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In today’s vodcast, I chat about the Nutritarian diet and how it might be completely missing the inclusion of nutrient-dense foods.

Mary holding an article on the Nutritarian Diet.
Watch the What is the Nutritarian Diet video

These conversational vodcasts are available to the Kitchen Pioneers who have joined my YouTube membership communityโ€”The Traditional Foods Kitchen Academy.

What is the Nutritarian Diet?

The authors of the Nutritarian Diet focus on eating foods that are considered to be nutritious. This makes complete sense. We all want to eat nutritious foods.

But the authors of this diet make one big mistake. They claim that the nutritious foods contained in the Nutritarian diet are nutrient dense. The diet focuses primarily on eating fruits and vegetables with a few nuts and seeds thrown in for good measure.

Overall, the majority of foods listed as part of a Nutritarian diet are actually nutrient-rich foods and not nutrient-dense foods.

What Are Nutrient Rich Foods?

The problem with the Nutritarian diet is the fact that although fruits and vegetables are nutritious, they are not nutrient-dense foods. Instead, fruits and vegetables are nutrient-rich foods. This is an important distinction.

Nutrient-rich foods are low in calories but do contain vitamins and minerals. However, since they are low in calories, you would have to eat a lot of them to meet your daily nutritional requirements for a healthy diet.

Why It Is Important to Eat Both Nutrient-Rich Foods and Nutrient-Dense Foods

Both nutrient-rich and nutrient-dense foods are an important part of a traditional foods diet. However, nutrient-dense foods are the key component of a traditional foods diet and have been throughout the history of all traditional cultures. These nutrient-dense foods help our digestive systems absorb the vitamins and minerals from nutrient-rich foods.

But there is an even more important reason to make sure that nutrient-dense foods are part of our traditional foods diet. It’s because nutrient-dense foods are just thatโ€”dense with nutrients! By eating just a small amount of nutrient-dense foods, you get a wallop of vitamins and minerals.

What are Nutrient-Dense Foods?

When determining if a traditional food is nutrient-dense, focus on its calories per portion and the vitamins and minerals offered in the portion size. Nutrient-dense foods are rich in vitamins and minerals in small portions. Examples of nutrient-dense foods include:

  • Animal Fats, such as tallow and lard
  • Animal organ meats, including liver, heart, and kidneys
  • Bone Marrow from ruminant animals, such as cattle
  • Egg yolks
  • Fatty fish including sardines
  • Fats made from the cream of animal milk, such as butter
  • Oils rich in saturated fat, such a coconut oil

This is a general list of nutrient-dense foods to get you started on your traditional foods journey. To learn more about the importance of including nutrient-dense foods in your diet, be sure to watch my Nutritarian diet member video and also learn more at the Weston A Price Foundation website.

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