The 2004 Wise Traditions Confernce just completed was a phenomenal success. Over 650 folks attended the three-day conference, many more than we expected. We thank all of you who made your way here to Washington DC and hope to see you and many more next year at about this same time.
1. 2004 audio and video tapes of the conference are available. Topics include traditional diets, agricultural industrialization, seeds of deception: health dangers of GMO foods, health hazards of excitotoxins (MSG and aspartame), food irradiation and microwaving, health dangers of industrialized soy products, fertility awareness, food in oriental medicine, adrenal and thyroid health, coconut oil for weight loss, and many more.
Click here to order audio and video tapes of the conference speakers.
In addition, this link has ordering information for our prior two conferences.
2. Many of the attendees asked me to forward my little ditty on the food supply that I read to the gathering Saturday night after our fabulous dinner. So, here it is:
In the Beginning…
God covered the earth with broccoli, cauliflower and spinach combined with an abundance of green, yellow and red vegetables.
He did this so that Man and Woman would live long and healthy lives.
Then, using God’s bountiful gifts, Satan created Dairy Queen..
And Satan said: “You want hot fudge with that?”
And Man said: “Yes!”
And Woman said: “I’ll have one too…with sprinkles.”
And lo and behold they gained 10 pounds.
And so God created the healthful raw milk yogurt that Woman might keep the figure that Man found so fair.
And Satan brought forth white flour from the wheat, and sugar from the cane, and combined them.
And Woman went from size 2 to size 14.
So God said: “Try my fresh green garden salad.”
And Satan presented crumbled Bleu Cheese dressing and garlic toast on the side.
And Man and Woman unfastened their belts following the repast.
God then said: “I have sent you heart-healthy vegetables and olive oil in which to cook them.”
And Satan brought forth deep-fried shrimp in partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, ribs slathered in sauce with MSG and other food additives and chicken-fried steak so big it needed its own platter.
And Man’s cholesterol went through the roof.
Then God brought forth the potato, brimming with potassium and good nutrition.
Then Satan peeled off the healthful skin, sliced the starchy center into chips and deep-fried them in trans fats adding copious quantities of salt.
And Man packed on more pounds.
God then brought forth running shoes so that his children might lose those extra pounds.
And Satan introduced cable TV with remote control so Man would not have to toil changing the channels.
And Man and Woman laughed and cried before the flickering light and started wearing stretchy lycra jogging suits.
God then gave pasture-raised beef so that Man might consume fewer calories and still satisfy his appetite.
And Satan created McDonald’s and the 99-cent double cheeseburger.
Then Satan said: “You want fries with that?”
And Man replied: “Yes! And super size ’em!”
And Satan said: “It is good.”
And Man and Woman went into cardiac arrest.
God sighed…and created quadruple by-pass surgery.
Satan chuckled and created The Health Care System.
3. Lastly, in my remarks I mentioned the following book and its impact on me in preparing for the challenges of the next 20 years. I highly recommend reading this and taking it to heart.
The Fourth Turning: An American Prophecy by William Strauss and Neil Howe.
What the Cycles of History Tell Us About America’s Next Rendezvous with Destiny
At the core of modern history lies this remarkable pattern: During the past 5 centuries, Anglo-American society has entered a new era — a new turning — every 2 decades or so.
At the start of each turning, people change how they feel about themselves, the culture, the nation and the future.
Turnings come in cycles of four, spanning four generations (or the length of a long human life), roughly 80 to 100 years.
• The First Turning is a High. Boomers and those older can recall the Great American High from V-J Day through the early 1960s.
• The Second Turning is an Awakening. Even Gen-Xers can recall (as kids) the Consciousness Revolution, from the John Kennedy assassination through the early 1980s.
• The Third Turning is an Unraveling. Every American recalls the most recent Third Turning, because this era of long booms and culture wars was still going strong as recently as Sept. 10, 2001.
• The Fourth Turning is a Crisis. The next Fourth Turning may have already begun. Only today’s oldest Americans recall the last such era, which spanned the Great Depression and World War II.
Each time, America encounters an abrupt shift in the social mood, triggered by every generation’s passage into a new phase of life.
Each time, the new mood shift catches nearly everyone by surprise. That has especially been true for Fourth Turnings. Nearly no one expected them — but they came.
In 1770, did colonists expect a revolution? No.
In 1855, did Americans, North and South, expect a bloody civil war? No.
In 1925, did a roaring nation expect a stock collapse, depression and global war? No.
Reflect on the magnitude of the recent change. National identity cards are being proposed. Uniformed troops have patroled public places. All of this would have been unthinkable, as recently as August, 2001.
It’s not yet possible to say whether this mood shift is permanent or merely suggestive of what’s poised to come soon — in other words, whether we’re in the Fourth Turning or in the last throes of the third.
Within the next year, we’ll know. Here’s a checklist. If the following trends deepen, then America will be in the Fourth Turning, a new era of crisis.
• Are leaders describing the problem in larger rather than smaller terms, proposing grand solutions, and seeking to destroy (and not just contain) enemies?
• Is there a shift away from individualism (and civil liberties) toward community purpose (and national survival)?
• Are the old “culture wars” arguments beginning to feel lame, ridiculous, even dangerous to national unity?
• Is the celebrity culture feeling newly irrelevant? Is youth fare becoming less gross and less violent?
• Is immigration reversing? Are mobility and openness declining? Is there more nativism in our culture and less “globalism” in our commerce?
• Is there a new willingness to pay a human price to achieve a national purpose? Will we harness technology only to reduce casualties and inconvenience, or also to achieve a total and lasting victory.
• Is each generation entering its new phase of life with a new attitude? Are aging boomers overcoming narcissism? Are Gen-Xers on the edge of midlife, circling their wagons around family? Are Millennials emerging as a special and celebrated crop of youth?
Suppose we are in a Fourth Turning. How long will it last? Probably two decades. How will it turn out?
Perhaps in triumph, or in tragedy, or in some unknowable combination of the two. That will be up to us.
How to Prepare:
- Forge the consensus and uplift the culture but don’t expect near-term results
- Prepare institutions – find out what works but do not try building anything big – great political upheaval – go back to states and locals for social solutions – downsize feds
- Speak openly of nation’s future challenges, not sugarcoat them
- Require community teamwork on local scale
- Children are our highest priority
- Correct economic fundamentals (local economies over corporate capitalism)
Thank you for making the Weston A. Price Foundation the success that it is. For it is the membership that lives and breathes the principles of traditional foods and nutrition both individually and collectively.
In service,
Bill Sanda
Director of Public Affairs
Weston A. Price Foundation
info (at) westonaprice.org
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