These are the responses received thus far. Sorry I didn't save the
writers' tags
for your opportunity to respond. For those who are interested, their
list is at
[log in to unmask]  Personally, I find
the volume a bit overwhelming and the content somewhat uninspiring --
but hey,
it's just my personal opinion.  EG

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My impression is that the "paleolithic" diet it likely to be a fairly
healthy one.  However, its premise - that the "best" way to eat is
to consume the diet our ancestors were adapted to - seems unlikely
to stand the test of time.
The problem is that nutrient availability and cost in modern times
are quite different from the cost/availability profiles our ancestors
faced.  Therefore, it makes sense that the best nutrition for us is
likely to be a systematically different diet from the one our ancestors
followed, and - in particular - larger doses of nutrients which they
found scarce may well be in order.
These are early days yet, and some would say the knowledge needed
to improve on paleolithic diets is not there yet.
It doesn't do to romanticise the diet of our ancestors *too* much.
Very many of them probably suffered from various kinds of malnutrition
for much of their lives - out of a mixture of scarcity and ignorance -
and lived shortened lives as a result.
I think we should aim to improve on the diet of our ancestors - not
merely emulate it.
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"...these are the animals we are meant to eat..."

Well, there is no "meant". Meaning is something we assign
in our thoughts. What there are are more descendants from
animals who do or eat certain things. Keep in mind that most
of your "paleo-persons" only lived to be 25-35 years old.
We are trying to "fool Mother Nature" into letting us live,
in health, to 90 or longer.

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I would speculate if you put most present day
humans in the paleo environment they wouldn't
make it close to as long! I don't think we are
fooling mother nature at all. We just don't have
to deal with many of the issues that caused
our ancestors premature demise.

Some of our longevity today may well be the
result of the extraordinary robustness of our
ancestors and credited to today's "kinder-gentler"
environment that allows survival of many of us
who would have bit the dust long ago we in their
circumstances. A broken limb or infection that
in today's environment is trivial, was a life
threatening event for Paleo man.

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I think any diet is fine for CR as long as the two
maxims are met (1) low calorie, (2) high nutrient
density.  You can do this via paleo, vegan, Atkins,
Zone, South Beach, Weight Watchers, etc., as long as
you don't overly rely on too few food groups, minimize
saturated fat and stay low glycemic.

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