“THE USE OF TRAVELING IS TO REGULATE IMAGINATION BY REALITY, AND INSTEAD OF THINKING HOW THINGS MAY BE, TO SEE THEM AS THEY ARE.” ~ Samuel Johnson

Have you ever longed to travel around the world? Where would you go? Would you travel to the worlds most glamorous cities, take camels through the Sahara desert, or perhaps set sail on a ship around the world? In 2005, we decided to start just such a journey. Newly married we said goodbye to our families and friends and set off on a 7-year around the world expedition with one particular goal in mind, to observe cultures around the globe, both urban and remote, to discover, for ourselves, how different nutritional philosophies  affect overall health.

We called our expedition “The Calton Project.” We were no longer satisfied simply reading studies performed at acclaimed institutions and universities concerning the relationship between dietary patterns and health. Instead, we wanted to sit with, eat with, and ask questions to people from diverse cultures in an attempt to relearn what modern man had forgotten. We would follow in the tradition of Weston A. Price who explored the diets and health of native peoples back in the 1930’s. For us, the knowledge would be in the discovery and we would use that knowledge to rethink how we eat in America and around the world to achieve optimal health.  We invite you to experience the journey!

Conclusion:

“EVERY DISEASE IS DIRECTLY LINKED TO A NUTRIENT DEFICIENCY.” ~Commonly attributed to Dr. Linus Pauling PhD, two-time Nobel Prize winner

After six years of conducting the Calton Project, in over 100 countries we feel confident in concluding that we agree with Linus Pauling’s famous statement. Obesity is just one of the many micronutrient deficiency conditions plaguing the billions of people around the world who have moved away from a natural indigenous diet and have become one of the globalized masses, mindlessly gobbling down micronutrient poor “food-like stuff” day in and day out. Within a decade of eating this kind of food, the body can suffer any number of health conditions, and once it starts we have never heard of it stopping.

The Calton Project has given us a global perspective on nutrition. What we have discovered on our journey has forever changed our approach to health and nutrition. While we ourselves enjoy many aspects of modernization and progress, we must ask: progress at what cost? Our observations during the Calton Project have lead us to believe, as science has verified, that micronutrient deficiency is directly linked to nearly all of our modern health conditions and diseases, including obesity, cardiovascular diseases, cancer, diabetes, osteoporosis, and many others.

It is not simply random chance or genetic predisposition that is causing places like India and China to literally explode with diabetes or Papua New Guineans to suddenly develop cancer. These people have known hardship and hunger before, and never have these modern diseases affected them. The human body is an amazing thing; it adapts to its circumstances and makes due with what it has to keep us alive and well. However, while our bodies can fight off violent bacterial infection, and can defend us from ruthless viral attack, it does not seem to be able to protect us from ourselves.

In the end, we believe that there is one cause at the root of most of today’s modern diseases, micronutrient deficiency, and that this one cause has but one cure, micronutrient sufficiency. Whether we believe in following a vegan, Mediterranean, vegetarian, low carbohydrate, low fat, Paleo, or low calorie diet, micronutrient deficiency is a very real concern. In the end, we cannot morally afford to continue to disregard this catalyst of disease that has become so widespread. We must all stand and face the reality of the micronutrient deficiency pandemic together. Only together can we make a difference.