On Mar 06, 2007, at 1:26 pm, Paleo Phil wrote:

> It seemed fairly straight-forward to me until
> Todd reported that all the nightshades had to be detoxified through
> selection to make them edible, not just potatoes. What is your  
> source on
> that, btw, Todd?

Hmmm now I'm unsure about whether tomatoes and peppers were or  
weren't poisonous raw.

If they were poisonous raw:
  - either you shouldn't eat them
  - or they are now safely detoxified, in which case potatoes are/ 
might be safe

or they weren't poisonous raw:
  - so they are safe, but then we didn't evolve eating them either way,
    so what difference does it make?
  - and if alkaloids are the only problem, what's wrong with
    selectively-bred potatoes?

I dunno - paleo man had it a lot easier:  me eat, me not dead, me eat  
more.  It's funny how all this science does nothing to help us solve  
a simple problem (should we eat tomatoes?).


> Yeah, but Audette didn't warn against eating supermarket  
> nightshades, so I'm
> thinking he must have had different reasoning, unless he didn't  
> think it
> through, assuming all nightshades were indeed toxic at one point.

I think Todd is probably on the right lines saying that maybe they  
weren't listed as forbidden because they are so commonly used, and  
Audette wouldn't want to harm sales of his book over something  
relatively minor.  Or at least, his publishers wouldn't... He also  
recommends trimming the fat off meat which is something I find hard  
to believe he would still recommend, at least if the meat is well- 
reared.  I'm sure someone read the draft and said "hmm, a diet book,  
where's the bit about eating low fat?"

My copy of Neanderthin is buried under a huge pile now so it's not  
easy for me to check what he said about nightshades.  Maybe he was  
aware that tomatoes and peppers contain some alkaloids, but less than  
potatoes, and the fact that potatoes are nutritional garbage tipped  
the balance.  Also, he was diabetic so probably not too fond of them.

Either way, I think his recommendation seems pretty reasonable, since  
potatoes cause untold harm and peppers relatively little.  I imagine  
a lot of this is to do with quantity, but it's very hard to teach  
people to apply judgement to what they eat.  Most people like to know  
you either can or can't eat something.  A bit like how near enough  
all compulsive speeders still stop at every red light.


> I believe taro is one of the forbidden foods of Audette and Cordain.

I don't have to read that to believe it!  Whether or not they are  
poisonous raw (well, I lived), they turn to a tasteless gooey pulp  
after 30 minutes in the oven.  If they were eating during the  
paleolithic, it was probably in the smallest quantity possible.