Healthy-ish host Felicity Harley sat down with nutritionist Steph Lowe to clue up on the ancestral way of eating, from its key principles to how you can work it into your daily life.
Eating based on your cultural heritage is rarely spoken about, but nutritionist Steph Lowe says it’s the perfect way to fuel your body with nutrients, minerals, healthy fats and good carbohydrates. Not only that but an ancestral diet is also proven to prevent lifestyle diseases, which can be exacerbated by a poor diet.
It’s also a flexible way of eating, unlike its paleo diet cousin.
“It’s a concept or a style of eating that has a few key principals, like focusing on local, seasonal, and cultural food. I guess the cultural element allows us to consider that there isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach, but a lot of it depends on where you live and obviously what your ancestors ate,” Lowe told Healthy-ish podcast host Felicity Harley in a recent episode.
“There’s a saying made very famous by Michael Pollan which is, ‘Don’t eat anything your great grandmother wouldn’t recognise as food.'”
Think of the days when processed food wasn’t a thing. When “convenience” foods weren’t accessible. These days consumers are spoilt for choice at the supermarket, and it comes at the cost of nutrient density.
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During your next grocery shop, ask yourself what your grandmother could have bought to feed herself and her family, and take into consideration the cultural factor, too, like your lineage.
“We don’t really bring culture into healthy eating patterns. That’s where our genes come from and our environment. The health and nutrition benefits from this style of eating are endless,” Lowe explained.
“The most important one I think is that an ancestral diet is the most nutrient-dense approach. It’s rich in our vitamins and minerals, it’s really balanced from a macronutrient perspective, it means we’re eating food that has the maximum benefit.
“You can think about that when we consider that when we think of the processed and packaged food. One concept to think about is those foods have a high degree of human interference, which unfortunately means they have a low degree of nutrient density. And the opposite is true.”
Human interference is a big factor, as Lowe explained.
“If we’re looking at foods that are local, seasonal and cultural, which by nature are whole and unprocessed, and unrefined, they have a very low degree of human interference and therefore a high degree of nutrient density.”
If you’re eating seasonally, your hip pocket will be better off, too. Your blood sugar will also thank you, and managing cravings will also become second nature.
How does the ancestral differ from the paleo diet?
“I think there definitely are some similarities, but if we look at the several key differences, the paleo diet was around before modern agriculture, so that was very hunter and gatherer,” Lowe explained.
“An ancestral diet is newer in terms of our timeline, and there is room for certain dairy products and some high-quality grains which are largely avoided in a paleo-type approach, although we have seen that change in recent years with the paleo movement softening rather than being so dogmatic like it was when it became really popular in the late 2000s.
“Both are nutrient-dense, but I think the ancestral diet is a bit more flexible in terms of those inclusions which I think is very important.”
Lowe told Harley, “We’re still talking about grass-fed and pastured meats, wild-caught seafood, seasonal fruits and vegetables, lots of fermented foods and ancient grains, and beautiful quality, unrefined fats – I think that’s very similar to a paleo diet, but I think people really benefit from including some dairy and some grains for their carbohydrates.
“I think people like that flexibility as well for themselves and their families.”
In many ways, it’s just a healthy style of eating, yet thanks to social media, we’re often taught that going to extreme measures to lose weight, for example, is the way to go. It’s not.
Lowe said while the ancestral diet should be followed most of the time, she does think there’s room to indulge while still filling your body with nutrients and love. Think of it in 80/20 terms.
“You don’t have to be perfect to achieve healthy outcomes. Focus on what you do 80 per cent of the time, not what you do every once and a while. There’s still room to eat your favourite foods, eat out and socialise. It’s really important to enjoy food, and we don’t have to be extreme to achieve great health,” she said.
What following the ancestral style of eating looks like
“It’s important to think about where everybody is getting their high quality proteins, so that’s grass-fed, that’s really high quality meats and poultry and eggs and dairy. That’s where we have to think about where we’re sourcing these proteins.
Hit up your local farmer’s market, or have a good chat with your butcher, for starters.
“Fruit and vegetables with every meal are important – they’re what’s most rich in our vitamins and minerals and the source of wholefoods carbohydrates,” Lowe advised.
“We’re used to thinking of carbohydrates are breads and cereals or grains, whereas fruits and vegetables are our carbohydrates and there’s certainly room for more starchier vegetables like sweet potato, or potato, or beetroot which has a slightly higher carbohydrate content.
“And then, ideally one meal a day with fermented foods, so that could be sauerkraut or kimchi. Have a couple of tablespoons with your omelette, or your salad. Or you might like a nice milk or coconut kefir, which is a fermented beverage. These are all rich in probiotics for our gut and obviously our digestion, our immune system and our long-term health.”
Just remember that all fats are not created equal. “Because [of] the convenience industry, unfortunately we’re seeing a lot of seed oils and industrial oils that are a key driver of poor health outcomes we see in lifestyle diseases like cardiovascular disease.
“We’re looking for grass-fed butter, extra virgin olive oil, avocado oil or coconut oil – and you only need one to two tablespoons per meal. It’s really important to focus on those high quality, unrefined fats.”
