The Wise Traditions Diet is a delicious, satisfying, inclusive diet. Many dietary plans condemn certain food groups -- such as grains, dairy foods, meat, salt, fat, sauces, sweets and nightshade vegetables -- but the Wise Traditions Diet does not exclude any major food group.  With wise choices and proper preparation techniques, you can have a varied and interesting diet, one that is both delicious and nutritious.

STEP 1: Get Your Fats Right!

The most serious falsehood about healthy eating is the claim that we need to avoid animal fats.  In fact, animal fats are essential to good health, proper growth, fertility, and longevity.  Traditional cultures valued animal fats above all other foods.  Animal fats are demonized because they are rich sources of saturated fat and cholesterol, but saturated fat and cholesterol are actually essential to good health!

EAT PLENTY OF GOOD FATS!

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• Butter - on bread, vegetables, meat, porridge - butter on everything!

• Lard, Bacon Fat, Duck Fat and Goose Fat - for cooking

• Tallow - for deep frying

• Olive Oil - for salad dressings

• Coconut Oil - for medium-chain fatty acids

• Cod Liver Oil - for vitamins A and D

When it comes to animal fats, grass- or pasture-fed is best.  Animal fats like butter, lard, bacon fat, duck fat and goose fat are rich sources of the fat-soluble vitamins A, D and K2, which Dr. Weston Price discovered were very high in the diets of healthy, primitive peoples.

AVOID THE BAD FATS

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• Industrially processed liquid vegetable oils (corn, soy, canola, safflower, sunflower)

• “Healthy” low-trans spreads

• Partially hydrogenated vegetables oils (margarine and shortening)

• Commercial fried foods

• Processed foods containing these industrial fats and oils

• Industrial fats and oils are the number one problem in the modern diet.  They are the main cause of chronic disease, and they replace the nutrient-dense animal fats that nourished our ancestors.