On Fri, 27 Oct 2000 02:28:41 -0400 Amadeus Schmidt <[log in to unmask]> writes: > There are only two kinds of essential fats: > alpha-linoleic acid (LA)and alpha-linolenic acid (LNA). > Both are readily available from plants. WHAT plants? Plants that would have been available to Lucy and her predecessors in the right combinations, or plants the YOU can obtain and eat through the intervention of advanced technology and VERY careful selection based on scientific knowledge? I don't argue that YOU can't manage to pull off this bit of cheating nature, but it's probable that Lucy would have sickened and died eating ONLY the vegetation available to her, and her race would have died out long ago. Of course you do specify that Lucy DID eat animal protein... care to guess WHY she did? Perhaps she was swayed by television advertising... > Protein consists of 21 amino acids of which 9 are essential. > All of these are readily available from plants. > What was your point about animal protein? Again, define "readily" in the context of Lucy's environment and lack of technology... The bottom line is that the human animal is not a vegetarian, or even close to one, and has not been (if ever) for hundreds of millions of years. At best, you can say that YOU don't WANT to eat animals, and through modern technology YOU can manage it without developing any serious deficiency diseases, and MAYBE without developing any of the other degenerative diseases. BUT it is NOT a normal or natural diet for your body. It's one thing for you to argue about how you, as a modern, technological man, can avoid eating animal products and still obtain your basic needs in something close to a "paleo" way, but quite another to toss out these bits of nonsense about how difficult it might have been for Lucy, or any other of our ancestors, to obtain and consume large amounts of animal foods, constituting a major portion of their normal diet. When you go off on these ridiculous tangents, you are just playing games which are of no possible constructive use to anyone. Personally, I think vegetarianism is bizarre and unhealthy, but I recognize that some people will insist on living that way. As a strong believer in the health benefits of lowcarb and paleo, I approve and encourage any discussion that will help such people follow a lowcarb or paleo diet as closely as their prejudices make possible (vegetarian, lacto/ovo, vegan, etc...). I include as much specific information on the subject as I can in my Low Carbohydrate FAQ (within the constraints of the format of that document), and always look out for additional "vegetarian lowcarb" resources, but sometimes I'm forced to wonder why people here haven't just given up dealing with you. If you REALLY want to be constructive, why not provide some good, solid LC/paleo strategies for modern people with the vegetarian eating disorder...