By popular demand here is my somewhat abbreviated recap of Day 2 at the ASW.
Saturday is the longest day of the event because people start gathering around the lobby of the Flamingo around 6:00am, 30 minutes before they start serving breakfast and chat long after the speakers stop at 8:00pm. I called it a night at 9:30pm
For those having bloodwork done they also start at 6:00am.
6:30-7:45 is breakfast and a lot of chatting during the meal. I had a large share of griddle cakes and some kind of potato hash. Thee was also cold cereals, oatmeal, tofu scramble, and more.
The first talkw was Dr. George Guthrie speaking about the subject he has been studying for many years. The talk was entitled Insalting your intellegience? It was about sodium intake and the data over the years about the best level of intake for humans. He also included much of the data just making the news recently. In a nutshell he believes our sodium intake is fine but that we are potassium levels are too low. He strongly recommended getting more sodium from food sources not supplements.
Neal Barnard then gave us his second talk of the weekend entitled Ethical Issues in Food Choices. This is the first talk of his I remember having a focus on the ethics of food choices. All others were primarily on health information. There was still some health info but the focus was strongly on Ethics involved with food choice. He is a superb speaker and gives you the idea it's just you and he speaking in your living room. Warmth and compassion ooze from his delivery.
Next up was Stanford professor Christopher Gardner. He took us on an interesting journey through his career of research on nutrition and diet. Interesting but things didn't get exciting till Dr. McDougall openly challenged him to start researching the real, timeless, human diet that has made the human being thrive throught most of it's existence....the starch based diet. It was a friendly bit of jousting but Dr. McDougall clearly made his point.
Off to lunch and more chatting. Lot's of buzz over the speakers and their talks......
Carter Dillard was up next and he is the Director of Litigation for the Animal Legal Defense Fund. His talk centered around much of the litigation surrounding factory farms and the parts of the law they use as a basis for their lawsuits. An interesting topic and one that will be even bigger in the future. Lot's of discussing of Ag Gag laws and other ways the factory farms avoid discussions of the conditions at there plants.
Then came the return of Dr. Marc Gosselin, an educator at the Oregon Health Sciences University. A Radiologist by training Dr. Gosselin spoke at length about screenings and other medical procedures that promise much more than they deliver and the way their use is spun in the popular media. He spoke at a previous ASW and I remember him being excellent then and this talk was my personal favorite for the entire event. He is engaging, humorous, extremely bright and effective in his speaking style. One guy you hated to see stop talking.
Then came Gary Null with his talk entitled Death is a certainty, Dying a choice. Gary Null moved through the audience like a weed eater. He talked about virtually every subject you can think of. He has a syndicated radio show and I think he must have talked on every subject his program discusses. I am still trying to unravel most of his talk. He certainly woke you up!
Then a most interesting talk came next. The first formal talk given by Dr, McDougalls son Dr. Craig McDougall. I believe everyone was anxious to see him in action given his heritage. He didn't disappoint. He runs a program for Kaiser Permanente in the Northwest that patients and employees can participate in that uses a plant based diet as treatment for chronic disease. Clearly he has some experience in this area. His talk gave people hope that the larger insurers have some interest in the subject and it appears this could end up expanding greatly throughout Kaiser Permanente. Excellent job Craig McDougall and it was nice seeing him stretch his legs in this talk and show some of his own personality. We will definitely be hearing more from the younger Dr. McDougall. Dad should be rightly proud. Just as with Rip Esselstyn, Ocean Robbins, and others, the next generaton is ready to build on the successes of their parents.
Wow, dinner already? Seems like we do a lot of eating at these events don't we? More buzz and discussion.
Then got treated to a panel discussion/debate hosted by Whole Foods CEO John Mackey featuring Dr. McDougall and Stephan Guyenet. The two participants were asked a series of questions by John Mackey related to diet and nutrition and both responded. Stephan Guyenet has the view that there is no universal diet for people and that a low carb diet is great for some. We know Dr. McDougalls position so most people expected fire. Great questions from both John Mackey and the audience and both were polite and professional. Stephan Guyenet was an excellent speaker and made his points well but I couldn't help but get the impression he may have been moved by the arguments made by Dr. McDougall and the points asked by the audience. These panel discussions are very popular and I expect to see more of them in the future. The chatting with the participants went well beyond the official discussion and lasted till much later.
Officially over at 8:30 I called it a night at 9:30pm. Many were still talking after that. There is your wrap up for Day 2
Coming up....Day 3
f1jim
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