Thanks for your reply, Amadeus, and everyone else's explanations, too.  When
I asked the question, I was wondering if Amadeus was a vegetarian who was
either confused about what kind of support group this is, not certain of
what he believes, or trying to convert us  meat-eaters.  But, I don't mind
the spice Amadeus adds to the group.  It's probably good to have at least
one dissenter.

"We have our arts; the ancestors had theirs...We cannot raise obelisks a
hundred feet high in a single piece, but our meridians are more exact."
Voltaire

-----Original Message-----
From: Paleolithic Eating Support List
[mailto:[log in to unmask]]On Behalf Of Amadeus Schmidt
Sent: Sunday, August 19, 2001 10:45 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Definition of paleo


Hi, I've seen yoru posting before I'm leaving off to a Spain vacancy
but I thought I might throw in a few words on your description and
interpretation.

On Sun, 19 Aug 2001 11:19:03 -0400, Richard Geller <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Amadeus feels that today's cows, pigs, chickens etc. are industrialized,
>non-paleo versions of what we used to eat.

That's very true, particularly the fat composition is totally different
from any fat one could get in the wild.

>So Amadeus does not eat any meat.

That's true, but not the main reason.
The main reason are my feelings about eating this.
My reasons to be a vegetarian is not what I want to elaborate on - I
consider it off topic and not adequate to discuss amoung a lot of meat
eaters. You may consider it a religious topic if you want.
I hope you can accept this, as some of you did and some seem not to.

>He eats fresh vegetables and fruit and things like yams, amaranth, spelt,
>oats, nuts, etc.

Yes, amoung others, I do include some late paleolithic inventions - bread
cereals (instead of gathered ones). This is neolithicum -a real deviation.
I tried to stay off cereals for a long time - and restrict myself to purist
paleo items (roots vegetables).
Now I feel some whole cereals do me well.

>What makes it interesting is that Amadeus feels that what he eats is a
>paleo diet.
Say, a diet with much power from paleo inspirations.

>A few problems have never been resolved to my satisfaction:
>
>1. sources of omega 3 fatty acids EPA, DHA, and things like CLA etc.. It
>seems hard to get the w3/w6 right eating this way. Too much w6.

EPA and DHA I don't eat - my test showed them to be plenty in my blood.
W-3 I pay a lot of attention, since I love to eat fatty and most fatty
plants have too much w-6 (like industrial animals too, btw).
I eat from hemp and flax both seeds and oil (which both I like).
Flax it *the* historical equal-out of cereal w-6 fat overload.
Maybe the prerequisite that cereal agriculture could emerge and spread.
The reason why native american agriculture (of maize w/o flax) never reached
that level (read Jared Diamond "the third chimpanzee" he doesn't suspect
this, but it matches)

>
>2. sources of certain trace nutrients, esp. B12. Others on this list have
>suggested that vegetarians inevitably eat small amounts of insect and this
>supplies the B12. Could be.

B12 is the weak point of trying to be paleovegetarian.
The b12 levels seem to drop to about 100-150ng and stay there, without
animal products. Probably due to the little b12-production in the ileum.
This is called defficient "by definition" although I didn't experience any
symptoms. I think the high folate enables a lower b12-level.
Or real paleovegetarians ought to eat some termites ;-)

>3. perhaps the biggest objection: this is inevitably a high carb diet. Nuts
>are especially w3 poor. To eat this way, you must eat high carb, low
>protein
>and even low fat; if you eat high fat plant products you are going to have
>completely off w3/w6 ratios.

There are fatty seeds, most of which are poor in w-3, but some are rich in
w-3 (flax, hemp, poppy, pumpkin). I like fatty.

> My point
>is that there are "nearly perfectly paleo" animal protein sources if you
>have the money to pay for them and feel strongly about this point.

I think so.
And I think you *should* feel strongly about this point
*or* equal out unnatural animal fat by (the same as my) vegetable fats.

Really I've learned a lot and got a lot of inspiration from the paleo list.
I've studied archeology for some semesters so I'm interested in the
connection of these both.

regards

Amadeus S.