It’s 2:11 AM
Just got up after a couple of hours sleep. Bea’s right behind, sleeping soundly near as I can tell. And I’m filled to the brim with a mix of love, adoration and euphoria, such that I figured it was time to get my ass out of bed and write about it instead of merely thinking about it while staring at a dark ceiling — at 2 am. High emotion fuels a blog, and that’s just the fact.
Here’s all the pics I Tweeted earlier, throughout the night. This ought to give you an envious clue, even though I ought to just make you go look at them on Twitter and be my “follower.” But I’m such a nice guy. There’s lots, mostly candid. This is not even yet the beginning of the King of Earth Nutrition, the Ancestral Health Symposium. I’m not going to take time to link so if you’re new, stumbling in here or whatever, Google names, places, events.
I’m eating real beef jerky, but I’ll get to that later.
Rob Wolf
Melissa & Chris
That’s Pedro Bastos off to the right. Melissa McEwen & Chris Masterjohn are genetically made for each other, I’m certain. Cutest couple ever. After chatting with Gary Taubes in the lobby for 15 minutes and before chatting with Loren Cordain and Pedro in the bar for another 15 minutes or so, Bea & I met up wit Melissa and Chris and offered them a ride. We stopped off at a local Whole Foods, then went to the event.
Dr. Stephan
I was so embarrassed that Stephan finally came up to me and said “hey, Richard.” It’s like not noticing God in the room. I suppose that’s easy for me, though.
Pic Them Out
Who do you see?
Pedro & Erwan
Pedro is very jet lagged, just in from Lisbon. Erwan is probably about to eat a piece of meat. We all fell victim.
Speaking of meat, 100 grassfed steaks donated by US Wellness Meats to this great Ancestral Health Cause.
US Wellness Meats
Me & Doug McGuff
Me & The Sisson
Don Matesz and Paul Jaminet
Don and his new wife both looked awesome. I talked with Don a lot and I did let him know about my beefs, a bit. But you know what? This is why the internet can never substitute for human contact. After talking with him, I’m anxious to see his presentation.
Frank Forencich & Aaron Blaisdell
Frank is the Exuberant Animal guy and like me, is into not only how we eat and move, but how we think and how we may have been adversely conditioned.
Gary Taubes and Bea
Gary told me I should caption this something like “I met Beat at the hotel.”
There were so many others. My buddy Dr. BG is here, the Drs. Eades, Cordain, Staffan Lindberg and many more. Many more.
The feeling of privilege is really, frankly, overwhelming and I’m humbled about how so many came up and introduced themselves to me, including so many readers. I throw so much shit at my own blog because I feel like it sometimes and there seems to be a whole group of folks who get that about me.
Singing off at 3:30 am.
Meghan 
clarevh 
Alex 
gallier2 
Danny 
William 
Rhys 
AJ Wow
Geeking out like CRAZY.
Are there plans for a Symposium next year? I deeply, deeply regret the fact that I’m not there right now.
I never realized Gary Taubes was that tall!
Gary is a big guy. I never knew it either.
Looks like a blast.
I hereby nominate next year’s AHS to take place in Europe. Anywhere in Europe is fine with me. California’s not the center of the Universe, you know ;)
Seconded!
I think the reason AHS is in California is not because it is the Center of the Universe (although I am fairly sure it is ;) ), but because the organizers are affiliated with UCLA, and had access to the facility and it’s many resources.
Also I am happy to see that Melissa took the advise of her Facebook Fashionistas and chose the peacock feather dress!
Looks like a great time…wish I could be there. Enjoyed seeing the photos…thanks for posting them.
Interested to read more about your conversations and experiences.
Holy rock stars!
Looks like fun! :)
Those pics are wonderful, and it’s great to see all the luminaries concentrated in one small space. Watching your Twitpics I actually worried that Durianrider or TCC would come do something crazy and end the whole paleosphere right there! Well, Mr. Archevore doesn’t seem to be at the place so I guess not all would’ve been lost. Following the #AHS11 hashtag…
Durian could have ended the whole movement right then and there. Amazing to see all those individuals together. I am curious what Matesz presents as I think he has really gone off the reservation with what I have read on his site. Very cool experience I am sure and looking forward to hearing more about it.
No fruitarian jihadists with exploding watermelons strapped to their chests?
Wow, Don Matezs really needs to update that pic on his blog. And you’re all so fat because of all that fat you eat!
/sarcasm
Richard! This is such an awesome post… I’m salivating over the meat and the people (in a good way, for the latter haha). I’m usually a very chill and relaxed guy but, I get the feeling that I would’ve been bouncing all over the place if I had been there, like a kid in a combination candystore/toystore/fair!!!!
Short of not making it to the AHS, have you heard anything about the possibility of the whole thing being available on DVD?
Cheers my good man, and keep keeping us posted :)
Éric
I think all the presentations will be available on the Internet. There was some talk of live streaming but I don’t know about that yet.
No pic(s) of Minger (shame on you RN!!!)? Maybe the vegans are right! hmmm…
This should be a major landmark in the hystory of human nutrition. Time will tell, but my guess is it is. Hope there will be many more of these events worldwide. I also vote for Europe for the next Ancestral Health Symposium. Wish all the best for all participants, specially for my portuguese friend Pedro Bastos.
Thanks for sharing those pics! I pictured a sterile convention center. That patio gathering looks so friendly and fun. And what a group of people – I can’t imagine you’d ever want to attend a normal bbq again!
My favourite part: “I was so embarrassed that Stephan finally came up to me and said “hey, Richard.” It’s like not noticing God in the room. I suppose that’s easy for me, though.” LMAOL
Great pics Richard. Does Doug McGuff age? Isn’t he like 50 years old? This looks a lot different then the couple of exercise conventions I’ve been to where they are peddling energy bars and drinks.
Doug is an amazingly cool guy. He’s 49. Told me he gets 35 y-olds in the ER, beat to shit by metabolic syndrome and sometimes they say, wait til you’re my age, doc.
Epic.
Inspirational pics Richard. Bea is either very short or Gary Taubes pretty fucking tall.
I googled it, Gary Taubes is 6’3.
Which is 1.90 m in real units. It’s not because we are on a paleo blog that we should use measuring units of that epoch ;-)
I hear ya. I was just being polite to the (i guess) majority of blog readers, which i assume are from the us.
I forgot to say how pretty your lovely wife is. Paleo suits her very well.
Wow I’m so jealous. All those people in one location, the wealth of knowledge on that patio is astonishing! And look how good everyone looks too (as opposed to those vegan seminars which look like pictures of the holocaust).
Wow, so impressed to see all those famous (you included, Richard) in one place! Didn’t realise I was a paleo fanboy!
Wow, this looks like it was quite the hang. I can only imagine how great dinner must’ve been.
This is so cool! Can’t wait to see the presentations online or however they come out. Thanks Richard for posting all this and the pics!
What on Earth is Robb doing with his hands? Where is Denise Minger? Thanks for the photos!
How old is Robb Wolf? He’s looked 16 in every picture I’ve seen of him…I don’t think he ages either.
Expect to see the most unflattering pics pasted around by He-Who-Shall-not-be-Named here as “proof” of how bad paleo folks look. Ya know..when they are jetlagged and in candid shots in bad lighting…
Frank is such a cool dude- one of my very favorites.
Totally geeking out here with these pictures, too. Maybe next year I can be there with some of these rad folks. Looking forward to the videos afterward. Have fun and enjoy, Richard.
Gary has always been huge, and Minger is in two of the photos, and Rob Wolf appears to be air masturbating over the delicious beef jerky or being there. Maybe both :)
Richard, I feel so lame for not having made early arrangements to be there. Hell, I live in Long Beach, for crying out loud! My excuse is that my wife will be giving birth any day now. Anyway, if you get a line on an extra ticket, please let me know… my wife promises me not to deliver early. I would love to personally deliver some heart-felt thank yous to you and many of the good folks in attendance. Thanks!
Richard, it worries me that this many anti-foodpyramid establishment leaders are gathered in one place. Seems like too easy a target for a deranged vegan or the FDA hit squad.
Vegans lack the proper nutrition for organizing something that big (b12, carnitine, taurine, epa and dha deficiency among others… that has to impair cognition!), plus I guess most bombs have the odd animal product in there somewhere.
haha wow its like a who’s who of the paleo world
Hi, Richard.
Perhaps a bit off topic, but have you seen the latest? The dimwitted Internet fraud/crackpot , Anthony Colpo, is attacking you and Jimmy Moore at his site.
I have debunked this guy about what science has shown so far about obesity and also the HDL hypothesis repeatedly. Colpo knows I have him by the balls , so he ignores me now. He will soon be exposed for the fraud he is soon enough.
He is hurling a whole bunch of insults against you guys. I just wanted to let you know , Richard, because I used to be the biggest Colpo sychophant around when I was naieve 6 years back.
This guy is a fraud. A classic Internet scammer. He one time said to me via email that he “wants to profit off of his fellow humans stupidity”.
P.S. He misrepresented Dean Karnazes’ diet too. Dr Eades was RIGHT about what Karnazes eats when he is not actively Marathoning. Karnazes eats the Neanderthal Diet in his own words.
Take care,
Razwell
On to the main topic: That looked like a fantastic time you had :) Great post.
Richard, I’m curious about your newfound appreciation for Don Matesz. Are you saying “Farewell to Paleo” too, or was the post over exagerated?
I was angry at the way Don handled this and told him so. Told him also that the title of that post was “unfortunate.” And I told him I didn’t think it was necessary to distinguish himself from paleo but to rather work to expand it’s meaning to encompass his views of the best or better real food diet.
Bottom line is that I think he has a regret or two and I think he’ll back off a bit, but we’ll see.
I also brought up the fact that he writes just as authoritatively now as he did back then and he nodded his head in agreement.
Don is a very personable, soft spoken guy with piercing eyes and an amazing voice. I’m very glad to have met him. Doesn’t mean I’m going to agree with him but I have a wider context. He looks fabulous and his wife is beautiful. They look wonderful together and the mutual love is apparent. That counts for a lot in my book, probably more than blog posts.
Well said! I’m glad you guys had a bit of coming to terms. It was a thrill to meet both of you. (At the party on Thursday, I waved a few bags of US Wellness Meats steaks under his nose and said “look what I brought just for you!” His smile indicated that he knew I was kidding, of course). I have immense respect for both you and Don.
@ Kelly “newfound appreciation for Don Matesz” Where did Richard say this? I didn’t get that at all.
“I talked with Don a lot and I did let him know about my beefs, a bit. But you know what? This is why the internet can never substitute for human contact. After talking with him, I’m anxious to see his presentation.”
My interpretation (stated another way) – Don comes across differently in person than he does on the internet, and Richard was interested in what Don would say at the symposium. I’m curious to get a more detailed explanation.
Pretty damn awesome.
I was wondering what happened to all the hippies. Not anymore.
Hey Branch, I was wondering when you were going to post a comment that doesn’t make you look like a fucking moron.
Good looking bunch of people, they must be doing something right …
Agreed. Most of these people, though, would probably be broadly defined as ‘paleo’ in orientation (and ‘big-tent paleo’ in practice). I highly doubt a like gathering of orthodox, Jimmy Moore-style ‘low-carbers’ would look anywhere near as good. That’s one thing, at least, that Anthony Colpo is entirely about correct about.
Hi, Erika.
Anthony Colpo makes a lot of assumptions, especially about obesity and body fat. Obesity is as almost as heritable as height, and possibly equalling it. Some of the greatest quality peer reviewed science demonstrates this ( Dr. Jeffrey Friedman, Dr. Stunkard). That is probably Jimmy Moore’s situation. Colpo is grossly misinformed. He is a cherry picker of the highest order.
I also believe his photo is photoshopped. Blow it up to 400 % and look really closely at his neck.
Does he workout in a turtle neck? Those are some extremely bizarre tan lines he has – 1/3/ of his neck and not even his forearms have any tan. The most revealing thing is his neck is absurdly loooooooong.
He holds crackpot hypotheses, like iron therapy etc. Blood letting for normal people with normal iron levels is next to useless for CAD prevention.
You also might want to have a look at Steven Nissen’s study on my blog . I have discredited Colpo about the HDL hypothesis. Plaque volume was erased ( 8% of the volume) in just 5 weeks ! Research is showing is the HDL function that matters, not the number level. Drs. Rader and Nissen’s pioneering woek show this.
Science is like “peeling an onion” not openinga box. We know Ancel Keys was wrong, but the HDL function part of the hypothesis appears to be very solid. We also know low fat diets are not at all the solution. Science nows too little yet about coronary artery disease, but research looks promising.
Colpo is a shady, shady guy.
Your retarded. Have you read the Fat Loss Bible?
Um, Branch: might I suggest that the next time you call someone “retarded,” you check your grammar, spelling and most particularly, punctuation first?
cant wait to read about all this !!! it sounds so fun, i am so sad i cant attend something like this! i am curious, did any speakers touch on eating disorders(outside ‘obesity’)???
May have, perhaps Nora G. But due to the format, And my own need to prepare, I saw a bit less than half of the presentations.
Just read the abstract for Don’s talk. Simply opens up the problem of infinite regress. How far back do we go?
Oh how I wish I was there! I will for sure be there next year!
Glad you are having such a great time. Just a quick note: it is one thing to look beautiful in your 20’s or 30’s, but to look as radiant and lovely as your wife does some time after a 50th birthday is a whole other story.
Thanks LisaW. I’m sure Beatrice will appreciate that when she sees it.
1000 photos, cut down to 234.
Facebook Day 1:
Facebook Day 2:
Flickr: – http://www.flickr.com/photos/ajolly/sets/72157627398946770/
Let me know if anyone needs a photographer :)
-Jolly