The Missing Food Group

I have uncovered shocking evidence that our ancestors ate an entirely different food group than we do today… One that helped them to thrive in very challenging environments.

I call this the “missing” food group because it has pretty much disappeared from our modern diet.

And when it comes to optimal nutrition, we’ve simply been making do ever since. Let me explain…

Your body evolved to derive nutrients from almost every part of an animal. When your primal ancestors went hunting for a wooly mammoth and big cats, nothing of what they caught was wasted. They ate everything.

From nose to tail, brain to bones, they devoured it all. And it turned our ancestors into the humans we are today.

Even our grandparents and great-grandparents kept up some of this tradition. They didn’t just eat a steak or pork chop.

Stomach, tongue, heart, head, liver, feet, tail, ears, bone marrow… you name it, your grandparents or great-grandparents knew exactly what to do with it. This is the missing food group.

It’s what people today would call the “scraps.” It’s what we feed to the pigs and the dogs. Some of these forgotten superfoods include:

  • Organ meat
  • Bone marrow
  • Connective tissues
  • Cartilage
  • Skin
  • Entrails
  • Gristle
  • Oxtail
  • Pigs feet

But in today’s America, we’ve become so conditioned by our manufactured, manmade food supply that we’ve forgotten our own dietary heritage.

We’re starving for this missing food group. And our health is suffering big time because of it.

As human beings, we have nutritional needs that come from millions of years of growth, development and evolution.

This is what I call your “primal nutrition.” And it’s the basis for my own Primal Nutrition Pyramid. I created this pyramid to solve a problem we all face today:

You and I don’t live in a balanced environment. Quite the opposite.

We live in a polluted, toxic soup. And we all have hundreds of chemicals and other toxic compounds flowing through our blood every second of the day. Even if you eat organic food.

Our world is so foreign to us our toxic environment has exceeded our ability to adapt to it. And that means everyone will eventually develop at least one of the chronic diseases that are epidemic today.

One way we regain our primal nutrition is by returning to a diet rich in this forgotten food group — which includes organ meats like liver, heart and kidney. These foods are among the richest nutrient sources on the planet.

A key example of this is Coenzyme Q10. This nutrient is very hard to make as you get older and it’s very hard to come by in our environment. But you probably aren’t eating enough.

Domesticated meat doesn’t have a lot of CoQ10 because the animals aren’t allowed to roam around. CoQ10 is produced when animals exert themselves. Docile animals in cages produce only one-tenth of the CoQ10 of wild animals.

And you need this nutrient because you can’t make energy without it. It also lowers blood pressure, improves memory and strengthens your heart.

I find it no coincidence that a CoQ10 deficiency coincides with these three major health concerns of the modern world.

But CoQ10 isn’t the only nutrient this missing food group provides. Organ meats are densely packed with every key nutrient your body needs — including heavy doses of vitamin B, like B1, B2, B6, folic acid and B12.

Organ meats are also loaded with key minerals like phosphorus, iron, copper, magnesium, iodine, calcium, potassium, sodium, selenium, zinc and manganese and provide important fat-soluble vitamins.

Including the number one nutrient in the missing food group. More on that coming soon…

Another important nutrient we don’t eat today is the marrow hidden inside animal bones. This delicacy was prized by our ancestors. And modern science confirms what these ancient humans knew. That bone marrow is a nutritional powerhouse.

In fact, research shows that this collagen-rich food heals your gut,1 boosts immunity,2 rebuilds your joints,3 fights cancer4 and reduces the risk of diabetes.5

But bone marrow also contains a protein hormone called adiponectin.

This protein switches on your stem cells and instructs them to travel to where they are most needed — allowing them to repair dying or diseased tissue.6

I love roasted bovine bone marrow. It’s rich and creamy and one of the foods I grew up eating. But I understand it’s not for everyone. You can get the same benefits by eating old-fashioned bone broth. Here is my recipe based on a soup my grandmother made when I was younger.

Get Your Missing Food Group with My Primal Power Bone Broth

Ingredients:

  • 4 pounds grass-fed beef bones, including marrow bones and bones with a little meat left on them. I like to use a mix of ribs, knuckle bones, oxtail and neck bones.
  • 4 chicken feet (for extra collagen)
  • ¼ cup apple cider vinegar
  • 3 carrots, peeled and coarsely chopped
  • 3 celery stalks, coarsely chopped
  • 2 onions, quartered and peeled
  • 1 head garlic, skin removed
  • 2 bay leaves
  • Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions:

  1. Heat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
  2. Spread the beef bones on a baking sheet and drizzle with olive oil. Roast until well browned, about a half hour.
  3. Place roasted bones in a large stock pot along with chicken feet and vinegar. Add enough cold water to cover by 3 inches.
  4. Bring to a boil, then reduce temperature to low. Simmer, uncovered, for 2 to 3 hours. Occasionally, you’ll want to remove the scum that floats to the top.
  5. Add the remaining ingredients. Continue to simmer, uncovered, for another 9 to 12 hours.
  6. Remove meat and bones with a slotted spoon. Pour broth through a strainer into a large heat-proof container.
  7. Use your bone sock for soups, stews, sauces or meat gravy. Or drink it like a tea.

To Your Good Health,

Al Sears, MD

Al Sears, MD, CNS

P.S. I have some other solutions in the works for your missing food group — including the #1 nutrient you get from these “scrap” foods. Stay tuned this week as I reveal the simple ways you can return to the optimal health that our primal ancestors had.

1. Salvatore S, et al. “A pilot study of N-acetyl glucosamine, a nutritional substrate for glycosaminoglycan synthesis, in paediatric chronic inflammatory bowel disease.” Ailment Pharmacol Ther. 2000;14(12):1567-1579.

2. Rennard B, et al. “Chicken soup inhibits neutrophil chemotaxis in vitro.” Chest. 2000;118(4):1150-1157.

3. Crowley DC, et al. “Safety and efficacy of undenatured type II collagen in the treatment of osteoarthritis of the knee: A clinical trial.” Int J Med Sci. 2009; 6(6): 312–321.

4. Profírio E and Fanaro G. “Collagen supplementation as a complementary therapy for the prevention and treatment of osteoporosis and osteoarthritis: A systematic review.” Rev. Bras. Gerontol. 2016;19(1):153-164.
5. University of Michigan Health System. “Bone marrow fat tissue secretes hormone that helps body stay healthy.” ScienceDaily. July 3, 2014.

6. Yu L, et al. “Adiponectin regulates bone marrow mesenchymal stem cell niche through a unique signal transduction pathway – an approach for treating bone disease in diabetes.” Stem Cells. 2015;33(1): 240–252.