Talking to the Forage Folks

After watching the video of my presentation at the 2012 Ancestral Health Symposium, Nancy remarked that it seemed like I was more nervous talking about the forage agronomy topics than I am when I deliver purely dietary presentations. I agree. It may be that I hadn't been studying the forage material for a while, so I was conscious of being certain that I actually said what I wanted to say. It could have been, too, that I was expecting that audience to be a challenging one. I was very pleased with the response, however. And I'll be giving another presentation this August in Atlanta at the 2013 Ancestral Health Symposium! 

I see my role, in part, as standing between the low carb/Primal/Paleo communities and the livestock agriculture communities. It's my hope that they can begin speaking to each other and learning from each other. I've had the opportunity to present counter-establishment dietary information at the 2012 and 2013 annual meetings of the American Forage and Grassland Council (AFGC) in Louisville and Covington, Kentucky, respectively. The presentation in Louisville was entitled �Saturated Fat and Cholesterol: Health Hazards or Vital Nutrients?� I was pleased with the response to this message and I was encouraged to submit a proposal for a symposium for 2013. While attending a joint meeting of the American Society of Bariatric Physicians and the Nutrition and Metabolism Society in Seattlein 2010, I met Ms. Adele Hite, director of the Healthy Nation Coalition. She agreed to participate in the symposium and at her suggestion, I invited Dr. James Bailes, MD. Dr. Bailes is a pediatrician from West Virginia. He uses a restricted carbohydrate dietary approach in treating childhood obesity.

Videos from this symposium are posted on vimeo.com. Our session, �Animal Products from Forage: The REAL Health Food,� was immediately after a break, so I took the opportunity to administer a �mind-set check.� It was an animated PowerPoint slide set that was projected on the screen while people drifted in. You can see it here. Once we got started, I gave a short introduction. Adele Hite spoke next, explaining that �Policy ? Science.� Dr. Bailes batted clean-up, demonstrating in his presentation �Childhood Obesity� the impressive and heart-warming results he�s had in more than a decade of treating children � literally changing their lives!

Once again, I was very pleased with the reception. And once again, I was asked to organize a symposium/workshop for the next AFGC annual meeting in Memphis, Tennessee. I�m very excited that Dr. Susan Duckett from Clemson University has agreed to participate, and Adele will re-join us, too! The working title is �Grass-Finished: What Do We Really Know and What Does It Really Mean?� Dr. Duckett will discuss quantitative and qualitative differences between grass-finished and concentrate-finished beef. Ms. Hite will discuss the likely impacts of these differences on human health. I will, once again, moderate and add a few comments. Kind of a thorn-among-the-roses �