Ray,

I still don't know what I'm missing ;)

>Hominid relationships changed forever because of the domestication of
>animals such as dogs in the late paleolithic era (mesolithic) and plants
>in the neolithic era.  This change was so profound that if you came to
>Earth from another planet, on casual observation you would clasify
>several crop species as the dominate species on the planet and the humans
>as their slaves.  As anthrpologists view civilization as a process of
>agricultural intensification, you would be correct in your assumptions
>(which probally explains the crop circles).

All the more reason that some genetic adaptation has happened, no? And
wouldn't such (granted, very incomplete) adaptation mean that we are no
longer _perfectly_ adapted to a pure hunter-gather diet? Not that any of us
eat only wild foods, of course. ;)

>The ideal is closer to the diet of Neanderthal than to even the
>earliest neolithic people.  Going back further also makes you more
>equally related to all people on earth at that time and makes racial and
>geographic differences in people less important (sorry blood type
>theorists).  It also helps to explain why our optimum diet may not mirror
>modern hunter-gatherers who lived in an enviroment very different than
>that of the last million years during which the mega fauna thrived.

And frutarians go back to an idealized pre-dawn of humanity. And the
instinctos go back before fire to find their "ideal". And less radical low
carb regimes include some dairy, and even some grains. It appears folks can
pick their ideal. The thing is that people are different and what works for
some will not work for others regardless of ideals. I sure would like to
hear you admit that someday. Or does idealism prevent that possibility? ;)

>As a modern hunter-gatherer, you will be subject to the same pressures to
>become civilized that eliminated this way of life among indigeous peoples
>all over the world in this century.  Knowing the basis for these
>pressures gives one strenth to veer from the cultural norms of dining.

No one pressures me regarding my diet, much less to become "civilized",
whatever you are taking that to mean. Gladly, it is not a struggle between
me and "them" which pressurizes my life.

>BTW, Amazon.com now offers rare and out of print books.

>Ray Audette
>Author "NeanderThin:A Caveman's Guide to Nutrition"
>
>Nieft / Secola wrote:
>> Also, what difference does it make whether we are or aren't direct
>> decendents of Neanderthals or CroMagnon? I can't see that any of the basic
>> tenets of your book would be negated if it were called CroMagnonThin. What
>> am I missing?


Secola  /\  Nieft
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