gts wrote:

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>The word "paleolithic" is a reference to a period of history. "Paleolithic
>foods" is therefore a reference to foods consumed during that period. A
>"paleolithic diet" is a diet comprised of those paleolithic foods. And, last
>time I checked, this discussion list was about the paleolithic diet.
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In reality, it would be difficult if not impossible to eat exactly
as paleolithic people ate.  The animals that they ate are largely extinct.
 They never ate grass-fed steer, for example, let alone the feedlot
variety.
As far as vegetables and  fruits go, nothing that you could buy
in a grocery or even a health food store matches what the
paleo people ate.  If you went out on the hills, caught rodents
or deer, picked wild fruits and gathered wild greens and knew enough to
dig out the healthful roots,  you might have a chance to approximate
paleo eating.

This is impractical for most of us.  And there isn't enough wild
land left in the world to feed one-hundredth of the human
population (a question for another  time....).  So, in general, we fudge
a little.
We eat grass-fed steer, peaches, green beans, lettuce, chicken eggs.
We avoid the highly-processed frankenfoods that humans were not eating
even 50 years ago.  We use olive oil (I don't think paleo man made olive
oil by
smashing olives between two stones; try it some time).  We are pretty
sure that
paleolithic man ate small amounts of grain, especially in the milk stage.
We are pretty sure that paleolithic man ate some legumes, and some
roots which needed to be cooked.

A more precise definition of the paleolithic eating in this support group
is that it approximates the food choices put forth in Neanderthin by
Ray Audette.  No dairy, legumes, sugars/sweets, roots that need to be
cooked, grains, and by extension coffee, chocolate and peanuts.

We have had lots of fascinating discussions about some of the boundary
areas of this definition of paleo eating, and I'm certain that we will
again.
We look for guidance to archaeological evidence, but when we put food
on the table, it's mostly food that we can buy at the store.

    Lynnet

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