Where to start… Their water wasn’t poisoned Their food wasn’t poisoned They got plenty of sunlight They had steady supplies of meat in the form of fish They had plenty of exercise Their living situations depended upon hard physical labor Etc
In the summer Scandinavia gets 16-17 hours of daylight a day in summer and 6 in the winter vit D content of their diet like fermented cod liver was crucial.
HERRING, is the secret ingredient. In the north, herring was an important part of our diet. Being a member of the salmon family, herring is fatty and healthy and fairly rich in omega3 etc.
Wow I had no idea that it was part of the salmon family. I am Polish with a little bit of Scandinavian and my parents eat a lot of herring. I grew up and live in Canada.
In the Baltic Sea herring is too poisoned by industrial and big city waste, we can't eat much of it any more. Good thing is, if we go vegan, we Nordic people also have the rutabagas, in the USA also called swedes, and considered animal feed. Another sad thing, is that our elk/moose are not well-fed anymore, but have encountered insufficiences because of monoculture in treeplantations. If not organic farming, our farmlands are becoming more and more depleted. And if not organic our meat does have too much antibiotics, too. Sour rye bread is healthy and filling. Peasoup and sourkale was earlier staple foods. The lingonberries added c-vitamine of a sturdy kind, as did a bit later nettles. Trockened they could be well preserved.
@@arhu74 Pretty unsafe if they are from the Baltic Sea - didn't I mention that? North Sea Wild Salmon is OK to eat but it is very expensive. I've gone almost 95% vegan, and choose organic as often as just possible.
Here in Norway people ate in the early 1900s. Salted fish and meat, rye and barley (porridge), full fat dairy, root veggies, berries. We have traditional foods like jarlsberg cheese (quite high in vitamin k2) definetly try some jarlsberg cheese if you find it. The potato became a regular food item in the 1800s, and alot of our traditioal dishes include white potatoes Now keep in mind the barley is soaked over night, and this type of porridge takes some time to prepare, rumor has it women in Norway who couldnt cook a proper barley porridge, wasnt really seen as wife material.
Ahh so the potato is what happened. I always wonder how they went from Vikings to you can’t even own certain saw blades for a table saw because they aren’t safe.
I'm starting to see a pattern here with barley consumed by the Vikings and gladiators of Rome. It looks like my European ancestors survived in harsh climates with this grain as their fuel for strength. I think that I will start incorporating more barley in my meals and see if it works for me.
@@johnluna9286 gladiators were fed barley because it’s cheap and it fattens them up. Viking most likely ate more meat , fish , eggs and dairy then they did barley. The barley was also eaten but used more as a livestock feed.
@@dontfit6380 - Thanks for the history lesson but I highly doubt the Romans, Greeks, Vikings and Chinese lived off of just meat-fish-fowl - vegetables during long sea voyages and invading other lands. From what I remember reading in history books they consumed many of their calories from high performance starches like barley, wheat, potato, oats and rice etc... What you call "livestock feed." All of the statues I have seen in museums there is not one fat Greek, Viking , Roman, Egyptian or Asian warrior unless they were rich lazy bureaucrats & politicians. So that blows that theory out of the water....no pun intended. Have a blessed day!
A new trend in the fitness world. The Viking Axe swing, Scull crush workout. How many can you decapitate, crush, and split in 45 minutes? Depending on what is used as Dummy the Gym afterwards surely looks like a Battlefield
Northern Europeans eat lots of DAIRY! All sorts of animal milk. As milk is liquid PROTEIN ad sugars and fuel.....Cheeses and fermentation was used to store milks or in colder seasons, they just froze it and thawed it. THAT is why they have very little to no lactose intolerance.... whereas the Asians, which did NOT drink milk or cheeses are very highly lactose intolerant. They never genetically developed the adaption to animal milks.
what kinda bullshhhh is this you're spewing. "develop the adaptation to animal milk" and what human biological experise lead you to come to this conclusion???? You must have a degree in My-Uninformed-Opinionology. How do you know vikings weren't lactose "intolerant" You do realize that up to 70-75% of all humans on the earth are "lactose intolerant".
It's funny how as an adult my diet has naturally steered towards a lot of these foods. I love grass fed beef pot roast with roasted carrots, garlic, parsnips and rosemary. Porridge made from organic flaked barley and rye with grass-fed milk & butter is so much better than Quaker oatmeal. Also fried liver as a snack is the best.
Ha 😂 they ate meat and fish naturally and rowed huge boats across the sea and practiced fighting, when they were not doing that they were cutting wood, building etc et etc . I doubt being ripped was good or a priority in a very cold climate either so a bit of chub is very likely. Also they loved the Beer and Mead and wines from France. Barley is used to make beer, I suspect that as alcohol use is over 8000 years old much of what we consider as farming back then was for brewing.
Vikings didn´t had sweet potatoes or even regular potatoes. Potatoes came to Europe from Peru so viking time were over at that time. Sweet potato came to Nordic countries at the late 90s as here started to be more and more asylym seekers from African continent. Turnips were the most important root vegetable and it was widely farmed. Barley and rye were propably the first two grains and then oat. Wheet were the last grain that came to north. Billberries, lingonberries, hallons were common and at least in Finland where is alot of swamps had cranberries and cloudberries as well. Sea buckthorn is also important berry in Nordic countries. One single berry has more C-vitamine than one orange. It usually grows in costline and islands. Also there is lot of differet kind of mushrooms in Nordic nature that you can eat. I don´t know how common those were for vikings, but at least here in Finland we have large amounts of mushrooms. I don´t know how usual fermentation were in Norway, but Swedes have done it long time. Norwegian vikings salted and dried salmon and wild gain out in the sunlight summertime to make it last in long winters. Salted fish is very common from a long time in history. Moose, deer, rabbits, squirrels were eaten and long time ago before money people used squirrel furs as money. I tought that this kind of information would be interesting to learn about ancient Nordic people and culture. There is propably alot that i don´t know or i forgot to mention, but these came to my mind as i watched the video.
Good to see You, Thomas, are making content based about the nutrition that people consumed in the region where I was born and rised up. Meaning, Northen Europe and Baltic region also. Estonia, where I am from, is considered as a part of Northen Europe as well as a part of Baltic states. Saaremaa, a island in Estonia, is considered as one of the places where vikings were dominating. Some say that vikings from Saaremaa were dominating all regions around the Baltic see. Might be I’m a little bit bias. But just a little bit. ;) This specific video took my thoughts a bit far away from nutritional topic. But it is good that Thomas gives good amount of information about people and their nutrition history according the food consuming paaterns people had and have in different places around the world. It adds knowledge for people to make as good as possible changes to their meny. Taking in consideration what they are historically adapted to consume. Stay healthy and strong Raimo Estonia
There are many things that were not mentioned and things that are considerable if these things was as mentioned or not. But it is somewhat impossible to carry things from these ancient times to nowadays. Because it is very hard to know absolutely autchentic way how things were these times back then. And there are alot of variables between different places. Even if the places are bretty close to eachother. Because we have to take in consideraton the fact that back in the days people weren’t as mobile as nowadays. The globalisation wasn’t a thing. It didn’t exist. But as a summary about this specific era in this specific region the video gives people bretty good overview, I think. About bear meat. Don’t know if You are trolling about that or not. But I think that eating bear meat was rather rare thing. :)
@@RaimoTamm hi, no not trolling my friends girlfriends Estonian and he visits often and has had bear meat, it’s a bit of an Estonian traditional thing he was told. The way things like grains are prepared in Scandinavia even now is different, they soak them for a long time. Many of these ancient practices are lost
@maplin007 OK, I get it. Good to see and hear that people and things associated to Estonia is known in different places around the world :) The bear meat thing. In some ways it is traditional thing, yes. But not in case of as one of the main meat that is or was consumed. Ofcourse, when hunters had chance to catch a bear it meant alot of food. If it was full grown bear. But as far as I know, killing bear was more like a statement. Meaning, who catches and is able to kill the bear is real man and receives huge respect from others. And who is able to kill bear without any weapon is considered as someone above anybody else and as a true hero. In Latvia, near Estonia, there is even a special term that is given to someone who has been able to kill a bear. In translation it means “Bear Killer”. Bear has been somewhat mystified creature. And honored as well. But at the same time bear was (and is) considered also as someone who is dangerous to children and farmanymals. So there has been some mixed feelings about this bear situation. But, yes, bear meat is a thing. And was even more. And it is considered as something that gives a man who eats it the power of a bear. About the grains. There are many ways of preparing a meal based of grains. Soaking is one of the food preparing parts. Especially before boiling the grains and making a porridge tipe of meal. At some point making sausages containing grains addition to meat and blood inside the sausage, the grains were also part and well prepared before added in the animal gut particles. Meaning, the particles that holds the sausage ingridients together. It is basically the same way done even nowadays. I have done it several times. And more about grains and flour made from grains. Estonia and other places in Baltic sea region is one of the first places where sour dough and sour dough bread was made. Nowadays, it is good that people from different places around the World are able to experience different cuisines more and more. And mixing up different castronomical experiences gives people opportunities to enjoy food at even more ways. Greetings from Estonia Raimo
@@RaimoTamm Hi, Raimo yes Bear meat is a bit like the polish eating Carp for Xmas or The brits eating Turkey, doesn't happen often. I do wonder if Grain crept into our diets because we had to feed livestock during the winter months? Horses particularly. If we began to produce more and more then its easy to imagine us in particularly hard times to experiment with eating it which very likely wouldn't have made us feel to good. For me its something we have tagged onto our natural diet (mainly meat) over the years just like milk products becoming available once we became herders.
Have you looked into their meal timing? Dagmal and Nattmal? I was wondering how this might show on a glucose machine (esp. when it comes to higher carb intake). Essentially it's one meal at breakfast, 12hr gap then massive ritualistic stew with family in the evening (left overs for adults in the morning along with optional cereal; and just cereal, milk and fruit for the kids. So to sum: it's one meal, 12hr then another, 8hr+ till breki. It's basically ETRF. So never fasting but always a balance. I'm curious to know what you think. I love Danes.
Starting in. 94 I was bulimic for 7 years. When I decided to get healthy my nutritionist had me bring in my family history. I am 3/4 Scandinavian. I’m only second or 3rd generation born here on either side of my family. When she found this out, she had me go to my Great Grandma ( she was the only one still alive. Grandpa died at 74 and my grandma on the other side drank herself to death)and found out what she ate growing up. I got some Norwegian cook books and within 6 months I’d lost 70 lbs. It was a PAIN IN THE BUTT to switch. But, it worked. I need to do it again. It would help everyone in my family.
It's also their genetics, given a lot of strongmen come from the Scandinavian regions. They were adapted to traveling among water, harsh cold climates, etc. which overall favored a larger skeletal structure and more abdominal fat for insulation.
I started eating microwaved sweet potatoes daily back in December, and that has helped me fix my dry flaky scalp and beard that I haven't been able to fix for years
I am of Scots and Danish back ground. Done Vegan, Keto, Ketovore, Carnivore. When I actually though cut out a lot of meat, eat very much like my Danish ansestors. Eating a high Omega Fish, Egg, Natural Yogurt low carb veg and berries I become extremely well and energetic. I believe this is because both Scots and Danish ansestory is what my body is metabolically the correct diet for myself. I am now truly convinced that whatever our back ground is, has a lot to do with what our diet should be.
Thomas, historic food vids should be a new series! Ancient Rome, Celtic Europe Iron Age, Bronze Age, and Neolithic stone age. Acorn bread goes all the way back.
I love this one !!! Me too am about 50% Norwegian and definately Nomadic firs nature ... and have always favored those foods. Raw turnip, raw beets, raw sweet potatoes too. Only wild caught fish for sure. Raw oysters are one of my faves. Thank you Thomas for sharing this.
You omitted porridge (various), rye bread (as they were also farmers), flatbread, dairy. They drank beer, mead. Had honey (probably not that often. Dried fruits.
The key takeaways from Thomas DeLauer's video on the Viking diet and its impact on their health and physique are: 1. **Balanced Diet**: The Vikings had a well-balanced diet, primarily omnivorous, which is considered optimal even by today's standards. 2. **High Protein Focus**: Their diet was rich in protein, mainly from wild game and fish, which contributed to their lean and strong physique. 3. **Quality of Meat**: Viking consumed a lot of wild game, which has been shown to have higher protein content, essential amino acids, and a better fatty acid profile compared to domesticated meat. 4. **Fish Consumption**: They primarily ate freshwater fish, rich in omega-3 fatty acids and minerals like calcium and iron, differing significantly from today's farmed fish. 5. **Fermentation Techniques**: Vikings used fermentation to preserve meat and other foods, allowing them to maintain a balanced diet even in harsh winters. 6. **Carbohydrates from Root Vegetables and Barley**: Their carbohydrate intake mainly came from root vegetables and barley, providing low-glycemic carbs and essential nutrients. 7. **Herbal Usage**: The Vikings used herbs like rosemary, sage, thyme, and coriander for their antimicrobial properties and health benefits, but they did not use hot spices. 8. **Macronutrient Ratios**: The Viking diet consisted of approximately 35% protein, 35% fat, and 30% carbohydrates, a ratio that DeLauer suggests could be beneficial even today. 9. **Modern Adaptation**: DeLauer advises adopting Viking dietary principles by focusing on quality protein sources, root vegetables, and maintaining the suggested macronutrient ratios for improved health and fitness. 10. **Health and Longevity**: Despite their shorter lifespans due to lack of modern medical care, the Vikings' diet likely contributed to their metabolic health and physical robustness.
Wild game these days can be a bit dodgy, if deer for example are around lots of crops it might not be much better than grain-fed beef as it probably eats a lot of those and might be even worse for contaminants like pesticides. It makes a difference where it's from unfortunately, the cleaner and more natural the environment the better.
Everyone in the US should hunt whitetail and thus eat like Vikings. There are more whitetails now than pre- European settlement. This video is spot on!
3:27 Viking era diet fish sources: archeological studies reveal that the Norse markedly increased ocean fish in their own diet. Additionally, DNA tracing reveals Vikings had such an excess of ocean fish that they traded their ocean sourced fish with Baltic and northern European communities. Where Vikings expanded their control, archaeology reveals that the local diet changed, markedly increasing the content of marine species. If you want to be big and strong like Rollo the Walker, better eat your cod fish...
I have always been told that fatty fish and cod have always been important to the Nordic diet including cod livers, a great source of D. One reason they were so healthy living at a high latitude. Living in MN, I take cod liver oil very evening
Limited grains since farming wasn't prevalent in the north, abundant amount of fish and whatever livestock was available, and plenty of dairy products due to ease of storage and availability during the colder season
Love watching your videos brotha and have learned quite a bit from them. But I wanted to ask you…I have been reading a lot about dieting according to your blood type and was wondering what your thoughts are on that? I happen to be O- therefore per the sources I should be eating a very high protein/vegetable diet with minimal carbs. Look forward to hearing from you. As always, be well!
😂😂😂 Roman gladiators are depicted in the same way but actually they had a good layer of fat on them that was to protect them from minor slashes. This came from adding grains especially barley.
The idea that having a very low fat percentage is unhealthy is a very recent idea. Scandinavians have it easy to put on fat, so I think the nords where muscular for sure, but also had a decent fat percentage.
Great video overall but I think you missed a key thing: dairy! Especially fermented dairy in form of cultured butter and skyr, but certainly they drank a lot of milk too! I think that was likely their source of K (K2)!
Saying that only vikings lived short life is not quite accurate because most humans lived shorter life than today as we have cleaner water and better economy. 200 years ago average lifespan of a human was 40 years.
Barley is what made them strong for sure. Strong bones and muscles. Ton of plant based protein and has a bunch of fiber which plain Meats just don’t have
Maybe, you should have used the term Northmen instead of Viking. The people (and I am a from that linage) were Northmen or Northern Europeans. The term Viking was a vocational name that only referred to the groups of pillaging warriors who came from those areas. You know, like a guy who builds houses is called a carpenter even though he may be a Frenchman.
Well I blame high food prices. Veggies are costly and if it alot times it by five. I only buy organic and can't afford to eat as much as wanted to due to cost. I'd consume plenty if able.
We are not built for sophisticated or constant consumption, but our desires like to believe we are. Not eating for a few days or even more is what we have been adapted to for millions of years in order to survive. We could not be delicate or picky or we would not exist anymore.
Good analysis👌 I think back in this time they simply eat what they think makes strong. They are warriors and conquerors. And i think before the sience, heart attacks and nutritions every people know meat makes strong💪. Plus they are constantly practice fighting and of course have to work hard
Let's get one thing straight: There are no contemporary pictures from vikings that can be considered realistic. They brewed their own beer from barley.
What are you using as the basis of the claim that the Vikings were "jacked" ? Remember, televised depictions and artistic renderings of historical people, especially those who existed over 1000 years ago, are seldom accurate and tend to be far removed from history. If you are using how successful the Vikings were at raiding and conquest as the foundation upon which you infer that the Vikings were stronger than their peers, remember that having greater success in warfare is seldom the result of one group being physically superior to the ones they dominate. The Vikings exceptional capabilities, and why they dominated other societies, mainly had to do with their nautical supremacy, strategic acumen, weaponry, and culture that cultivated a camaraderie and group cohesion, where the entire culture deified war.
Lol, well articulated argument. And The vikings definitely were not counting macro micro nutrients. This is RU-vid, the title is everything, but to Thomas defense, he is a research athlete.
@@l.t.1energy522 or just intelligent, nevertheless, bored people have a lot of time to out think you, you should try it sometimes instead of just being an annoying mosquito
They died young because of child mortality and infection. It skewed the life expectancy. Men died from injuries that never healed and became infected. Women died from child birth and infections. We are very sanitary today. Nobody seems to die from a puncture wound from a tree or bush. We can get medical treatment today to prevent death. Humans never had it so good. My grandfather had never seen white bread until Imigration to the new world. They ate rye bread and did not have yeast to make it. It was a fermented food. Ironically he worked for Flirdhmsns yeast.
You ned to suplement/eat Ark Angelica, and not the mountain kind ore beach kind, the Vossa-Kvanne is the one you ned, but if you dont have the HLA-B-mitocondrian we have from the neandertals you may have a violent allergic reaction. It's the food that Harald Fairhair goes grocery shopping for Tyra in the sagas.
Protein, living in harsh conditions (they got a lot of exercise) and the most important... GENETICS! Everything they ate was organic. I firmly believe humans evolved to be omnivores... we are "smart" opportunist. I would have hated to be on the shores (receiving end) of Viking invasion.
Well, farming in scandinavia was a lot more challenging than keeping animals with their shorter summers and long winters. Also, dairy and meat helps a lot with keeping you warm.
Vikings didnt sit around obsessing about their muscles and dietary intake for hours on end. Vikings were very dairy centric ie RAW dairy. Like another commenter said especially in the last 200 years Scandinavians ate a lot of dairy. Vikings ate very little vegetables. They salted a lot of meats. They were seafaring culture.
Norwegians run the gambit concerning height. The Norwegian side of my family had taller people though. Very tall considering being born in the 1880's and 90's. My maternal Grandmother's older brothers were 6'8" and 6'11" born in those times. Being farmers and general laborers, as most were then, promised they would be built like brick sh*t houses. Which they were.
@@frankenz66I think Netherlands reportedly has the tallest people on earth but Norway and Sweden are up there too! Scandinavian region generally has a lot of tall people. It took many generations to accomplish this and I think it happened because taller people were having more kids. There’s no denying that Vikings were strong of course, but their musculature and physiques weren’t cartoonishly shredded as they appear in media. That’s just not naturally realistic. We need to remember that in pop culture, 99% of these actors and bodybuilders are on steroids and other gear to help them drop body fat and achieve that unnatural muscle growth. Vikings obviously weren’t taking steroids and needles. They were naturally strong from all that farming and good eating, which is a lot more impressive than these fake bodybuilders putting themselves at risk the way do by taking fatal drugs and other gear.
@@xikaryo6735 Yeah, as a laborer for years myself only gyms get you bodies like they are portrayed on media. I could lift and move many, many hundreds of pounds as a teenager on a farm, and then a factory worker, and side farm laborer, ( digging ditches by hand many a time for people where machines couldn't get to or digging graves in tight places for machines without damaging other graves) but I never looked like those dudes on the show Vikings,😆😂🤣 I also mixed it with night time hours of running up and down a basketball court a few days a week way longer than regular games are played. I didn't eat tons of protein either though. Way too many carbs.
Not just Viking all people during that time and before ate better - even my grand parents parents eate better during WW1 and WW2. Factory food and supermarkets and sugar is what changed so much.
