The Ancestral Indigenous Diet: A Whole Foods Meat-Based Carnivore Diet

by Frank Tufano

  Eating Our Way to an Early Grave

  In much of the United States, at least among almost everyone reading this book, there is no longer a need to worry about caloric scarcity. The problem is the opposite. Overconsumption is now the norm because we have too much access to unnaturally palatable food.

  But even as people eat more and more, they get less and less of what they actually need. Past humans went days — sometimes weeks — without food at times. We can't go three hours without a snack.

  Nobody thinks that candy and potato chips have any nutritional value, but people really do believe that brown rice, fruit, and store-bought yogurt give them everything they need. People even think in very simple terms — saying “this is healthy” as they eat a smoothie full of sugar but no nutrients to speak of — and then go about their day without realizing they are lacking many of the key building blocks of actual health.

  What is missing? Depending upon what they eat, it may be many things. But there are a few absolutely essential components that humans need. These are the vitamins, and one fatty acid, that you need to really prioritize and understand if you are going to reach your optimal health. Without question, there are more things that you must obtain to hit this goal. But by prioritizing these three vitamins, and one fatty acid, the rest will all mostly fall into place naturally.

  This is our scientific answer; we know these nutrients are important for our health. The logical answer ties into ancestral diets, these animal nutrients were present across all native indigenous groups.

  To make it easier and take some of the confusion out of eating, this book starts with these, “The Fundamental Four,” that will make up the foundation of nutrient density. This doesn’t mean the others (which we will discuss in the following chapter) are necessarily less important. But these four are often lacking and poorly understood.

  If you start here, get back to basics, and start to obtain each of these foundational nutrients, you will quickly be on your way to eating — and feeling — better.

  The Keys of Nutrient Density

  Before getting into the specific vitamins and fat that we need, it’s important to understand the core philosophy behind this diet. The goal of the Ancestral Indigenous Diet is to eat the most nutritionally dense foods possible while completely avoiding anything that may be detrimental (by causing inflammation, introducing anti-nutrients, harming our gut, or generally disrupting the natural mechanisms within our bodies).

  This requires eating high-quality animal foods, and the good news is that we can obtain all the nutrients we need without even consuming a ton of calories. By eating the right items (like liver, certain seafood, and the correct cheese), we will have everything we need.

  But beyond nutrients, we of course also need enough calories to fuel our bodies to stay alive as well as enough protein to rebuild cells, tissues, and muscles. After we hit our nutritional goals, those two areas become the priority.

  The other key goal when eating will be to eliminate inflammation. We will cover that deeper in a later chapter — but this is one of the key reasons that plant foods are not just unnecessary but potentially harmful. We will also dig deeper into why I don’t consume plant foods later in the book.

  But before we really detail what we should eat, we need to understand the why.

  Why are different nutrients so important? Which nutrients should you focus on when designing your diet? What are the common deficiencies and how to you avoid missing out on the things your body needs most?

  We will begin to explore all of that right now. But, at the same time, this isn’t a biology textbook. My goal in the next two chapters is to provide an overview of the primary vitamins and nutrients that I believe should be nutritional foundation of your diet and the key reasons that you need to be obtaining them. I want to give you the practical information that will help you recognize why you need these nutrients. I do not want to drone on with so much science and so many research studies that you forget it all by tomorrow.

  This is why I will focus on mechanisms within the body and continue to express how important it was for our indigenous ancestors to consume these nutrients. Hopefully, by taking this approach, you can come to understand why I place such a priority on these specific nutrients in my diet.

  Vitamin A

  If you look at a typical nutrition resource online, it will tell you that Vitamin A is important for maintaining healthy teeth, bones, soft tissue, mucous membranes, and skin. It will note Vitamin A’s role in eye health and tell you that its scientific names (retinol, retinal, and retinoic acid) are related to its role in producing pigments in the retina of the eye. You might learn that Vitamin A deficiency can lead to blindness.

  While these factors are certainly important, there is much more to know. Along with the other fat-soluble vitamins we will discuss, Vitamin A is critical to cell differentiation and gene expression — the process by which essentially every cell is made in the body.

  Because this process is the foundation of everything, the importance of these vitamins is understated in human biology. Most people will go their whole lives without even understanding what this is or how our diet can impact these functions.

  In the simplest terms, gene expression turns on and off genes to regulate what cells your body needs, and cell differentiation is the act of those cells becoming specialized cells (such as white blood cells or a stem cell). Genes are what determine all of the characteristics of our bodies that regulate function.

  The fact that most diets are lacking in the nutrients key to such basic cell function can likely explain the poor health of most people. All of these fat-soluble vitamins are tied together in complex metabolic chains involving other vitamins, minerals, elements, fatty acids, and pretty much anything that enters your body.

  So, while Vitamin A is not unique in its effect on this process, it does have a significant role to play. In the context of gene expression, retinoic acid in fact regulates hundreds of genes in the body, including stem cell differentiation (meaning the production of stem cells), and germ cell differentiation in embryonic development. Overall, it plays a role in the regulation of more than 500 genes!

  And most people are not consuming nearly enough Vitamin A to make sure all of these vital processes are regulated properly. But they think they are — due to an entirely different form of poor regulation: This time from the U.S. government.

  Through the Institute of Medicine (IOM), the established Recommended Dietary Allowances (RDA) and Dietary Reference Intakes (DRI) allow the beta-carotene from plant foods to be labeled as Vitamin A (in the form of retinol activity equivalents, or RAE). But this substance, also known as “Provitamin A," is not what our body actually needs.

  These carotenoids need to be converted by the body into the usable retinal form (or “preformed Vitamin A”), and the conversion rates can vary significantly by person. In fact, many people only convert beta-carotene in very small amounts. And this process can be further impaired in various ways, including certain gene differences between people and compounds in plant foods that inhibit certain enzymes involved in conversion.

  In short, (1) the animal form of Vitamin A is the most bioavailable for our bodies, and (2) some of us can only get it in high amounts from a few specific sources (namely liver and high-quality egg yolks). If you are eating carrots and kale every day and thinking all those carotenoids are doing the job, you may be sorely mistaken.

  All this also brings up another important point to understand about the RDAs: They were created to help prevent deficiencies in 97.5% of the population — not to promote optimal health. Besides that, they have been updated only once (in 2016) since being established in 1968.

  Why exactly are we taking advice from a government body that updates its information every 50 years? And should we be merely trying to prevent deficiencies or actually optimize our intake?

  Really, the importance of Vitamin A cannot be overstated. And as much as all of the fat-soluble vitamins are essential
, starting to consume foods high in Vitamin A is one way that many people can create a noticeable difference in their health almost immediately.

  Vitamin A: Sources & Preparation

  Of all the so-called “superfoods” touted by “experts” and magazine articles, there may be nothing better to consume than liver. Whether it’s from cow, lamb, chicken, duck, other birds, cod, or other fish, liver is the only food source in nature that is truly high in Vitamin A.

  That being said, it’s safe to say that not every person in every tribe was able to get enough liver to eat. Each animal only has one, and it isn’t that large relative to muscle meat, fat, and even other organs. But even small ocean fish, shellfish, and insects either have small stores of Vitamin A in their livers or are just much higher in Vitamin A than the foods we eat now. So our ancestors were able to get by even when the big-game hunting wasn’t going so well.

  This was fine because, in general, people don’t even need all that much. Even 100 grams of liver a week is probably sufficient depending upon body size. That said, consumption should be prioritized early on. Eating more is likely a good idea because most people living on a Standard American Diet will have deficiencies. And this applies not just to Vitamin A but for most of the fundamental nutrients. Whereas indigenous people in the past were getting adequate levels starting in the womb, you are going to have to make up for some lost time in the beginning phase.

  In our modern days, cod liver supplements are an option for people who don’t like liver or have a hard time sourcing it locally. And this isn’t just a modern diet fad like most supplements you find online or from big retailers. Your grandparents can all likely tell you about the awful taste when they were force-fed spoonfuls as a kid. Fortunately, today’s versions have a better flavor, but people have been relying on fish liver oil for a long, long time.

  “Scandanavian fishermen often have a belief in the nearly magical value of cod or halibut liver oil, and some of them will toss off, most likely in the morning, the equivalent of a wineglassful,” wrote Stefansson in The Fat of the Land.

  Canned cod liver is generally easier to find — and more approachable in terms of taste, as are poultry liver (chicken, duck, goose) or baby animal livers (like veal and lamb). Beef, goat, and pig liver, by comparison, are all much stronger tasting and some find them to simply be unpalatable. One note, however: Food quality ties in directly to flavor. Grass-fed, naturally raised ruminant liver, even coming from an older animal, will taste significantly better than conventionally raised beef liver.

  Other benefits from cod liver (and other fish livers) are their large amounts of Omega-3 fatty acids and Iodine, while poultry livers tend to have higher amounts of Vitamin K2. And as with beef, the taste is improved when the animal lived a natural life on the farm — not to mention the overall nutrient profile of liver. Freshly slaughtered meat is also far more mild in taste. So if you get liver that hasn’t been sitting in a store freezer for months, it will be less disagreeable even to people who don’t like the flavor. There is also natural variation in all cases. Beef liver, for example, is higher in B Vitamins, whereas goose liver is higher in Vitamin K2 and duck liver has a lot of iron.

  While it does pay to find a way to consume some form of liver, those who simply cannot choke anything down can get (much) smaller amounts from eggs or certain dairy. But the chickens must be truly free-range. And the milk must be non-pasteurized and come from grass-fed cows. Otherwise, the Vitamin A content is very hard to know and will likely be negligible.

  A store-bought carton of milk is left with no natural Vitamin A. But manufacturers do often add synthetic Vitamin A in the form of retinyl palmitate — which can be harmful to the human liver. This is just one more reason to stay away from conventional dairy.

  Because high-quality versions of these foods are often hard to source dependably, liver is always the best way to go. Especially at the beginning as you make up for your (likely) past deficiency. In time, as you replenish Vitamin A stores, you may do OK getting by just on eggs, raw dairy, and other grass-fed animal fat.

  In any case, effort into food sourcing and preparation is important. Canned cod liver and various pâtés are available or can even be made at home. It’s as simple as sautéing some liver, and blending it up with some raw cream, raw butter, and raw honey. This is super high nutrient, tasty, and approachable. It’s like liver ice cream. Dip some slices of raw parmesan cheese in it (or some type of a cracker that is healthier if you must).

  You can also of course just sauté or grill liver all by itself. It can be very bitter and astringent from low quality, conventionally raised animals. Buying grass-fed, especially younger animals will alleviate this. If you only have access to low-quality liver, soaking it for 24 hours in milk (or water or anything you can think of really), is a good option.

  I prefer to dry out the surface after marinating by leaving it on a rack in the fridge overnight, and then pan searing it the next day in butter. Eating it this way with liberal salt and pepper, or along with bites of cheese or even topped with some hot sauce, can make it easy to consume 100 grams or so a few times a week, which is plenty to get the Vitamin A you need.

  I’ve also put liver on a wood fire, and this is an OK option but not really my favorite. Depending on how strict you are and what your dietary goals are you can also use various types of flour to bread it and fry it, although I don’t think it’s really necessary if you marinate the liver and dry it out properly. The Eskimos preferred to boil liver, and some tribes ate it raw.

  Really, I’ve tried everything — even swallowing down raw liver in the past. So if you are all for obtaining your nutrition just by swallowing the liver, you can. It’s just that there are more enjoyable ways.

  Omega-3 Fatty Acids

  As already mentioned, the other fat-soluble vitamins are crucial. But before moving on to those, I want to talk about another component of a healthy diet that has many people confused: Omega-3 fatty acids.

  By now, everybody knows that they are important. Perhaps no supplement has gotten more marketing in the past decade than fish oil and its role in providing us with the Omega-3s we need. But even with all the recommendations, people remain misguided about why they are so critical to consume

  First off, many of these Omega fatty acids must be obtained through the diet, but it goes far beyond simply popping a few pills. Because on top of just getting an allotted amount of milligrams per day, you need to properly balance your Omega-3 levels with the other fats you consume, namely the Omega-6s that are severely over-consumed on the standard American diet.

  While I don’t want to overcomplicate this, there is some more granular information that you do need to know to get this all right. For starters, there are actually three different types of Omega 3s: EPA (eicosapentaenoic acid), DHA (docosahexaenoic acid), and ALA (alpha-linolenic acid).

  EPA and DHA — the two types found only in animal foods — are our bread and butter. That is what you need to focus on acquiring every day. These fatty acids primarily help regulate cellular inflammation (EPA) and maintain optimal brain health, nerve cell structure, and nerve cell function (DHA). While EPA produces beneficial chemicals called eicosanoids that are involved in anti-inflammatory processes, we absolutely must always prioritize DHA because it is a requirement for the brain, which uses these acids at a rate of around 4.6 mg per day. The role of DHA is essential in early human development and its levels in breast milk can vary from 0.06% to 1.4% — a 20-fold variance!

  For one real-world example, we may be able to look at the vascular properties of the indigenous Inuit “Eskimos” in northern Canada. Likely due to their high DHA and EPA consumption, as chronicled by Weston Price in the early 1900s, their blood clotted much slower, at around nine minutes, than the average of four minutes for people living in the United States. This is due to platelet adhesiveness as well as concentration of fibrinogen in the blood. And when their blood is flowing that smoothly, no wonder they didn’t have any heart disease to
speak of!

  The third type, ALA, is Omega-3 form predominantly found in plant foods, especially seed oils (generally branded as “vegetable oils”) like canola, soybean, corn, safflower, and palm oils. Once consumed, ALA can be stored in adipose tissue and used for energy production.

  There is a widespread belief that getting the animal forms of Omega-3s directly is unnecessary because the body can convert ALA into EPA and DHA. But this is more myth than science in a practical sense. The conversion of ALA to EPA is minimal, generally at less than 5%, and ALA consumption has not been shown to raise blood levels of DHA in any studies.

  In a more theoretical sense, conversion rates can likely be greater. But this doesn’t happen efficiently in the presence of high Omega-6 levels — which ire nearly universal in the modern U.S. diet (especially among vegetarians and vegans who often lack EPA and DHA).

  Without turning this into a science textbook, this is because Omega-6 fatty acids compete for the Delta 6 Desaturase enzyme for conversion at multiple stages of its metabolism to DHA. And when almost everyone consumes a high-Omega-6 diet, this process is significantly impaired.

  Along similar lines, many indigenous groups are believed to have been completely free from heart disease, and one proposed factor in this is the absence of seed oils and other highly processed modern food.

  Lastly, it must be noted that high Omega-6 levels can cause mitochondrial cell death and are generally a driving factor for many diseases. Linoleic acid, a commonly consumed Omega-6 fatty acid, can trigger necrotic cell death when obtained in abnormal amounts, whereas conjugated linoleic acid (an Omega-6 found in animal foods) has almost the reverse effect.

  What this and the rest of the information tells us is that we need to maintain the right balance between Omega-6s and Omega-3s — a ratio that has gotten further and further out of whack in recent decades.