Common Ground

[Guest guest]

Hi all,

I thought i'd report on my local chapters' WAPF booth this weekend at the

" Common Ground Fair " in Unity Maine. This is a large agricultural fair put

on by MOFGA - the Maine Organic Farmers and Gardeners Association, and is a

really wonderful event. our original chapter leader signed up to have a WAPF

booth in the social/political action tent, and my friend and I manned the

booth on Sunday (we recently became chapter co-leaders). Well, it was a very

interesting experience. so many different types of people stopped at our

booth and they had varying levels of knowledge about nutrition. i learned

that i needed to cater the information to the person. one guy said, " oh my

friend said flaxseed oil is good " should i take it? he also saw a poster we

had describing the fats eaten by various traditional/primitive cultures and

asked if 'fat' was good. he didn't understand that all fats are not the

same. other people had heard of omega 3s and 6s, but didn't realize that

feedlot cattle had a different fat profile than pastured cattle. we

discussed why it would be beneficial for people to buy local pasture-raised

beef to most of the folks who came to our table. the whole fair was about

local farming and agriculture (mostly organic), so it tied right in with our

theme, and people could really understand how the WAPF message fit with the

whole theme of the fair and this made a good impression on fair goers as

many probably already had a predisposition to support local, sustainable

farming and agriculture.

at the fair, btw, were many local farms selling produce, and RAW milk! In

fact, we came upon two farms that we weren't previously aware of selling raw

milk. one had jerseys, pastured in season, supplemented with hay, and in

winter supplemented with 5 lbs. of grain. the other farm had mixed jerseys

and holsteins. the food booths had locally-raised meats and local veggies.

we chowed down

back to our booth: we were selling 'NT' and 'the cholesterol myths.'

although we had one copy of NAPD, but it wasn't for sale. a few people

wanted to buy it, so we thought we'd better bring some copies for sale next

year. one woman was an ethnographer and was so excited about both WAP's and

Sally's books. after we spoke for a little bit she asked if i would come and

give a brief speech at a health seminar she's giving for health care

professionals. that was one end of the spectrum, at the other was the

nutritionist who came to the booth early in the day. she had been there the

previous day and apparently was quite upset with the foundations

recommendation to eat saturated fat. she came to me in a somewhat

confrontational manner and began writing down the names of all the books we

had on display, as i think she was interested in refuting the information in

a paper she was writing on vit. A toxicity. Her issue was that the amount of

saturated fat recommended by the WAPF and sally could cause vit. A toxicity.

she talked about research that found that vit. A toxicity can cause liver

cancer and cirrhosis of the liver. we got into a lively debate. my main

point was that the foundation doesn't recommend any specific *amount* of

sat. fat, and as such it's impossible to say their 'recommendations' would

cause vit. A toxicity. i explained that it's not a 'diet' but rather a

nutritional 'approach' based on healthy traditional/primitive nutrition.

it occurred to me only after she left that the research on vit. A toxicity

may have been done with *synthetic* vit. A. clearly, WAP's groups were not

dropping from vit. A toxicity, so there was something about their

nutrition/lifestyles that prevented any problems with vit. A toxicity. also,

i mentioned to her that current research on vit. A toxicity is conflicting.

one large-scale study gave 300,000 IU daily to a large group of people for 2

years and no toxicity symptoms were noted! i do think it's an interesting

question that she raised though - is it possible to get vit. A toxicity from

eating large amounts of saturated fat? in the context of a nutrient-dense

more traditional diet? or is it mainly seen in those eating a SAD?

she also supported RDAs, but we did find common ground before she left.

through our conversation we found that we both believed in questioning

nutrition research in general, and we both were wary of research sponsored

by corporations that benefit from the research they sponsor. i explained to

her that i question some of the information in NT, yet i DO support the

general premise of the WAPF in returning to traditional nutrient-dense foods

grown locally.

by the end of the day, we had given out a LOT of brochures, and had 3 people

interested in joining our local chapter. the most popular brochure was the

" soy alert " which we ran out of before the end of the day. there was one

funny incident - one man was perusing the brochures and saw the soy alert

one. i told him to help himself - they were free. he joked, " oh yeh, i'll

read it while i eat my stir fry this afternoon. " and he didn't take it.

later in the day, as we were having a discussion with some other folks who

came to our table, he came back, and without saying a word, sideled up and

snatched a soy alert brochure and took off. LOL

All in all it was a very interesting day

Suze Fisher

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