I showed this post to a friend of mine who has a recent anthropology degree.
His response: it's not all about the food choices. The two greatest health
differences between us and our ancestors 50,000 years ago are our sedentary
lifestyle and our lack of a tribe. Therefore:
1. If you didn't walk two miles to get it, it's not paleo.
2. If you're eating it alone, it's not paleo.
Food for thought.
~ Joan
-----Original Message-----
From: Lynnet Bannion <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask]
Sent: Fri, Jul 24, 2009 11:47 am
Subject: Re: zucchini reprise
On Fri, 24 Jul 2009 10:15:32 -0600, Andrea Hughett <[log in to unmask]> wrote:?
?
> Granted, a possible working definition of paleo diet is, "My best guess > at what paleo man actually ate under optimum conditions, adjusted > according to what reliable scientific studies (as defined by what fits > my preconceived notions) have shown to be healthful or otherwise and > subject to what my individual body appears to work best on." Is this > what we are talking about, or am I missing the point??
Actually, we:?
1. don't know very much about what paleo man ate except that?
there was a lot of meat;?
2. the fruits and vegetables, roots, herbs, etc. that?
paleo man ate are mostly not available to us, and the?
fruits etc. that we eat were certainly not available to them.?
3. the animals that paleo man ate, in general, are?
not those that you can find in the supermarket, in?
the feed lot, or even on farms.?
?
So, although it would be ideal to eat as paleo man?
ate under optimum conditions, that is not an option?
that we really have.?
?
Ray Audette said in "Neanderthin": "I determined, therefore,?
to eat only those foods that would be available to me?
if I were naked of all technology save that of a convenient?
sharp stick or stone."?
?
Although he stretched that point some in his recipes,?
for example calling for olive oil (crushed with a stone?!),?
the basics as described are:?
?
1. Eat only foods that do not require modern technology to?
prepare (that leaves out all forms of HFCS, preservatives,?
and a huge list of things that I don't need to repeat here).?
?
2. Don't eat foods that MUST be cooked to be eaten?
(in order to avoid antinutrients). That's not the same?
as saying that all food must be raw, though that's OK if?
it's your decision. (this knocks out legumes and some roots)?
?
3. Don't eat dairy products and grains, since they would?
have been unavailable (of course human milk before weaning?
is as paleo as you can get).?
?
Some people won't eat new world foods, on the principle?
that they would not have been available to our distant European?
ancestors (that's assuming that all of us HAD European?
ancestors). But by the same token, modern fruits and?
vegetables were not available to anybody's distant ancestors,?
because they weren't invented yet. And if you took it far?
enough, you wouldn't eat anything except what grew in Africa,?
which is kind of silly.?
?
And we've had spirited discussions on dairy (bambi cheese),?
grains (can be collected in fairly large quantities in?
natural stands in some areas, and processed with stones?
and fire), and root veggies (readily available with that?
sharp stick).?
?
So the second step, given the initial choice of?
non-technological foods, is to find out what works?
for you. Perhaps that's all-meat, perhaps it's?
all-raw, perhaps New World foods work for you,?
or they don't, perhaps you use butter, perhaps you eat?
baked roots (without the marshmallows on top). Perhaps?
it's only foods that grow in your region. Vanishingly?
few of us can eat only wild foods that grow in our?
region, however, though that's closer to paleo than any?
other food selection we can make these days.?
?
So, the answer is, there is no cut-and-dried answer. But?
we do have to realize that the range of food selections made by?
paleo man are not available to us, and just do the best we can.?
?
? Lynnet?
?
PS in my book zucchini is paleo: can be planted and collected by?
hand (don't even need that sharp stick), and eaten raw.?
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