Jim Walsh> Some of us are gambling our (short term) lives on the answer to
such questions. I think that's a pretty good reason to waste time worrying
about it. :)

I hear you.  And if you enjoy worrying, then I guess so.  Personally, I
don't enjoy fretting over the piles of conflicting and nonsensical
nutritional advice out there.  Two more points on this.  First, I do not
understand the seeming religious faith put in each opinion that issues from
the medical establishment.  If you accept the paleo theory at all, then it
follows that the *overwhelming* majority of doctors and nutritionists are
operating with faulty assumptions about the cause and maintenance of human
health.  Heck, in my opinion, even leading a pro-paleo expert such as Dr.
Cordain is unable to divorce himself from the mostly well meaning but
overwhelmingly misguided assumptions of the medical majority.  Thus his
overemphasis on low fat, vis a vis Ray Audette.  But even assuming that
Loren's dead on right, which he might be, we've got to ignore a lot of info
that's being shoved in our faces constantly.  Second, I believe that once
you adopt the paleo way of eating (Ray's way or Cordain's strict way),
you're 90% of the way there.  The other 10% deals with issues like
saturated fat and the like.  You want to worry about the 10%, fine.  Let's
talk.  But have faith in God and the goodness of nature, not some confused
guy in a lab coat.

Jim Walsh > And there's the crunch. I can't help wondering if *any* of what
is available to me today was available to man say, 50,000 years ago. More
to the point, is *any* of what was available to him, available to me?

I don't think we have to mimic exactly what he was eating.  Avoid obvious
stuff that he wouldn't have eaten: grains, dairy, etc.  You could live a
very healthy life -- you'd be 90% of the way there -- on food you can get
at any supermarket.  Grainfed beef, frozen chicken, almonds, pecans, olive
oil, onions, fruit, spinach, etc.  Want to worry about the other 10%?  Good
for you, that's admirable.  Then look for grassfed beef, free range
chickens, native fruits and vegetables, wild game and fret more about the
minutiae then.