It is well-known that the cancer rates are increasing each year, particularly in the industrialized nations. One of the biggest factors contributing to this rise is the types of foods being eaten, and not eaten, by those living in these nations. In fact, up to 85% of cancers are preventable, and are caused by diet, smoking, excessive alcohol, and environmental carcinogens. We are able to assess the effects of modern diets on health, as there remain many cultures that eat a traditional, unrefined, whole-foods diet. Not surprisingly, the rates of cancer and other chronic diseases such as diabetes and heart disease, in each of these societies is still relatively low.

 

A whole foods diet can be referred to by names such as: Paleolithic Diet, Hunter Gatherer Diet, Traditional Diet, Ancestral Diet, Macrobiotic Diet, and others. Although there are differences in the dietary histories and philosophies of these diets they do have a few dietary principles in common. All these diets only allow foods in their unprocessed, whole form, such as: fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, legumes, whole grains, fish, and varied amounts of wild and/or organic animal products. They do not include foods that have been processed, refined and/or packaged.