Why America Is Overfed and Undernourished (and What Ancestral Wisdom Still Knows)
Walk through any American grocery store and you’ll see abundance everywhere. Endless aisles, fluorescent lighting, food from every corner of the globe. And yet… we are one of the most malnourished populations in the developed world.
How is that possible?
Because nourishment isn’t about calories. It’s about relationship to land, to soil, to seasons, to animals, to plants, and ultimately to our own physiology.
The Great Nutrient Illusion
Most Americans are not starving. We are overfed and undernourished.
Modern dietary guidelines and mainstream “nutritional experts” have taught us to fear the very foods humans evolved on (animal fats, organs, properly prepared grains, mineral-rich broths) while encouraging ultra-processed foods fortified with synthetic vitamins as a substitute for real nourishment.
It’s laughable. And tragic. And infuriating.
You cannot out-supplement a broken food system.
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Food Without a Home
Compare this to countries like Italy, where food culture is still deeply regional and relational. I spent 3 weeks in Puglia with my husband and one of the most profound moments of the trip was when I bit into a plum. It was the most exquisitely juicy and flavorful plum I had ever eaten. So good, in fact, that my eyes bugged out and I said to my husband, "What in the world? This is the BEST plum I have ever tasted! Taste this!" It's because the plum was ripe and local.
In much of Italy:
- Produce is grown locally or regionally
- Food is harvested ripe— not early, not artificially preserved
- Meals are seasonal by default
- Soil stewardship is cultural, not corporate
When food doesn’t have to travel thousands of miles, it doesn’t need to be:
- Picked underripe
- Gassed to ripen
- Sprayed with waxes and preservatives
- Bred for shelf life instead of nutrition
American produce often travels farther than we do all year. By the time it reaches your plate, the nutrient density has already declined— and that’s before soil depletion enters the conversation.
The Soil Is Hungry Too
Big Agriculture has stripped our soils of minerals through:
- Monocropping
- Chemical fertilizers that replace yield, not nutrition
- Lack of crop rotation and soil regeneration
Healthy soil is alive. It contains bacteria, fungi, trace minerals, and complex relationships that feed plants— and through them, us.
When soil is depleted, plants are depleted.
When plants are depleted, animals are depleted.
When animals are depleted… humans are depleted.
This is why food that looks “healthy” on paper still fails to nourish.
The Supplement Scam
Into this void steps the billion-dollar supplement industry.
Isolated vitamins.
Synthetic minerals.
Mega-doses that promise to fix what food no longer provides.
But nutrients do not function in isolation.
Iron needs copper.
Calcium needs magnesium, vitamin D, and K2.
B vitamins require cofactors.
Nature never delivers nutrients alone— and neither should we.
Whole foods, organs, broths, ferments, and herbs provide nutrients in their natural, synergistic architecture— recognized and usable by the body.
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The Herbal Advantage
Herbs are not supplements (regardless of what is legally required of herbalists on their labels). They are teachers.
They work slowly, intelligently, and contextually, supporting systems rather than overriding them.
Some herbs are profoundly nutrient-dense. Two that are worth mentioning are:
- Nettle – rich in iron, calcium, magnesium, silica, chlorophyll, and trace minerals
- Moringa – abundant in amino acids, vitamins A, C, E, calcium, and antioxidants
But more importantly, herbs don’t just contain nutrients— they improve assimilation, metabolism, and regulation.
This is why traditional cultures paired foods with bitter roots, mineral-rich teas, and digestive tonics.
Below are a few ancestral-style, nutrient-dense recipes designed to work with your body, using whole foods and herbal simples to enhance availability, digestion, and vitality.
{Recipes} Mineral Broth Builder
Supports: minerals, connective tissue, nervous system
Ingredients:
- Grass-fed marrow bones or knuckle bones, brewed into a bone broth
- Sea salt
- 1 dropper Nettle Simple
How to use:
Add nettle extract to your cup after cooking (not during) to preserve mineral integrity. Sip daily.
Why it works:
Bone broth provides collagen, glycine, and minerals; nettle enhances mineral uptake and replenishes what modern soils lack.
Ancestral Morning Tonic
Supports: metabolism, adrenals, liver, digestion
Ingredients:
- Warm water
- Squeeze of lemon
- Raw honey
- 1 dropper Burdock Simple or Dandelion Root Simple
Why it works:
Bitter roots stimulate bile flow, improve fat-soluble vitamin absorption, and gently wake the liver—something no multivitamin can replicate.
Evening Nervous System Elixir
Supports: stress regulation, sleep, digestion
Ingredients:
- Warm raw milk or herbal tea
- Raw honey
- 1 dropper Lemon Balm Simple or Motherwort Simple
Why it works:
A regulated nervous system improves nutrient assimilation. Calm first. Nourishment follows.
Malnutrition is not a personal failure.
It is a systemic one.
The solution is not fear-based food rules or isolated pills— it’s remembering.
Remembering how humans ate.
Remembering how soil was cared for.
Remembering the intelligence of plants.
Ancestral nutrition isn’t a trend.
It’s a return.
And your body has been waiting for it.
Healing isn’t about chasing symptoms. It’s about building relationship. Start with one plant. Start with one ritual. 👉 Explore the Full Apothecary