Paleo Phil wrote:
>   
>> I think Todd is probably on the right lines saying that maybe they
>> weren't listed as forbidden because they are so commonly used, and
>> Audette wouldn't want to harm sales of his book over something
>> relatively minor.  Or at least, his publishers wouldn't... 
>>     
>
> But if Audette was looking to include as many foods as he could and make the
> diet easier then why did he prohibit beets and turnips, which Cordain
> allows, and why did Audette prohibit cheating, which Cordain allows for 1-3
> meals per week?
>   
To put it simply, Neanderthin has a few contradictions.  As for 
cheating, Ray Audette's "foreign protein" theory stipulates that even a 
tiny amount of an offending protein is enough to restimulate an 
auto-immune response.  I have many reservations about this theory, but 
it's one of Audette's premises.

> He says nothing I can find beyond that potatoes are bad because of
> alkaloids, vitamin A deficiency, fungus (common scab--which also affects
> some root vegetables that he says are OK, but he may not have been aware of
> that), and carbs (briefly mentioned indirectly), whereas the other
> nightshades are in his permitted list. It's possible he just didn't know
> that the other nightshades contained toxic levels of alkaloids in their wild
> form, or maybe Todd is wrong about all nightshades having been toxic in
> their wild form. I don't know.
>   
I don't think I ever said all nightshades were toxic in their wild form, 
if by "toxic" you mean that they were poisonous.  If I did say that, I'm 
pretty sure it's wrong.  What I think I did say was that all nightshades 
contain some amount of the alkaloid toxin solanin, although it may be 
very small.  The domestication of these plants as crops involves, among 
other things, selectively breeding them to minimize solanin content.  I 
don't remember where I read that, but it doesn't seem particularly 
controversial in any case.

White potatoes are in fact edible raw, at least in limited quantity, if 
you avoid the skin and any green or discolored spots.  A number of 
people on this list talked about eating raw potatoes regularly, years ago.

Things are not always as simple as they are presented in Neanderthin.  
Plants contain what are called "secondary compounds", i.e., toxins and 
antinutrients.  They contain various levels of these depending on 
species, variety, age of the plant, time of year etc.  Those that 
contain low enough levels of secondary compounds are considered edible, 
in relation to a certain species.  Those with high levels are inedible.  
But "low" and "high" are vague terms, and it's really a continuum.  
Cooking destroys many secondary compounds (along with some nutrients), 
reducing their level to what would be found in an "edible raw" food, 
thus making the inedible edible.  In some instances, soaking and rinsing 
accomplishes the same thing, only more slowly.  Reading Neanderthin, one 
might get the impression that the paleo plant foods are devoid of toxins 
and antinutrients, while the "forbidden fruits" are chock full of them.  
This is simply not the case.

For example, Audette bans peanuts because they are legumes and because 
they may have Aspergillus Flavus growth, producing aflatoxin, which is 
very carcinogenic.  And yet, peanuts are edible raw.  On the other hand, 
they are a New World food.  Moreover, cherries, generally considered 
paleo, are also susceptible to Aspergillus/aflatoxin, as are 
blackberries, to a lesser extent.  Spinach is certainly edible raw, but 
contains enough antinutrient oxalates to inhibit mineral absorption, 
which is exactly what the phytates in grains also do.  Eggs are paleo, 
but contain the antinutrient avidin.  There's no single way to draw the 
paleo/nonpaleo line.

Todd Moody
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