Two or three things I know for sure: Diane Sanfilippo and Sally Fallon

In the most recent issue of the Weston A Price Foundation Journal, Sally Fallon wrote an article called
MYTH: THE WAPF DIET IS LIKE THE PALEO DIET
Today, Diane Sanfilippo and Liz Wolf had a rebuttal to this article on their podcast Balanced Bites.  It was heated.  For sure.  I wanted to include my take on this argument because it is an important piece of the real food movement.  Let me begin by saying I have the utmost respect for both individuals.





Two or three things I know for sure:
1.  Diane was clearly hurt.  Grieving and sadness fueled her anger.  Here is the head of another real food movement attacking the very movement that she is a prominent figure in.  Diane has certainly supported the Weston A Price Foundation and believes very much in its core principles.  It was a case of "I scratch your back... you stab mine."  Not that it was Fallon's intention, but of course Diane would feel that way.

2. SAD to Paleo sounds impossible.  My first encounter with Paleo was that it made sense but I had no idea how to implement it.  Pair that with an overzealous "you are going to die if you don't eat this way", the media that says every food causes heart disease, and a confusion around whether or not I believed in evolution.  I decided I would relish McDonald's.
     I don't think my experience was unique or uncommon.  Sally Fallon's book allowed for these inclusions of dairy and grains in the context they were originally consumed.  It cut the "no" foods in half and made me think more responsibly about how my food lived.  I know this is continually changing in the Paleo community, thanks in large part to Diane and Liz.

3.  Nourishing Traditions is a Bible.  When I first received this book,  it was like somebody unbound my body and said I could eat all the animal fat my body craved.  It is extremely well-researched and is basically an open-and-shut book.  The end.  Being right disseminates correct and well-thought information. This allows for no renewal or other perspectives.  The brand unites people but becomes stagnant without revision.  This has historically called for a division between zealots and nonzealots and ultimately results in major upheaval within the brand or complete demise of it (ie the Catholic Church or what has more recently happened in the natural childbirth arena.)
     The fact that The Paleo Solution was on the right track but wrong on many core principles and science allowed others to dynamically improve the movement.  The drawback is that it is hard to properly qualify the depth and breadth of the movement and there is no one-stop-shop for Paleo like there is for the Weston A Price Foundation.

So what the heck do we do?
    I like Sean Croxton's stance of JERF (just eat real food).  He manages to unite the people in returning to the land and eating real food while ducking the angry bullets of the heads of each movement.  As consumers, we need to be better at making friends with people who are earnestly trying to eat what our bodies need.  This goes for vegetarians, vegans, raw foodists, locavores, and any other real food grassroots movements.
      The heads of each organization really are burdened defining their respective movements, which means announcing what the movement is and what it is not.  I can see that this is what Sally Fallon was trying to do, though her method might have been a little too attacking and unfortunately outdated.
     Fortunately for everyone, this discussion will spark heated conversation and debate and draw more people to learn about both the Weston A Price Foundation and the Paleo Movement.