The Four Pillars of a Healthy Diet Series: part 1

According to Dr. Cate Shanahan, author of Deep Nutrition: Why Your Genes Need Traditional Food, there are 4 pillars that unite all the health promoting, traditional diets of the world. From the Maasai and ancient Egyptian, to the Japanese and the French, the same Four Pillars form the foundation of all the healthiest diets. Using the latest research in physiology and genetics, Dr. Shanahan explains how these foods influence our genetic potential and outcome.

The field of epigenetics states that our genes are always being influenced and changing according to the things we add to our system (foods/drugs) and the chemicals we come in contact with that are absorbed through our skin. Hence, we are in charge of our genetic destiny, and whether we live our life in a strong healthy body, or a body afflicted by the numerous epidemic illnesses we see on the rise today. By choosing traditional foods from the 4 pillars that have been shown to protect against the expression of disease, we will "recover the power we have to control our own health." When you use the 4 pillar foods to replace common processed foods in our standard American diet and you will begin to reverse the inflammation that undermines optimal health.

What do all the healtiest diets have in common?
French Paradox, Mediterranean Diet, Okinawa Diet…which one to choose?
You don’t have to choose, you can enjoy them all!
All authentic cuisines the world over include foods that belong to these four health promoting categories:

• Meat on the Bone
• Fermented and sprouted foods
• Fresh, uncooked, raw ingredients
• Organ Meats

While most of us are aware of the importance of fresh foods, including foods from the three other pillars will give your body the nutrients needed to ignite it's healing potential.

Meat on the Bone: protects skin and joints by boosting collagen and elastin
Cooking grass-fed or pasture-raised meat on the bone does two great things:
1) It enables the bones nutrient density to infuse into the meat.
2) It extracts glycosaminoglycans from the marrow. This is especially true when making broth or soup stock with raw bones. Heat, water, and acid extracts the wealth of collagen inside the bone marrow. When making bone stock (by boiling bones in water with an acid source, for instance tomato sauce, lemon juice, or white/red wine) you fill the water with molecules called glycosaminoglycans. These molecules act as joint growth factors, keeping the collagen and elastin in your joints and skin healthy, and facilitating tissue repair. No need for synthetic supplements, this is a much more powerful way to protect your joints from arthritis and your skin from wrinkling!
Dr. Shanahan recommends eating meat on the bone twice a week.
You will find instructions on making bone broth on her website.
Stay tuned - next week we give the benefits of fermented and sprouted foods!