Further to my previous post on oils, this gave a good example of using the
logical tool Occam's razor to decide between choices. This is relevant to
the list as Occam's razor always come up supporting paleolithic diets.

Occam's Razor "The explanation requiring the fewest assumptions is most
likely to be correct." - it can be stated many other ways. Today, the most
popular way is "the KISS Principle" (KISS = keep it simple stupid, for
anyone who doesn't get out enough) ref
http://www.public.iastate.edu/~physics/sci.physics/faq/occam.html .
If you have a choice between  number of alternative theories, the one
requiring the least number of assumptions is more likely (but not always
correct). I learnt this from a sci-fi book when I was a teenager and it's
always been useful to me.

This is easy to see if you look at Ray Audette's reasoning for having a
paleodiet:
1. A natural diet is best
2. Nature is defined as the absence of technology
There are only 2 assumptions. Most other diets need a list as long as your
arm.
The point is that if any of your assumptions are wrong, then the rest of
your theory is wrong too!
Now, Ray's only got 2 assumptions and I obviously agree with both of them.
Everything else flows from there.

Another example is the choice between 1.polyunsaturated margarine and
2.olive oil. Aim is to reduce heart disease. Starting point is the research
showing that people eating olive oil get less heart disease.

Reasons to eat olive oil requires following assumptions:
1. People eating olive oil get less heart disease.

Reasons for eating polyunsaturated margarine:
1. People eating olive oil get less heart disease.
2. Olive oil is mono(single)unsaturated, margarine is poly(many)unsaturated
3. More is better, so margarine must be even better for your heart (good
sales point but tragically wrong)

Good old Occam would never have fallen for the margarine. You shouldn't fall
for any diet other than paleo.

Occam's razor also shows that philosophers can do some useful work. They
don't just talk about whether or not we really exist or the definition of
truth- they talk about that sort of stuff to scare off non-philosophers and
because a lot of them are dysfunctional or socially impaired or haven't yet
come to terms with the philosophy of marketing. Getting off topic, couldn't
help myself.

Ben Balzer


I've repeated the previous post below:
Some oils have been a part of the diet for all time- olive oil being the oil
of an edible fruit- the seed being discarded. Ripe olives are said to be so
juicy that the oil runs out of them before the first squeeze. This is the
very expensive free-run juice that is more treasured than the first press
(the extra virgin oil). Olive oil is definitely as paleo as a vegetable oil
can get. Obviously primitive man didn't deep fry his food or consume the
amounts of oil we do. He probably did eat a lot of olives when they were in
season- so go for it. Olive oil has the distinction of usually being
mechanically extracted, and therefore full of its own natural antioxidants
and no preservatives are used. Unfortunately, seed based oils are often
solvent extracted. This destroys the natural antioxidants, so preservatives
have to be added to stop it becoming rancid. The preservative in Australia
is usually BHT butylated hydroxy-toluene.

Animal fats are also oils. The difference between oil and fat simply being
that oils are liquid at room temperature and fats are solid. Animal fats are
paleo.

I won't discuss Canola (rapeseed) oil as I don't know much about it (apart
from it usually being solvent extracted and dosed with preservative).
Perhaps, someone else can fill us in on it.

Now, the absolute cruncher- seed oils. .................................

In the 1950's, Westerners were dying like flies of heart attack and stroke.
(Notwithstanding environmental poisoning like DDT), researchers soon found
populations who weren't affected so badly- in the Mediterranean, etc.. They
found that these good people were eating lots of olive oil, a
monounsaturate. They concluded that eating monounsaturates would stop the
problem. This of course wasn't good enough, they had to be even better. The
scientists declared  that if monounsaturates were good, polyunsaturates must
be even better. This led to the commercial farming of sunflower and
safflower seed for food oil for the first time in history. It's been said
that the farmers of these products sponsored some of the seminal research in
the field. Who knows?

The rest is history, the western world started scoffing margarine by the
bucket. It took another 30 years to realise that the processing of the
polyunsaturates led to formation of harmful trans fatty acids, and that
there are important differences between N-6 and N-3 polyunsaturates, and
that overall polyunsaturated margarine is no better/worse than butter, so
why did they bother?(apart from financial greed and scientific vanity).

Now, of course everyone is changing over to olive oil based margarines
(which are usually largely canola oil as well), or dunking their bread in
olive oil. Which could have all been started in the 1960's. The cost of the
delay?? Millions of people throughout the world developed heart disease 5 to
20 years earlier than they should have! I'll talk more about it in my next
post (oils, heart disease and Occam's razor)

(This is all based on reliable sources but I haven't looked up the original
research myself)

Ben Balzer

God doesn't always shave with Occam's
Razor...................................

But she always does her legs with it!