Sally Fallon/Price Foundation

[jimtron]

Anyone know anything about Sally Fallon and/or the Weston A. Price Foundation? Fallon wrote a popular book called Nourishing Traditions, and is affiliated with the WAPF. Some of what they say about diet and health sound reasonable to me--other stuff I'm not so sure about. But I'm no nutrition expert.

Here are some of their views:

• anti-soy
• anti-vegetarianism
• pro-butter and other animal fats
• pro-high cholesterol

I'd be curious to hear opinions on these views, especially from those who are knowledgeable about health and nutrition. This doesn't appear to be 100% woo, but at least some of it seems a bit dubious and the sources a bit weak (although I confess I haven't done thorough reading on their material yet).

A couple other items from the WAP site:

Myths and Truths about Nutrition (I'm not so crazy about the word "truths" there.)
An example of junk science
What Causes Heart Attacks?

Uh-oh, just found this: Magnet Therapy for Stroke Victims

Sally Fallon I just learned has two degrees--both in English.

ETA:

This might be the best place to start--this page covers some of the basic controversial views that there may not be evidence for.

 

[jimtron]

Hey, doing a search here I stumbled on this lonely old thread, though I'd give it one more shot. Seen a lot of stuff on the web lately about how butter and other fats are healthy (or at least not as bad as as folks think), for example, this recent piece in the Guardian: "Butter is bad – a myth we've been fed by the 'healthy eating' industry."

 

[casebro]

One of my own thoughts is that they never really separated the different kinds of fats from other ingredients in the studies that blame saturated fats. Mostly I'm thinking additives like sodium phosphate. It's added to many processed meats to retain moisture. So I suspect it may retain moisture in my body too. Which would cause blood pressure to spike, and overload the heart. Hot dogs, sausages, even the precooked deli department chickens from the supermarket have sodium phosphate, di-sodeium , or even tri-sodium phosphates. And/or sodium nitrate, sodium nitrite. One datum is that the folks who make the stuff with the saturated fats do their own studies that show that THEIR fat does NOT raise cholesterol. "The Beef & Pork industry" claims stearic acid does not harm. And coconut oil, which is 100% saturated, is linked with lower rates. I don't think everybody is lying, I think there is some confounding going on.

 

[Red Baron Farms]

Just a couple of things.
The lipid balance in CAFO animal products is significantly different than pasture raised or wild products. This is probably one of the confounding issues in the studies saying meat milk eggs and other saturated fat sources are bad. Also as casebro pointed out, there are many saturated fats. Just making a claim "saturated fats" are good or bad is really impossible. It's like saying sugar is bad for you because too much candy is bad for you. Obvious logic flaw. So yeah Price was onto something, but there has been a lot more new science added in recent years that begins to explain what Price could only talk about in general terms. Fallon? Personally I never really agreed with Sally very often. Sometimes sure, but sometimes she goes off the deep end IMHO. I think she kinda "hijacked" the foundation sort of like how the biodynamic guys "hijacked" the organic movement.

Oh and just one more thing. There is nothing wrong with vegetarianism. (Which can include moderate amounts of eggs or dairy) It is well proven over thousands of years all over the world to be a healthy option. When people start running into issues is with Veganism. That you have to be extremely careful about and be sure to take your nutritional supplements, regular blood tests, etc. It is great a few years, but in the long term it certainly can and has killed many people who for whatever reason were not careful. Of course Junk food has been known to do that too! So if you are used to eating junk, probably even veganism (done in a balanced healthy way with supplements) would be an improvement.

 

[jt512]

When people start running into issues is with Veganism. That you have to be extremely careful about and be sure to take your nutritional supplements, regular blood tests, etc. It is great a few years, but in the long term it certainly can and has killed many people who for whatever reason were not careful.

Pure unevidenced nonsense.

 

[Big Al]

Pure unevidenced nonsense.

Seconded.

I am 51 years old. I ignore medical advice in newspapers. I eat what I like, when I like. I have a sedentary deskjob and a bit of a beergut. I keep meaning to start pounding the old pushbike but never get round to it. My heart rate is 64, my blood pressure is 122/82 and I weigh 170 pounds. So desk potato that I am, I'm not in totally shocking shape.

I don't worry about my health, and I think that's a major key to feeling good. The best health step I ever took, bar none, was giving up smoking 7 years ago, and I can't believe how rotten I let myself feel every single day during the quarter-century I smoked. Now I feel much better, but that's as far as my health kick goes (some friends thought it was the start of a new health-nut me, but they should have known better).

If I worried about "pure white and deadly", not enough water, 5 a day, must eat broccoli, lycopene is good for you, trans-fats are Armageddon and so on, I think I'd be a quivering husk afraid of his own shadow.

Relax. Eat when you're hungry. Drink when you're thirsty. End of story.

 

[jt512]

Seconded.

I am 51 years old. I ignore medical advice in newspapers. I eat what I like, when I like. I have a sedentary deskjob and a bit of a beergut. I keep meaning to start pounding the old pushbike but never get round to it. My heart rate is 64, my blood pressure is 122/82 and I weigh 170 pounds. So desk potato that I am, I'm not in totally shocking shape.

I don't worry about my health, and I think that's a major key to feeling good. The best health step I ever took, bar none, was giving up smoking 7 years ago, and I can't believe how rotten I let myself feel every single day during the quarter-century I smoked. Now I feel much better, but that's as far as my health kick goes (some friends thought it was the start of a new health-nut me, but they should have known better).

If I worried about "pure white and deadly", not enough water, 5 a day, must eat broccoli, lycopene is good for you, trans-fats are Armageddon and so on, I think I'd be a quivering husk afraid of his own shadow.

Relax. Eat when you're hungry. Drink when you're thirsty. End of story.

My comment was that the claim that a vegan diet is dangerous, and often lethal, was baloney. I have no idea why you seconded that and then supported it with your own demonstrably false claim that eating indiscriminately and not exercising is good for you.

 

[Big Al]

My comment was that the claim that a vegan diet is dangerous, and often lethal, was baloney. I have no idea why you seconded that and then supported it with your own demonstrably false claim that eating indiscriminately and not exercising is good for you.

There is no conflict. The claim was pure dietary scaremongering. A vegan diet is no less healthy than most, and healthier than many.

And I did not claim that indiscriminate eating and not exercising is good for you: I would far rather be sporting a six-pack, and be capable of continuous six-minute miles without getting out of breath. I'm no bloated couch potato, but I am nowhere near as healthy as I might be on a high-protein, low-carb diet with daily workouts.

There are worries every day in the tabloid press about "Eat A, B is bad for you", soon followed by "B is the new superfood, A has been linked to heart disease", etc., etc., etc. I neither have the time nor the inclination to heed slavishly every food warning or the latest fad recommendation, and I think I'm happier as a result.

My point was that I am not a health nut, but I get by with less angst and panic than an ill-informed health nut who twists and turns trying to keep up with the latest pop diets.