The story behind our INSANELY strict diet and Curing Tooth Decay.

We recently noticed that our 4 tear old's back molars were EXTREMELY jagged. I'm talking NOT NORMAL. I asked a friend who is a dental hygienist her thoughts and she said that the molars were indeed decaying. HOW DID I MISS THIS?! I think in my mind, decay meant dark spots, pain, or extreme discoloration. This isn't the case here. Her molars were only slightly yellowed, but most definitely crumbling away.

I started research over a year ago about healing cavities after reading a few articles on it. The research started after I had 2 root canals in a year and my dental insurance cap was reached. Even with insurance, each root canal was costing me about $1200. I had another tooth that started aching and I knew we would not be able to afford more dental work. That's when I came across the information of Dr. Weston A. Price and what he had found studying tribes and cultures of people who ate traditional diets, full of good fats and whole foods, and also the shocking findings of people who ate "Western" diets.

"The groups Price studied included sequestered villages in Switzerland, Gaelic communities in the Outer Hebrides, indigenous peoples of North and South America, Melanesian and Polynesian South Sea Islanders, African tribes, Australian Aborigines and New Zealand Maori. Wherever he went, Dr. Price found that beautiful straight teeth, freedom from decay, good physiques, resistance to disease and fine characters were typical of native groups on their traditional diets, rich in essential nutrients."

Through all this research it led me to the book Cure Tooth Decay by Ramiel Nagel. It laid out Dr. Price's findings and talked about the dangers of improperly prepared foods (such as grains, beans, nuts, and seeds) and artificial foods in this day and age, and touched on all the important foods we need to be eating to not only help keep teeth strong but STOP and in many cases REVERSE tooth decay.

Through my research for my own teeth, I was introduced to all of these findings and was able to know I wanted to this route when we noticed the decay in our 4 year old's mouth. At this point, a dentist would recommend pulling this tooth or doing a pulpectomy. Neither option which we are comfortable with at this point.

This leads me to the INSANELY strict diet we're on. Here is a brief synopsis of the diet.
DON'T EAT: Phytic acid containing foods which block absorption of nutrients
1. Grains (wheat, rice, corn, oats, etc)
2. Beans
3. Nuts (this includes nut butters as well)
4. Seeds
5. Nightshades (eggplant, tomatoes, potatoes, peppers. We eat these in moderation.)

Most of these 5 things listed above can be safely eaten when properly prepared with sprouting and soaking, but when trying to heal teeth, they're better left out or in limited quantities.

DON'T EAT: Things that spike blood sugar: The basis behind the fruit/sugar restrictions are that Dr. Price found that decay was not started by the sugar that ends up ON your teeth, after all you can brush that away. But rather when there are blood sugar spikes, minerals like calcium are pulled from our bones.
-Sugar
-Fruit (some people do continue to eat low sugar fruits or eat fruit in VERY limited quantities.)

DO EAT:
1. Eat whole, natural foods.
2. Eat only foods that will spoil, but eat them before they do.
3. Eat naturally-raised meat including fish, seafood, poultry, beef, lamb, game, organ meats and eggs.
4. Eat whole, naturally-produced milk products from pasture-fed cows, preferably raw and/or fermented, such as whole yogurt, cultured butter, whole cheeses and fresh and sour cream.
5. Use only traditional fats and oils including butter and other animal fats, extra virgin olive oil, expeller expressed sesame and flax oil and the tropical oils—coconut and palm.
6. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables, preferably organic, in salads and soups, or lightly steamed.
7. Use whole grains and nuts that have been prepared by soaking, sprouting or sour leavening to neutralize phytic acid and other anti-nutrients.
8. Include enzyme-enhanced lacto-fermented vegetables, fruits, beverages and condiments in your diet on a regular basis.


So there you have it. Our limited diet. We're eating organic grassfed beef & poultry, wild seafood, raw grassfed dairy, farm fresh pastured eggs, and TONS of organic vegetables. This may not seem strict, but when you think about feeding a 2 year old, 4 year old, and 6 year old on a diet that contains no bread, pasta, rice, nuts and nut butter, gluten free flours, oatmeal, beans, seeds... it tends to make meal times, and ESPECIALLY snack time,  much more complicated and things need to be thoroughly thought out. We are also taking lots of supplements to help the healing process, including Fermented Cod Liver Oil, butter oil containing Activator X, Nordic Naturals Cod Liver Oil*, Hylands Cell Salts #1, #2, #8, #12 (homeopathic minerals that can help heal bones and teeth) We also eat TONS of bone broth and grass fed gelatin :)

I did not cover even a small percentage of the info discussed in Dr Price's book 'Nutrition and Physical Degeneration' and Ramiel Nagel's book 'Cure Tooth Decay'. I have linked all of the books, supplements, and much of the info I talked about if you're interested in finding out more for yourself.

*After a lot of controversy about Green Pastures FCLO being rancid and not actually fermented, we have moved to Nordic Naturals and like it a lot and it is MUCH more palatable.