Wise Traditions 2011: Day Two

One in a series of reports from the Weston A. Price Foundation’s 2011 Wise Traditions conference in Dallas. Busy Crunchy-Chewy mama is processing and writing as fast as she can! See the first day post and Washington Times Communities article.

Healthy notes from Day Two:

• I took a walk in the brisk morning on the golf course behind my father-in-law’s house. Fresh air after a day in a hotel is grand!

• The kids woke us up early enough that, after the walk, I still had time to make zucchini GAPS pancakes with the almond-pecan butter I bought last night from Wilderness Family Naturals.

• After feeling so overwhelmed and groggy, I took a short nap in the hotel room before LJ brought the kids. What a difference! And maybe taking a few drops of Camu Gold from Amazon Herbs that I got at the Take Back Your Health Conference helped, too.

Happy notes from Day Two:

All the Simply Being Well goodies at the Wise Traditions exhibit hall table. Notice the new book and the new baby food chart!

• Monica Corrado of SimplyBeingWell.com sold out of the book I edited and laid out for her! I’m so excited for her. She also ran an amazing meal program, getting the hotel on board to serve wonderful food prepared in the Nourishing Traditions way.

• It was a pleasure to talk to SP, a current student at the Integrative Institute for Nutrition, and a mom to a 4-year-old and 18-month-old. We have a lot of similar health issues, including adrenal fatigue and Hashimoto’s thyroiditis. When I mentioned another friend had recommended I get tested for Lyme, and that, yes, I did have a bull’s eye in 2002 for which I took a round of regular antibiotics, she encouraged me to make testing a top priority. (Okay, maybe that’s not so happy, but it was a great conversation!)

• I was lucky enough to happen upon Jenny, author of the amazing Nourished Kitchen blog, as she and her husband were waiting out the dinner line, like me. Here was another kindred thyroid spirit: she had Graves’ Disease and fertility issues, too, and she also was able to avoid radioactive iodine probably due in part to going gluten-free.

• My husband and kids joined me in the exhibit hall. Although it’s been nice to attend sessions without splitting focus to feed or watch the baby (who is turning into a toddler in front of our eyes), she’s also fun to have around. And it was great to be all together as a family. It’s different for people to see you as a mom of two cute kids rather than just an attendee with a pink press pass on your name badge. My husband talked to the Norman LeMoine of Radiant Life about whole house water filters, taste the yummy olive oil from Chaffin Family Orchards, and watch Branch Basics Cleaner dissolve a red wine stain on a white napkin. It was nice to be a unit, even if I did have to ditch them to go into the fancy banquet alone. (I’m still not sure what they did for dinner…)

• Even though I had to come upstairs to nurse the baby to sleep (and my son was still awake at 8:15, which is like 9:15 at home), I still got back downstairs for much of Dr. Mercola’s talk. How fun to walk into the warm night air knowing I was probably safe to stay out for a good while longer. Even though I want to start going to bed earlier, it felt fun and fancy to be out where the people were in a major city’s downtown hotel. And the food was amazing! I especially enjoyed the Vital Choice smoked sablefish, and it’s such a treat to have fermented veggies served with dinner!  (Another healthy  note!)

More substantive reports from the conference to come!