Mary <[log in to unmask]> wrote:

>...
>Didn't hunter gatherers consume HIGH fat diets, for the most part?

Which ones do you mean? Inuit are not our anchestors.
Africa, where all the autralopethines and most homo habilis/erectus
remains were found doesn't look like fatty animals have been
running around there. Even not in autumn/winter (like Ray portrayed),

because in the tropics all days are equally long- no winter.

Makes an exclamation point on how important fat was.
Plants can be fatty too.
There aren't so much fatty fruit (avocados i tink are from america?)
But seeds of trees use fat as the most efficient energy
storage instead if starch.
Nuts. 60% fat.

High fat animals *were* available in ice covered lands
in the ice age. If we immigrated at about 35000bc from africa to
cold europe, then we will have experienced winters with
almost zero vegetation and fatty animals
(and summers with much greens like rumex growing).
That makes a bottleneck of 25000 years or so, to test the ability
of our body to live on protein and fat (and some vitamin storage).
At last that's what body does in starving times, anyway.
If we included neanderthals as to have participated on our genes
we get 200kyears more, with about 50% part in ice covered ages.

Before that, we had (many) millions of years in the tropics.

>Wouldn't you have to eat a large amount of protein to get sufficient
>calories, if you are on a low fat diet?

I like Loren Cordaines work (though i don't share his picture
as african paleolithicum was).
He managed to point our attention on fat compositions (w-3 / w-6)
and the antinutrients in cereals.

To your point: remember Loren's explanation, why paleolithic
people had thick bones (enough calcium)
despite the proposed high protein intake?
(to find it locate "osteoporotic" in his article)
>> http://www.lifeservices.com/cordain.htm

He mentiones, that it was the high fruit and vegetable consumation,
which can equal out the acid excretion.

Fruit and some vegetables (roots)  from this equal-out part
already have a lot of calories.

regards,
Amadeus

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