Originally published July 20 2005
Founding fathers ate a lousy diet
by Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, NaturalNews Editor
The diet plan of America's founding fathers centered largely on fat, meat, salt and alcohol, and people of the time consumed more than 5,000 calories a day on average. While such a diet may have supported colonists' lifestyles of grueling manual labor, it is not the recommended diet for modern consumers.
American Institute for Cancer Research - infoZine -Most colonial diets centered on fat, meat, salt and alcohol.
Some nutritionists estimate our founding fathers consumed well over 5,000 calories a day, much of it from pork and beef that were significantly higher in fat than today's meats.
Food often was preserved by salting or smoking.
Drinking water was frequently unsafe, so hard cider, ale and rum were consumed in great quantities.
This high-calorie diet, however, supported a life of hard, manual labor.
Small farmers and laborers probably did have marginally better health than their wealthier contemporaries because they got regular physical activity and ate more plant foods such as squash and root vegetables.
The predominant grain eaten in that era was corn, which was ground into refined meal.
Eating corn is one colonial habit we can continue.
While it is high in natural sugar, corn is a good source of dietary fiber and should be enjoyed as a healthful part of a balanced meal.
Quinoa is thought of as a grain, although it's actually a fruit.
A complete protein because it contains all eight essential amino acids, quinoa is also a good source of minerals, including calcium, phosphorous, copper, iron, magnesium, potassium and zinc, as well as dietary fiber.
Quinoa looks like small, cream-colored grains of rice but cooks in half the time of rice and expands to four times its original volume.
(Before cooking, thoroughly rinsed quinoa under cold running water until the water runs clear. This will remove the bitter residue of the original coating, which can give cooked quinoa an unpleasant taste.)
Quinoa has a delicate, nutty flavor and chewy texture.
This colorful salad is perfect for any picnic, but especially for the Fourth of July.
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