Nutrition researcher, community activist, journalist, chef, and homemaker, Sally Fallon is the author of Nourishing Traditions: The Cookbook that Challenges Politically Correct Nutrition and the Diet Dictocrats. This well-researched, thought-provoking guide to traditional foods contains a startling message: Animal fats and cholesterol are not villains but vital factors in the diet, necessary for normal growth, proper function of the brain and nervous system, protection from disease and optimum energy levels.
Mrs. Fallon’s lifelong interest in the subject of nutrition began in the early 1970’s when she read Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A. Price. Called the “Charles Darwin of Nutrition,” Price traveled the world over studying healthy indigenous populations and their diets. The unforgettable photographs contained in his book document the beautiful facial structure and superb physiques of isolated groups consuming only whole, natural foods. Price noted that all of these diets contained a source of good quality animal fat, which provided numerous factors necessary for the full expression of our genetic potential and optimum health. Mrs. Fallon applied the principles of the Weston Price research to the feeding of her own children, and proved to herself that a diet rich in animal fats, and containing the protective factors in old fashioned foodstuffs like cod liver oil, liver and eggs, makes for sturdy, cheerful children with naturally straight teeth and a high immunity to illness.
After traveling the world and studying indigenous people’s dental and physical health, Dr. Price concluded that the further away people lived from civilization, the healthier they were. They ate from local food sources, had fewer cavities and some cultures never experienced any cancer or heart disease. Sally Fallon built on Dr. Price’s findings and studied societies throughout human existence and came to the controversial conclusion that raw dairy products are an important part of a healthy diet. She argues that for the past 9,000 years, humans have relied on milk to meet their needs for protein and fat, and that the problem is not milk, but the modern methods used to make dairy cows produce milk. Selective breeding and genetically engineered hormones, along with pasteurization, which makes the proteins in milk difficult to absorb, interfere with the benefits from milk.
The Sally Fallon Diet encourages high-quality animal products: whole, raw dairy milk, eggs, meats, organ meats, fish eggs, fish and cod liver oil; butter; sprouted grains and mostly cooked vegetables. Restricted foods are refined sugars, low-fat or no-fat products, non-organic meats and vegetables.
Mrs. Fallon stresses the benefits of the natural fats in meat, eggs and dairy. She also recommends eating other quality fats, such as virgin olive oil, unrefined flax oil, coconut oil and palm oil. Another essential element of her diet is carbohydrates from organic whole grains, pure water, meat stocks, vegetable broths, unrefined sea salt, raw vinegar, fresh herbs and naturally fermented soy sauce.
Sample Daily Menu
Breakfast: scrambled eggs with chicken sausage patties and toasted natural yeast bread with butter and raw honey
Lunch: tuna tahini salad served with pita bread or whole-grain crackers
Dinner: grilled swordfish served with artichokes in a lemon butter sauce with polenta triangles and collard greens
Dessert: ginger snaps made with ground ginger and bulgur flour
A drawback to this diet is that Mrs. Fallon does not stress eating more vegetables and fruits, which is what most Americans are lacking in.