High five!
You’ve made some big changes in your family’s diet recently and are really focusing on eating organic. You’ve stopped buying boxed cereal and other processed snacks at the grocery store and are making homemade snacks and treats with wholesome ingredients instead. You’re even sprouting or soaking nuts and seeds and even your legumes and grains!
You’ve joined an organic fruit and veggie co-op and made the switch to grassfed locally produced meats. You’ve even taken the wise step of incorporating raw grassfed milk into your family’s diet.
While all these changes are wonderful and beneficial compared with how you’ve been eating, I’ve got some tough news for you.
These changes alone are not going to get you healthy.
Eating organic is not the way to health shocking as it may sound!
Gulp.
How can this be, you ask? Your diet is now light years ahead of where it was. How can this organic, whole foods diet not result in vibrant health?
Let me tell you a little story ….
The Telling Tale of the South Sea Islanders
The first Europeans to visit the South Sea Islands in the 1700’s were Captain Cook and his crew. Tahiti was truly a paradise with beautiful people whose frequent smiles revealed perfectly straight, pearly white teeth.
Dr. Weston A. Price found the same blissful environment nearly 200 years later when he arrived with his wife to study these happy, healthy people. Dr. Price noted that the bone structure of the South Sea Islanders was the most perfect of any of the 14 isolated traditional cultures he studied during his travels around the world in the 1920’s and 1930’s which he documented in the amazing book Nutrition and Physical Degeneration.
The traditional diet of the South Sea Islanders was high fat, consisting of seafood and pork with coconut the most important plant based staple. Tropical fruits and other plants were also consumed as there were plenty available in such a temperate and ideal growing climate.
The environment and water were, of course, pristine and food was abundant.
Wouldn’t such an organic, whole foods diet be enough for health?
No, it was not.
The South Sea Islanders knew from observation and perhaps instinct that their clean, whole mixed diet was not enough to maintain their own health or to produce healthy babies and children.
The Sacred Food the South Sea Islanders Could Not Do Without
Despite having plenty of whole, nutrient dense foods available during all times of the year, the South Sea Islanders risked their lives over and over again to hunt sharks.
Once a shark was caught and brought to shore, the liver was removed and put inside the shark’s stomach which was then hung on a tree to ferment.
The oil that came out of the shark liver as it fermented provided a plethora of fat soluble vitamins A, D, and K2 to the South Sea Islander diet that was the critical missing link for vibrant health. This oil was given to growing children and young adults who were about to get married and also to pregnant women. Such oil would have been critical to maintaining health into advanced age as well.
Dr. Price knew from research that the level of fat soluble activators in the South Sea Islander diet was about 10 times higher than the Americans of his day … and processed, devitalized foods had not even arrived in full force yet!
Fat Soluble Vitamins More Important Than Eating Organic
The story of the South Sea Islanders illustrates the critical nature of the fat soluble vitamins in the diet. Without them, no matter how pure, whole and organic a diet may be, health will not be maintained nor healthy children easily produced.
The fat soluble activators A, D, and K2 supercharge mineral absorption into the body tissues and enhance the health and function of every organ system.
Fortunately, fermented cod liver oil and fermented skate liver oil are available today that are very similar to the fermented shark liver oil consumed by the South Sea Islanders.
Please note that the typical brand name fish or krill oil and even cod liver oils on the market are highly processed, industrialized, rancid, deodorized oils that should be avoided. Only fermented cod and skate liver oil is processed with no heat as practiced by traditional cultures.
I have been taking these types of oils for many years and would never consider my whole foods diet complete without them. Why reinvent the wheel and experiment with the latest and greatest silver bullet supplements that seem to change every few months when traditional cultures such as the South Sea Islanders already knew what it took to have healthy babies and stay vibrantly healthy well into old age?
Where to Source Fermented Fish Liver Oils
Please refer to my Resources page for a list of companies that offer clean, purified fermented fish liver oils to provide your whole foods diet with the critical fat soluble activators A, D, and K2.
What to Do if You are Allergic to Fish
If fermented cod or skate liver oil aren’t possible for you due to a seafood allergy, note that you can obtain fat soluble vitamins in other foods valued by other Traditional cultures such as raw, grassfed butter (must be deep yellow to orange in color – sources), fish eggs (many can tolerate fish eggs even with a seafood allergy), emu oil from emus eating their native diet (sources), deep orange yolks from pastured hens, and liver from land based animals.
Sarah, The Healthy Home Economist
Source: Nutrition and Physical Degeneration, Dr. Weston A. Price DDS
Hi Sarah! Thank you for all you do. I am a bit confused. I was looking at the Weston Price website article of Cod Liver Oil Basics and Recommendations. They suggest 2 teaspoons of fermented cod liver oil for pregnant/nursing mothers. In the above post to Allison you said 2/3 teaspoon of the fermented cod liver oil is what is recommended. Is it somewhere in between? Thank you, Sarah
Perhaps they have revised it now? Take the higher amount for sure!
I don’t think they’ve revised it. It’s just that the recommendations on their website are OLD. They were written before Dave started making the fermented cod liver oil, which concentrates the nutrients better. The 2 tsp recommendation is for high vitamin cod liver oil, which used to be the best option out there but no longer is now that fermented cod liver oil is available.
Thanks for clearing that up Kristin! 🙂 I will ask the WAPF Office if that can get updated. have a refrigerator magnet that I got recently that has the WAPF pregnancy recommendations and they are the updated ones … 2/3 tsp of the fermented cod liver oil then.
So if a pregnant women only needs 2/3 tsp a day then wouldn’t children and adults need considerably less? You mentioned you give your children about 1 tsp total of the cod and skate oil per day but wouldn’t they need less than a pregnant women?
Sarah, I looked at the above mentioned website under recommendations. It says it was updated 2012. One line says the high vitamin cod liver oil and the second line says the fermented cod liver oil. It lists 2 teaspoons for pregnant/nursing under both types. I have an email to WAPF.
My son is five years old, do you have any recommendations for getting him to take oils? I have been taking two capsules of the butter oil/cod liver oil mixture. Is this an ok replacement to the amount you are recommending- or do you think I should switch to how you are doing it? Thanks so much!!!
Ok, I watched your video on how to take the oils after I posted my comment. I think we can handle that! Thank you. I also don’t think I could be getting near enough oils from my two capsules, after seeing how much you are taking. Once my bottle is empty I will be replacing it with your suggestions.
Yes, you need much more than just 2 caps per day although any little amount would be great. It is most cost effective to take the liquids.
I’m all for taking fermented cod liver oil, and have been taking the Green Pastures brand for a couple of years now. But I have a particular health issue that is complicating matters, and I wondered if you or anyone else has heard or dealt with this problem before. I am histamine intolerant, and have, apparently, been all my life. I have suffered from the full spectrum of all the histamine overload symptoms, including all manner of migraines, reflux, indigestion, tachychardia and most recently, severe eczema attacks. I am presently on my third month of the GAPS diet, have successfully completed the Intro and am into full GAPS. Prior to that, we had been living the Weston Price lifestyle, so eating a traditional diet was familiar to us.
My problem is that fermented products, in particular fish oils and such as fish sauce, are extremely high in histamine. I had to eliminate the fermented fish liver oil from my diet to help
alleviate my symptoms, along with my home made kefir, yogurt, kombucha, pickles, etc.
I am trying to add them back in, one at a time, as I progress on the GAPS. But the fermented CLO is presenting a major problem. Right now, I am “off” of it, again. I can’t find much, if any, info on any of the GAPS sites concerning how to incorporate high-histamine fermented foods
into the diet, when one is histamine intolerant. Histamine Intolerance is one of the conditions GAPS is supposed to address. Any suggestions????
Hi Katy, sounds like an overgrowth of histamine producing pathogens in your gut … which would explain the autoimmune issues you’re also experiencing as well as the migraines.
I would suggest taking a look at the GAPS Diet as a way to recify the situation by rebalancing the gut and healing the gut wall. I would suggest biodynamicwellness.com (Kim Shuette) as a certified GAPS practicioner who could provide professional guidance.
Hi Katy!
You go girl! GAPS is not for the faint of heart. I have read of others having this exact problem. My histamine reactions have almost completely gone for good (now on month 10 of GAPS). The folks I read said they would have to try VERY small amounts of the liquid of a ferment (like sauerkraut juice). Once you find a fermented liquid you can tolerate (even at 1/2 tsp), then you can work from there to tolerate more. Eventually getting to small amounts of the fermented vegetable. Keep getting lots of good fats in broth, ghee, coconut, etc. Fermented cod liver oil may have to wait until you have healed more. You have to go slowly and listen to your body, and consulting a practitioner is a good idea! Courage!
I’ve had this same problem and it started when I was on the GAPS intro. I used to be able to take FCLO, milk kefir, kombucha, etc. with no problems, but now my legs have been an itchy mess of hives since October. I got my first cavity ever while on GAPS and I really want to heal it with FCLO, but I can’t tolerate it. I think I am going to just have to get it filled. 🙁
Also, someone else suggested the hives might be a sign that my liver needs more support when my body is trying to detox a lot of toxins. They suggested dandelion and milk thistle and these really help. I am wondering how all this ties together.
I have a histamine intolerance and I get hive like bumps on my face and neck. I dont even know which foods are causing them now. I was on GAPS for 3 months with 1 of them being intro. I gave up, right after I had a bowl of grassfed beef with broth I got a hive! I wish there was more information about histamine intolerance and GAPS diet.
Katy, are you tolerating just a regular (not fermented) cod liver oil?
At this point in time, Hallelujah!, I am not only tolerating fermented cod liver oil,
I can eat just about anything fermented I wish, and I have been on a fermenting frenzy lately, making all things I can think of fermented, and eating them, lots of them! daily!
When the “tipping point” came for me on the GAPS diet, it came very fast. All of a sudden, I could tolerate more and more of the fermented pickle juice, and I kept pushing it until I was eating fermented foods three or more times a day. I re-introduced kombucha, kefir, fermented cod liver oil, and many different types of fermented veggie products which we made at home using a perfect pickler or lactic acid fermentation.
After two months of this success, and feeling great, I made some slow-rise, long fermentation sour dough using Einkorn flour. Success again! I can now eat one or two pieces of this delicious bread every day. Still on a Weston Price type diet with all the good fats and whole foods, and not eating any processed foods, but doing extremely well. Plan to continue this forever! Lost 15 pounds total, gained back three and feel wonderful! Have had no recurrance of any symptoms, only steady progress forward.
Stick with the GAPS diet! It’s definitely worth it!
Thank you all for posting about your experience with histamine intolerance and GAPS. My HIT symptoms are simply bloodshot eyes and hives and I feel like I can power through those while on GAPS. If I can tolerate these symptoms, is there any reason why I should only eat low histamine foods while on GAPS? In other words, if I am reacting to something that can also help heal my gut (eg. sauerkraut) will the fact that the reaction is taking place lessen the effect of the probiotics on my gut? I just want to go full steam ahead and heal as quickly as possible, but I completely agree that there is not enough info online about HIT and GAPS!
Katy,
I am experiencing histamine Intolerence symptoms after being on GAPS 5 months. Can you give those of us with this problem directions on what you ate, etc. until you reached the “tipping point” where you could enjoy fermented foods, etc.
For example, did you eat broths,fish, eggs, left-overs, etc. or did you cut those out completely for a time? If so, how did you add them back into your diet?
Thanks,
Gay j.
I stayed on a pretty strict GAPS diet until my breakthrough came. I ate gallons of chicken soup and broth, continued with the good WAPF fats, ate virtually no grain carbs or such as potatoes or rice. And I found that most GAPS recipes had way too much sugar in the form of honey, so I ate very little in the way of sweets. Ate lots of coconut, too. As long as I was experiencing any type of histamine intolerance systems, I steered clear of anything high in histamine, which made my diet pretty bland for quite a few months. I was on a pretty strict GAPS + anti-histamine diet for about 8 months before I began to notice a major change, which came on suddenly. At first, I just added more ferments. It took me many months to add the FCLO back into my diet. I had some other issues, unrelated to histamine intolerance, that cropped up last year, as well. And it turned out I am intolerant of nightshades, which also complicated things.
But, it has been almost a year now, since I went “off” the GAPS. I am eating a full compliment of ferments, coconut kefir water, kombucha (diluted about 4/1 with S. Pelegrino) taking 2 FCLO daily, and even eating dark chocolate, a small 1″ x 2″ piece almost daily, my one indulgence. I have yet to try fish sauce, but I am eating canned sardines, salmon and fresh fish. Eating a pretty “normal” WAPF diet, now, and still making my long-rise sour dough Einkorn bread, which I eat almost daily with pastured eggs and fresh bacon. I have maintained most of my initial weight loss, down 3 dress sizes from when I began. Feel wonderful! I haven’t had any symptoms of histamine intolerance except for a very occasional occular migraine (the aura without the pain), but I can’t trace them to any particular foods, could just be occasional stress or lack of sleep.
GAPS is different for everyone, and I would just advise sticking with it until your personal breakthrough comes. I suffered for years, and now it seems like such a small effort of only 8 months to achieve such good health. One thing I do caution, and am trying to do, is to avoid eating GM foods of any kind, avoiding the glyphosate compounds in the Round Up Ready corn, soy, wheat and canola oil and the Bt toxins in corn, which destroy the bacteria in your gut. That means no processed foods, certainly no non-organic foods, and very little “eating out”.
Katy,
Thank you so much for sharing your experience with histamine intolerance. My 15 month old has had eczema and we’ve been thinking about doing GAPS, but as I started to incorporate more fermented foods, it seemed like she was getting worse. After making a list of foods that seem to be triggering hives, I googled it and found histamine intolerance, and wow, it matches her list of trigger foods exactly!!! I was really bummed because I figured GAPS would no longer be an option for her, so thanks for giving me hope! 🙂 Did you have any websites that were particularly helpful for you? I’m having a hard time finding reliable info on this topic. Thanks so much!!!
I cannot eat commercial sauerkraut like Bubbies exactly because of the histamine issue – I break out in a rash and it gives me an uneasy, restless feeling. The commercial fermenting time is just not long enough and at the stage of harvest the sauerkraut is loaded with histamines. If I ferment my sauerkraut for over 16 weeks I’m good, though. Look into doing your ferments yourself. A ton of traditional eating blogs discuss the different fermenting stages and their histamine and vitamin levels.
I, too, cannot tolerate Bubbie’s sourkraut for histamine intolerances.
Can you share your recipe?
Bubbies Sauerkraut has been heated and isn’t raw-fermented.
I called the company cause I had a feeling.
Hi Katy,
I have the same problem with the histamines. When I was doing GAPS, my eczema was not healing but in fact became extreme when I introduced avocado. I didn’t realize at the time that I was breaking out from the fermented products—cabbage and kefir. I have finally healed from my eczema and what helped was Bragg’s ACV. I started taking two tablespoons everyday with a little raw honey and I noticed that my eczema started to go away and then went away completely after a few days. But after being on it for 2 weeks, I started getting very itchy all over. So I quit taking the ACV and the itching went away. So now I just take it once or twice a week and everything seems to be under control…no more eczema.
For anyone doing GAPS who has histamine intolerance, be sure to read this article:
http://www.greenmedinfo.com/blog/gaps-diet-histamine-intolerance
Thanks for the post, Sarah. I have been really lazy about taking my Cod Liver Oil lately……I needed this reminder of just how important it is!
Suzanne
Sarah, question, living in PA are you still able to take CLO in the summer time? I thought it was just a winter thing and I have finished my bottle of CLO but haven’t replaced it because of the season. The issue is amount of sun along with the CLO. By the way, I don’t know if this is related but, I have had a “lump feeling” on my thyroid. Went to the DR and she advised that it was a nodule and suggested I have it ultrasound. I had just started taking CLO and the feeling went away. I haven’t have CLO for about 6 weeks now and I am starting to have the “lump feeling” back. I know that its a nodule on the thyroid, and I am not ignoring it, but just wanted to comment about it. I haven’t thought about it because since taking the CLO the feeling went away and now its back and I now have to think about it again.
Yes, I get sun down here in Florida and keep right on with my fermented oils all summer. Here’s a post I wrote on why:
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/why-i-get-midday-sun-and-take-cod-liver/
Remember, the South Sea Islanders had sun all year round and wore little clothing and they still took their fermented oils.
Okay, so let me post my response! DAH on my part. Sending you my apologies. I didn’t realize you were in Florida so I shouldn’t have asked the question. B/T/W I LOVE YOUR POSTS. I look forward to them everyday and if it weren’t for you and your videos I would not be were I am physically everyday.
Hi Colleen, My daughter had a nodule on her thyroid. It took drs. ten years to decide what to do with it. We did a lot of research. Her’s grew though, and we had no idea how to solve the issue, but refused to let drs. remove her thyroid. She suffered through tons of needle aspirations, and drugs to control her heart palpitations. They finally just recently did radioactive iodine. Now, usually a high dose with kill the thyroid, but the dr. was conservative, and so far, it’s been six mos. it only killed the nodule, and she is back to normal with no meds.
If that cod liver is helping, I’d do it. Plus, in the meantime, check out, requires deep research, other alternative measures you can take.
Very good teaser on the blog heading! I was ready (as many others will be) to pounce and find out just exactly the post was all about. I agree with you on the critical importance of the vitamins. We have a K2 D3 combination that is very popular. People that restrict their diets in so many unusual ways find themselves lacking in many areas.
Have a good day!
Jason
I hear so many people say (as I’m sure you do as well), “I’m eating organic now” like this is somehow going to make them healthy. A clean whole diet ain’t gonna do it folks! You MUST have ample amounts of the fat soluble activators in the diet.
Along these lines, I recently did a post titled “‘Organic’ does not equal ‘Healthy'” on my blog The National Fork. The post doesn’t discuss the importance of fat soluble vitamins. Rather, it discusses the watered-down meaning of “organic” and the irony of organic processed food, like Whole Foods’ Organic Mac and Cheese.
I love your posts, and this one’s no exception.
Also, just wondering … do we know of a situation where only the fermented shark oil was taken out of their diet for a time? It seems like a stretch to say that everything hinged on this oil. Could you explain this?
When Dr. Price asked why they took this oil, he was told so they could have healthy babies so observation over the generations showed the wisdom of this. I would suggest reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration … an amazing read that will change your view of health guaranteed.
Here’s a link where you can read the entire book free online. http://gutenberg.net.au/ebooks02/0200251h.html
Sarah can you reference the pages in Nutrition and Physical Degeneration that talks specifically about the fermented shark oil? I read the chapters on the South Sea Islanders and didn’t come across it. I must be looking in the wrong chapters.
I consumed regular cod liver oil off a spoon for years and then tried the fermented (plain) recently. I’ve no problems until I tried the fermented stuff. The flavor is so awful! How do you do it? And, it’s so expensive. 🙁
It’s worth it. I would sell a car if necessary to afford it for my family. I’m serious. It’s not that expensive really though if you look at the fact that you will most likely need antibiotics to get well when you get the flu if you don’t take it. Meds are much more expensive!
I have a video on how to best take it. It is easy after you try this a few times:
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/video-how-to-best-swallow-cod-liver-oil/
Which is better, the butter cod liver oil blend, the krill, or the fermented? Or do people do all three? It seems like too much.
Also, why would Green Pastures take information off the label of vitamins listed if they are still in there?
You write great posts. Thank you.
Green Pastures takes it off the label as if they claim a certain amount of vitamin A in there for example the FDA makes them put a certain amount of synthetic A in there.
SO … Green Pastures has wisely decided to treat the fermented oils as food rather than supplements to avoid all the FDA control issues which would come into play if they tried to list exactly the levels of A, D, and K2 in their product.
Skip the Krill oil .. it has basically no vitamin A in there from what I know. I take the fermented cod liver oil (1/2 tsp per day), the fermented skate liver oil (1/2 tsp per day) and 1/2 tsp of the butter oil per day. That’s the cheapest way to take them all. Getting the blends is more expensive per dose.
thanks for explaining. Totally makes sense now regarding the label.
Also, thanks for sharing the doses/delivery of your regiment.
When I am sick, I take twice the dose (morning and night).
Needless to say, I’m not sick very long!!!
Hi Sarah: I have a quick question, which maybe you have addressed somewhere on your blog already 🙂 I plan on having another child. I don’t care for prenatal vitamins – they made me very ill with my last child. Would Fermented Cod Liver Oil be an acceptable substitue? What, in your personal opinion, would your recommendation before for a pregnant woman?
Thanks!
Allison .. I never took prenatal vitamins with any of my 3 pregnancies. They are typically loaded with synthetic vitamins .. who needs that?
The Weston A. Price Foundation recommends a dose of fermented cod liver oil which supplies 20,000 IU of vitamin A and 2000 IU vitamin D per day when pregnant or breastfeeding. This would be about 2/3 of a tsp of fermented cod liver oil. NOT the cod liver oils available at the health food store which are highly processed and not worth taking.
Make sure you get the fermented kind! See my Resources page for the very few companies that sell this high quality oil.
Hi Sarah. My question is similar in that I have myself and my children currently taking the fermented cod liver oil/high vitamin butter oil blend and I am confused on how much of this we should be taking daily. Being that it’s the blend I haven’t been able to find the recommended dosage for adults or children (mine are 7 and 11). Do you know what it is? Also I’ve noticed that the amounts of vitamin D in the recommended dosages of just the fermented cod liver oil seem to be much lower than what the Vitamin D Council recommends for daily Vitamin D. Would this be because it is more easily absorbed than Vitamn D supplements? Thanks again for a great blog!
I give my children 1 tsp per day (1/2 tsp fermented cod liver oil and 1/2 tsp of the fermented skate liver oil) which provides 3000 IU of vitamin D. Remember that 1 tsp is the BIG spoon, not the small spoon in your utensil drawer.
Why would a child need 1 tsp total and a pregnant women only need 2/3 tsp?
By “tsp” do you mean “teaspoon” or “Tablespoon”? I thought “teaspoon,” but if it’s the big spoon, do you mean Tablespoon?
Sarah do you mean teaspoon (tsp) or tablespoon (tbsp)? As the teaspoon is the small one, and the tablespoon the big one. When you say 1 tsp, that comes across as a teaspoon which is obviously not much (about 5mL while the US tablespoon is 15mL).
Rachel and Fiona, I’m sure it’s teaspoon, not tablespoon. The fermented cod liver oil is highly concentrated and is generally measured in terms of teaspoons. Although I’ve heard Sally Fallon talk about near-miraculous outcomes for women dealing with myriad hormone-related issues by taking mega doses of several tablespoons for a short period of time. In general, though, it is taken in teaspoons or fractions of teaspoons.
i think its important that we address that scientists have gathered for a few years in a row now to address the critical deficiency of omega 3’s in our diet….and NOT vitamin A. if you are pregnant and building a child’s brain in your body…a brain that is highly composed of omega 3 fats that were NOT discovered until 10 yrs after the death of Dr Price, i think its important that we change the focus to making sure you get high quality, non-rancid, measurable levels of omega 3’s. i recommend consulting the current recommendations by the american pregnancy association. you can take your fermented cod liver oil for these other reasons but i would approach a cultural deficiency in omega 3’s with great sincerity. the former head of the red cross, dr bernadine healy suggested that the most important information we can arm ourselves with present day is knowing what our omega 3 blood lipid levels are…and when buying supplements you should be buying them with a very clear notion of what they are providing you with.