According to recent studies from archeologists, anthropologists, and comparative anatomists, for thousands of years, human beings ate mostly vegetable foods including wild grains, roots, beans, nuts, tubers, fruits and wild game.  The vegetables grew in mineral-rich soil in harmony with the growing seasons and the wild game was very lean (with eight to ten times less fat than modern domesticated animals).  The ratio of vegetable quality foods to animal foods was three-to-one and disease was rarely caused by diet.

We see these vegetable-based diets in the traditional diets of many cultures. For example:

• Asia - rice, aduki and soybean products, vegetables and fish;
• Latin America -  corn, beans, vegetables and chicken;
• Middle East - cous cous, Hummus (chickpeas) vegetables and lamb;
• Northern Europe:  wheat, barley, kasha, split peas, pickled vegetables and salted fish;
• North America:  wild rice, corn, baked beans, vegetables and fish. 

The percentage of deaths linked to these traditional vegetable-based diets is still relatively low.

However, in the United States, especially since the Industrial Revolution, the ratio of vegetables to animal foods has reversed, now being one to three. Instead of following a whole foods, vegetable-based diet, our food choices are dominated by: fast food restaurants that focus on animal meats;  huge commercial growing farms that use pesticides and depleted soils; over-processed grains that have few nutrients and no fiber; and excess dairy products and sugar.  The ratio of vegetables to animal foods is one to three, and hundreds of diseases are casually linked to this modern diet. 

The traditional vegetable-based diets are recognized and encouraged by national and international health organizations as the most health supporting,  because they are high in nutrients and fiber and low in fat.

When choosing a whole foods diet, it's very important to consider the quality of the food. It's important to choose organic foods to get the most nutrients, to support the organic farmers, and to not support the use of pesticides because of the negative effects on the body, wildlife and the environment.