Sun 1/11/2009 2:28 PM Paleo Phil said: 

>As far as the Inuit diet being an extreme outlier as compared to the
majority of >Paleolithic diets, I believe Steve is right about that, as I
mentioned before. >The Inuit diet is not the only hunter-gatherer diet and
is not representative of >the majority of hunter-gatherer diets of either
the modern or Paleolithic eras. I >think some people mistakenly equate the
>(Greenland) Inuit diet with the Paleo diet because Ray Audette and
Stefansson >featured it. It is only one of many hunter-gatherer ways of
eating. Some people >do not realize that even among the Inuit and other
Northern Canadian tribes there >was diet variation. Some ate more berries
and other plant foods than others, >depending on what flora and fauna were
available in their particular latitude and >geography.

[Ron] While I absolutely agree that the Inuit are not representative of
hunter-gatherers, there are several good reasons that I often refer to them:

1. They were one of the HG groups that were well studied prior to extensive
contact with Europeans; 
2. They provide an excellent example of robust people eating a moderate
protein, very high fat diet, which runs contrary to current popular beliefs
about healthy eating; 
3. They provide solid support for my belief that while fats and proteins are
essential nutrients, carbohydrates are clearly an optional macronutrient; 
4. I have had a small amount of experience with some of the extreme
conditions in which they lived and thrived and I can attest to the
consumption of animal fats as a superior dietary strategy for staying warm. 

Best Wishes, 
Ron Hoggan