Paleo Diet: Raw Paleo Diet and Lifestyle Forum
Raw Paleo Diet Forums => Hot Topics => Topic started by: pioneer on May 19, 2010, 06:41:33 am
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http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OLI9cuQ2khA
this video shows how the masai regularly consume blood for nutrition. In Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, by weston price, he talks of how the masai diet consisted of only 3 foods: milk, meat, and blood, sometimes fruit when available. Price also talked of how immune they were to various diseases. The mosquitos were known to carry malaria and price and his followers covered themselves with repellent and garments so they wouldnt get bitten. Price talked of how the masai were immune to malaria and other local diseases. Very interesting and just goes how optimal this diet is for their health. Many of their warriors are well over six feet tall.
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How I wish I could get a steady supply of fresh blood.... :'(
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The Maasai now eat lots of grains in the form of corn-meal, so can hardly be considered healthy any more. Plus their consumption of vast amounts of dairy, however raw, is problematic:-
"Studies by the International Livestock Centre for Africa (Bekure et al. 1991) shows a very great change in the diet of the Maasai towards non-livestock products with maize comprising 12 – 39 percent and sugar 8 – 13 percent; about one litre of milk is consumed per person daily. Most of the milk is consumed as fermented milk or buttermilk - a by-product of butter making. Milk consumption figures are very high by any standards. The needs for protein and essential amino acids are more than adequately satisfied. However, the supply of iron, niacin, vitamin C, vitamin A, thiamine and energy are never fully met by a purely milk diet. Due to changing circumstances, especially the seasonal nature of the milk supply and frequent droughts, most pastoralists, including the Maasai, now include substantial amounts of grain in their diets [15][16]" taken from:- http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maasai#Diet
It seems that the Maasai also traditionally eat tree bark and roots in the form of soups, hardly healthy foods.
It also mentions that the Maasai only drink blood on special ritual occasions or use it when someone is sick.
Since the topic covers an unhealthy cooked, neolithic diet in a general sense(other than the raw(?) blood) it should really go to the hot topics forum. Have done so.
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Price talked of how the masai were immune to malaria and other local diseases.
I would be very much interested in where in his book Price talked about this so called immunity of Masais to malaria. I could'nt find out. :)
Here is what Price actually reported about Masais, in bold characters what has to do with malaria. No mention of such non sense ....
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price9.html
Masai Tribe. The Masai are tall and strong. Fig. 39 shows a typical belle, also a Masai man who is much taller than our six-foot guide. It is interesting to study the methods of living and observe the accumulated wisdom of the Masai. They are reported to have known for over two hundred years that malaria was carried by mosquitoes, and further they have practiced exposing the members of their tribes who had been infected with syphilis by the Arabs to malaria to prevent the serious injuries resulting from the spirochetal infection. Yet modern medicine boasts of being the discoverers of this great principle of using malaria to prevent or relieve syphilitic infections of the spinal cord and brain.
FIG 39 These members of the Masai tribe illustrate the splendid nutrition provided by their diet of cattle products namely: meat, milk and blood. The chief beside our guide is well over six feet. This Masai belle wears the customary decorations of coils of copper wire bracelets and anklets which largely constitute the attire of the girls.
I saw the native Masai operating on their cattle with skill and knowledge. The Masai have no currency and all their transactions are made with cows or goats. A valuable cow was not eating properly, and I observed them taking a thorn out of the inside of her mouth. The surgical operation was done with a knife of their own making and tempered by pounding. The wound was treated by rubbing it with the ashes of a plant that acted as a very powerful styptic. Their knowledge of veterinary science is quite remarkable. I saw them treating a young cow that had failed to conceive. They apparently knew the cause and proceeded to treat her as modern veterinaries might do in order to overcome her difficulties. For their food throughout the centuries they have depended very largely on milk, meat and blood, reinforced with vegetables and fruits. They milk the cows daily and bleed the steers at regular intervals by a unique process. In Fig. 40 we see a native Masai with his bow and arrow, the latter tipped with a sharp knife which is guarded by a shoulder to determine the depth to which the arrow may enter the vein. If the animal is sufficiently tame, the blood is drawn while it is standing. If the animal is frightened it is quickly hobbled, as shown below. In this figure the stream of blood may be seen spurting from the jugular vein into a gourd which holds about a gallon. A torque is placed around the neck before the puncture is made. The animals did not even flinch when struck by the arrow, the operation is done so quickly and skillfully. When sufficient blood was drawn, the torque was removed and the blood immediately stopped flowing. A styptic made of ashes referred to above was used. This serves also to protect the wound from infection. The blood is defibrinated by whipping in the gourd. The fibrin is fried or cooked much as bacon or meat would be prepared. The defibrinated blood is used raw just as the milk is, except in smaller quantities. When available, each growing child receives a day's ration of blood as does each pregnant or lactating woman. Formerly, the warriors used this food exclusively. These three sources, milk, blood and meat provide them with liberal supplies of body-building minerals and the special vitamins, both fat-soluble and water soluble. Their estimate of a desirable dairy stock is based on quality not quantity. They judge the value of a cow for keeping in their herd by the length of time it takes her calf to stand on its feet and run after it is born, which is only a very few minutes. This is in striking contrast with the practice of our modern dairymen who are chiefly concerned with the quantity of milk and quantity of butter fat rather than with its value as a source of special factors for nutrition. Many of the calves of the modern high-production cows of civilized countries are not able to stand for many hours after birth, frequently twenty-four. This ability to stand is very important in a country infested with predatory animals; such as lions, leopards, hyenas, jackals and vultures.
FIG. 40. An important source of fat soluble vitamins during the drought period is the blood of the steers which is drawn about every thirty days. Above shows the lance tipped arrow being shot into the neck vein. If the animal is wild it is hobbled as shown below where the stream of blood is seen spurting into the gourd. The flow ceases when the compress is removed.
This reminded me of my experience in Alaska in studying the reindeer of the Eskimos. I was told that a reindeer calf could be dropped in a foot of snow and almost immediately it could run with such speed that the predatory animals, including wolves, could not catch it. And, moreover, that these fawns would go almost immediately after their birth with a herd on a stampede and never be knocked down.
The problem of combating the predatory animals, particularly the lions, calls for greater skill and bravery than is required by other tribes in Africa. The lions live on the large grazing animals, particularly the cattle, from which they select the strongest. In driving over the veldt we frequently saw one or two men or boys guarding an entire herd with only their spears. Their skill in killing a lion with a spear is one of the most superb of human achievements. I was interested to learn that they much prefer their locally made spears to those that are manufactured outside and brought in, because of their certainty that they will not break, will withstand straightening regardless of how much they are bent and because due to the process of manufacture will take a very sharp edge.
On one occasion, after we had been kept awake much of the night by the roaring of the lions and neighing of the zebras that were being attacked by the lions, we visited a Masai manyata nearby in the morning to learn that when they let their cattle and goats out of the corral of acacia thorns, three or four spearsmen went ahead in search of the lions that might be waiting to ambush the cattle. They apparently did not have the slightest fear. The lions evidentally had made a kill nearby. This the natives determined by the number of coyotes.
The heart and courage of these people has been largely broken by the action of the government in taking away their shields in order to prevent them pillaging the surrounding native tribes as formerly. They depended upon their shields to protect them from the arrows of the other tribes. The efforts to make agriculturists of these Masai people are not promising.
In a typical manyata the chief has several wives. Each one has a separate dwelling. Timber and shrubbery are so scarce in this vicinity that the dwellings are built of clay mixed with cow dung which is plastered over a framework of twigs. Many chiefs are over six feet in height.
The Masai live in a very extensive game preserve in which hundreds of thousands of grazing animals enjoy an existence protected from man since even the natives are not allowed to kill the animals as formerly. They seemed to be preserved for the numerous lions which occasionally become very bold since they have an abundance of food and no enemies. Recently the local government authorities found it necessary to shoot off eighty of the lions in a particular district because of their aggressiveness.
In the Masai tribe, a study of 2,516 teeth in eighty-eight individuals distributed through several widely separated manyatas showed only four individuals with caries. These had a total of ten carious teeth, or only 0.4 per cent of the teeth attacked by tooth decay.
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Price talked about immunity to malaria in "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" pretty much the nutrition bible in my opinion. I believe the chapter was africa. That sucks that they adopted grains and the iron and other nutrients would be fine if they drank blood and ate meat everyday but they dont and I didnt know that til now.
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I believe that the sickle-cell gene is pretty prevalent in that population. That gene protects against malaria, IIRC.
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Price talked about immunity to malaria in "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" pretty much the nutrition bible in my opinion. I believe the chapter was africa.
Not true. My link http://journeytoforever.org/farm_library/price/price9.html
was precisely to the chapter on Africa in "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" ;D
Nowhere does Price mention this immunity in the paragraph devoted to Masais....
As to the protection by the sickle cell gene, this seems not specific to Masais nor a matter of diet or blood drinking AFAIK
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On page 119 in his book he does not specifically say they were immune to malaria. But after describing infecting ticks, typhus fever, malaria mosquitos, tsetse fly, he states this: One wonders at the apparent health of the natives until he learns of the unique immunity they have developed and which is largely transmitted to their offspring. He proceeded by saying that they purposefully expose themselves to malaria after been infected with syphilis to prevent further injuries resulting from the spirochetal infection. So I see what you mean, he does not say it but says they purposely expose themselves to it which does not mean they are immune.
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A good search engine is your friend. I googled <<"weston price" malaria>> and in the very first hit Dr. Price talked about African resistance to Malaria ("Out of Africa: What Dr. Price Dr. Burkitt Discovered in Their Studies of Sub-Saharan Tribes," http://www.westonaprice.org/Out-of-Africa-What-Dr.-Price-Dr.-Burkitt-Discovered-in-Their-Studies-of-Sub-Saharan-Tribes.html). I don't know how much was due to inherited resistance to malaria and how much was due to environmental factors like their more ancestral diet, lifestyle, and living situations at that time, but it's interesting that malaria appears to have become a much more significant problem in Kenya since modernization ("Young warriors no match for insects bearing malaria," by Declan Walsh in Entasopia, Kenya, Monday, 16 December 2002, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/young-warriors-no-match-for-insects-bearing-malaria-611126.html). There are probably multiple factors at work.
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A good search engine is your friend. I googled <<"weston price" malaria>> and in the very first hit Dr. Price talked about African resistance to Malaria ("Out of Africa: What Dr. Price Dr. Burkitt Discovered in Their Studies of Sub-Saharan Tribes," http://www.westonaprice.org/Out-of-Africa-What-Dr.-Price-Dr.-Burkitt-Discovered-in-Their-Studies-of-Sub-Saharan-Tribes.html). I don't know how much was due to inherited resistance to malaria and how much was due to environmental factors like their more ancestral diet, lifestyle, and living situations at that time, but it's interesting that malaria appears to have become a much more significant problem in Kenya since modernization ("Young warriors no match for insects bearing malaria," by Declan Walsh in Entasopia, Kenya, Monday, 16 December 2002, http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/africa/young-warriors-no-match-for-insects-bearing-malaria-611126.html). There are probably multiple factors at work.
Thanks Paleo Phil.
The point is actually that Price simply stated that African tribes in general were much more tolerant to infection diseases in general than Europeans.
By contrast (to Europeans), the native Africans exhibited a very high tolerance to infectious disease including malaria carried by mosquitos, typhus and fevers transmitted by lice and sleeping sickness borne by the tsetse fly.
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Yes, technically speaking, "immune" is too strong a word, but it's still interesting that Kenyan tolerance to malaria has diminished at the same time that their consumption of corn and rice has risen and their tilling of malaria-promoting rice paddies has increased, in part due to government subsidies, ironically. Bill Gates spends millions of his own money trying to eradicate malaria while African and Western governments indirectly work to promote it further. My guess is that there are multiple factors at work behind the decreasing resistance of Masai and Kenyans in general to malaria and that diet may be one of them, since many RPDers here have noted that their resistance to colds and flus increases after adopting this WOE. I don't think we are completely immune to colds, flus or malaria, but I'll bet we are more resistant than we were before RPD.
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I've been tested more than once for malaria, sickle cell and syphilis among other diseases. I didn't tell them what to test me for, I just told them I know something was wrong and a couple of my symptoms, etc. I came out negative to those three mentioned each time, that I wasn't ever exposed to the last. Sickle cell I guess they would have to do a genetic test to rule it out completely, but I've never done a genetic test. I think they're more expensive. Maybe I should start drinking blood. Do you think it would help?
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I think drinkin blood is one of the very best things I've ever done. Before raw primal/ paleo I was on cooked paleo and ate like a lb of meat a day and still had anemia and b12 deficiency. One of the things my naturopath said was that it didn't matter how good my diet was because the food Im eating is from bad soil i.e. animals and plants from soil that is 40-50% less nutrient dense than 50 years ago. This is due to top soil runoff from idiot agriculture practices and pesticides killing 90% of the soil fungi that kill the plants. However, as soon as I started eating organic fruit/ vegetables and made the majority of my diet from raw grass fed meat/ blood I am no longer anemic or b12 deficient. When one cooks meat, the blood is basically gone. This diet of ours, either primal or raw paleo is the most nutrient dense diet hands down... :)