Dori Zook wrote:

>> Alcohol in small amounts is on the other hand paleo...
> 
> Well, at the risk of offending, that depends on what your definition 
> of alcohol is.

I think what you really mean here is that it depends on what my definition
of "small amounts" is.

> Maybe I'm just hyper-sensitive in
> light of my alcoholic, knuckle-dragging nightmare of a brother....

I don't want to make light of the problem of alcoholism. However the
prevalence of this problem in the human species is, I think, pretty strong
evidence that alcohol is paleo. If alcohol was really as lethal as it should
be then people would not drink it at all. It would be as revolting to us as
gasoline and lighter fluid and other chemically related substances.

Drawing upon Jen's excellent analogy between alcohol and salt, people become
addicted to alcoholic beverages just as they become addicted to salty foods.
Both addictions are bad for health. But both substances are also paleo in
small amounts. 

It is clear that our genes expect alcohol in the diet because our genome
contains instructions for its metabolism. These genes have been with us for
millions of years. Why would we have these genes unless we evolved on a diet
that contained at least small amounts of alcohol? And if we believe
paleodiet theory then we should feed ourselves according to the diet that
our genes expect.


-gts