Dianne:

I hoped I'd draw someone on this "paleo" thing. The fact is the paleolithic
simply describes a state of being, not a particular date in the past.

Webster's definition is:  "Of or pertaining to the early human culture
characterized by rough or chipped stone implements."  It simply means "old
stone age," as opposed to the mesolithic (middle) and neolithic (new) stone
age. Lithic means stone.

The essential difference between the paleo lithic and the meso and neo lithic
is the introduction of agriculture and pasturelism (domesticated animals).
The reason I describe "my" local indians as paleolithic is this is what they
were. Whether its 5k years or 50k years is irrelevant. This is what I meant
by the eurocentrism of this discussion. All these terms were based on the
discovery of remains in Europe (neanderthal, cro-magnon, etc), where the
paleolithic indeed was more than 50k years ago. But the native peoples in the
rest of the world, and a few that still exist, such as the San of the
Kalahari, were still living a hunter/gatherer stone age existence until quite
recently.

And this is the case with the California Indians, and this is why they are
such a treasure trove of information about the "paleolithic" We haven't a
clue as to how paleolithic Europeans lived and what they ate. Hence all this
ill informed discussion about raw meat. Did they eat it or not? Who knows?
But we do know what paleolithic native Californians ate in great detail --
all 600 different food items, and just as importantly, how they processed it
(and most of this stuff is still available - all you have to do is go and get
it!).

And since all this is presumably about genes -- in other words, do we have
paleolithic genes, so should we be eating in a paleolithic manner, then the
details of a paleolithic culture's eating and lifestyle habits is highly
valuable. What we are all really concerned with is health. Where these people
healthy, and should we emulate them, so far as we can? The answer, of course,
is yes. They were extremely healthy, and were frequently described by the
Spanish chroniclers as healthy, robust good looking people.

The Mojave Indians living in the Mojave Desert were over 6 foot tall, and
they only had roots, insects and small game to live on.  The native
Californians suffered from none of the autoimmune diseases that plague modern
man. I repeat, none -- no heart disease, no cancers, no diabetes, no
osteoporosis, no or little arthritis, no obesity, etc.etc. And since they
also did not have any viral diseases, since they lived in small groups, their
only cause of premature death was due to injury, and they were pretty good at
dealing with that as well.

This is why when you read the literature describing these people, you
constantly find references to their great age. The 89 year old man still
hunting rabbits with a bow and arrow, for example, and people living to 100
years was not uncommon. In fact, they did not take much notice of their
chronological age, as they did not "age" the way we do. They essentially had
the secret of eternal youth until they died.

You will constantly hear the myth being repeated that the reason we are
suffering from all these autoimmune disease is simply because we are living
longer. "In the old days, they all died at 40, so they died before they got
these diseases." This is complete nonsense.

The only reason we live as long as we do, on average, is because of medical
technology. Take that away, and our average life expectancy would be less
than native peoples. Look at the obituaries in your local newspaper -- at
least 20% of people are dying prematurely of these autoimmune diseases, and
how many of the others that live a complete lifespan are not on some kind of
medication?

So Ray Audette is correct is principle - he just did not research in detail
what a paleolithic diet actually is. He mainly speculated on this. The real
answers are to be found in native cultures that live long healthy and active
lifespans.

Charles