DS wrote:
> I am wondering how to determine biologically appropriate foods for a 
> given area. I grew up in USSR. I found this info on Russian diets and 
> this is congruent with the foods that I grew up on.
>    
>   However, dairy, carbs, breads, vegetable oil(from sardines) are a 
> large part of this diet.  How would I adjust this to be more paleo? Is 
> it as simple are removing the carbs and bad oils? Thanks.

The biological appropriateness of regional foods is an interesting question
I have investigated as well. The Russian diet is essentially irrelevant to
the Paleo diet, as Ginny pointed out, since the literal Paleo diet refers to
those foods eaten during the Paleolithic era of around 200,000 - 10,000
years ago (long before the founding of ethnic Russian culture by Vikings in
the village of Kiev). There is some disagreement, but the staple Paleo foods
are generally considered to have been wild meats and organs, seafood, fruits
and vegetables. However, some genetic adaptation to regional foods could
theoretically have occurred since 10,000 YA, which would fall under the more
general concept of a biologically appropriate diet. Given the short time
frame, the Paleolithic foods would still likely be the healthiest for all
regions. It is possible that some of the non-Paleo foods might be less
unhealthy by region, though the evidence for this is currently sketchy.

I have pondered whether the traditional PALEO foods of a region might be
even healthier for that region's people than Paleo foods of other regions.
For example, maybe ethnic Russians might do better on traditional Paleo
foods like wild elk, deer, reindeer, berries, and mushrooms than on foreign
Paleo foods like tomatoes, mangoes, cantaloupe, bok choy, etc. I don't have
any evidence to back up this speculation, however. Also, one of the
complicating factors is that foods of one region are often closely related
to foods of another. For example, many of the New World foods are descended
from Old World foods, so foods from one region may not really be that
different from foods of another region.

It was once thought that Northwestern Europeans suffered much higher rates
of celiac disease than Mediterranean Europeans. Then Italy investigated and
found that their rate was actually quite close to the rates of the Irish and
Finlanders that were thought to be extraordinarily high. However, it could
be that Italy has higher rates of grain consumption that would affect the
celiac rate.

Sardine oil is fish oil, not vegetable oil. Vegetable oil is usually soy
oil; sometimes corn oil or a mixture. To make the Russian diet more Paleo
you would remove the dairy, carbs and breads. Even the traditional Russian
diet would be an improvement on the SAD.