Homestead mailing list

[Rob <becida AT comcast.net>]

At  12/21/2008 09:42 PM,Rob wrote:
> At  12/21/2008 07:41 PM,Lynda wrote:
> >What about an ethnic diet?  I know that in the 4 Corners the docs have found
> >that folks with diabetes that return to a lamb, corn, bean and squash based
> >diet and got rid of the wheat, beef and sugar diet stopped needing insulin
> >and lost a lot of weight.
> >
> >Of course, that could present a problem if one is a total American (mutt
> ><g>) and doesn't lean toward any particular limb on their family tree.
> >
> >Lynda
>
> Getting away from processed food.... Was lamb/sheep a part of the
> diet before the Europeans came?

I looked it up:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheep

In the Americas
See also: Agricultural history of the United States

Sheep grazing on the south lawn of the White 
House c. 1918No ovine species native to the 
Americas has ever been domesticated, despite 
being closer genetically to domestic sheep than 
many Asian and European species. The first 
domestic sheep in North America—most likely of 
the Churra breed—arrived with Christopher 
Columbus' second voyage in 1493.[3][6] The next 
transatlantic shipment to arrive was with Hernán 
Cortés in 1519, landing in Mexico.[3] No export 
of wool or animals is known to have occurred from 
these populations, but flocks did disseminate 
throughout what is now Mexico and the Southwest 
United States with Spanish colonists.[6] Churras 
were also introduced to the Navajo tribe of 
Native Americans, and became a key part of their 
livelihood and culture. The modern presence of 
the Navajo-Churro breed is a result of this heritage.[16]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Looking a little further I found that it was 1598 
when European settlers arrived in northern NM.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Fe,_New_Mexico

IMO a couple-three hundred years of a diet that worked is a long time.





Rob
becida AT comcast.net