Okay, sorry about the savannah part,  but I don't live near an ocean, and my 
ancestors came from Northern Russia.  I live on the side of a mountain where it 
gets minus 10 in the winter.    When I truly want to  emulate my paleo 
ancestors, for the hunting part,  I can live off the abundant deer, wild turkey, 
rabbits, overhead geese, grouse, squirrel,  raccoon, beaver,  that hang out all 
day long right out the door. Ever eat a wild  beaver?  No store bought meat I've 
run across parallels the amazing amount of delicous fat that drips from a nicely 
roasted beaver.  Think duck fat on steriods!!!!    And the deer has fat pockets 
stored just for the taking!  The ribs are fantastic.  For my climate, I need to 
keep warm, so I've long ago dropped the mental paranoia about eating too much 
fat. FAT ROCKS! I understand that most folks on this list don't have the 
advantage of living off the land,  But my advice is if you are going to emulate 
the hunter/gatherer diet, you can't apply the "South Beach Diet" menu plan onto 
us.    Eating copious amounts of fat  when you need it is  the only way to 
survive and maintain Paleo if you plan on doing it for the long haul. Skinless 
chicken breast and steamed brocolli is okay once in awhile if its 102 degrees F 
outside and you can barely move,  but when the cold weather hits, I need to be 
ready. Forget salads once its October.  Bring out the lamb, baby!! If you can 
get grassfed fat, without taking out a second mortgage, then go for 
it. Otherwise, there are supermarket options that can work - sardines, canned 
Alaskan salmon, hormone free beef  ribs(cheaper than organic),  unseasoned 
nuts, and for southern paleos:   avocados, coconuts, to name a few.   Walmart 
sells Frozen whole Alaskan  Salmon fillets for $7.99 for Keta Salmon.   I called 
to confirm its not farm raised, because the fine print said it was packaged in 
China.    When I eat the so called healthy "lean meat" version of Paleo, I get 
crabby, weak and the cravings start to hit. I become an embarrassment to 
hunter/gatherers the world over.. LOL.   So, my only advice is to free the mind 
from the enormous media schizophrenia about diet, and just check in everyday 
with your own intuition. Studies are okay, but looking in the mirror is a better 
indicator.   As the body cleans out, and you return to normal human eating, the 
answers will get clearer.  If you need something dense and carby, instead of 
beating oneself up about eating a banana or apple,  go for it.  Slather it 
with nut butter, and it will stick to the ribs.  Or, try a baked yam, or a 
winter squash to get through the hump if fruit doesn't suit you and you find 
yourself on the brink of craving  something nasty. Why get all in a knot about a 
piece of fruit, and then wind up asking for G-d's forgiveness because you've 
crashed and burned in the candy aisle?  LOL.... For pete  sakes, certain hunter 
gatherers figured out how to make even  trees edible (bamboo, ie).  Do what you 
have to do to stay as close to being a hunter/gatherer as you can in the modern 
world.  Enjoy the process!  Don't turn the Paleo Diet into a  excuse for adding 
more stress onto your plate.  There's always food available, no matter where you 
go.  That's thinking like a true forager.  Even if you have to eat a can of 
sardines in the middle of a bus stop in the Midwest or a bag of nuts to make it 
to your next big feed.  There's always something we can find.  You can pick 
dandelion greens off of someones lawn if you had to. The world is abundant, if 
you just know where to look.   Now, as far as shellfish, I can go to the 
supermarket during certain times of the year and pick up Maine fresh shrimp in 
late fall.  There from cold water, fairly clean.  I won't buy southern water 
shellfish right now.  But I do like  northern water scallops. I'm okay with 
it.  I try not to eat much lake fish, even though its more available to me for 
the taking in my bioregion. But if I catch it, I'll eat it.   I prefer salt 
water fish.  I believe in the antiseptic properties of salt, and the ocean is 
very forgiving. Cut out the fat line (the dark gray line) in the fish, and you 
can get rid of most of the toxic load in fatty fish.  

 Bottom line, visualize yourself lean and mean, even if you are not, and stop 
being squeamish.  You're a hunter now.  Get used to it! (cave)Man up....
 
All written in good humor, btw....
Best,
Batsheva
 
 


 



________________________________
From: Sandy Rzetelny <[log in to unmask]>
In a message dated 9/29/2010 9:17:35 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,  
[log in to unmask] writes:


But  enough with the savannahs already, we should also consider "the
waterside  hypothesis" that states that early humans fed consistently on
seashells and  the like, so probably we overestimate the importance of meat
in paleo  diet.

I love shellfish but now am wary of it due to gulf oil spill. Any idea how  
much that's available is now contaminated, and how to make sure it's not?
Sandy