What is Deep Nutrition? What should we eat?

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Dr. Cate released her book in 2008 after a journey into nutrition science never addressed by her medical school training. Practicing medicine in Hawaii, she noticed that the children of her mostly Filipino and Japanese patients were living on the SAD-Standard American Diet and were less healthy than their parents and grandparents. This, combined with her own physical deterioration in her 30's (after being a lifelong long-distance runner), steered her toward food as medicine.

She determined that the traditional Filipino and Japanese foods were prepared with care and with knowledge of traditions that went back generations. Further, she determined that cultural cuisines could be very different and still have key commonalities. For example, traditional foods use fermentation. Traditional foods don't rely on sugar or starch laden staples. If they eat pork, they use the whole hog.

In her research Dr. Shanahan came across the research of an American dentist, Dr. Weston A. Price. Price noticed in his practice that Americans under his care were suffering from caries-tooth decay at an alarming rate. Not only that but oral and dental development was not good. He funded trips around the world with the goal of finding people who had no access to sugar or processed flour. The people he found had amazing of dental arch development and healthy teeth without decay. This confirmed his thesis. See  Home - The Weston A. Price Foundation 

Dr Shanahan put her nutrition knowledge to work as food and nutrition advisor to the Los Angeles Lakers. She supervised preparation of food for the team at their workout dining room. She provided bone broth (rich in collagen) for athletes to recover soft tissue. She pried bags of candy from nearly 7-foot tall basketball players who did not grow up with good eating habits. Her interview, entitled "Why Kobe Bryant Drinks Bone Broth can still be found on YouTube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RkPAwbaQnaM&t=5s&pp=ygUba29iZSBicnlhbnQgZWF0cyBib25lIGJyb3Ro0gcJCfwJAYcqIYzv

Dr Cate speaks of the Four Pillars or nutritional strategies of the Human diet. They are: 1. Fresh Food. 2. Fermented and Sprouted Foods. 3. Meat on the bone. 4. Organ Meats. When you delve into traditional foods, you find these strategies employed over and over. Europeans have sauerkraut, cheese, and stews. Asians have kimchi, soy sauce, sprouted beans, and a wealth of fresh vegetables and herbs from field, nature, and the ocean. You get the idea. See her books for more detail. Most traditional cuisines relish organ meats like liver or tripe in menudo.

Dr Cate is a great resource, but she hasn't cornered the market on health and nutrition. It can now be found everywhere, everywhere except in most of the inner aisles of your local Publix or Kroger. We know that a diet of starchy carbohydrates and sugar (they are essentially the same) will lead you to gain weight, feel sluggish and elevate inflammation. Eating well prepared meat, poultry, root, vine and row vegetables will do the opposite. For taste, we have a whole world of seasoning palates to choose from and nothing is too exotic to evade amazon or a local ethnic food shops. Enjoy!