Todd / All --

On the question of Psoriasis: For a good ten years, I had a red patch right
in the center of my chest that was Psoriasis like: red, hardened, flaking
skin.  When it was aggravated, it was a patch the size of a silver dollar.
When in remission, it died back to a thin ring the same size, and itched
less.

Since going modified-paleo, I've found the trigger for me is grains.  Avoid
them religiously, and it goes completely away. Eat them even modestly and it
returns.

On the question of fermentation, as a biologist, the paleo anti-wine /
anti-yeast stand has always bothered me a bit. Yeast is about as old an
organism as you get, and given the nature of early human food gathering,
it's unreasonable to expect that over-ripened / semi-fermented fruit would
not have been a regular part of the diet.  Add to that basic logic the fact
that many animals have been observed to eat fermented fruit, and even seek
it out.  And then, there's the high caloric content of alcohol, and the
energy boost it would give.  My own experimentation suggests that I can
drink wine and tequila without any of the gluten/grain reactions happening,
but any grain-based alcohol does carry enough contaminants to start causing
problems.  (Tequila is made from the heart of the agave, and is one of the
few vegetable-based alcohols you can buy in the U.S. - I'd love to do a
world tour to check out any others, however. :))  I do think that the
alcohol might interfere with fat reduction, but in my case, it's a
calculated risk. With a family history of heart disease, the research
showing a huge reduction in heart disease risk that correlates with moderate
alcohol consumption ranks high on my personal radar.

Regards,

Ken