I can't bring myself to trust Sally Fallon anymore.

[Laurienna]

I've checked a few facts from her book ( the easy ones to check online) and found that she is not telling the truth.

Nathan Pritikin: he did not die "in the prime of his life", he was 70 and yes he committed suicide but not because "he realized his low fat diet was not working" but because he was dying and likely painfully. And no, his low fat diet did not "help him recover from leukemia" but he had been in remission for over 20 years before it flared up again.

She also mentions that people from Okinawa eat generous amounts of pork and seafood and do all their cooking in lard. I did quite a bit of searching and found this not to be actually true. Their diet seems to be actually mostly plant based and when they eat pork they remove the fat from it. Seafood is eaten in small quantities.

Now, eating in moderation  fats, meat, eggs, dairy and so on seems a perfectly healthy and logical diet to me. But I can't believe a word she says anymore and I'm very disappointed. And I guess that extends to the Winston Price foundation as well. How do I know what is true or not?

And that's fine if you are young and healthy but I'd not recommend her diet or book for someone older or who already has problems.

I'm quite PO.

[SandraMort]

I haven't heard a whole lot about her that makes me trust her science.  And her ranting seems as irrational and biased as lots of other groups with different opinions.  Why can't people just be honest and tell us the facts without having to wade through agenda pushing?

[laohaire]

I love TF but I am not a fan of Sally Fallon. I too believe she doesn't seem compelled to stick with the truth, just with whatever sounds good.

But more than anything, I'm irritated she took Weston Price's name for her agenda.

[jenniepaige]

Subbing....

[prancie]

The old saying "eat the meat and spit out the bone" is apt here.  

[openpollination]

Originally Posted by laohaire 

I love TF but I am not a fan of Sally Fallon. I too believe she doesn't seem compelled to stick with the truth, just with whatever sounds good.

But more than anything, I'm irritated she took Weston Price's name for her agenda.

Yes to this. I've read enough about traditional diets (information coming from sources other than WAPF/Sally Fallon) to convince me that it's right for my family, but I cringe when I think that she is almost always the introduction to tf/real food that most folks get. I was really turned off by NT and the pseudo-science that Fallon promotes, but luckily I found many more resources that I trusted.

[Laurienna]

openpolllination, do you mind sharing your other resources? It would be nice to have good info.

[witchygrrl]

I'm a big fan of Nina Planck, personally. Real Food is a fantastic book. 

[jenniepaige]

Originally Posted by Laurienna 

openpolllination, do you mind sharing your other resources? It would be nice to have good info.

Yes I would love to have specific information to share on my food blog. Also I would like to find out more about it myself. I too LOVE the book Real Food.  Now I just wish she would come out with a recipe book!

[CherryBomb]

I'm not a big fan of Fallon or even Planck, really.  People get blinded by ideology and it's unfortunate.  I like many aspects of TF and don't throw the baby out with the bath water, but I don't accept everything "TF authority" says out of hand.

[witchygrrl]

Originally Posted by CherryBomb 

I'm not a big fan of Fallon or even Planck, really.  People get blinded by ideology and it's unfortunate.  I like many aspects of TF and don't throw the baby out with the bath water, but I don't accept everything "TF authority" says out of hand.

Right, what really gets me is when bloggers just quote Sally Fallon as the ultimate authority on everything. Planck doesn't get quite that treatment, at least. But yeah, I do look at WAPF as *one* source of info, and try to get as many others as possible.
 

[AJP]

I much prefer to interpret Price's valuable work for myself and combine it with other modern nutrition knowledge, rather than rely on someone else's interpretation.  I highly recommend reading Nutrition and Physical Degeneration directly, it's brilliant and in many ways not what I expected after only being exposed to it through what comes out of the WAPF (which I hope everyone knows Price had absolutely no role in creating, he died decades before it was even an idea and it was just named after him).

[openpollination]

Originally Posted by Laurienna 

openpolllination, do you mind sharing your other resources? It would be nice to have good info.

Sure! Some books I've really liked are:

-Rebuild from Depression by Amanda Rose

-Lights Out: Sleep, Sugar and Survival by T.S. Wiley , (the writing style is a little chaotic - as in describing fats as a condom for carbs, haha - but there are some super interesting conclusions found in here if you dig deep and skim through some of the more out-there parts)

-Nutrition and Physical Degeneration by Weston A Price (but I do look at it with a very critical eye, because he WASN'T a doctor or a researcher and the entire book is quite racist in the fashion of early 20th century anthropology in general. There are some really amazing nuggets of truth in there, though)

-Real Food/Real Food for mother and baby by Nina Planck (my favorite intro to give to people if they know nothing about TF, because it's like a baby-steps approach)

Blogs that I've really appreciated:

http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/

http://rawfoodsos.com/ - specifically her look at the China Study

http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/

[ltlmrs]

I really like the resources of the Price Pottenger Foundation (as far as I can tell not connected with WAPF - though Mary Enig does write some articles for them every once in a while) http://www.ppnf.org/catalog/ppnf/whois.htm

(Here are their nutritional guidelines, btw: http://www.ppnf.org/catalog/ppnf/DietaryGuidelines-en.htm)

I second Amanda Rose's work.  I have known about phytates and soaking for years, but her book finally convinced me of the importance of soaking.

[raksmama]

 I agree with many of the WAPF ideas: whole foods, like whole milk rather than skimmed, butter rather than margarine, as well as the idea of either fermenting and or soaking beans, nuts and grains but I am careful about recommending her book as well for the reasons stated. I certainly don't consider the book or even the WAPF site  as a bible.

[Taedareth]

Apart from the questions about the validity of her facts - I am not a Fallon fan because of the militant and antagonistic tone of voice in her writing. When a friend expresses interest in TF, I refer them to Jordan Rubin's book The Maker's Diet. It is readable and fascinating. His personal journey from extremely poor health (Crohn's and IBS) to excellent health through traditional foods is intriguing. Also he mentions other aspects of our modern life that contribute to poor health  (fluorescent lights, synthetic fragrances, fluoride, lack of probiotics, etc.) I think it's a good introductory book. Then if you want to dig deeper and go into all the how-to's and find recipes, you can pick up something like NT and not be too turned off by it.

[Laurienna]

Thank you all. I'm really happy I posted. I have a lot of reading to do! Thank you for the links, the books and blogs. I'm happy to see that I'm not the only one who doesn't like Sally Fallon. It's a shame really. The book could have been so interesting in its own right. There is no need to lie, twist the truth or slander to make a point.

[TonyaW]

Originally Posted by ltlmrs 

I really like the resources of the Price Pottenger Foundation (as far as I can tell not connected with WAPF - though Mary Enig does write some articles for them every once in a while) http://www.ppnf.org/catalog/ppnf/whois.htm

[cocobean]

Originally Posted by jenniepaige 

Yes I would love to have specific information to share on my food blog. Also I would like to find out more about it myself. I too LOVE the book Real Food.  Now I just wish she would come out with a recipe book!

She is currently working on a cookbook!

[Arduinna]

Originally Posted by jalilah 

 I agree with many of the WAPF ideas: whole foods, like whole milk rather than skimmed, butter rather than margarine, as well as the idea of either fermenting and or soaking beans, nuts and grains but I am careful about recommending her book as well for the reasons stated. I certainly don't consider the book or even the WAPF site  as a bible.

that pretty much sums it up for me. I post here because I support whole milk, butter, raw ect but I will not recommend her book even though I own it and have read it.