Lessons From The Traditional Mongolian Diet & Lifestyle

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What does the Mongolian diet look like? What characterizes their lifestyle, and what changes might their choices make in my life? These are questions addressed by Mary Ruddick, the nutritionist known as the “Sherlock Holmes of Health” on today’s episode.

She was recently in Mongolia for an extended period. She observed the elements of the traditional Mongolian diet, its extraordinarily high-fat content, its shifts with the seasons, the similarities between the Mongolian and Maasai dietary patterns, and more. She describes her experiences with Eagle Hunters in a remote country region, and why she is convinced the Mongolians were uniquely prepared by their diet and lifestyle to expand their empire.

She also offers insights into how their probiotic-rich foods and tight-knit community have served them well over the centuries. And how they can do the same for us wherever we live!

 

Visit Mary’s website: enableyourhealing.com

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Listen to the podcast here

Episode Transcript

Within the below transcript the bolded text is Hilda Labrada Gore and the regular text is Mary Ruddick.

In the 1930s, Dr. Price traveled the world learning from indigenous people groups. He documented their dietary patterns, their overall health, and the influence of modernity on both. On a recent trip to Mongolia, Mary Ruddick had the same objectives in mind. This is Episode 400. Our guest is Mary Ruddick, a seasoned nutritionist who has been dubbed the Sherlock Homes of Health. Mary travels the globe researching ancestral diets and their protective mechanisms on health.

In October 2022, Mary had the opportunity to visit Mongolia for an extended period. She describes to us what she learned during her experience there and through her research. She discusses the traditional high-fat diet of the Mongolian people and the changes that have come with the introduction of flour in the 1800s. She shares her observations of the health of the general populace and why she believes their robust health played a part in the expansion of the Mongolian Empire.

She also talks about the influence of modern foods like candy and technology like cell phones and how these may be altering the Mongolian culture. Finally, she discusses her experience staying with and hunting with Mongolian eagle hunters in the Western Region of Mongolia. I had the privilege of accompanying Mary on part of this life-changing trip, so I chime in here and there as well.

Before we dive into the conversation, I want to invite you to check out the Real Milk website, RealMilk.com, which is a project of the Weston A Price Foundation. This website is a source of reliable information on real raw milk. There are articles, blog posts, videos, and more that explain why raw milk is healthy, how it benefits you, and where you can obtain it in the United States. There’s a map where you can plug in your ZIP code and find out exactly the closest locations to get real raw milk. There’s also a commentary on the politics and economics of raw milk and industrial dairy. Much is there. Go to their website to find out more.

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Mary Ruddick

Weston A Price Foundation

RealMilk.com

Ra Optics

Second Spring Foods

Optimal Carnivore

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Welcome to the show, Mary.

Thank you so much for having me.

You are amazing. I loved when we had you on the episode. We called it The Sherlock Homes of Health. You, much like Dr. Price, have traveled the world, connecting with indigenous people groups and trying to find what gives them vibrant health. You and I both had the privilege of going to Mongolia. What made you pick Mongolia as your next destination?

I’ve had my eye on it for a long time. I try to go to as many different climates, regions, and parts of the world as I can so that I can see the differences and the similarities. I try to get a lot of variety in my research. Luckily, I had been working with someone for about a year and a half who was able to get me in with the Kazakh eagle hunters and get us in. Last minute, I pulled the trigger and went.

I was there. It feels funny asking you but I’m asking you so that our audience knows. You and I can go back and forth a little bit about what you learned there. What were some of the first things that you noticed in terms of the dietary habits of the Kazakh eagle hunters?

What was interesting was that I heard that it was primarily carnivore or about 95% carnivore and that it was very high-fat but it was shocking how high-fat it was. Even for someone like myself, who has been mostly in ketosis for over fifteen years, it was a lot of fat. It was high-fat. It was also interesting to learn about the seasonality of the way that they eat. For instance, they are known for eating horses. Horses are a staple food for them but it’s not year-round. It’s only in the winter. There’s a specific way that they prepare it. They use the whole animal and the skin for everything. Nothing goes to waste.

What was so interesting to me was to learn that in the summer, it’s just dairy that’s consumed. There’s no meat, which was interesting. There were many little tidbits. I was blown away by the fact that they make an organ stew or an organ broth as the Maasai do. I heard multiple people claim that’s what keeps them healthy. It’s similar to the Maasai. I saw a lot of similarities between the Maasai and the Kazakh eagle hunters. That was a surprise. I did not expect that at all, given that the climate is so different. We were in the valleys of the mountains right between the border of China and Mongolia. That was very surprising as well.

It struck me after we had one of these meaty and fatty meals. People eat with their hands. It felt so connected. We were so connected to the animal. I remember one of our hosts prying open the sheep or the goat’s head to give us the brain and then prying open a bone to give us the bone marrow. It felt so amazing but it also struck me that if anyone were trying to be a vegan or vegetarian in that part of the world, they wouldn’t be able to survive because there’s no carrot in sight. The land is not arable. They had to eat meat, fat, and whatever they can glean from the animal, the yak milk, and the butter that was so abundant.

Nothing can grow there. Unlike other Asian countries, they are not rice-consuming. They don’t consume all these vegetables. There are so many different ethnic groups in Mongolia but of everyone we talked to, I kept hearing the Mongolians, whatever tribe they were from, say that they felt that vegetables were bad and that they shouldn’t eat them.

That comes from the fact that things aren’t fresh there. Their traditional diet did not contain that. Although other regions of the world certainly have vegetables, and you can be perfectly healthy on those. For the Mongolians, it’s not naturally grown there. Therefore, it’s imported from far away. A lot of problems can come from that. They are in a very meat and dairy-eating area.

Didn’t a friend of ours during our tour say something like, “If I’m unhappy, meat makes me happy.” He didn’t mean, “It makes me cheerful.” He meant, “It changes my mood.” What you are describing also is exactly what Dr. Price found. The healthiest people groups were not eating the same foods as you pointed out but they were eating what was available locally. That made up their traditional diet.

That’s the key here. That has been the key finding in all of my research around the globe. It’s very regional. They are not importing. No one is. They are not bringing things in to grow. If we look back historically at regions that grew as metropolis, cities, and places in Egypt like Cairo and Alexandria, these places would have some of the modern-day diseases we do now.

Outside of those regions, you didn’t see that in the medical texts. I certainly don’t see it in the regions that I go to. There’s something quite problematic with bringing unnatural foods to a region. When someone is from a region and from a family line where they are continuously consuming the same foods, they know exactly how to prepare them.

There were so many interesting stories that we heard about how at this time of the year, you do this with the food. It’s the same food but they have different ways of preparing it during those times, whether someone is young or old. If you are trying to fortify yourself for battle, you might manipulate the dairy. Maybe it’s going to be raw instead of fermented into cheese curd. All of this wisdom is known. That’s what’s lost when we start bringing food from a different region to where we are now. We lose that. I don’t know about you, Hilda, but I still dream about those cheese curds. They tasted like cookies.

 

They did. That takes us to my next question. I’m picturing the breakfast table. Please describe to us what you saw on the most traditional tables in Mongolia.

Can I give them the whole scene of driving up and arriving at these places? It’s so majestic. We are in this old Russian van from the ’70s or ’80s. It’s adorable. You are off-roading for hours. There are no tire prints or roads underneath you. You are driving through mountains and valleys. Finally, after hours of being a popcorn kernel in the van, you come across this beautiful scene of the gers, which are yurts. We would call them yurts but they call them gers. The steam is coming from the top, and the sun is setting.

We pull up and go inside. It’s cold. There’s snow outside. You go into the ger. It’s nice, warm, and toasty. You are taking off layers. You sit down, and they immediately serve you a big old bowl of warm milk tea, which is an herb that they find along with the mare’s milk fresh with colostrum. With that, you then put a spoon of ghee and a spoon of what we would call sour cream. They have a different name for it.

You mix it into the tea and drink that. As you are drinking that, they bring out all these plates of cheese curds but don’t think of cottage cheese. These look like cookies. They taste like cookies. Some of them taste like donuts but their only ingredient is dairy. It’s incredible. Some are rock-hard. You can break your teeth on them. You have to soak them in milk tea. Others are soft like a shortbread cookie. You eat all of those. While you are having those, you chat, play some songs, and sing together or someone plays an instrument. You have that communal living.

They serve your dinner or breakfast because they are the same. It’s the cheese curds, the milk tea, and then your big old plate of meat. It’s almost like a stew because there’s a bit of broth that’s poured on top but I don’t know about you. I didn’t see much water being consumed. It’s not a water-consuming place. That includes when they cook with water. It’s a small amount. You get some of the tastiest broth I’ve ever had but there’s a small amount with your meat.

You start eating. It’s all served on one big plate. Everyone goes in with their hands. For any big pieces like the head that you were talking about, the men will traditionally take a knife and cut it up into bite-sized pieces for the women and children, which I happen to have loved. It’s so nice to not have to cut up my food. I felt like a kid again. It was great. You eat nose to tail. It’s not segmented as it might be in some other places. It’s all in one dish. You’ve got the head, the liver, the lungs, the skin, and the leg. All of it is there together. Sometimes it will be a mix of animals as well.

On some of the tables, there were the beginnings of foreign foods being served. What I mean by that is that it was in the 1800s when flour was introduced to the Mongolians. On some tables, they had at breakfast time little biscuits almost that were not curds. They would have noodles mixed in with their main dish but because the brunt of their diet is still so traditional, I didn’t notice too many negative impacts from that foreign food being introduced. Although I remember two people specifically telling you, “I don’t feel well. I’m trying to figure out what was wrong.” You had the feeling that it was some of the foreign food that was causing them some issues.

Especially on the way to the furthest family that we went to visit in some of the places that we stopped at. I find the closer to towns they are, the more modern foods they are eating. Most of Mongolia is now eating flour since the 1800s. Wheat flour is pretty normal even in the most remote houses but it’s not consumed the way we consume it. Everything is made from scratch. They are making noodles and cook those noodles in the broth. It’s not the bulk of the diet. It’s less than 5% of their calories. It’s there. They make these little donuts that they dip in sour cream.

Wheat flour is normal, even in the most remote houses. But it’s not consumed the way we consume it. Everything is made from scratch.

They also make noodles and dumplings but it’s not a bulk of the diet. In the closer families or the families that aren’t as hard to get to, you see a decline in health. It’s not as severe perhaps as what we are used to but if you go back a couple of generations to our grandparents’ generation, it’s like that. We met a young woman. It seems like she had a birth complication that pressed on a nerve. That’s what it sounded like to me. We saw some dental decay and things like that but overall, people were very functional and healthy. In comparison to what we are used to, it’s so small.

It’s funny that you should say that about dental decay because I started thinking twice about one individual that we saw that seemed to have a little bridge of false teeth in the front of his mouth. I realized that could have been from an accident. It could have been that a horse or a camel kicked him in the mouth. That’s why he lost those teeth.

We can ask him because I’m in contact with those guides. We can find out. I was thinking that was an accident too. To be honest, I didn’t ask him any questions about health because I could see that the family was eating a lot of modern food. It wasn’t the kind of family that I would typically interview. He had lost all the top teeth, which does indicate more of an injury than decay. Decay usually stems in the back and on the lower teeth as well. We can find out.

Even with the closer families, there’s a tradition in Mongolia among the Kazakhs. The Kazakhs, for those of you who aren’t familiar, are from Kazakhstan. They are a completely different ethnicity than most Mongolians. They have different cultures, religions, and all sorts of things. They have this tradition throughout Mongolia, whether you are Kazakh or not, to have a welcoming table. On this welcoming table, you would typically put out things that are very special.

I want you all to try to arrest your normal associations. These folks are often far away from a town. You may have to ride for hours on a horse to get to town. Anything you get, you have to carry back. The weather isn’t great. It’s pretty harsh. It’s a big commitment to do something like that. Typically, you are only going to get the essentials. You are going to get some water, anything you might need for fixing the house, and then wheat flour because that’s the one thing that they import from China. You are not going to get a lot of extras.

What they do is they will get things to put on a welcome table. It’s a custom to be generous and warm there. They will get candies and all these incredibly processed foods that they will put on the welcome table. What’s interesting is that especially the farther out you get, they are not eating it. They are putting it out for you. They don’t like it. It’s not their food. We went to the house of our translator who lives in a town. He’s Kazakh. He speaks the language but his family lives in a town in a house and all the normal things. They ate candy and enjoyed it but the further out that you go, you tend not to see them.

Since you mentioned the welcoming thing, I have to say that when I was traveling through the Gobi, you and I split at one point. I was going to the Gobi Desert with a guide and a driver. That was it. It was amazing but I got a lot of time to talk to my guide, who is Mongolian, not Kazakh. I asked her about some traditions. She said the way they welcome a baby is so special. It blessed me to hear about this tradition. What they do is invite family over to share a mutton broth or a lamb broth. Once the broth has cooled, the newborn baby is bathed in the broth. It is done with the hope that the baby will be nice, strong, and healthy.

On my flight home, I wanted to watch a Mongolian movie. I started watching this Mongolian movie. It was called Sodura. They did the tradition. They bathed the baby in this broth. I was like, “This is so beautiful.” I thought this would be a very Weston A Price Foundation-approved tradition that is glorious and so wonderful for the baby. I had to bring it up.

I couldn’t get over how many traditional dietary and lifestyle aspects were still even in the modern-day folks living in the big cities. Mongolia is a little diamond of learning about tradition because even the city goers were so big on meat. You can go to a restaurant and get horsehead. All the organs are there. The broth is common. It’s very easy to eat traditional food in the city. It’s the same with dairy. Dairy is truly incredible. I was blown away while we were there that all of this wasn’t being exported.

I could live on that stuff. The fact that we don’t have these cheese curds that taste like cookies as a travel food all over the world is a pity. It’s so good. It’s all these probiotics. I was researching the different probiotic strains within it. I found quite a few studies on it. There’s L Plantarum, which has an antihistamine and all of these beneficial strains that tend to live within the microbiome and help the health of the body. It makes sense.

My biggest takeaway from this trip is that the Mongolians were the conquerors of the world because they were so strong in mind and body. This diet that they eat that’s so full of yellow fats, yellow dairy, and all the stuff Weston A Price talks about is exactly what makes you strong and almost superhuman against the elements and everything else. It’s the way that it feeds the brain so that you are calm in mood and have clear thoughts. All of that would go into a very good leader.

 

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Coming up, Mary discusses how the beauty of the people and the way that they carry themselves points to their overall health as well.

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Other than the handful of individuals that we encountered whose diet had modernized and who had a few health complications, nothing is big as over here with autoimmune conditions and stuff but they had a few things niggling at them. What did you see in terms of the overall health of the population of the Mongolians? What did you observe about it?

This was another surprise. There were so many surprises. There’s a higher concentration of people that look like they belong in the movies in Mongolia. I noticed that the facial structure was very good. The posture was excellent. The body weight and the strength were excellent. You can see health in someone, the way that they carry themselves, walk, and conduct themselves, and how much oomph they have behind their voice. I saw all of that. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that they are known for throat singing, which no one else can do.

You can really see health in someone in the way that they carry themselves, how they walk and conduct themselves, and how much oomph they have behind their voices.

There are some wonderful articles from about 100 years ago talking about how people were losing the ability to sing certain songs. I wonder if that’s not from all the changes in diet, lifestyle, the microbiome, and our ability to sing out with those voices. Here in Mongolia, they are able to do a type of singing that we’re not able to do in the rest of the world like the two notes at once and the throat singing. Not everyone can do it. It’s still a rare skill even within Mongolia but it’s unique to them. A lot of that comes from the way that they live, the communal living, the being outside in the elements with nature, and then the very nurturing diet.

It’s the nurturing community. In the Gobi, I met with a Mongolian family that was nomadic and also had the traditions of herding animals. They had yaks and goats. I asked the grandmother, “What was the secret to your long life?” She said, “family is everything.” She was living with her son. He was helping to tend the animals. She said she had five other children. In total, they had over 60 family members between grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

It was amazing. It’s the smile on her face and the intimacy that comes from living in these gers as you were describing or these small dwellings that are geometrically round and beautifully shaped to withstand the elements of extreme temperatures and stuff in Mongolia. There is this intimacy that comes from everyone living under one roof. You might build a second ger, perhaps as your family grows but it seemed to me that they are all on top of each other. Part of the secret of their good health is their connection with one another.

It’s the amount of touching. I noticed they were constantly hugging each other and holding each other. Even with us, the teenage girls were so smushy. They would smush their faces into ours, want a hug, and sit right next to us. All of that you wouldn’t get in most places of the world. There are a lot of oxytocin and feel-good chemicals that we release when we are being touched by others and when we are making eye contact with others.

It’s the fact that they do sleep in one ger together and then are exchanging the bacteria together by eating from one plate and eating with their hands. You are certainly not washing your hands. There’s no water around. There’s a whole myth about the Mongolians being afraid of water. They don’t even camp near it but there’s always this exchange of bacteria from milking the ax to then taking that milk and drinking that right away. Bacteria are getting on the hands. There’s all this beautiful dance and interchange of the microbes and the feel-good chemicals. They have a very close bond. They are a warm and welcoming culture.

I can’t get the image out of my mind when we were invited to Oscar’s family or this beautiful Kazakh eagle-hunting family to participate in their meals, share with them, and abide with them for a few days. They invited us to go to their winter home, which is more in a sheltered place in the mountains. We were on horseback. The father was singing a little song. He wasn’t trying to impress us or be like, “Look what I know.” He was happy and content. He was singing this song. Talk about oxytocin. His daughters were following along. Why don’t you complete that scene? Let’s talk a little bit about the eagle hunting traditions now.

It was so beautiful. He sang for fifteen minutes or more. You could see the joy within him. I feel that the joy radiated from them at most times, if not all times. They live at a higher level of joy than the rest of the world. The eagle hunters are so fascinating. I’ve gotten a lot of questions. I’m sure you have as well. People assume that they hunt eagles or that the eagles are hunting for them for food. It’s not like that at all. Eagle hunting is only done for part of the year, primarily in winter and when there’s snow cover.

Luckily, we were there for snow cover. We were able to experience it and go out with them as they went to train a new eagle and also go hunting but it’s a real skill. These girls and the last family that we stayed with are young. They are young teenagers. When you hold these eagles, they are so heavy. Your arm is shaking. These girls are carrying the eagles. They mount a horse while carrying the eagle. They are riding the horse. On the horse, there is a little stick that helps them hold their arm up because you’re out there for hours. You still have to do a lot of work to keep the eagle. They are still very muscular but they are calm and happy. They are laughing and making jokes. It’s a quiet and peaceful experience.

The purpose of eagle hunting is for fur. It’s to get fur so that they can then make their clothing and carpets. The Kazakhs make everything. They are incredible seamstresses. Typically, the women, the mom, and the girls will sew all the carpets of the home. You have to remember that these gers or yurts are right on the ground. It could be cold. They make these warm carpets that keep them warm throughout the year.

 

They make beautiful wall hangings with all these bright colors that they stitch together, which is very different from the rest of the Mongolians. They tend to be rather plainer or more Tibetan in decoration or Buddhist. They go out to get warmth and clothing to wear to survive the harsh winter. The eagles have this beautiful bond with the eagle hunter. It’s this relationship that’s different from anything I’ve seen before. I don’t know about you, Hilda, but they have a bond specifically with their eagle. It’s not something that they pass around. They don’t grab a random eagle.

The bond is so tight in their competitions, which they have a lot of. It’s to have the eagle up on a mountaintop and the eagle hunter down in a valley. The eagle hunter calls the eagle. Whoever’s eagle comes the fastest to the eagle hunter is the winner of the competition. Imagine a full mountain peak to valley. You can’t even see the eagle. Only an eagle with eagle eyes could see the eagle hunter. The eagle hunter calls. In twenty seconds, the eagle is there on its arm. They are quite bonded. You could have ten different eagle hunters calling their eagles. They are not going to the wrong arm.

It’s a beautiful experience. They typically go out and look for things like foxes and some of the other animals that are quite warm. I don’t know about you all. I’ve always wondered how people stayed warm. I will look at some of the histories of costume books and these things. I learned a lot on this trip. When we saw all of the boots that were lined with fur, suddenly, it made so much sense. The jackets are lined with fur. It can be this thick silk on the outside. It looks like some of the Asian clothing that we have seen before.

You would think, “You would freeze in that,” but it’s lined with fur, which keeps them very warm. They put a fur jacket on top. They make fur hats as well and all sorts of things. They have everything they need from their region. They can make their shoes, carpets, and gers. Traditionally, they would heat the houses with yak patties. They are using coal and things like that, depending on where you go. They had everything they needed, and they still do, which is a beautiful destiny.

It’s nose to tail but you see it in action. It’s not just a catchphrase. They were using every part of the animal. What I also liked about our time with Oscar’s family there was that he was training his daughters and a new eagle. He was training them to work with their eagle so that they could become good eagle hunters. The daughters would have a piece of rabbit or raw meat at the bottom of the hill. This was not the big competition.

They would take the eagle up a little bit or the father would. They would take its little hood off so it could see. She would call it having this raw meat in her hand. It would come. There’s a sense in which they train it so that it knows its master or eagle hunter’s call. It will come to them. They would re-hood it so it couldn’t see. Those birds were so big. It was so beautiful. I felt like they were as tender with the eagle as they were with one another in the training. It was lovely to be a part of it.

We did spend time in Ulaanbaatar, which is the capital city. Mongolia is so sparsely populated that of the three million inhabitants there, over half of them live in that one city. We saw modernity but with the traditions still infused, and then we saw people living more traditionally on the outskirts. With all that we saw, what did you see in terms of modernity creeping in for better or worse?

There are two things. The biggest thing would be the candy on the greeting tables. We didn’t get it in all of them like the last house that we went to or the last family but that’s problematic. I see that around the globe. They do have everything they need from that region. There’s nothing there that they feel is special to give to a guest. They go out of their way to go and get something from the modern town and bring it. That starts to normalize it and bring that culture in. That would be the biggest problem.

I don’t know if it’s problematic with this group or not yet. I didn’t see the problems that I see in other cultures with it but that would be the cell phones. A lot of people now have cell phones. Although there’s not always data everywhere you go, that will change places. I saw with the tribes that I visited in the Amazon earlier in 2022 the way that rapidly changed their culture when the NGOs donated cell phones so that the kids could go to school. I didn’t see the same result with these girls and kids but those would be mine. What would be yours?

Two things come to mind. The first is artificial light because I’m a big fan of natural light. It helps that they can stay up late at night. Some of them had often almost like a car battery in the ger. They would attach two little wires to it to get a fluorescent tube of light in place. It helps that they can work at night but I wonder if that will start to impact people. Some people may think, “That’s negligible.” I hope so because they spent most of their time outside, exposed to natural light. That’s encouraging.

The other thing was the cell phones as well. I had an experience apart from you when I visited one of the driver’s homes. Each of his kids, who I believe were 8, 10, and maybe 15, had a phone. The TV was on. In the gers you and I went to, they didn’t have TVs even but, in this case, it was a more modern home closer to a village and not only was the TV on. At one point, I was the only person in the room that wasn’t on a phone. I’m not saying that as a point of pride. I’m saying it as a point of sadness because they were all on their individual phones.

The father had finished driving me on a long trip through the Gobi Desert. There wasn’t interaction. I was so saddened to see it. These phones that are supposed to keep us connected disconnect us. I’m afraid they are interfering with some of the closeness that is part of the Mongolian tradition for these families. I was concerned but only saw the TVs and cell phones in the more modern households. I didn’t see this so much in the gers and the outskirts of the city.

It would be interesting. I’m already jonesing to go back. I don’t know about you, especially that last family. It was so relaxing. It was a meditation to be with them. I’ve seen the battery that they were using in other regions as well. They are often solar-powered. That’s what it seems like it might be. If that’s the case, it’s not going to work most of the year. I also noticed that they were primarily using it for an hour or two during the darkness while they finished up dinner.

They still went to bed early and woke early. If it’s used like the other regions, then perhaps it wouldn’t cause as much damage since they are out milking the yaks so early, and they are out all day but I agree with you. There’s something so beautiful about living with candlelight. Scientifically, it’s very important for our hormones to not have those lights and be exposed to those lights. That’s a good insight.

We are going to have to wrap up now but I’m hoping we can get an article in the journal so we can elaborate on some of these experiences and let people see the pictures of these glorious people with these beautiful round faces that are ready from the elements in the sun but not from acne or eczema.

They have beautiful skin.

They were so gorgeous in so many ways. Hospitality is one of the hallmarks that we experienced. The milk tea was right away. Anything we needed was given to us. It was so thoughtful but I understood that Mongolia is so vast. One of our friends told us that people will leave their gers open so that if a traveler is coming by and can’t quite make it to the next village or wherever he is headed, he is welcome to stop by, even if he doesn’t know the family.

You can also set up camp wherever you like as long as it’s not a national park that’s off-limits. It’s on anybody’s land because the land belongs to everyone. It was such an example of how to live in a community with one another on this Earth with hospitality and offering all of what you have, including your ger.

It was one of the most generous places that I have been to. It’s generous of heart, food, and physical needs. In all ways, it’s so generous. There was beauty in the simplicity, especially the further out that you got. It was like living in meditation. They are in touch with something. That’s important that we all have access. It’s easy to lose sight of the gifts that we have and bring that into our modern day. I don’t know about you but my big takeaway from this trip was to have much more family time. I love how much time they spend with each other.

It’s easy to lose sight of our gifts and bring them into our modern day.

To me, one of the takeaways also was to be present. At one point, I got to ride a camel. I was thinking, “Remember the feel of this fur.” I couldn’t get over how thick the camel was. The man that was with me helping to guide the camel was wearing his traditional clothing. I was like, “Remember that vibrant blue and the clip-clop of the camel’s feet.” I was trying to hold onto it. There are many experiences that elude us because we get sucked into the virtual world. There is so much beauty right outside our door and right next to us that we miss because we are not present. I felt like I was called back into a more meditative and mindful way of living.

That’s where a lot of their happiness comes from. Aside from the food making their feel-good chemicals, they are very present.

I want to ask you the question I pose at the end here. If the reader could do one thing to improve their health, what would you recommend that they do?

If it were only one thing, it would be getting up, watching the sunrise every day, and spending at least the first hour outside. The research is piling on what the light does for our microbiome, wake hormones, sleep, happiness, the downregulation of histamine, and the upregulation of dopamine. There are few things that are more important than getting back in line with nature. When we are outside, we do calm down. Ultimately, if there’s one thing that is the most helpful, there is no question in my mind. It’s to be relaxed and happy. Nature tends to do that for us. My advice would be to get outside for the first hour of the day.

Mary, thank you so much for this conversation. I loved being your traveling companion and exploring this community and these people groups I’ve never encountered before. I wish you all the best on your next travels, whether I get to join you or not. Thank you.

I certainly hope you do. It was a blast to have you. I feel that your presence was a gift. Thank you for coming.

—

Our guest was Mary Ruddick. Visit her website EnableYourHealing.com for more information on Mary and her studies, courses, and programs. You can find me at HolisticHilda.com. For a Letter to the Editor from a recent Wise Traditions journal, remember that the journal is available for all members. You can become a member of the Weston A Price Foundation for $30 using the code POD10. That makes you a member for a year. You get four of these journals.

“I would like to report adverse effects from the turning on of 5G. Since the beginning of 2022, my husband has been battling a health decline. My husband was 30 years old in the New Year and is now 31. We think your email announcement about the 5G turn-on and his sudden health issues are not coincidental. Pope St John Paul the second said, ‘In the designs of providence, there are no mere coincidences.’ My husband has experienced unending fatigue and not many hours of sleep at night. He had weight gain, difficulty losing weight, difficulty breathing night and day, and headaches.”

“We live in the suburbs of Phoenix, Arizona. We are certainly immersed in EMF smog and the electric grid. It seems my husband has become adapted to the 5G technology. He’s breathing easier and sleeping better. The fatigue is still a concern but life has to continue. He is pushing himself through it. As for me, I went through the fatigue as he did but I bounced back a little faster. Being hit hard but then bouncing back is something Dr. Louisa Williams spoke of in Episode 373.”

“Nevertheless, my husband and I have decided to leave the Phoenix Valley and move to a small town with lots of native desert in Wickenburg, Arizona. We look forward to living a natural and clean lifestyle. Thank you to the Weston A Price Foundation for helping lead us to this change. The 5G and small cell technologies are truly evil. How dare a few individuals make such a large and lasting impact on the common folk like us? We will keep fighting against 5G technology and for health freedom.” This is a letter from Casey from Phoenix, Arizona.

Casey, we hope you are enjoying your new location. We are glad that our information has been of help to you. 5G is an unseen but real threat to our health. Thank you for fighting against this impact on our health and fighting for health freedom. We applaud you. We invite you also to write a Letter to the Editor if you would care to. Write us at Info@WestonAPrice.org, put Letter to the Editor in the subject line, and tell us your testimonial or a story about how an episode or something in the journal has helped you navigate your health journey. Thank you so much for reading. Stay well. Hasta pronto.

 

Important Links

• EnableYourHealing.com
• RealMilk.com
• Ra Optics
• Second Spring Foods
• Optimal Carnivore
• The Sherlock Homes of Health – Previous episode
• HolisticHilda.com
• Episode 373 – Previous episode
• Info@WestonAPrice.org

 

About Mary Ruddick

Dubbed the “Sherlock Holmes of Health,” Mary Ruddick is a seasoned medical nutritionist, researcher, and philanthropist who specializes in metabolic, immune, and nervous system disorders.

She is the Director of Nutrition for Enable Your Healing, CaptainSoup.com, Cows4Kids.com, The REIGNS Method, and the Back to Joy Program, and she currently travels the globe studying traditional diets and seeing patients online via her private practice. She has been featured with the book, “Beat Autoimmune” and she can be found on several productions from GundryMD, the Food Lies documentary, and MeatRx. Mary is a keynote speaker at several conferences each year. She recently presented at Low Carb USA, Freedom From Food Addictions, and The GAPS OnCon. Mary spent the last several years traveling throughout Africa, the Blue Zones, and throughout remote regions of the world to observe the diets of those not affected by chronic, infectious, or emergent disease. She is currently studying with tribes throughout Latin and South America while concurrently conducting a twelve-month study on Neuropathy in the States. You can find her article on the Batwa tribe within the 2021 Fall edition of the Wise Traditions Journal.

In her private practice, Mary Ruddick specializes in rebalancing the microbiome by addressing nutritional and epigenetic aspects that underlie various physical and mental health disorders. She is a specialist in the field of autoimmunity, histamine intolerance (MCAD), mental disorders, hormonal disorders, and nervous system disorders including dysautonomia, neuropathy, and seizure disorders.

Having used both lifestyle and dietary changes on her own miraculous healing journey, she emphasizes the balance of both.

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