Re: Price's Natives: Innate Wisdom or Pragmatism? (was Examining Ayurveda)

[Guest guest]

On 7/1/05, Deanna Wagner <hl@...> wrote:

> Finally, I truly agree with this section of the forward to the fifth

> edition of _Nutrition And Physical Degeneration_, by Weston A. Price,

> DDS, where it states:

> ---------------------

> Dr. Price believed in the innate wisdom of primitive people. I believe

> in this he was wrong. I do not think there is any inborn wisdom when it

> comes to nutrition. The best evidence for this is that primitive people

> who come in contact with high-tech foods soon give up their own diets

> and adopt the high-tech foods. They appear to be even more susceptible

> to the sugar, alcohol, white flour and other junk foods present. Perhaps

> this is because there has been too little time to allow nature to

> eliminate the worst examples of people damaged by high-tech food.

> There is no innate wisdom because, until chemistry was discovered and

> applied to food technology, there was no need for it. Early peoples had

> little choice but to eat foods that they had adapted to, for no other

> food was available.

Deanna,

I didn't disagree with anything you said, but I do disagree with a

part of this. While I agree that there was no " innate wisdom " this

author seems to be suggesting in the last two sentences and the

remainder of the truncated text that there was no wisdom at all.

While it is true that primitives didn't have access to the same type

of junk we have, they still made informed choices among the foods they

had. They had certain foods considered sacred, certain foods

designated for a pre-natal diet, and certain methods of increasing or

maintaining soil fertility. They went through great lengths to

acquire some of the sacred foods, or to acquire certain

hard-to-acquire foods for goiter, etc. This wisdom wasn't innate; it

was acquired. But it was wisdom, not just the result of having no

choice, as this author seems to err in suggesting.

Chris

[Guest guest]

I don't think " innate wisdom " is such a bad term.

I consider " wisdom " to be knowledge that has been filtered and

tempered

by experience.

I consider " innate " in this context to be the same as " not a product

of

Madison Avenue advertising campaigns " .

I figure they either had respected " tribal elders " who advised them

on

how to prepare for special events (like marriage and pregnancy) by

consuming certain foods or avoiding others. Or their moms advised

them, not unlike my friend who asked me (part way through my first

pregnancy at age 40), " You _are_ drinking whole milk, aren't you? " I

wasn't. I was drinking 2% milk. She told me about how her teeth had

suffered when she had had 2 of her 4 children close together. She

learned that whole milk helped take care of that problem.

LOL

Sure, once the primitive peoples are exposed to merchants tendering

pre-

manufactured sweets and soft, refined bread and flour and white

sugar,

and convenient canned foods (such as Dr. Price referred to)--or as in

these days, Coca Cola--they usually cave in and indulge in

those " treats " as often as their budget allows. That gets them into

trouble because they end up spending their money on treats instead of

healthy food, and then they end up spending money on doctors and

medicine (if they're also available...and I figure they are not far

behind the nonnutritive food).

But don't you also imagine that there will remain some

individuals/families who look askance at all the pretty " foods of

commerce " and consider those who proffer them to be emissaries of the

devil?

Sometimes I wonder if that might not be where some of our problems in

the Middle East arise from-- " food fights " , so to speak.

Know what I mean?