This past weekend I attended the annual Weston A. Price Foundation’s conference Wise Traditions. Wow did I ever have a fun time!
I learned so much at the conference but the best part was all the great people I had the chance to meet. Ann Marie of Cheeseslave, was one of the first bloggers I found doing the GAPS diet a couple years ago. She started the Real Food Media, a network of bloggers spreading the word about real food. I had the opportunity to meet quite a few of the RFM bloggers including Kelly the Kitchen Kop, Lisa from Real Food Digest, Raine from Agriculture Society, Jenny from Nourished Kitchen, Kim from the Nourishing Cook, Kimberly Hartke from Hartke Is Online, Alex from Feed Me Like You Mean It, Elizabeth from Nourishing Creations, Sarah Pope from The Healthy Home Economist. What a great group of people and I’m quite excited to say that I’m joining the Real Food Media as a featured blogger! I can’t wait to get to work with such inspiring, dedicated people.
A couple readers of this blog who attended the conference came over and said hello. It was so amazing to meet other people doing SCD. I knew there would be plenty of GAPS followers and met some too. There’s something about following the exact same diet, or having been in the shoes of a person you meet in real life that is so calming. I guess it made me feel normal for once.
I traveled to the conference with my chapter co-leader Gail. She has been involved with Weston A. Price Foundation for a while and knew of pretty much every speaker at the conference. The last one she attended was a couple years ago. This time she was most excited to meet Sarah Pope, the Healthy Home Economist.
I was really happy to have the chance to meet some Paleo friends, Melissa McEwen of Hunt Gather Love, Alison from CrossFit New York, and John Durant from Hunter-Gatherer. That was the first time (in real life) that I met people following the Paleo diet. I tend to follow a diet closer to Paleo than Weston A. Price, and the conversations with this group were so fun. Listening to discussions between Chris Masterjohn and Steven Guyenet was a bit challenging, those guys are geniuses!
It was so nice to be around people who just ‘get it’. They get excited when you talk about organ meats, drink broth for breakfast, and eat butter by the spoonful! No one questions why you’re eating, or not eating, certain food. I only had to mention a few times that I eat SCD and even then I never had to explain it.
I met Dan Corrigan of Corganic whom I had been following for a long time online. I love the work he’s doing and it was a pleasure to meet him in real life. He is a great resource for anyone using SCD, GAPS or real food for autism.
Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride gave a full 3 sessions on the GAPS diet. I was impressed with how many people attended her track. It was a bit sad because it shows how many people’s lives are affected by digestive illness, autoimmune disease and autism. But, it also shows how many people are seeking out information for overcoming these diseases naturally. At the very least, the next generation in the families of the attendees will not have to suffer. For a great review of her talks check out Sarabeth’s Life is a Palindrome and Divine Health.
I have to say, I am so thankful for my health (even if not perfect yet) letting me enjoy this event to the fullest. The conference schedule was packed with great speakers and there are so many wonderful people to meet. I managed to keep up with the crowd and even surprised myself with how little sleep I can still function on. I don’t think I could have done this just a couple years ago! I’ll be sharing some posts about what I learned, some more details from a few talks I attended and of course, pictures of the food I feasted on.
Awesome! So glad to read this post and get an update on your WT conference experience. Looking forward to reading more! I know what you mean about the very real desire to feel “normal” around diet. Le sigh.
@Melanie I don’t think I realized how tiring it is to always be (politely) refusing food, making excuses or explaining my diet to people. It was great to not have to cook for 3 days too!
I, too can relate about explaining my diet to people and am envious of your experience being around people who “get it.” That must have been wonderful, along with the break from cooking. Once a month we have a cake at the office for all the birthdays that month and I feel like I tell the same people over and over again why I can’t have a slice and it can get annoying. That’s only one of many situations. The worst is when people try to push whole wheat bread or pasta on you, claiming that it’s “healthy.” Anyway, sorry for my tangent. Thanks for letting me get that off of my chest! 🙂
It was great meeting you at the conference. I always wish there was more time to socialize. The talks are always amazing, but the community and social aspect are equally amazing. Funny side story… Dr. Natasha Campbell-McBride stopped by my booth to chat with me and I had to give her some grief. I told here that after weaning off the GAPS Diet, I gained weight and now, my pants are too tight. She looked me up and down and said “you look good… do you feel good?” I said “Yes, I feel great”…. she said “Buy new pants!”. hahaha! I guess I am finally absorbing all of my nutrients and am at a normal weight. 🙂
PS – My wife made your sweet potato and apple casserole last night for dinner. We enjoyed it so much, we are going to make it next week for Thanksgiving dinner.
Sounds like you had a great time, Kat! So jealous. It must have been wonderful to be surrounded by people that understand what real food is. I think that’s one of the hardest parts about changing the way you eat…having to explain it to others or always be the oddball. Looking forward to your posts about the talks you heard.
@Alison Lol! That was the best part though, you could rant and rave about food issues with anyone there and they all understood 🙂
@Dan Corrigan Dan you look great, so whatever you’re doing after GAPS is working. 😉 I’m jealous you got to talk with her. I tried to wait after her talk but she was just swarmed with questions.
@Mary I think I’ll be trying to meet more real foodies in my hometown. We have a fairly active WAPF chapter and there are a couple of SCD and GAPS people here too. I just need to make some time to meet them.
Hi Kat – I like that you are talking about Paleo diets so much on your blog because I’ve always thought they were a really smart way to eat. I admit that I don’t have much problem giving up grains, but the raw dairy has been a lifesaver for me. If I had to give that up, it would be much more difficult. Still, it’s important to realize that people were probably not consuming dairy much before about 11,000 years ago when agriculture became more prevalent and people started doing less hunter-gatherer activities. Thanks for making these ways of eating known to your readers, I think it’s very important! And thanks for this great post about the conference. Loved spending time with you! 🙂
Hi Kat! I was one of those crazy people that recognized you in the hall from your blog! I agree 100%…it was so nice to be around people who “get it”. I did not have to explain the fact that I am on GAPS (although modified now), what it means and why I’m doing it! People just UNDERSTOOD! That is why I am thankful for your blog, you helped me get through a very confusion and overwhelming time with your recipes and words of wisdom! Thank you for that!
I know what you mean about sleep…I did not get a lot of it, yet I was powered up! All that nourshing food and excitement I guess. Anyway, it was great to meet you!!!
@Raine I’ve enjoyed dairy as well. I gave it up recently (started back on it just before the conference) just to see if it would make a difference. I think my only problem is with cheese. I see in the paleo crowd that milk can be a great tool for gaining weight, while not necessarily a good thing for some, it is helpful for many like myself.
@Kelly Scanlon Hi Kelly! Thanks so much for coming over and introducing yourself. You were the first I met in real life. Wasn’t it amazing how many attended the GAPS series?
Kat… great post, love the pictures! I was so happy to finally meet you and VERY excited that you are now a featured blogger with RFM! Looking forward to learning a lot from you about SCD!
@Kim @ The Nourishing Cook blog I’m so glad we got to hang out. That last dinner was so much fun! I look forward to what you have planned this coming year 🙂
Hi Kat,
Congratulations on becoming a Real Food Media featured blogger!!
This weekend was amazing. It was so nice meeting you and getting to know you better.
Thanks for the great pictures.
Look forward to hanging out when you come to LA.
Lisa
Awesome post Kat!! I wish I could have met Alison from CrossFit, I’d have loved to talk/pick her brain!! I love how the conference was a good balance of speakers and that the low carb ideas are being addressed, namely grains as they sure have changed in the past half a century!! I really loved listening to Natasha and Nora – though I would have loved to hear more on Metabolic Typing too, as that seems to be coming up a lot these days and I am very curious!!