Nourishing Diets: How Paleo, Ancestral and Traditional Peoples Really Ate

by Sally Fallon Morell

Sally Fallon Morell, bestselling author of Nourishing Traditions , debunks diet myths to explore what our ancestors from around the globe really ate--and what we can learn from them to be healthy, fit, and better nourished, today

The Paleo craze has taken over the world. It asks curious dieters to look back to their ancestors' eating habits to discover a "new" way to eat that shuns grains, most dairy, and processed foods. But, while diet books with Paleo in the title sell well--are they correct? Were paleolithic and ancestral diets really grain-free, low-carb, and based on all lean meat?

In Nourishing Diets bestselling author Sally Fallon Morell explores the diets of our primitive ancestors from around the world--from Australian Aborigines and pre-industrialized Europeans to the inhabitants of "Blue Zones" where a high percentage of the populations live to 100 years or more. In looking to the recipes and foods of the past, Fallon Morell points readers to what they should actually be eating--the key principles of traditional diets from across cultures -- and offers recipes to help translate these ideas to the modern home cook.

Genres: Health, Food, Nutrition, Nonfiction, History, Cookbooks, Anthropology

288 pages, Paperback

Published June 26, 2018

About the author

Sally Fallon Morell is the co-founder and president of The Weston A. Price Foundation. According to the WAPF, she received a B.A. in English from Stanford University and an M.A. in English from UCLA.

Reviews

[Sandy D. · Rating 2 out of 5]

This book is basically an update of dentist and amateur anthropologist Weston A. Price’s 1939 book “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration: A Comparison of Primitive and Modern Diets and Their Effects” by the president and co-founder of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Sally Fallon Morell. Like Price, Fallon Morell surveys traditional foods in several areas (Australia, Native North America, the Pacific, Africa, and Switzerland). Unlike Price, Fallon Morell did not do her own research. Instead, she relies on cherry-picked snippets of research by other researchers, both historic and modern, adding select information on cuisines in Asia, Europe, and the Middle East.

The information on traditional diets presented in Nourishing Diets is not wrong, per se, but it is ridiculously incomplete. Whole continents with hundreds of different groups with wildly disparate diets (both geographically and historically) are summed up with a handful of anecdotes in her chapters, with some weird slights towards anthropologists, nutritionists, and government officials sprinkled along the way. The latter are called “diet dictocrats” with a penchant for “political correctness” in their food recommendations. “Archeological authorities in America” are blithely assigned attitudes about traditional diets with nary a look at decades of plentiful literature on indigenous diet and cuisine.

In all her sketches on cuisine, Fallon Morell elevates stories about specific foods recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation since 1999 (meats, especially organ meats, raw milk, fermented foods and sprouted seeds) and ignores the reams of writing about fruits, vegetables, tubers, and grains in many traditional peoples’ diets – except when this data contributes to her agenda, as with the description of nixtamalization of corn. Her few attempts at quantification like “Sources of Fat for the American Indian” are downright bizarre, and leave out major parts of many Native peoples’ diets (including fish, shellfish, oily seeds like sunflower and sumpweed, and nuts like hickories and walnuts).

There are some interesting recipes in the final chapter, including cricket flour pancakes, headcheese, blood pancakes, spicy blood meatloaf, scrapple, and raw liver pills. And a recipe for liver biscuits - "a way to get liver into your children without them even knowing!". Please note said liver is raw and desiccated.

Many of the Price Foundation’s buzzwords are found in this book, and it’s worth noting them so you can recognize the underlying agenda in websites, podcasts, books, or recipes from acolytes: the terms nourishing, nutrient-dense, wise traditions, and ancient wisdom all should ring a bell. Please note that some good recipes and food advice can come from their collections (except for raw, desiccated liver capsules, I have to draw the line there), but it’s good to know where they’re coming from when they start harping on the need for fat, and the evils of phytic acids or non-sprouted or fermented grains.

All in all, this book is a fine for casual browsing if you’re interested in somewhat skewed and rambling narratives about some foodways of the past, but it should not be used as any kind of authoritative work on traditional diets for any group, nor as any kind of guidance for modern diets. Because despite the subtitle, it is not a good look at “How Paleo, Ancestral and Traditional People Really Ate.”

[Uroš Mikolič · Rating 5 out of 5]

Some hefty arguments of why being vegan or vegetarian is not as healthy as it is claimed.

[Mary Cokenour · Rating 4 out of 5]

I won this book in a Goodreads Giveaway. It took me a long time to get through it as it is mainly a detailed historical venture through cooking styles and cuisines around the world. Not really my cup of tea; was also hoping for recipes to follow each chapter, but not till the end and very few that were of interest.

I gave it 4 stars for the historical data which others may appreciate more than I.

[Erica · Rating 4 out of 5]

Much better than I thought it would be. I was ready for a hippie/new-agey kind of thing. Instead, I found it very informative and surprisingly practical.

[Mike Lisanke · Rating 2 out of 5]

I'm disappointed with this book. I've viewed the author on videos about Nutrition and she's an excellent speaker on the topic. I found her book, chaotic! It made many assertions and attempted to explain many points of view. While the general organization was easy to follow and she appeared to establish a timeline for why she moved from one paleo ancestral or traditional people... what they ate and Why was well explained to me. Worse yet, the author attempts to explain others opinions of what made a more primitive diet more healthy but interjected her opinions as descent making the presentation confusing and chaotic. Also, I expect a summary of what the author would consider a healthy diet and why but only got much anecdotes and much cookbook style this and that are nice... the attempt to sell us haggis was amusing.

[Frost · Rating 5 out of 5]

Animal fats are the most important part of all cultures around the world. The reason modern people are sick is their ironic omission of them. Though Morell’s book isn’t completely flawless, it’s abundantly clear the basic principles of a good diet. A wide variety of Animal foods, especially organ meats and fats, are essential. Plant foods, if included, must be properly prepared (fermented, sprouted, soaked, and/or cooked thoroughly) to reduce anti-nutrients and ease digestion. Bottom line, dramatically increase your intake of animal foods and watch your health increase with it.

[Sharon · Rating 4 out of 5]

I believe in this ancestral way of eating. This book underlined the reasons why it is appropriate and powerfully nutritious. Animal foods, especially fats are so important to optimal nutrition. Foods are meant to be eaten whole: chicken with skin, organs as well as muscle meat, and raw milk with cream. Fermented foods are more important than I realized and I will strive to eat more and learn how to make sauerkraut, etc. My health has certainly gotten better since I started eating the way she recommends.

[Jensen Ghidella · Rating 2 out of 5]

weird ass book. why are people still using a slur to refer to the Inuit? could've used less breadth in subject matter/geography. there's at least some misinformation (ie pasteurization being bad bc it depletes the nutrients in milk) but the main thesis is "eat the entire animal, and animal fat is good for you, and industrial seed oils are bad for you" which i can't say i disagree with. the recipes were interesting. i wonder what nutritionists and biologists and historians and Indigenous ppl think of this book

[Trang · Rating 5 out of 5]

The book successfully provided examples of ancient diets with evidence from the current tribes. It has answered many of my questions about the myths in dieting. There will be no more industrialized vegetable oils in my house except for high quality olive oil, coconut oil and homemade lard. Eating cultured food will be the next trait of my family. There are many more learnings from this book that I would recommend anyone to take a look.

[Lindsey · Rating 4 out of 5]

This book is fantastic! Learning about all the different native groups; how they ate and FARMED! Reading this book is showing me the importance of a balanced diet (with as little white sugar and flour as possible). These native peoples didn't have much free time because they spent all their time preparing food for each meal. So in this modern world of convenience and spare time, what am I going to do?

[Sally · Rating 4 out of 5]

What I liked about this book was that is gave accurate information about traditional diets around the world instead of vague or speculative information. How one evaluates what if anything these diets mean for one’s own diet is another question. It seems likely to me that in modern diets what you exclude may be more critical than what you include. Still working on these issues.

[Huw Richardson · Rating 4 out of 5]

The author surprised me with facts about ancient diets that are ignored today. While she touched on available foods and cultural history, I would have liked to know more about how our culture fell so far off the path of our ancestors. Was it the Reformation that changed religious eating patterns, the industrial revolution, political changes, all of the above?

[Barbara · Rating 4 out of 5]

A good debunking of some of the premises of the paleo diet, although some of Morell's examples are from modern or nearly modern times. Interesting exploration of humanity's diet over the centuries and in very different parts of the planet.

[Bobbiann Markle · Rating 5 out of 5]

When I started reading this book, it was not what I expected; I guess I expected more of a cookbook, like Nourishing Traditions. But it was so fascinating! I learned so much about food in historical culture and what are the most essential and nutritious foods.

[N · Rating 4 out of 5]

Oddest food book ever. Not that is bad. Loads of data on traditional diets throughout history. I think I was bogged down with the overwhelming amount of detail. But really as with all books on nutrition, the same message: Eat real food, not processed.

[Stacey]

This book makes me feel sick. I don’t like meat, and this book goes into details of drinking blood, eating raw meat, and eating maggot covered meat. Not sure what the point of this book is. But it isn’t a good read.

[Mary · Rating 3 out of 5]

She did a ton of research for this. She's of course got her own slant and I mostly agree with her. But pulling off a diet that she recommends, in this day and age, would take a great will, at least here in the States. But I think I can get maybe 80% there.

[Karyn · Rating 3 out of 5]

Very interesting read.

[Kelly · Rating 1 out of 5]

Not at all what I expected. Boring!

[Amy · Rating 4 out of 5]

I liked this book and find the content fascinating. It’s just a bit repetitive so after a while the chapters start blending together.

[Conor Flynn · Rating 5 out of 5]

Perfect: biased, surprising, comprehensive, and important.

Anyone who’s ever thought about diet, especially paleo diet, should read this book.

[Emily Mellow]

Not for me

[Daria Hodgson · Rating 5 out of 5]

Absolute treasure!
I believe every person should read this book to learn about how humans should actually eat!