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History List

A trapper begins his journey through the Rockies, killing his first buffalo, other particularly fat buffalo, and even a grizzly bear, "we butchered him as he was very fat"

Journal of a Trapper During the years 1834 to 1843

August 12, 1834

Traditionally, Inuit children were breast-fed for three to five years and sometimes into the sixth and seventh years. Breastfeeding would prevent ovulation and be a natural form of birth control. Bottle feeding was introduced in the late 1950's, changing the traditional strategy.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

December 1, 1959

Tuberculosis treatment required evacuations to Canada and take several years. Dr Schaefer believed the lower rate of tuberculosis in one Inuit community reflected their better traditional meat diet while the higher rate in another reflected the southern foods purchased at the local trading store.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

December 1, 1962

An influenza epidemic killed half the Inuit population of Bernard Harbour in 1928 after a supply ship carrying a reverend arrived. Inuit dealt with major illnesses such as tuberculosis over the next 40 years.

The Northern Copper Inuit

January 1, 1928

The Inuit were a relatively healthy people, in 1914, disease was virtually unknown between Coronation Gulf and the magnet pole.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 1, 1914

The modernization of the Inuit of the Holman region is described. Inuit are lent a debt and can no longer engage in midwinter subsistence hunting when trapping foxes. Trapping was fully entrenched by the 1940's in the Holman region and people were eating sugar and flour instead of seals, caribou, and polar bears.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 2, 1922

Corporal Wall describes the health differences of various Copper Inuit settlements noting that those with access to the country meat foods (instead of the white man's tea, sugar, flour, and jam) were "a fine healthy looking bunch." He also notes the influence of Christianity and how people would rather sing hymns on Sunday than hunt for needed meat.

RCMP Patrol Report 1933 - The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

February 2, 1932

Jenness is amazed at the Copper Inuit's energy and patience and endurance, perhaps indicating the results of their superb diet, but also the skills needed to thrive in such an inhospitable place.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A history

January 2, 1922

Copper Inuit religion was concerned with the here and now and a goddess named Arnapkapfaaluk 'big bad woman' that allocated seals to those hunters that carefully followed the taboos. Those that take part in a kill must share it in order to not embarrass the animal spirit.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A history

January 2, 1911

Copper Eskimo: "There were a lot of people long ago before there were any white men. It seems like people never got sick that often."

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 1, 1915

Kuptana describes how Eskimos would congregate to catch fatty char in weirs and collect them through October and then meet near the forming ice to make winter gear and hunting equipment.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

October 10, 1911

Fatty caribou are prized by Eskimos, especially during the late summer, but the time involves periods of feasting and fasting as game is scarce. Kuptana describes how a chisel tool is used by a young man on his first kill to open the brain of a freshly killed caribou for a feast. The hunting party dedicated all their time to hunting and storing caribou meat for later in the autumn when food is scarce.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

June 1, 1911

Kuptana describes the ancient practices of catching hundreds of fish using stone weirs in the summer.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

June 6, 1915

An Eskimo named Kuptana remembers the hunting of his first two ducks with a bow and arrow and remarked on the difficulty it to catch even three of them.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 1, 1912

The Copper Inuit people operate in a remote and frigid landscape and have unique habits to hunt seals and polar bears on the ice. They split up to cover more area and thus share kills between group members, separating seals up into 14 pieces while building large snowhouse communities with many families.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 1, 1911

The transcribed words of Sam Oliktoak and Rene Taipana, Eskimo elders, describe how they would travel according to the best fishing and hunting patterns of the region, even waiting for the caribou to grow longer and thicker hair for better clothing. In a world of ice and meat, they were dependent upon the animals and a deep knowledge of how to survive.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A history

June 22, 1915

Jenness describes the hunting and fishing habits of the Northern Copper Inuit and was impressed by their ability to endure long walks without food in the hunt for caribou. The effect of the white men's economic habits start to make the Eskimos dependent upon civilization for survival, while making famines less likely.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

June 23, 1915

At that instance, the Inuit immediately rushed to the caribou that was shot down. In no time at all, the fresh killed carcass was devoured by the Inuit. The white man started in disbelief at the way the carcass disappeared so swiftly. The reason the Inuit devoured the caribou so quickly was because it was a change in diet. Their main staple food all winter was seal meat.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 1, 1911

Taptualuk was given some rifles, ammunition, and a bag of flour. Since the Copper Inuit had no use, or taste, for southern food, the flour was dumped on the ground so that the bag could be used as a container.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

January 1, 1908

Christian Klengenberg, a Dane born in 1869, signs on as a cook to travel the world and ends up exploring the Arctic in 1893, where he meets the Eskimos, learns their language and customs, and decides to marry a young Inupiat woman. He hunts bowhead whales and lives off the land and finds traces of the Northern Copper Inuit whom he would later visit.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

December 20, 1893

British explorer McClure meets the Northern Copper Inuit for the first time. The Eskimos, who have never met non-Eskimos, ask where the white men's hunting grounds are- indicating farming was foreign to them. Members of the expedition noted the Eskimos were self sufficient carnivores, living only off of hunting and fishing and using hammered copper tools collected from particular places.

The Northern Copper Inuit - A History

March 1, 1851

A Civil War Nurse describes how hated the starchy foods were in camps: "They had what they desired, in or out of season, and all seemed to object to the nutriment concocted from those tasteless and starchy compounds of wheat, corn and arrowroot, that are so thick and heavy to swallow, and so little nutritious."

A Southern Woman's Story

January 1, 1879

Dr Eduard von Jaeger of Vienna publishes the first case of diabetic retinopathy showing the dangers of high blood sugars in diabetics.

The First Case of Diabetic Retinopathy by Eduard von Jaeger

January 1, 1853

Dr Karl Petrén of Sweden recommends a high fat, low protein and low carbohydrate diet for Type 1 Diabetics before the discovery of insulin due to having extensive facilities to observe patients for years while trying many different diets.

Diabetes-studier

January 1, 1923

George Blackburn and Bruce Bistrian of Harvard Medical School create the protein-sparing modified fast to treat patients with obesity: 650-800 calories a day of nothing but lean fish, meat, and fowl. It had effectively no carbohydrates. In 700 patients over 4 months, they lost 50 pounds on average while feeling little hunger. However, Blackburn and Bistrian thought this diet was lethal due to being high in saturated fat.

January 1, 1985

Dr James Sidbury instructed parents to feed only fat and protein up to 700 calories to their obese children - when carbohydrates are omitted, the kids with obesity are satisifed with less food. "The satiety value of such diets is superior to diets high in carbohydrate and low in fat."

A program of weight reduction in children

January 1, 1975

“The absence of complaints of hunger has been remarkable,” the Mayo Clinic’s Russell Wilder wrote in 1933 when using a ketogenic meat-based diet for his patients.

Clinical Diabetes Mellitus and Hyperinsulinism.

January 1, 1933

Ancel Keys studies people eating a long term 1600 calorie diet and explains what "semi-starvation neurosis" means as the subjects broke down mentally and their weight loss slowed.

The Biology of Human Starvation

November 1, 1944

The Harvard psychologist William Sheldon observed in the late 1940s that starving a fat man doesn’t actually turn him into a lean man or a muscular, athletic one any more than starving a mastiff turns it into a collie or a greyhound. For the dogs, you get an emaciated mastiff. For the humans, an emaciated fat man.

January 1, 1949

Senator Henry Bellmon questions the calorie cutting consensus presented at a subcommittee on obesity.

January 1, 1977

Jean Mayer, dean of Tufts University, argued that obesity was caused by a lack of exercise, a view that is now consensus, yet wrote “These mice will make fat out of their food under the most unlikely circumstances, even when half starved.”

Jean Mayer

January 1, 1965

Time Magazine profiles Ancel Keys and his anti-saturated fat message to solve heart disease, as well as the idea that obesity is a sin instead of a hormonal problem.

Medicine: The Fat of the Land

January 13, 1961

Dr Louis Newburgh, who thinks obesity is caused by overeating, publishes a case study on a man doing a 4,177 calorie all meat diet for 7 months but admits that there are no problems when not overdoing the protein content.

The Nephropathic Effect in Man of a Diet High in Beef Muscle and Liver.

January 1, 1930

Physician Louis Newburgh argues that obesity is indeed caused by eating too much--"a perverted appetite" or a "lessened outflow of energy" and transformed a physiological disorder into a character flaw.

The Nature of Obesity

April 22, 1929

Nutrition textbook writes “the intake of foods rich in carbohydrate should be drastically reduced since over-indulgence in such foods is the most common cause of obesity.”

Human Nutrition and Dietetics

January 1, 1963

Dr Astwood presents a lecture to explain that the causes of obesity were due to hormonal problems instead of "the conviction of the primacy of gluttony" or that obesity was caused by simply eating too many calories.

The Heritage of Corpulence

July 22, 1962

Lenna Cooper says that "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" in the same year she creates the dietitian industry.

January 1, 1917

Fannie Bolton, a very zealous Adventist, discovers Ellen White hypocritically eating shellfish and beef steaks while talking about being a holy vegetarian.

Fannie Bolton's Testimony

January 1, 1887

The American Dietetic Association publishes a position paper on the vegetarian diet, but the primary author is a Seventh-day Adventist.

ADA Position Paper on Vegetarian Diets

January 1, 2009

Pavy suggests that vegetables cause flatulence in 1869.

A treatise on the function of digestion; its disorders, and their treatment

January 1, 1869

Bernard's experiments show how the milky chyle released from the pancreas dissolves the fat into a minutely divided state.

A treatise on the function of digestion; its disorders, and their treatment by Pavy

January 1, 1846

An experiment in 1944 concludes that scurvy can be prevented on less than 10 mg of vitamin C per day, meaning that the Carnivore Diet could easily supply enough through meat alone.

The Sheffield Experiment on the Vitamin C Requirement of Human Adults by H A Krebs

January 1, 1944

Dr Osler explains the disease of gout and its etiology (hereditary, food, alcohol, lead) and theories (uric-acid, nervous, Ebstein's), however, the treatment of the chronic condition is a low carb diet where "starchy and saccharine articles of food are to be taken in very limited quantities."

The principles and practice of medicine : designed for the use of practitioners and students of medicine

January 1, 1892

Osler describes oxaluria which occurs in the urine and the crystals form a calculus. "The amount varies extremely with the diet, and it is increased largely when such fruits and vegetables as tomatoes and rhubarb are taken"

The principles and practice of medicine : designed for the use of practitioners and students of medicine

January 1, 1892

Osler explains what happens when one gets scurvy but repeats the myth that vegetables are necessary to cure it. He even quotes the theory of Ralfe who predated him 10 years but did not mention that meat can cure or prevent scurvy.

The principles and practice of medicine : designed for the use of practitioners and students of medicine

January 1, 1892

Dr William Osler quotes Dr Sydenham's diabetes advice - which include "let the patient eat food of easy digestion, such as veal, mutton, and the like, and abstain from all sorts of fruit and garden stuff" as well as "carbohydrates in the food should be reduced to a minimum."

The Principles and Practice of Medicine - Designed for the use of practioners and students of medicine by William Osler M.D. FRCP.

January 1, 1892

The first female African American doctor, Rebecca Crumpler, wrote this book in 1883 and describes how a broiled lamb chop or beef should be added to an infant's diet while weaning. The full book is easy to read and is again a fascinating mix of religion and observation, typical of the time period.

A book of medical discourses: in two parts

January 1, 1883

The leading British diabetologist of the day - Dr Frederick Pavy, publishes a dietary for the diabetic full of animal meats, eggs, cheese, greens and nuts. "Must avoid eating: Sugar in any form, Bread, Potatoes. Peas. Cabbage. Pastry. Fruit of all kinds."

Researches on the Nature and Treatment of Diabetes

May 10, 1862

Thomas King Chambers treats diabetes based on what he has learned from Bouchardat, 23 years earlier, and excludes sugar and carbohydrates while recommending meat and fat. After listing animal products, he lists some low carb ketogenic vegetables.

A Manual of Diet in Health and Disease

January 1, 1875

Lenna’s first book, The New Cookery (Good Health Publishing, 1913), featured nutritionally balanced, attractive, and palatable vegetarian recipes, most of which were served at the Battle Creek Sanitarium. Many of these unique recipes incorporated innovative nut, wheat gluten, and legume- based meat substitutes, whole grain cereals, and other vegetarian food products.

Academy Co-Founder Lenna Frances Cooper: A Pioneer in Vegetarian Nutrition and Dietetics

January 1, 1913

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