They are nature’s children as they live in close proximity with nature, in deep forests, ravines, and highlands. Called tribal or Adivasis in India, the indigenous people who eat nature fresh foods that may sound raw and unappetizing to the modern man, but is full of nutrition and sustenance , so much so that their diets can help fight modern illnesses, say health experts (See: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2014/feb/03/indigenous-diets-fight-modern-illnesses)
Experts are telling us to revert to the diets of our ancestors to regain lost nutrients to fight the unprecedented levels of chronic non-communicable diseases. This would also improve our relationship with the Earth and restore human and environmental health.
These people consume traditional and non-processed foods like millet and caribou that offer healthy fatty acids, micronutrients, and cleansing properties.
In fact, indigenous diets worldwide like forest foods such as roots and tubers eastern India to coldwater fish, caribou, and seals in northern Canada are varied, suited to local environments, and can counter malnutrition and disease.
However, environmental degradation, processed foods, refined fats and oils, and simple carbohydrates have disrupted their traditional lifestyles and has worsened their health. “Traditional food systems need to be documented so that policymakers know what is at stake by ruining an ecosystem, not only for the indigenous peoples living there but for everyone,” Harriet Kuhnlein, the founding director of the Centre of Indigenous Peoples’ Nutrition and Environment at McGill University, Canada.
With the global population expected to rise to some 9 billion by 2050, 50% more food must be produced to feed them. Indigenous food systems–gathering and preparing food to maximize the nutrients an environment can provide like from nomadic hunter-gatherers such as the Aché in eastern Paraguay, the Massai pastoralists in northern Kenya, and herding and fishing groups like the Inuit in northern Canada, to the Saami of Scandinavia and the millet-farming Kondh agriculturalists in eastern India, may ease this burden.
Research, marketing, and donor-funded financing have helped raise awareness of the ability of these high-protein grains to reduce cholesterol, provide micronutrients and lower the risk of diabetes. Some examples of indigenous food are: a bundle of yams in Lagos, Nigeria that are tubers, which can be boiled or baked, are rich in vitamin C, the Kondh community in Odisha, India, grows 16 varieties of millet, and the superfood spirulina, a type of cyanobacteria that grows in ponds and is a staple in many traditional food systems, like among the Kanembu in Chad, it can boost immunity, reduce inflammation, decrease allergic reactions, and provide a healthy source of protein.
To maintain their health, humans must reconnect with nature and not try to win it.