On Mon, 20 May 2002 14:35:30 -0400, Kathleen Lunson <[log in to unmask]>
wrote:

>Knowing the perfect diet is
>1. impossible, as you have found out given the proliferation of
conflicting opinions, and

This is almost exactly what I was going to say. I don't believe there is
any such thing as the perfect diet, since a. scientists disagree about
things and b. we are all different anyway. Even if scientists did agree
that there was some amazing wonder food, some people would be allergic to
it or wouldn't like it.

So what each of us has to do is find the ideal diet for ourselves, which
will depend on many factors including tastes, budget, and cooking
facilities. The amount of time, energy and money each of us wants to spend
on this will vary from person to person. It is your choice.

For example, there's been quite a lot on this list lately about the
benefits of fish oil as opposed to flax oil, and I think the general
consensus is that fish oil is better. But through trial and error, I have
found that flax oil (Udo's choice) suits me better - I prefer the taste(!),
and it makes my skin clearer and softer than fish oil did. So I'm prepared
to go against the consensus on this one.

As for Peat, he barely distinguishes between omega 3 and omega 6, whereas
the rest of the literature is very clear that there is an important
difference between them. He says that EFAs aren't essential at all, and
cites a 1948 biochemistry textbook, which I don't find very convincing. As
for his other references, I haven't read them but I see that many of them
refer to 'dietary lipids' or 'dietary fat', and I wouldn't be surprised if
many of them used standard vegetable oils in their experiments rather than
the sort we take as supplements. Perhaps we could ask Cordain what he
thinks about Peat's article?

Finally, when Jim was talking about the 90% and the 10%, he wasn't
referring to the proportion of fats in the diet, but rather that simply by
switching to the paleo diet you are already making a huge improvement to
your health. 90% is just a rough estimate of that benefit. Sometimes after
reading the posts here I find myself worrying about the details, so I for
one find it useful to be reminded that it doesn't have to be complicated
unless you want it to be.

Jo