the native american bone structure is pure beautiful and im under the impression that what you eat affects what your skull looks like and how it forms. if im still a teenager and i stick with a true paleo diet, meaning meats organ meats and some fruits, is there a chance my bone structure can repair itself and start forming the "right" way. im not expecting my whole face to just simply morph into a native american bone structure overnight, nor do i know for sure whether foods affect bone structure, im just curious and think it'd be wonderful if since im still growing if i stick with a true paleo diet my bone structure could finish growing the right way.
comments are greatly appreciated

Sorry, your bone structure is determined by your genes for the most part. If you're of scandinavian descent you're going to look like your ancestors did. Although eating plenty of protein and limiting grains and that stuff will probably make you taller though.

Although after reading Loren Cordain's article about how much growth factor (the natural sort) we get from drinking cows milk, I wonder if maybe that accounts for some of our tallness?

Hello meatzrus, I just read an article last week about this very issue that I think you might enjoy reading.
http://www.price-pottenger.org/Articles/Acid_base_bal.html
Here is the most interesting part of the article:

Be sure to read more Weston A. Price here:
Weston A. Price
I have 4 young sons myself, and did not find out about how to eat properly before they were born, so am trying now to make up for lost time. Don't lose hope! Also, Dr. Price says that even though you may not have optimal development, your children can if you eat the right diet.
Bless you,
Lora

Foods definitely impact genetic expression- and if the nutrition isn't there, the skull is one of the first things to be comprimised. The basic shape and structure of your head is largely determined between conception and the first year or two of your life, so that window's passed by long ago for us, HOWEVER, the human body is a dynamic organic construction- even if what you eat now doesn't affect the basic foundation of your skull, it will still affect your bone structure on a micro level (thickness, density, even size, etc.) Just wait 7 years, when all your cells are recycled, and you'll definitely see a change ;-)

Personally, I have been living a purely carnivorous lifestyle for the past half year (since 16 1/2), and I'm already noticing my wrist/arm bones are getting thicker and larger, my cheekbones are a little more prominent and feel thicker and stronger- I keep having 'growing pains' in my facial bones, and I can feel more blood circulating in my face- perhaps this is my body recognizing it no longer needs to comprimise my facial structure with my high nutrient load now? Of course, it could just be coinciding with my individual growth pattern, but it seems a little TOO abrupt and coincidental for it to just be that, as growth for me before was gradual and slow, while now it is rapid.

Stay true to the way our forefathers ate, man, and your body will maximize its potential from where you're at now, and on top of that, your children will enjoy the experience of having fully developed bodies. We are the next step in regenerating the human race to its former glory (to the physical excellence of early cro-magnon man)

Also don't forget to read up on Weston A. Price, you can read the whole book of "Nutrition and Physical Degeneration" here: http://journeytoforever.org/farm_li...e/pricetoc.html

signed, another teenage paleo/carnivore

-Matt

I also do the Weston Price Foundation traditional foods diet. You would probably enjoy his book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration. It is one of my favorite books. He wrote it in the 1930s when he traveled the world observing isolated people's facial structure and dental health. Once people started eating modernized foods their children developed a crowded palate and other developmental problems. The people on traditional diets had wide jaws, straight teeth and were virtually cavity free even though they had no access to dental care! www.westonaprice.com

Matt, we posted at the same time and I agree with what you said about genetics. Also that our body does regenerate so there is always that motivation to keep on a paleo diet. It is great you are seeing postive changes! Plus, you will influence your children's structure!

Here is the book, Nutrition and Physical Degeneration online for free!
http://journeytoforever.org/farm_li...e/pricetoc.html
including pictures.

HOLY SHIT!?!?!?!?!?! you are amazing thank you so much for posting that. that's gonna be an amazing read. holy crap you guys you HAVE to look at those pictures. some of those kids have amazing amazing bone structures i am so jealous they are all so beautiful holy crap.
so the moral of this is just simply eating any animal food correct? abstaining from grains and sugars and eating meat meat and more meat. do you think eggs are ok too? although some of the tribes drank milk and some other stuff, the ones with the healthiest populations ate tons of meat and animal fat. DAMMM i wish my parents had fed me this way some of their skulls are such beautifully shaped im so dam jealous...
to the poster above who said they feel their cheekbones a little more prominent after eating carnivorous for 6 months can you tell me more? im around your age and your post has given me hope. i just gotta stick to all carnivore diet man look at those pictures you'll never have a bad craving again!!!

Meatzrus,

It truly is amazing. I was a low-fat vegan before coming across the Weston Price studies.....they convinced me that I needed animal fat/protein to be truly healthy and I cannot tell you how much better I am after less than a year.

If you read more info on the website and book, the peoples he studied had diets with varying amounts of animal products (none veg) but 10 X more fat soluable minerals than modern Americans (of the 1930s) if I remember correctly. (Someone is borrowing my book right now). For example, the Massai ate mostly meat, blood and milk. One group (near Ireland I believe) ate oats and fish. The isolated Swiss ate full fat, grass-fed raw dairy, rye, and some meat and vegetation. They all had the wonderful facial structure though, so my conclusion is that one does not need to be totally carnivorous. Price noted that groups prized organ meats (liver, kidneys ect) over muscle meats.

So, our modern day issue is: how can we get 10X more fat soluable minerals than then the average Amercian? For me it is meats, bone broths, cod liver oil, vegs, fruits, coconut, and soaked nuts and seeds (pretty much i that order of importance) I am still working on adding the organ meats.

Those pictures ARE amazing, aren't they? It's amazing to think how much nutrition affects everything (and therefore controllable!)

I do a paleo/WestonPrice mix diet. I think the important thing is to obtain sufficient A, D, and the right kinds of fats, omega-3's and saturated fats (not so much polyunsaturates). But Asian cultures are considered traditional given their diets of fish, but they don't eat a lot of red meat and poultry. Grains and legumes are okay in the Weston Price diet as long as they're soaked/sprouted, and prepared carefully (as in the Swiss's rye bread). But paleo diet does not recommend grains. I avoid gluten, but do eat soaked brown rice.

this is what im talking about. holy shit im just sitting here with my jaw falling open.



look at the lower left... at first i thought it was a guy but its actually a girl. LOOK at her face.. she is so beautiful she has the most beautiful structure i've ever seen on any face..

then look at this girl..



look at the girl in the upper right. she is so beautiful her structure is just pure beauty.

there is so much text and so much reading to do for me, and i know i should be reading it myself, but can someone just kinda summarize to me what i need to be eating to make sure i get those Vitamins A and D that keep being mentioned. i avoid dairy, all im eating right now is meat and some eggs. lots of pork, not that much beef i don't like the taste much, im craving so much crap though. i don't know how much longer i can just eat pork and eggs what else has tons of Vitamins A and D that comes from animals? i need to eat more fish, anything else?

wow that's strange.. the african tribe girl who i mentioned has a beautiful structure actually eats no meat at all. only agricultural foods.. she's a Kikuyu, and here's the quote..

"In contrast with the Masai, the Kikuyu tribe, which inhabits a district to the west and north of the Masai, are characterized by being primarily an agricultural people. Their chief articles of diet are sweet potatoes, corn, beans, and some bananas, millet, and Kafir corn, a variety of Indian millet."

that's really strange. she has a beautiful facial structure yet she eats no meat at all, only potatoes, corn, beans, and such. Does someone have an idea about this particular case?

That's interesting Meatzrus. I'm glad you pointed that out. I think that goes to show that a diet free of "degenerative" foods like refined sugar is good enough whether it includes meat or not. The text does say that they are not as hardy or tall as Masai, but they still look well-formed to me.

I always thought that a diet rich in veggies were good. Sweet potatos are high in A and other vitamins and minerals. However, meat fat and fish have the "true" form of vitamin A, retinol, which is bio-available. Veggies have the beta-carotene form, which must be converted into retinol before it's bio-available. That conversion requires enzymatic processes that is not always efficient. So, though I eat plenty of veggies, esp. raw, which I believe the paleo people did as well, I don't rely on them as a primary source of A and D. If you're looking for a fast, convenient source, take cod liver oil. It has high amounts of A, D, as well as Omega-3's. But make sure you find a brand that doesn't filter the A and D out. Can you believe they would do that? But at some point, people were afraid that you could ocerdose on A and D, so some companies filter it out and sell it as a source of omega-3's without the A.

that is so interesting how all they eat is potatoes, corn, beans, and millet yet they still have beautiful structures. the main thing is grains are definitely bad, refined or not, and so is refined sugar. weston price doesn't mention what the "modern" foods are, he just shows the pictures of people who converted to "western, modernized" foods but i cannot find where he mentions what they are. this is bothering me, i literally cant sleep or do anything til i figure this out.

I read at least half the book at one point (I did look at all the pics though), and he mostly talks about "modern" foods as being white flour products, jelly, stuff like that.

As far as the facial structure and dentition, there are 2 separate things. Basically, what YOU eat determines how good your teeth are, and what YOUR MOTHER ate determines how good your facial structure is. He talks about this quite a bit. So that girl that you see with the great face and the crappy teeth probably had a mother who ate well.

Thirdly - every tribe/culture he studied had a wildly different diet, but they all produced people with these beautiful bone structures. The take-home message is not that any one particular food or food group is good or bad (since none of these people ate the same things); it's that each of these wildly different diets had 10x the nutrients that a modern diet has. So the important part isn't to eat all meat, or all veg, or all anything - the important part is to get lots and lots of nutrient-dense foods. Animal foods usually have greater nutrient density than plant foods, but properly prepared plant foods can be good sources too. Foods that the Weston A Price Foundation (this is mostly Sally Fallon, not Weston A Price himself) touts as being the most nutrient dense are liver, meat, raw fermented dairy including cheese, bone broth, and animal fat; they say that veggies are secondary and act mainly as a good vehicle for animal fat (broccoli covered in butter, for example). They also promote lactofermented veggies.