At 11:58 +1000 15/12/1998, James Crocker wrote:

>Paleo eating does seem to be the most sensible,
>and in order to recieve excellent benefits from it we do not need to
>exclude every grain, legume and dairy product.


I've been reading Dr Weston Price's Nutrition and Physical Degeneration
recently. In that book he examines the diets of several primitive cultures,
and their health. Even though the cultures he studied were chosen because
of their excellent health, the wide range of diets studied is astounding.

The first people studied were the Swiss mountain folk. They lived mainly
on whole grain rye bread and cheese, with meat served once per week.
They seemed to thrive on this very un-paleo diet, and it was not until
the introduction of modern foods that their health declined.

Other peoples such as Eskimos consume a more traditional paleo diet, also
with excellent health and a deterioration after the introduction of modern
foods to their diet.

The theory I'm following at present is that the human body is an amazingly
effective but fragile filter. When we put a wide variety of wholesome foods
into it, it filters out the nutrients it needs and expells the rest. The
fragility comes about from the body's inability to process refined sugar,
refined flour, chemicals, pesticides, preservatives, additives and a host
of other modern junk food. I theorise that this "junk food" interferes with
the body to such an extent that the body can no longer filter the required
nutrients from the detritus.

I believe this sensitivity to "junk foods" is due to evolution, hence my
presence on the P-F list :)

 ...Richard.