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Taine Randell, Maori eating like their ancestors, losing weight, improving health. 60 minutes

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Yesterday TV3 had a 60 minutes piece on Maori living in Flaxmere, who have taken part in a 10 week trial eating the way their ancestors did 150 years ago (pre-European) Meat, seafood, fat and vegetables. The result, diabetes reversing, blood sugar dropping and an 8 kg average weight loss in 10 weeks. Ex All Black captain Taine Randell went back to his home town and teamed up with nutritionist Ben Warren to support this trial, as well as coaching the local rugby team to success. Article on Ben Warren and the trial here.

Or here http://bepure.co.nz/bepure-info/bepure-media.html

This is a seeming paradox, when we consider eating like this goes against the advice in the current food pyramid. However if we look at the health problems this group of Maori were suffering from, this way of eating makes biochemical sense.

New Zealand Maori like many indigenous peoples are particularly prone to diseases linked with insulin resistance. Here is a good explanation of insulin resistance.

Many indigenous groups have changed to a diet high in processed carbohydrates / grains and vegetable oils relatively recently. Indeed Maori have been introduced to grains only with the influx of Europeans, in the last two hundred years. Captain Cook speaking of the New Zealand Maori in 1772

“ … strange that these people enjoy perfect and uninterrupted health…we never saw a single person who appeared to have any bodily complaint…the great number of old men that we saw. . . . appeared to be very ancient , yet none of them were decrepit; and though not equal to the young in muscular strength, were not a whit behind them in cheerfulness and vivacity…” (from thepaleodiet.com)

When Maori changed from a hunter gatherer diet, primarily birds, seafood, wild plants, and kumara (sweet potato), to a diet high in processed grains, sugar, vegetable oils and other modern foods, their levels of obesity, gout and type 2 diabetes has risen enormously.

By removing processed grains, vegetable oils high in omega 6, junk foods (bad fats, processed carbs, sugar and chemicals) and returning to the diet that best suits their genetic heritage, this group were able to dramatically improve their health.

By replacing processed and grain carbohydrates and with mainly vegetables (kumara, pumpkin, and non starch vegetables) they removed a food group responsible for a large glycemic load (blood sugar load), and one which also contains anti-nutrients and gut irritants. When you decrease blood sugar load, less insulin is required to be sent out to remove the blood sugar. With less insulin and lower blood sugar, insulin receptors will increase sensitivity and health problems triggered by high insulin levels start to reverse.

The only way to maintain hunger control when you decrease carbohydrate load is to have protein at each meal and increase fat. As we see in this documentary this is exactly what they did, eggs, bacon, mushrooms cooked in butter, and greens for breakfast. The man who ate this meal said it kept him going until 3.00pm then he ate lunch – usually boil-up (basically a stew with high anti-oxidant puha and meat). Using butter, although high in saturated fat, is low in omega 6, and does not contain synthetic trans fats or interesterified fat, which aggravate insulin resistance and increase inflammation. Omega 6 high oils have have replaced traditional saturated fats in many countries for the worse – leading to an explosion of health issues related to inflammation, like heart disease.

So by returning to the traditional diet, glycemic load is dramatically reduced, inflammatory fats reduced and hunger managed, leading to decreased blood sugar levels, and decreased calorie consumption. Diabetic and heart disease markers decreased and body fat was lost from all those participating.

Emulating the traditional Maori Food Model.

What to eat:

Seafood – all types,

Poultry and birds, free range is best,

Meat – all types, grass fed or wild animals

Eggs, free range

Vegetables – all root and starchy, but use kumara, Maori potato and pumpkin instead of European potatoes.

Colourful and non starch vegetables, eat a lot, especially traditional greens like watercress and puha.

Fruit – in moderation, berries are best, Maori did not have access to large amounts of sweet fruit.

Fats – use olive oil (not traditional I know – but healthy) Avocado, and macadamia nut oil, coconut oil, lard, butter and cream in moderation.

What not to eat:

Do not eat European introduced food – wheat and grains (includes bread, bakery, cakes, pasta, rice etc), legumes, sugar

Do not drink any sugary drinks or artificially sweetened drinks – water should be your drink of choice, tea and coffee are fine without sugar.

Do not eat deep fried food.

Do not use vegetable oils other than olive oil, avocado or macadamia.

Dairy and cheese were not part of the traditional Maori diet, yet Maori had strong bones.

Limit or don’t eat salty processed meats with nitrites, like bacon

And what about all the saturated fat added to this diet? A recent study that looked at the association between heart disease and saturated fat found that “Intake of saturated fat wasnot associated with an increased risk of CHD (Coronary Heart Disease), stroke, or CVD (cardio vascular disease).” Meta-analysis of prospective cohort studies evaluating the association of saturated fat with cardiovascular disease http://www.ajcn.org/cgi/content/abstract/91/3/535

More interesting ‘paradoxes’ in this article:

http://www.cholesterol-and-health.org.uk/dietary-paradoxes.html

An excellent post on Maori pre European diets: http://hopefulgeranium.blogspot.co.nz/2013/12/what-is-maori-ancestral-diet.html

This type of study has been carried out on other indigenous peoples, in every case when groups eat pre-European diets, their health improves and they lose weight.

STANDING TALL: PLAINS INDIANS ENJOYED HEIGHT, HEALTH ADVANTAGE

http://www.cbc.ca/thelens/bigfatdiet/

Marked improvement in carbohydrate and lipid metabolism in diabetic Australian aborigines after temporary reversion to traditional lifestyle.

More reading on how our current diet no longer suits our genes read:

10 Ways our diet today differs radically from the diet that best suits our genes

12 COMMENTS

  1. I resent the racial overtones in this article and am saddened by them.Part of the reason I left N.Z….All the information is sound and correct but it applies to people all over the world not just maoris and europeans!
    Maori were forced to live on fish n chips and white bread?
    Perhaps you could have said since the introduction of agriculture(true world wide)
    Don’t play the blame game.While I’m at it why can’t we be honest and say ‘of Maori decent’?Everyone knows there are no full blooded Maoris left.Isn’t it all about honesty pride and equality?

    • I can’t quite see the racial overtones. This is an article that is about one specific group on a diet trial.

      Of course the havoc modern food brings applies to all other people. My entire blog is about this. In no way did I suggest it didn’t. However Maori were only introduced to these foods by Europeans, a mere 250 years ago.

      Who am I blaming?

  2. Simon why does it always have to revert to being racist? I cant see anything racist about this and I am Maori, get over yourself! All i see here is a study that could relate to other indigenous groups and is actually pointing out the positives of a diet that obviously did not include a lot of the foods we eat today and which are now causing our people enormous health issues! The point of the article, perhaps if you take note and adjust it, may indeed help you to survive a much healthier and longer life.

  3. Great article and has helped confirm a lot of things for me. Both my partner and I totally agree with the findings and will implement it with our family of 6. She’s English and I’m 15/16ths Māori. If i follow Simon’s logic I guess i should throw in some potatoes then to represent the irish side? nah..I go with the benefits of a pinto guinness thanks…

  4. There’s no paradox, the food pyramid is WRONG and has been wrong ever since Ancel Keys cherry-picked his data.

    Fat alone doesn’t make you fat, nor does it cause chronic disease. Fat plus chronically high refined carbs in your diet is what makes you fat and knocks your regulatory systems out of whack via inflammation and all kinds of other problems.

    Keep your insulin to glucagon ratio low, i.e. eat LOTS of fibrous green veggies and even some fruits (low insulin rise) along with proteinaceous foods like meat and seafood (which allows fat to continue to be mobilized even in the presence of insulin because of the GLUCAGON that is released), and you will be hard-pressed to gain weight even if you overeat.

    Once you are a normal weight again, and your systems are well regulated, you can just about eat any combination of diet, be it low carb, high fat or the opposite a la 80/10/10 and remain lean and healthy.

    It’s the quantity and ESPECIALLY the QUALITY of the CARBS you put in your mouth that really matters.

  5. Donna you could be referring to the Kumara, which is purple in colour but has a yellow flesh and is very good for the Paleo diet. In saying that, when I was younger we did plant a Maori purple potato but I’m not sure if these are around much anymore.

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