On Sat, 10 Mar 2007 16:44:16 -0700, Ashley Moran  
<[log in to unmask]> wrote:


> A guy I work with is going to try paleo for (hopefully) 6 weeks to see  
> if it can help him lose weight.  I told him it's easiest to say what you  
> can't eat, but before I'd come out with "grains, dairy foods, legumes,  
> sugar and processed foods" (did I miss anything?) he'd come back and  
> said it's easy enough to list the things you can eat - meat, veg, fruit,  
> nuts (did he miss anything? - I'm counting eggs as meat)
>
> The problem is I now have no idea how to define vegetable, I'm not so  
> hot on fruit, and I'm fairly sure I could find something I call a nut  
> that is contentious.  I think I'm safe with meat, although some of the  
> things I buy from Tesco make me question that.  (And I'm not even  
> thinking about Bernard Matthews Turkey-Ham now.)

Simple answer #1:
You can eat meat (includes birds and fish), eggs, vegetables,
fruits, and nuts.  Raw or cooked, preferably fresh, certainly not full of
chemicals or sugared; foods as themselves.

Nearly as simple, #2:
add: Don't eat legumes (and peanuts are legumes).  Don't eat potatoes.

Just #1 will improve their diet and health enormously.  #1 and #2 takes
care of practically everything important.
Test: lunchmeat? meat--ok, sodium nitrite--no, so no
       frozen broccoli--not as good as fresh, but still okay
       ice cream--no, obviously
       peanut butter sandwich--no, obviously
       pancakes made of eggs and nut flours--I guess

 From there, different people go their own ways; some only eat raw; some  
don't
eat nightshades; some don't eat New World foods because their ancestors  
come from
Old World stock; some go extreme low-carb and don't eat fruit; some don't  
eat any vegetable
that you have to cook to eat; some go only organic; some go with only  
pastured
meat and poultry, no feedlots or factory farms; some avoid salt.

If you can get people on #1 and #2, they can make the fine tunings that  
keep
them healthy and happy.  Endless lists and discussions of maybe this is  
okay and
maybe that is not are fun for some people, but not necessary for beginners.

	Lynnet