> ... So, in a nutshell, most of this is not contradictory to Paleo eating.   =
> 
> Rules 5 and 6
> need a little reinterpretation, though not a lot.  And I think this  =
> 
> approach is where Atkins, as presently constituted, fell off the wagon. =
>   =
> 
> Eating tons of highly-processed meats and pseudofoods made to look and  =
> 
> taste like carbs CAN'T be good for you.
> 
> 	Lynnet

That's a good review of where Pollan basically agrees with Paleos. I do
think it's useful to work together with people who advocate competing
dietary philosophies on the areas of agreement. Even true vegetarians
and vegans agree with Paleos and Pollan on many of those things you
recapped and other views that Pollan expressed (for example, many
vegetarians and vegans avoid dairy products and most of them believe in
eating "whole" foods and avoiding processed foods). It's also good to be
aware of where Paleolithic nutrition disagrees with alternative
approaches, like that of Pollan. Here's a quick summary off the top of
my head of where Pollan disagrees with Paleo (I've only read a couple of
interviews of him and some reviews of his book in addition to this
article, so let me know if I get anything wrong):

Pollan advocates near-vegetarianism. He believes that meat should only
be used as a flavoring (Chinese cuisine has a similar approach, but
tends to do this as a necessity, rather than a choice, I think).

Pollan believes that low levels of protein are sufficient (this is an
educated guess, based on his view that meat should be minimized), far
below the levels that HG's eat.

Pollan advocates whole grains (which he calls an unprocessed "whole
food," despite the fact that whole grains are often consumed in the form
of manufactured products like breads, bagels, muffins, crackers, etc.
that also include additional nonPaleo ingredients like added table sugar
and salt).

Pollan likely includes legumes and starchy tubers in his recommendation
to consume "vegetables."

Pollan elsewhere harshly criticizes low carb and high fat diets and
calls Atkins a quack. He appears to support the conventional high carb,
low fat approach.

So despite some of his good-sounding vague rhetoric, Pollan wants people
to eat less meat and eat more whole grains and legumes. That's
drastically different than the Paleo approach. His use of vague
platitudes and condemnation of "reductionism" (which matches Campbell's
approach) appears to come from Macrobiotic philosophy, which is another
approach that is very different from a Paleo approach.