Eskimos are indigenous people of the Arctic regions of North America. Living in what many consider an inhospitable environment, Eskimos traditionally practice a subsistence lifestyle, using a hunter-gatherer approach to obtaining food, according to "Discover" magazine. This diet is largely protein and fat with few plant-based carbohydrates. Eskimos thrive on this diet, deriving all the essential nutrients they require from the land around them.
Country Food
While the diet of modern Eskimos includes processed and fast foods available from grocery and convenience stores, much of the diet of many Eskimos still consists of "country food," gathered from the surrounding environment and often preserved and stored for future use. Many Eskimos continue to gather country food and use what they can hunt, fish or gather as the basis of their diet.
Protein
The traditional Eskimo diet consists largely of protein from the flesh of marine mammals including seal, whale and walrus. Eskimos also hunt land animals, such as moose, reindeer, caribou and even bear for meat. These meats are often eaten raw or minimally cooked to preserve valuable nutrients. Eskimos also regularly consume organ meats, particularly liver. Birds, such as ptarmigan, ducks and geese, including their eggs, add protein variety. Seafood is another mainstay and includes salmon, pike, char, whitefish and shellfish. These protein sources are more nutritious than market-food proteins, with nutrients including iron, vitamin A and selenium.
Fat
Fat is an important part of the traditional Eskimo diet, providing the calories needed to thrive in harsh weather conditions. While the traditional diet contains a lot of animal fat, it does not contain the trans fats and saturated fats prevalent in modern diets. The Eskimo diet is also rich in omega fatty acids and monounsaturated fats, which are healthy for the heart and circulatory system. These good fats are found in seal, arctic char, salmon, different whale species and narwhal. A traditional fat food, called muktuk and consisting of whale skin and blubber, is a staple for many Eskimos.
Plant Foods
During the warmer weather of a relatively short summer, Eskimos gather greens and roots to diversify their diet and provide necessary nutrients. Eskimos also pick wild berries, including blueberries, salmonberries and crowberries to provide needed vitamins and other nutrients to their diet. Seaweed harvested from the ocean is another nutritious food, with sodium, iodine and vitamins A and C among its benefits.
Dietary Changes
As Eskimos were moved from a nomadic life to settlements and communities, their diet changed. The cost of shipping food items to northern areas makes nutritionally beneficial foods expensive, leading many Eskimos to buy less-expensive and less-nutritious carbohydrate-based foods. The consumption of these processed and fast foods has led to a significant increase of obesity, heart disease, high blood pressure and other health problems, according to Canada's Centre for Indigenous Peoples' Nutrition and Environment. As of 2010, leaders in the Eskimo community are working to restore the traditional diet and the health of their people.
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