25.
Primitive Man - His Food and His Health
Observations Of Early Explorers
By Dr. Stanley S. Bass
Columbus, in his ‘discovery’ of the Western World, was the beginning spark which ignited the interest of all the leading powers. This resulted in a series of expeditions sent forth for the purpose of acquiring these valuable lands, their rich natural resources and wealth. These countries included France, England, Spain, Portugal etc., who in competition with each other, explored North America, the Northlands, Central America, then South America, eventually spreading into Africa, Asia, Australia, the Pacific Islands and the entire world.
These expeditions were fully outfitted ships with supplies and crew, containing doctors to see after the health of all. Supplies for trading with the primitive Indians were in the form of white flour, white sugar, canned foods, salt, pepper, spices and other commodities which were exchanged for native furs, foods and other goods.
The accounts of early voyagers, explorers and missionaries are considered together with anthropological studies and knowledge gleaned from various nutritional surveys and medical inspections made in the primitive world. It is drawn from a literary survey of the people of many lands, including all continents and many islands. It covers centuries of time involving observations of racial groups living in the early 16th century to those of the modern day.
These expeditions were fully outfitted ships with supplies and crew, containing doctors to see after the health of all. Supplies for trading with the primitive Indians were in the form of white flour, white sugar, canned foods, salt, pepper, spices and other commodities which were exchanged for native furs, foods and other goods.
The accounts of early voyagers, explorers and missionaries are considered together with anthropological studies and knowledge gleaned from various nutritional surveys and medical inspections made in the primitive world. It is drawn from a literary survey of the people of many lands, including all continents and many islands. It covers centuries of time involving observations of racial groups living in the early 16th century to those of the modern day.
Shortlived And Diseased - A Myth?
The common view, that primitive man is generally short-lived and subject to many diseases is often held by physicians as well as layman, and the general lack of of sanitation, modern treatment,surgery and drugs in the primitive world is thought to prevent maintenance of health at a high physical level. The average nutritionist feels that any race lacking access to the wide variety of foods available, which modern agriculture and transportation now permit, could not be in good health.
Beauty, White Teeth, Long Life
But the facts are known, and they indicate that, when living under near-isolated conditions, apart from civilization and without access to the foods of civilization, primitive man lives in much better physical condition and health than does the usual member of civilized society. When his own nutrition is adequate and complete, as it most often is, his teeth are white without brushing, they are formed in perfect alignment and the dental arch is broad.
The face is finely formed, well-set and broad; the body development is also good, free from deformity, and desirably proportioned in beauty and symmetry. The respective members of the racial group reproduce in homogeneity from one generation to the next, with few deviations from the standard anthropological prototype.
Reproductive efficiency permits birth with no difficulty and little or no pain. There are no prenatal deformities. Resistance to infectious disease is high, few individuals are sick, and these usually rapidly recovering. The degenerative diseases are rare, even in advanced life, some of them being completely unknown and unheard of by the primitive.
Mental complaints are equally rare, and the usual state of happiness and contentment is one scarcely known by civilized man. The duration of life is long, the people being yet strong and vigorous as they pass the three score and ten mark, and living in many cases beyond a century.
These are the characteristics of the finest and healthiest primitive races living under the most ideal climatic and nutritional conditions. Even primitive races less favored by environment have better teeth and skeletal development than civilized man. We note that people living today, under the culture and environment of the “Stone Age”, have far surpassed civilized man in strength, physical development and immunity to disease. This fact poses an important question to modern medicine and should arouse serious thought and consideration.
The face is finely formed, well-set and broad; the body development is also good, free from deformity, and desirably proportioned in beauty and symmetry. The respective members of the racial group reproduce in homogeneity from one generation to the next, with few deviations from the standard anthropological prototype.
Reproductive efficiency permits birth with no difficulty and little or no pain. There are no prenatal deformities. Resistance to infectious disease is high, few individuals are sick, and these usually rapidly recovering. The degenerative diseases are rare, even in advanced life, some of them being completely unknown and unheard of by the primitive.
Mental complaints are equally rare, and the usual state of happiness and contentment is one scarcely known by civilized man. The duration of life is long, the people being yet strong and vigorous as they pass the three score and ten mark, and living in many cases beyond a century.
These are the characteristics of the finest and healthiest primitive races living under the most ideal climatic and nutritional conditions. Even primitive races less favored by environment have better teeth and skeletal development than civilized man. We note that people living today, under the culture and environment of the “Stone Age”, have far surpassed civilized man in strength, physical development and immunity to disease. This fact poses an important question to modern medicine and should arouse serious thought and consideration.
Contact With ‘Civilization’ - New Diet
The good health of the primitive has been possible only under conditions of relative isolation. As soon as his contact with civilization brings about changes in his dieting habits - with the introduction of refined white flour and white sugar, canned food, jams, marmalades, polished rice, etc. - within one generation he succumbs to disease very readily and loses all of the unique immunity of the past.
The teeth decay; facial forms cease to be uniform; deformities become common; reproductive efficiency is lowered; mental deficiency develops, and the duration of life is sharply lowered.
It is the nutritional habits of primitive man that are responsible for the state of his health, and as long as his native foods remain in use, as important physical changes occur, and the bacterial scourges are absent - even though a complete lack of sanitation would indicate that pathogenic bacteria might be present.
When the native foods are displaced for those of modern commerce, the situation changes completely. And the finest sanitation, that the white man can provide, together with the best in medical services, is of no avail in preventing the epidemics that take thousands of lives.
The teeth decay; facial forms cease to be uniform; deformities become common; reproductive efficiency is lowered; mental deficiency develops, and the duration of life is sharply lowered.
It is the nutritional habits of primitive man that are responsible for the state of his health, and as long as his native foods remain in use, as important physical changes occur, and the bacterial scourges are absent - even though a complete lack of sanitation would indicate that pathogenic bacteria might be present.
When the native foods are displaced for those of modern commerce, the situation changes completely. And the finest sanitation, that the white man can provide, together with the best in medical services, is of no avail in preventing the epidemics that take thousands of lives.
Lessons To Learn
What is needed is the proper education of children in healthy nutrition, beginning in grade schools. And for those aspiring to become mothers, education in pre-parental, parental nutrition and proper feeding of children.
The direction should be in education and prevention, rather than in the treatment of disease symptoms with drugs and surgery, if we are to reverse the increasing of degenerative disease and the progressive deterioration of the human race.
There is need to learn from the dietary practices of the most magnificently healthful and successful primitive races from all parts of the world - as recorded by both ancient and modern explorers of these primitive cultures, who have accumulated their knowledge over a period of many thousands of years of experience.
The direction should be in education and prevention, rather than in the treatment of disease symptoms with drugs and surgery, if we are to reverse the increasing of degenerative disease and the progressive deterioration of the human race.
There is need to learn from the dietary practices of the most magnificently healthful and successful primitive races from all parts of the world - as recorded by both ancient and modern explorers of these primitive cultures, who have accumulated their knowledge over a period of many thousands of years of experience.
“You are what what you eat eats.”
“You are what you eat is a truism hard to argue with, and yet it is, as a visit to a feedlot suggests, incomplete, for you are what what you eat eats, too. And what we are, or have become, is not just meat but number 2 corn and oil.”
~Michael Pollan, The Omnivore's Dilemma