Peter Campbell McBride

To all our extended family in the WAPF and GAPS communities,

Our hearts go out to our dear friend Natasha Campbell McBride who recently lost her husband Peter, and to his sons who have lost a great dad.

Peter had endeared himself to us all over the past three years having travelled over from the UK with Natasha to support and speak at our conferences about a subject close to his heart – Raw Milk.

Natasha may have been an avid promoter of the nutritional qualities of raw milk but what moved Peter was his desire to see good farmers elevated to greater heights of respect in the community for the precious work they do and for them to finally receive a decent income from doing something so valuable for humanity. It’s never easy to go against the grain, but with people like Peter to advocate for you, it seems more possible.

He was truly a larger than life character, from his imposing size to his laugh, his hat, his beard and his voice which conveyed a deep wisdom borne from many of life’s challenges. He had the stories to back it all up too, stories he’d share freely, often over an expensive whiskey when the day’s work was done! He loved good company and you couldn’t help but have your mood lifted by his infectious energy.

One can only imagine how great it must be to have someone like Peter as your uncle or grandfather, but for Natasha he was a rock, an unwavering support through what must have been a tumultuous time of great challenge coping with a GAPS movement that began as a humble book and turned into a worldwide phenomenon that changed the lives of so many families for the better.

Peter’s unselfish contribution to the world has been significant, he is irreplaceable and unforgettable. He leaves a world that needs people like him more than ever now, he was ‘unique’, and though the journey will continue, as it must, we will all miss him greatly.

Our thoughts and prayers go out to Natasha, and to Peter’s sons and all his family from all of us at the WAPF Ireland family.

Ar dheis Dé go raibh a anam.

Peter really enjoyed coming to Limerick!

The Campbell McBrides with Deirdre and Brendan after the Wise Traditions Ireland conference in Thomond Park in March 2017.

On the Raw Milk Panel at Wise Traditions Ireland 2016 – with Elisabeth Ryan and John Liston

Peter and Natasha with Ton Baars and Malcolm McKendrick and the conference organisers Anne, Brendan, Caroline and Deirdre at Wise Traditions Ireland 2016

 

 

 

Irish Examiner article 25th March 2017 – our reply

We would like to sincerely thank everyone again for attending our 3rd Wise Traditions Ireland conference on March 25th and 26th – and for the wonderful feedback we have received from so many of you since. It is very much appreciated!

In the midst of our joy, there is however one issue that remains unresolved, and which we would like to bring to your attention.

On Saturday 25th March, the first day of the conference, an article appeared in the Irish Examiner openly attempting to discredit some of our speakers, as well as Thomond Park management and ourselves the organisers.  You can read the article at the end of this page.

Those of you who attended the conference will know that this article is off the mark and in no way reflects the quality of the speakers or their message.

Although not surprised, we were nonetheless disappointed at the tone of this article and the standard of journalism therein.  It was ill-informed and inaccurate on many levels, therefore we subsequently contacted the newspaper to voice our concerns.  We received acknowledgment of our letter from the acting editor and were promised a substantive reply, but to date this has not been forthcoming.  Therefore we feel it is timely to publish our rebuttal of this article on our conference website.  We do this in the spirit of promoting informed and accurate journalism – particularly in this era of “fake news”!!

Below is our letter to the Editor of the Irish Examiner, please judge for yourselves if you think it was justified.

Letter to the Editor, Irish Examiner, 31st March 2017

Dear Mr Prosser

We are writing to you in response to an article by Joe Leogue, which you released on Saturday 25th of March criticising Thomond Park for hosting a conference on the basis that some of the scheduled speakers were anti-vaccine advocates.

As the conference organisers, in the spirit of respectful dialogue and mutual understanding, we wish to point out a number of problems with the article.

The first point is that other than hosting the event, Thomond Park had no part in the content or the line up, no more than they would for any event they host, yet your article singled them out, presumably due to their well known name.  Nonetheless some staff members reported to us that they had received repeated harassing phone calls from a woman called Fiona O’Leary, who appears to have been attempting to either get the event cancelled or have the speakers she was taking issue with removed from the roster.

The second issue is that the event was NOT about vaccines or autism. It was a conference covering a broad range of topics including the role of nutrition in physical and mental health as well as a focus on improving the health of the soil. The diverse range of speakers discussed evidence based research related to population health. In fact we sent press releases to explain the conference, which included contact details, to Joe McNamee, an Examiner journalist, on the 6th of Feb and again on the 6th of March. The press release was also sent to Colette Keane and the weekend section of the Examiner on 10th March.

The third issue is that the article claims The Examiner made “attempts” to reach out to us for comment. The reality is a single email was sent at 2.43pm to the conference website on Friday afternoon, thus allowing us no time to reply to it. No phone calls were made to any of the organisers. We can appreciate editorial deadlines but in hindsight it appears the journalist had ample time to ensure his story was accurate had he really wished to. It’s unclear to us if this was deliberate, but the tone of the article made it appear as if we were being evasive.

The fourth issue is that your article references a group of speakers who have previously expressed anti-vaccine sentiments, yet it goes on to name only one, that being Natasha Campbell McBride, a medical doctor and neurologist. Dr Campbell McBride has repeatedly expressed concern about administering vaccines to immune compromised children, a concept that is recognised on vaccine warning labels but routinely ignored or misunderstood by administration centres. Other than that she regularly conveys that vaccines have saved many lives. It is clear that precious little investigation was conducted into Dr Campbell-McBride before writing the article, the tone of which served only to fuel the polarisation of opinion on this important topic.

The fifth issue is that the article appears to have been heavily influenced or at least written at the behest of a third party, Fiona O’Leary, who is quoted in it claiming that the conference organisers were using offensive language about autism. This line is in itself highly offensive to us. The truth is that as conference organisers we never mentioned autistic children in any of our conference literature save for Dr Campbell McBride’s short bio which referenced her own journey with her son. This again suggests little research was carried out.

It is laudable that individuals are prepared to stand up in support of autistic people whom they feel are being mistreated by many sectors of society, and we do acknowledge that many families living with autism are somewhat divided on what the best way forward is, with opinions diverging on what can be done to help.

We in the Weston A. Price Chapter are in favour of promoting society wide autism awareness and acceptance – however we strongly believe that much can be done to improve a child’s health and well-being, regardless of any diagnosis. Indeed we regularly encounter examples of positive changes occurring as a result of targeted nutritional interventions, changes which do not receive much mainstream media coverage, despite the hope it could instil in so many parents.

We fully and completely advocate that the vast majority of autistic children are eating food that does not benefit their health and in fact actively worsens it, and upon implementation of drastic, though measured, dietary changes many can often see marked improvements in the child’s general well being and level of happiness. Sometimes the results are so startling it leads parents to refer to this as a ‘cure’; however that is but a lay use of the term, which has a very different meaning legally and medically. It may merely be a phrase used by happy parents delighted at the extent of the improvement in their child and at the hope it brings!

Dr Campbell McBride has dedicated her life to teaching people how to go about this dietary change and has witnessed countless success stories that would warm the heart of anybody who cares to look past the hyperbole. With every year that passes the science grows stronger in support of this approach, interestingly some of which is occurring in UCC where the role of gut flora in mental health is being studied as part of the new field of psycho-biotics.

Joe Leogue wrote to ask us: “Does the Foundation believe that it is acting responsibly by giving such views a platform given the medical consensus that vaccines are safe and that autism cannot be ‘cured’?”

Any journalist with an eye on history could easily conclude that ‘medical consensus’ continues to develop and adapt as new facts and research come to light. This kind of appeal to authority reflects a lazy form of journalism.

It is false in itself to state that there is medical consensus on the safety of vaccines. The sheer number of opposing organisations worldwide, in which medical personnel participate, is evidence enough that ‘consensus’ is a myth. Add to that the billions of dollars paid out in injury payments and it is clear that if there is only one truth within the vaccine debate, it is that there is no real consensus about their inherent safety for all of the population.

Whilst every point we make above is, we will readily acknowledge, open to critique and reasonable challenge, the thing we take most issue with concerning the article is how the paper colluded to silence the voice of speakers on the grounds of simple disagreement, and used needlessly inflammatory language to get its case across. Of all the professions in the world, when journalism is used to silence opposing opinions we are in real trouble. We look to independent journalism to help light the way through confusion, not to sow it, and society respects and looks up to professional editorial standards as a bulwark against nonsense and trivia.

The responsibility rests with you the Editor, and whilst accepting that honest mistakes can be made, rectifying them once they become known takes good moral character. We would like to think a good paper with the standing of The Examiner would not allow itself to be influenced by irrational non-argument dressed up as righteous anger!

This misinformed and biased article attempted (unsuccessfully) to undermine our public information event, making us question the agenda of the said journalist.

We are not asking for a retraction of this hastily released article. We are however looking for a balanced article to be printed about the conference itself in a true professional manner and we are more than happy to provide any information!

Yours sincerely

Brendan, Anne, Deirdre, Maya
Wise Traditions Ireland conference organisers

 

Irish Examiner article by Joe Leogue, Saturday 25th March 2017

UPDATE:

Clarification from the Irish Examiner – the following correction was printed on Saturday 27th May 2017.

Wise Traditions Ireland 2017 – thank you!!

A huge thank you to all the attendees, speakers, exhibitors, volunteers and of course the wonderful staff of Thomond Park. We had a fantastic conference!!

Wise Traditions Ireland 2017 starts in glorious sunshine!

Brendan O’Brien presents The Work of Weston Price

Ivor Cummins – Changing Our Minds on Cholesterol

Jim Cronin shares his wisdom on growing food organically and keeping our soil healthy

The very busy books room!

Sam Feltham – Creating a change in Public Health

Zoe Harcombe PhD – Challenging Nutritional Beliefs

Dr Natasha Campbell McBride launches her new book Vegetarianism Explained

Maya Flynn, Ivor Cummins, Sam Feltham, Brendan O’Brien at Thomond Park

Conference organisers with Ivor Cummins and Sam Feltham on the hallowed turf at Thomond Park!

Wise Traditions Ireland organisers and speakers in wonderful sunshine at Thomond Park

The Campbell McBrides with Deirdre MacMahon and Brendan O’Brien – another conference over!

Wise Traditions Ireland 3 – Changing Our Minds!

The Weston A. Price Foundation’s Munster chapters are proud to announce our 3rd Wise Traditions Ireland conference, which will take place in our familiar and highly praised venue Thomond Park, Limerick on March 25 & 26, 2017.

This years theme is “Changing Our Minds”.

We face daunting health challenges not just as a nation but as a species. A time of global transition is upon us and the wisdom used by ancient cultures to achieve vibrant health against all the odds has never been more important to understand.   This wisdom calls upon us to challenge our thinking about our health.

We don’t need to accept that current health crises such as obesity and diabetes, though common, are normal. We have the ability to make profound positive changes to our health.

As our mental health becomes a national concern, we must make the connection that the way in which our brains and bodies are built and nourished determines how our minds work! 

The conference will challenge the way you think about food, health and farming in a world flooded with conflicting expert advice.

An international line-up of speakers, with their homework well and truly done, will blend ancient traditional wisdom with modern scientific understanding and inspire us to change our mind about decades of outdated health advice.

Join us for what will surely be a weekend to remember, an event that continues to bring hope and inspiration into the lives of ordinary people struggling to recapture what is ultimately our birthright – vibrant health!

 

 

Wise Traditions Ireland 2016 – Speakers Confirmed

Nina_Teicholz_photo

Nina Teicholz, author of “The Big Fat Surprise”
http://www.thebigfatsurprise.com

NCM

Dr Natasha Campbell McBride, author of “Gut and Psychology Syndrome”
http://www.gaps.me

malcolm-kendrick

Dr Malcolm Kendrick, author of “The Great Cholesterol Con”
http://www.drmalcolmkendrick.org

PatriciaDaly

Patricia Daly, Nutritional Therapist
http://www.patriciadaly.com

JohnMcKenna

John McKenna, journalist and food writer
http://www.guides.ie

 

Fermented Cod Liver Oil

Hello fellow WAPF members, and hello also to lots of you who are not yet actual members!

So, what the heck are we going to do about the FCLO debacle?? I have a few personal comments to make on it, but we see things from our own world view, so feel free to disagree!

A big problem I see with the whole debate is that it is such a technical subject that I’m sure only a small number of scientists are in a position to debate the ins and outs of it with any real authority. We, the figurative proletariat, can but watch and wait and see what happens.
It’s both cool and unfortunate that we find ourselves at the cutting edge of this highly technical issue – but life on the cutting edge is far from certain, and I strongly believe that we need to be ok with uncertainty if we are to have any decent quality of life. If we are too fixed in our thinking and can’t handle uncertainty we will be smashed off the rocks by the waves of public opinion! Like good thick dairy cream, the truth often takes a while to rise to the surface.

We can’t hope to figure this one out on our own, but in the mean time we have to make decisions – do we keep taking the stuff, or do we stop?

The original research promoting the benefits of taking Cod Liver Oil comes from a different time.  Since then food safety and a litigious society have changed the landscape of food production resulting in a mountain of ‘safe’ processed foods. Cod liver oil was no exception, and it became a fact that all of it at one point was processed. This bothered natural health advocates including Sally and many others on the WAPF board. Her writings make this clear.

So it was almost with relief that Green Pastures showed up with the only real raw CLO on the market. It was wholeheartedly embraced, and the ‘fermenting’ aspect of it found its own place amongst the conversation. It is this fermenting aspect that is now causing the furore, and since no one else is making it, it is a de-facto ‘leading edge’ kind of product, for better or worse! Luckily in the mean time other players have shown up with great offerings. Rosita sell a raw CLO and Yukon Pure sell raw salmon head oil which contains some natural A & D.

Some people call the frontier at the leading edge of technological development ‘the Bleeding edge’.  As a group of truth seekers, we are bleeding now!  I’m going to bet there will be a mix of decisions amongst us. Some will go with their gut and if they’ve had a good experience they will keep taking it and if they’ve had a bad experience they will stop. Others will sense fear of uncertainty and go with that, others I reckon will perceive this as yet one more straw on an already tired back.  I genuinely suggest to anyone struggling with this issue to deliberately allow themselves a look at the other side and indeed a third side of the story. In other words find a valid way to get a different perspective on it all.  It is after all only a product, and but one more twist and turn in the journey of health that we have to navigate.

To be sure though there is much to reject in this whole debacle. In publicity terms it’s a veritable train wreck. WAPF Munster hosted David Wetzel at the conference last February and interest in the product has been steadily growing.

The tone of Kaayla Daniel’s article suggests a deep distrust of David Wetzel, yet the lab reports often show conflicting opinions on the same measurements. If indeed there is no consensus on what it all means even amongst different lab scientists then one wonders where the distrust is coming from.

If David turned out to be a charlatan it would make a lot of us very angry, but as things stand, despite Kaayla’s tone, she repeatedly asserts that the evidence in no way shows he is acting dishonestly. Confused maybe, biased perhaps, but not a bad guy. It is cases like this that force court judges to insist jury members put all previous publicity out of their minds and vote only on the facts of a case! Makes sense, but it’s hard to do here – it takes a flexible mind!

It seems the debate would have been much more professionally served behind closed doors and let the facts speak for themselves, and then they could all emerge with the agreed story and let us all know. Yet this may not have been possible given the leading edge nature of this stuff insofar as scientists may just choose to see the same facts in a different light – who knows!

All the same I think we’d be fools to blindly believe that an organisation the size of WAPF could possibly exist in a vacuum from interpersonal conflict and issues. Our egos are real, they do get in the way often, but I’d like to believe that in the cold light of day all interested parties would have the integrity and fortitude to admit if they got something wrong. Indeed the truth may lie somewhere in the middle of all the talk, maybe they are all right and all wrong at the same time.  Living with uncertainty is definitely not easy!

We’d probably do well to recognise that cod liver oil is a tool – indeed a wonder tool for many seeking health – but it’s just one tool in an arsenal of dietary tools available to us. Basically it makes it much easier to get to the higher levels of fat soluble vitamins recommended by Price’s research. But let’s be fair, it’s not absolutely necessary for health, it just helps a lot on the journey, so if you are affected by the fallout of this work-in-progress debate, then fear not – you have many options!

If some of you feel you must relinquish your current stocks of FCLO as a precautionary action, it may help to do it in the knowledge that you didn’t make any mistakes here, life has thrown a small curveball at you. We can’t check out everything we eat to the nth degree.  We have to trust someone sometime otherwise we’d never get anything done.
If you choose to keep taking your FCLO, the same principle applies – we are all responsible for our own decisions. Clearly if you have been using it for years and things have only gotten better then it’s probably very good for you.
What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger! Sort of I guess…

We wait with bated breath on this one; it may yet turn into a mud fight! But in the mean time – watch this space for an upcoming announcement!!

Yours in health

Brendan O’Brien and the WAPF Munster team

 

Recipes

The feedback from the Conference has been overwhelmingly positive and we thank you for all your messages, texts and emails. We have been inundated with requests for the recipes of the wonderful meals we enjoyed over those two days in February so we are delighted to be able to bring them to you, with sincere thanks to the chef Denis Cregan and everyone at Masterchef catering!

Lamb Stew

2kgs lamb on the bone (leg).
100g onions
100g celery
100g carrot
100g turnip
100g butternut squash
1 clove garlic (crushed)
10g rosemary
Salt
Pepper

Method:
1. Braise the leg of lamb on the bone in water with rosemary and garlic for two and a half hours.
2. When cool, remove the meat from the bone and cut into cubes.
3. Drain the stock and place in a saucepan.
4. Roast off all the veg in an oven and add to the lamb stock.
5. Add the lamb cubes and the cubes of butternut squash.
6. Simmer gently for 30 mins until squash is cooked. Season with salt and pepper and serve.