Nowadays, many people face serious problems with food allergies. What is interesting about this fact is that surprisingly, our ancestors did not complain about such problems. Even statistical data shows that compared to the past, in the present considerably more people have a food allergy.

For example, the number of people with food allergies in the USA increased by 50% in the last 20 years and today there are more than 17 million Europeans who have this problem. The question raised here is ‘How did our ancestors avoid food allergies?’.

Firstly, they consumed home-grown food i.e. food that was not grown with chemical preservatives. Moreover, the food they consumed was seasonal and originated from the local farms unlike today when the food we consume comes from the other side of the world.

This means that the food we consume today is less nutritious since the best nutritional value of the food is within a few days of harvest otherwise it will lose a significant percentage of its nutrients. Additionally, they ate what was available and what they felt like eating.

Today, we put too much emphasis on diet trends rather than on what our body i.e. our brain wants to eat. Our body can tell us what it needs. What we need to do is pay more attention. This means eating a variety of foods which are cooked in a traditional way.

We should forget about the microwaves and turn to the stove, oven and open fire. For example, our ancestors prepared food at home without adding additives. For example, babies ate what everyone else did – cooked longer and mashed unlike today when parents buy prepared baby food. The only food for infants was breast milk which was always fresh, nutritious and in-season.

Another reason for avoiding food allergies is that our ancestors had a complete different approach towards food. They did not waste food. They save the bones and organs of the animals not just their flesh and they made broths or stew with them.

These were full with vitamins and minerals which significantly contributed for their healthy nutrition. In addition, farmers in the past did not use chemicals and antibiotics to make animals grow faster as the farmers today do and therefore, our ancestors had better immune system and fought potential allergies efficiently.

Genetically modified food did not exist in the past, so they ate food without additives, stabilizers or thickeners. Farming practices affected their healthy lifestyle greatly since farmers did not employ chemical fertilizers or pesticides that are the major reason for today’s allergies.

Finally, whenever they were sick, they treated themselves with the help of traditional medicines – lots of fluids, chicken soup, healing herbs and the like. They did not visit the doctor as often as we do nowadays. They relied on their experience and did not run to the doctor each time they felt a little discomfort.

As a result, they did not base their treatments on human made medications but they turned to natural remedies and therefore, they did not face food problems as we do today.