Alex wrote:

>I'm curious as to why legumes are not permitted on the paleo diet. Wouldn't
the hunter gatherers >have eaten these?

Forgive my stammering index finger - here is the mail

It is understandable if you look at it out of the plants point of view. All
seeds have developed protection against being eaten because seeds are the
most precious part of the plant and meant to become the offspring of the
plant. If there ever was a plant that was soft, sweet, no thorn, no poison,
easy to chew it would have been finished off before it even turned into a
plant. Meaning that there never was such a plant. Another protection that
seeds developed is their size. Out in nature it is rather difficult to find
seeds to eat - just imagine creeping around on the savannah with your nose
close to the ground to find seeds ready to eat. The calories you would use
finding it would be more than you'd get from the seed and therefor you would
not spend enegy on it.

Producing poison is a cost to a plant and therefor the plant has to
economize and put the poison where it is most useful, that is contributes to
the survival of the plant. It is usually the roots and the seeds that have
the most poison. Think of apples. Everybody, I think, knows that one is not
well of eating the pips but the fruity juice around it is all right. Someone
said that if you eat one cup of appleseed you will die from it. I don't know
if it's true. Also many seeds of tropical fruits cause severe diarrhoea.

Not only seeds but all plants have some substanses that are not good for
those that eat them. Therefore it is important to eat a lot of different
veggies, getting many different, but diluted kinds of less healthy
substanses, thereby spreading out the risks.

It is true that seeds often have a low glycemic index but they are not low
carb. They have a high concentration of calories since there is no water in
it and the lectins and phytins make them unsuitable to eat.

Eva