According to the principles of Weston A. Price
In the 1920s, Canadian dentist Weston A. Price (1870-1948) traveled the world to research the influence of nutrition on the teeth of traditionally living peoples. He discovered that these peoples had excellent teeth and that tooth decay was rare or non-existent. However, as soon as they abandoned their traditional diet and switched to the modern Western diet, decay set in. He wrote all of his findings in his book Nutrition and Physical Degenerative Disease, and this eventually led to the Weston A. Price diet and the Weston A. Price Foundation (WAPF).
Eating according to the GAPS diet
With the GAPS diet, you will eat very purely with the aim of tackling intestinal and digestive problems at the source. For example, you will initially start by temporarily removing a number of foods from your diet that often cause digestive problems, such as artificially processed products, but also grains and beans. Then you will test one by one whether you digest and tolerate certain foods well by means of an elimination diet. This is also called the 'Introduction Diet' within the GAPS diet. Then follows the recovery phase of the diet, in which you create a new balance in your diet that is tailored to your body. After a while, you can also gradually add foods that you previously did not digest well. Just like with the WAPF diet, this diet also focuses on pure, natural food with the highest possible nutritional value.
History of our food
For thousands of years, our ancestors ate much the same food, namely the diet that is based on the diet that our ancestors ate in the Paleolithic. This was a period in history from 2.5 million to 10,000 years ago and that ended when the agricultural revolution began. The idea behind various primal diets, including the WAPF and GAPS diets, is that modern humans have not changed genetically or very little since the beginning of the agricultural revolution and that it is more nutritious for our bodies to live and feed ourselves in the way that our Paleolithic ancestors did. According to proponents, the human body is not built to process a lot of carbohydrates, sugars, salts, gluten and fats, and certainly not to process processed foods. It is often not just a diet, but a whole way of life. Lifestyles based on the food of our ancestors gained a lot of popularity in the 1970s, when various doctors and dieticians advocated this return to a Paleolithic way of life.
Change of food…
Since the agricultural revolution, about 10,000 years ago, our diet has changed drastically. Before the agricultural revolution, our ancestors were hunters and gatherers who mainly ate wild animals and plants. After this revolution, humans started consuming more carbohydrates (sugars), gluten and less healthy fatty acids in the form of grains and dairy, which may have had an effect on the declining health of humans. Over the past 100 to 200 years, the change in our diet has accelerated even more, while we are also doing less and less physical activity. The WAPF and GAPS diets are based on the eating and lifestyle of our ancestors. The emphasis is on fresh and natural food without artificial additives that is prepared in the traditional way. In particular, 'junk food' and artificially processed products 'in packets and bags' are avoided.
What are the benefits of the WAPF and GAPS diet?
Eating according to the WAPF or GAPS diet has many advantages. For example, you mainly eat unprocessed, fresh and natural foods that are full of essential nutrients, making it a healthy lifestyle. In addition, you automatically exclude many unhealthy foods when you do not eat processed products. However, it is not the case that all processed products are unhealthy for you by definition. Furthermore, you become aware of your diet and lifestyle, which often automatically makes you eat healthier and exercise more. Because you eat relatively more proteins with this diet, your body uses more energy and you feel full faster. Eating proteins also ensures that you maintain your muscle mass, which is of course an additional advantage. Finally, you do not have to count calories and there is no portion control, which is experienced by many people as an advantage.
Supplements that fit the WAPF and GAPS diet
There are different variations and ideas about a diet that is inspired by the lifestyle of our ancestors. This has to do with the fact that there is no clarity about what exactly our ancestors ate. With some ancestral diets, you can occasionally eat legumes, with other variations, a lot of meat is eaten, while other ancestral eaters focus on avoiding processed foods or adhere to a mainly plant-based diet. At Ergomax you will find different supplements that can be used when you follow the WAPF or GAPS diet. Think of products like Bone broth, Gelatin – Collagen Hydrolysate – Wild fish, Fermented Cod Liver Oil – Natural from Green Pasture, and Extra Virgin Cod Liver Oil