Can traditional foods help prevent and treat diabetes?
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RD, LD, Siletz
Tribal Head Start Nutritionist
As part of my role as a consultant
nutritionist to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I
offer information for families. This segment
focuses on chronic disease such as diabetes
and the benefit of traditional foods.
As Native people lost access to land
for deer, fish and other traditional foods,
they were introduced to pig fat, wheat and
rye flour, milk and sugar. These changes in
cultural practices appear to be at the foun-
dation of the rapidly growing epidemic
of diabetes, as well as heart disease, sub-
stance abuse, violence, cancer, attention
deficit disorder and depression.
Indigenous people all over are restoring
their traditions and I believe this is essential
to preventing and reversing diabetes.
Tribal communities that still have
access to traditional foods and practice
methods of traditional preparation rarely see
diabetes. Two essential strategies to prevent
diabetes and maintain good health are to
prepare foods and gather traditional foods
(and their nutritional equivalents) while
applying principles of traditional nutrition.
Foods from the environment in which
we live provide physical, emotional,
mental and spiritual nourishment. Where
there is imbalance, there are wounds in the
spirit that ultimately manifest as a chronic
disease condition, such as diabetes.
Diabetes is an imbalance of the dif-
ferent organ systems in the body that nor-
mally work together to maintain a certain
level of glucose (sugar) in the blood.
Insulin is a key part of this imbalance.
It acts as a messenger to coordinate food
energy. In pre-diabetes (or insulin resis-
tance), the cells become less responsive.
Traditional medicine includes knowl-
edge of medicinal plants, animals, foods,
the elements, rituals, spirit ways and touch
that have been acquired over thousands of
generations. Integrative medicine recog-
nizes the wisdom and knowledge of both
traditional and conventional methods with
a holistic approach.
Authentic foods, diet and nutrition are
critical in reversing chronic disease and
maintaining health. It is important to note
that current USDA nutrition recommen-
dations do not represent the composition
of the foods that were indigenous to this
Northwest region.
The Salish Food Mound, described
by Dr. Leslie E. Korn and Dr. Rudolph
C. Ryser, is comprised of 33 percent leafy
greens, berries and fruits; 45 percent meat,
fish and fowl; 20 percent fats and fish oils;
and 2 percent roots and sweets.
I believe that transitioning back
toward this diet, along with a holis-
tic approach, will be instrumental in
preventing and treating diabetes and other
chronic diseases.
In the months to follow, I will expand
on aspects of authentic foods, diet and
nutrition with emphasis on the Salish
Food Mound, addressing healthy fats
and oils, and looking at benefits and
disadvantages of indigenous foods and
introduced foods.
Resources
Preventing & Treating Diabetes Natu-
rally The Native Way by Leslie E. Korn,
Ph.D., MPH and Rudolph C. Ryser, Ph.D.,
2009, DayKeeper Press, Olympia, Wash.
Feeding the People Feeding the Spirit
– Revitalizing Northwest Coastal Indian
Food Culture by Elise Krohn, Valerie
Segrest and the Northwest Indian Col-
lege, 2010
Insulin Resistance & Chronic Disease
Prevention Symposium, April 18, 2013, at
the Squaxin Island Museum, sponsored by
the Northwest Indian College
To illustrate the nutritional concepts,
I offer a modern-day, slow-cook stew
recipe suitable for busy families.
Please let me know what you think
of these recipes. Siletz Tribal Head Start
offers my time at no cost to you to sup-
port family nutrition over the telephone.
Please contact me if you have nutrition
concerns about your Head Start child –
503-588-5446.
For more information about the Siletz Tribe, please visit ctsi.nsn.us.
Rose hips jam and almond biscuits
By Nancy Ludwig, MS, RD, LD, Siletz
Tribal Head Start Nutritionist
As part of my role as a consultant
nutritionist to Siletz Tribal Head Start, I
offer information for families. This seg-
ment focuses on rose hips jam and nut
biscuits, also known as jam and bread
without sugar or wheat.
Rose is one of the most important
plant medicines in the Northwest. Various
parts of the plant are used for physical as
well as spiritual medicine.
In spring, the fragrance of the pink
flowers fills the air. By late summer and
fall, pollinated flowers transform into
orange to bright red fruits called rose hips.
Rose hips are edible, but the hairy
inner seeds are not eaten because they
irritate the digestive system and are said
to give people an “itchy bottom.” Seeds
can be removed by hand or you can use
a jam mill to prepare jelly. I like remov-
ing the seeds by hand, but it takes time (a
labor of love, as it should be).
A tea from rose hips is prepared for
sore throats, colds, diarrhea and other
conditions. Rose hips are high in vitamins
C, B, E, K and A; and calcium, silica, iron,
phosphorous and pectin.
Even though rose hips generally are
harvested in the fall, jam can be made
from dried rose hips through the year. If
you use dried, you will need to use them
deseeded. Even if you buy them deseeded,
you will want to pick through them to
assure that the seeds and sticks have been
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removed as they feel like stones when
you eat them.
I have used both dried and fresh. If
you harvest them fresh, use them quickly
because they need to be used, dried or
frozen before they begin to mold.
Hazelnuts or filberts also are consid-
ered to be traditional food. Nuts can be
used in baking rather than using white or
wheat flour. Almonds also can be used in
place of hazelnuts when they are more
available as a nutritional equivalent.
For baking, nuts can be ground into a
flour, or nut meal. I use a food processor
to grind the flour, even though this isn’t a
traditional practice.
Resources
Renewing Salmon Nations Food Tra-
ditions, compiled and edited by Gary Paul
Nabhan, published by Renewing Ameri-
ca’s Food Traditions (RAFT) Consortium
in collaboration with Ecotrust, 2006
Feeding the People Feeding the Spirit
– Revitalizing Northwest Coastal Indian
Food Culture by Elise Krohn, Valerie
Segrest and the Northwest Indian Col-
lege, 2010
Wild Rose and Western Red Cedar
– The Gifts of the Northwest Plants by
Elise Krohn, printed with partial support
from the Northwest Indian College and
Longhouse Media, 2007
Preventing & Treating Diabetes Natu-
rally The Native Way by Leslie E. Korn,
Ph.D., MPH and Rudolph C. Ryser, Ph.D.,
2009, DayKeeper Press, Olympia, Wash.
January 2014
Venison Stew
Ingredients
2.5 pounds venison, cut in 1” cubes
or less (can substitute with other
meat such as pork shoulder or
beef pot roast)
Marinade
2 tablespoons olive oil
2 tablespoons cider vinegar
6-8 dried juniper berries
3 garlic cloves – crushed
¼-½ cup blackberries (or 1 table-
spoon honey)
½ tablespoon rosemary
Salt and pepper to taste (approx.
½ teaspoon each)
Place cut meat directly in the
crockpot with marinade ingredients,
stir and poke meat with fork to tender-
ize and season (15 minutes on warm
setting while cutting other vegetables
if in a hurry or marinate overnight in
the refrigerator).
2 cups broth (or saved vegetable
cooking water)
2-4 cups cabbage, collard greens
and/or kale, chopped (or whole
brussels sprouts)
5 carrots, sliced in ¾” chunks
3 stalks celery, ½” slices
1 large onion, diced or leek, sliced
6 oz (2 cups) mushrooms, quartered
Put all ingredients in crockpot.
Mix thoroughly. Cover and cook on
low 12-hours (high: 5-6 hours). Serve
with a salad or almond biscuits and
rose hips jam (see below).
wouldn’t these recipes be a fun class project in school?
Rose Hips Jam
Almond Biscuits
From Tracy Bosnian
Check to remove any seeds or
sticks from your dried deseeded rose
hips. Grind finely in a coffee grinder.
Add apple cider or apple juice to the
powder until it forms a jam consistency.
If needed, add honey to taste. Place in a
clean jar and refrigerate.
Use as a spread on fruit, such as
apples, bread or almond biscuits. This
jam will last only two weeks when
refrigerated, but you can freeze it.
Rose hips combine well with apple
cider for natural sweetness or also can
be combined with cranberries when
available. Both contain pectin and
blend together well in a food proces-
sor or can be boiled 10 minutes with a
small amount of water and honey for
sweetness.
I’ve made this recipe with fresh rose
hips and it is brighter in color but doesn’t
last as long. The flavor isn’t the same as
dried, but both are delicious.
This next recipe is selected to pro-
vide protein-rich, gluten-free, grain-free
bread for a transition away from starchy
bread toward a diet more nutrition-
ally equivalent to the traditional diet.
Hazelnuts can be used in place of the
almonds and would, therefore, be more
traditional (but this is not a traditional
recipe).
Yield: 16, 1.5” drop biscuits
2½ cups almond flour, plus about 1 cup
for dusting the dough
½ teaspoon salt
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ cup butter or substitute such as
coconut oil
2 eggs (or 6 tablespoons gelatin as a
replacer)
1 tablespoon honey
In a medium bowl, combine almond
flour, salt and baking soda.
In a large bowl, blend together but-
ter or oil, eggs and honey.
Stir the dry ingredients into the wet
until nice dough forms. Drop biscuits
onto an ungreased cookie sheet. Bake
at 350° for 15 minutes, until biscuits are
browned on the bottom edges. Release
from the pan before cooling to prevent
overbrowning. Serve with rose hips jam,
gravy, honey or applesauce if desired.
Optional: If you are avoiding eggs,
commercial unflavored gelatin can be
used. Mix 1 tablespoon gelatin powder
in 1 cup boiling water, use 3 table-
spoons per whole egg.
Please note: I made this recipe
using turkey stock (from boiled bones,
which form a gel) and used the turkey
fat for the oil, plus added fresh sage and
thyme for a savory biscuit.