>Quoth:    "Janet L. Walbaum" <[log in to unmask]>
>
> 1) Will this tryptophan ever kick in and allow me to sleep?  One of you
>mentioned this diet lets you sleep like a rock.  Hard to believe.  Sounds
>like a dream (heh).

Speculate that it's freedom from digestive difficulties, allergic
symptoms and midnight cravings that lets one sleep better w/ Paleo.

>
>2) I haven't heard anything about liquid intake among the Paleolithic.  How
>much water did they drink?  I'm sure they weren't trying to force down 8
>glasses a day like I've been told to do.

Sure? I belonged to the gallon-a-day club long before I cottoned to Paleo,
and that's 16 8-oz measures. I don't force anything down... glub ;-)
Also drinking muddy water, a likely scenario, would have provided
many more minerals than many municipalities can provide -- another
good reason to consider supplemental minerals.

...
>
>3) I know this has been addressed, but I missed it -- with all this red meat
>consumption, isn't  cholesterol a concern?  

No. The mainstream dietary cholesterol=bad notion persists,
but it is wrong, especially when reports are that under Paleo,
serum cholesterol drops compared to high-carbers. Is seems that
Neolithic eaters have cholesterol problems, not Paleoids.

>The meats all those years ago
>were wild and lean and the hunters/gatherers got a tremendous amount of
>cardio exercise.

Hmmm. Beware truisms and old cave-man movies. Meats might have been
lean but any cave-person would have gone after the fatty parts
and nutrient-dense organs first. Megafauna typically learn which
parts provide the most for the least work -- PaleoMan was no different.

>And what about the amount of time meat takes to transverse
>through your intestines?  This has for quite some time now been the argument
>against red meat -- that it stays in the lower intestine too long which might
>contribute to colon cancer.  Please explain.

Traversal time and colonic retention contributing to lower GI
cancer has never got much past the hypothesis stage. Probably
a rumor started by Kellogg's All-Bran division.

>
>4) Lastly, I heard some of you mention eating bacon.  Blah!!  Arghhh!! Awful
>stuff!  You know those guys didn't consume sodium nitrites!  What's up with
>that?

What's up is that uncured bacon is universally sought by Paleoids.
No nitrates, nitrates or other nitrosaminogenic "cures" to deal with.
Not to mention sugar, erythorbates and other forbidden crud.

Hempler's brand out of Bellingham, WA is the best uncured in the Northwest.
The fat (I have half an empty coconut-milk can full) is invaluable
for cooking those 4-egg omelettes.

If you can't get uncured (do ask), you can always take 1/2-1 gm. ascorbic
acid (vitamin C) and that will neutralize the nitrosamines. Probably
a good tip for the bacon- or sausage-craving Paleoid on the trail.