Hi, gang:

After finally reading the WW article on the STONE-AGE EATING SECRET, I
couldn't help but fire off an e-mail to the editors. It looks as though
they merely paid me lip service...but here's what happened...



My letter to WW:

Dear WW:

As a journalist who is quite familiar with paleolithic (stone-age) eating
and diets, I must point out that the WW article, "Discover the Stone-Age
Eating Secret...," on page 20 of the 4/6/99 issue, is probably the WORST
article I've seen on the topic.

The writer is either amazingly uninformed -- or the article has been
slanted to fit some bizarre editorial or "advertorial" requirements.

The author, Sarah Rush, didn't include any comments from Ray Audette, the
author of "Neanderthin," a respected guidebook that predates Dr. Eaton's
(excellent) book, and:

1) Paleo eaters were NOT AT ALL concerned about minimizing fat consumption.
In fact, quite the opposite was true. WW's article caves in on this point
and mentions "low-fat" all over the page.

2) Paleo eaters didn't do much cooking (even of meat and fish) -- and they
certainly didn't eat veggies that were inedible raw, such as lentils, black
beans, etc -- all items in WW's "Secret Paleo Diet."

3) Paleo eaters also didn't eat cheese, salsa, bean soup, honey-mustard
dressing, etc -- items that make up the bulk of the "Secret Diet."

4) I could go on and on...


I really don't mind seeing articles on this diet and that diet, but please,
the WW article bears LITTLE RESEMBLANCE to paleolithic eating OR authentic
modern Paleo diet variants.

Paleo dieting is a valuable emerging field of study and application that
bears much investigation. It needs legitimate promotion, not the jumbled,
contradictory and incongruent splash it received in WW.

This article dramatically misinforms readers -- it's a real disservice.
Call it  whatever you want, but don't call it a Stone-Age Secret, because
it's anything but that!

Perhaps you'll have the decency to run a follow-up article on a REAL
STONE-AGE DIET? I'm sure Dr. Eaton or Ray Audette would be happy to provide
ACCURATE data.

Sincerely,


--Kirk A. Kleinschmidt
  Minnesota


Here's the terse response I received:

We're sorry that the article was filled with so much misinformation. We'll try
to do better in the future.




Dripping with concern, eh?


--Kirk A. Kleinschmidt
  Minnesota
  Long-time PF lurker