Page 90 - summer2016

All Thumbs Book Reviews
All Thumbs Book Reviews

The Fermented Man: us. “Raw food necessitates a significant increase
A Year on the Front Lines in time and energy for the body to process it
of a Food Revolution into something useful, resulting in fewer calo-
by Derek Dellinger ries obtained for the effort.” The chimpanzee
The Overlook Press spends 48 percent of the day eating and chew-
ing, compared to just 4.7 percent for humans.
If you think that Derek Dellinger felt de- The solution is cooking or fermenting most of
prived during his year of eating only fermented our foods to spare the body an excess of energy
foods, think again. He was not just surviving poured into digestion.
on monkish meals of sauerkraut and pickles, As for fats, Dellinger rightly fingers the
but feasting on delicacies like cheese, cultured curse of the vegetable oils and comes out fight-
butter, sourdough bread, salami and prosciutto. ing for butter—if for no other reason than but-
Plus, wine and beer are allowed—not to mention ter makes us feel good and it gives us energy.
delicious beverages like kombucha. Take good fats out of the diet and they must be
He also tried some more obscure and less replaced with carbohydrates—and we all know
appealing fermented foods, like ratfisk, pickled what that has done to our waistlines.
eggs, fermented shark meat and natto. “I had to Man cannot live by fermented foods alone,
work myself up for natto,” he says. “Push down and Dellinger looked forward to his first non-
a few psychological obstacles I had in my head, fermented food, consumed on January 1, 2015.
like the fact that I generally avoid eating things We might have chosen a steak, or strawberries,
that trail tendrils of slime.” but Dellinger tucked into the food he had been
Throughout his interesting and often amus- longing for—guacamole!
ing voyage through the world of fermented Some creative recipes round out The
foods, Dellinger often digresses to discuss key Fermented Man: kimchi sourdough pancakes,
nutrition topics, like the importance of digestion fermented sweet potato french fries, lacto-fer-
and our need for fats. He deftly dismisses the mented salmon, bagal kvass and wild fermented
arguments for a raw food diet. The very act of squash beer. Enjoy!
digestion poses a huge caloric cost, he reminds Review by Sally Fallon Morell

Mind, continued from page 89. stomach and gut lining in general. Fluoride has been shown to lower IQ
right, that’s fine but you might want to think that (which explains so much I don’t even know where to start) and disrupt
through carefully first. thyroid function, which means more hormone disruption. Rounding out
Number two is statin drugs. Hormonal the parade are endocrine disruptors (BPA, PCBs, etc.) and vaccines.
imbalance can often be a factor in depression. A lot of chemicals in the modern world can create problems leading
Hormones are made from cholesterol. If you to depression. Even things that sound good to most people can be trouble.
have any issues with hormones being out of Hand sanitizers have been found to enhance penetration of chemicals
balance, and many do, the last thing you want through the skin by up to two hundred-fold.
to do is mess around with cholesterol. Given the steady climb of depression and mental illness in this coun-
Next on the list is proton-pump inhibitors. try it seems clear to me that there is something fundamentally wrong with
They inhibit vitamin B . That will always break our approach to solving these problems. It is really nice to see someone
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your brain. Then we have Tylenol, the drug of willing to face these uncomfortable facts, go against the flow and suggest
choice for zombies or anyone who wants to be a different approach. Review by Tim Boyd
just like a zombie. Marching on to the next item
we have Advil which is great for tearing up your
90 Wise Traditions SUMMER 2016 Wise Traditions