeneration. 

How the foods were cultivated
In a healthy traditional diet, how foods are grown is as important as what foods are eaten. In a healthy traditional diet, foods are grown:

• In natural, mineral-rich soil
• Using NO chemical fertilizers
• Using NO chemical pesticides

Growing foods in this way prevents the introduction of harmful chemicals into our food chain and our bodies.

How the foods are preserved and prepared
Food preservation and preparation methods are also important components in the healthy traditional diet. In such diets, foods are:

• Eaten in season
• Preserved using methods of - earth storage, drying, freezing, culturing and pickling - that maintain or enhance the nutritional content of the food
• Eaten "whole" and unrefined, maintaining fiber and nutrient content
• Consumed raw or very gently and lightly cooked

Preparing and preserving foods using traditional methods ensures that we benefit from their full nutritional value.

Lifestyle Choices
In his studies, Dr. Price noted that healthy diets are enhanced by healthy lifestyle choices. The healthy tribes studied by Dr. Price:

• Engaged in regular, vigorous exercise through work, play, dance, and sports
• Had access to pure air and enjoyed abundant sunlight
• Observed periods of partial abstinence from food (fasting), or regulated periods of under-eating
• Ate special protective foods in preparation for conception, pregnancy and lactation
• Spaced pregnancies apart to protect the health of the mother and the children
• Breast-fed their babies
• Instructed their children in the importance of maintaining traditional dietary and lifestyle principles

Healthy lifestyle choices go hand-in-hand with healthy dietary choices in achieving optimal health.

Traditional Diets in the Modern World
Dr. Price's global research identified the common principals of traditional diets that provide optimal health. Based on their geography, culture, and the availability of various foods, the healthy tribes applied these principles in different ways to create diets that prevented disease, slowed physical degeneration and produced vitality and happiness.

At PPNF, we believe that these principals can be readily applied in our lives today. While it may not be practical for each of us to grow our own food and live as native tribes did, we CAN make dietary choices that avoid overly-processed, nutrient-poor foods. We can educate ourselves and learn to identify and prepare the foods that provide maximum nutritional value WITHOUT exposing ourselves to harmful chemicals. And we can make lifestyle choices that increase our daily physical activity and make it a priority to teach our children the importance of these traditional nutritional values.

PPNF is here to show you how to apply these traditional principles to your life. We provide practical, insightful instruction, training and resources on how you can enjoy the optimal health and vitality experienced by the healthy tribes studied by Dr. Price. We invite you to explore this website to learn more about us, and then BECOME A MEMBER so you can take advantage of all the great benefits we offer.

It is never too late to begin enjoying the benefits of optimal nutrition. Join PPNF today and start experiencing a better life for you and your family!