Date: Tue, 21 Jan 2003 14:16:34 -0700 Theola asked: >>>Did anyone notice the side-by-side in Newsweek >>>about Boyd Eaton's *The Paleolithic Prescription* >>>compared to other "diet" books by Atkins, >>>Sears, and Ornish? and Thersa commented: >>I currently have _The Paleolithic Prescription_ out >>from the library. It wants us to eat whole grains >>and dairy and almost no fat. There isn't >>much correlation between the diet it says our >>HG ancestors ate and what it >>recommends for modern humans. and Theola came back with: >Right. Much of the information is believed to be outdated >based on more current resear ch. and then Jim asked on 21 January: Which begs the question... In your opinion (anyone on the list, that is), who is the most "current" author on paleo diets? That is, who's writings and general diet philosophies are most in line with the latest nutritional (and, dare I say, anthropological) research studies? Good question. If you go to amazon.com and search on <Paleo> <diet> and an assortment of other terms, there must be 20 or 30 books in print on this general topic. Can I say a word in defence of Boyd Eaton? His 'The Paleolithic Prescription' could never have been published if he did not make the concessions to contemporaneous orthodoxy which we find it easy to criticize from our armchairs. Cordain's recent book is also similarly criticized by many who (like me) prefer to approach the topic from a paleontological approach rather than one of moder n nutritional science. Eaton's recommendations on grains are similiar to those of Enig and Fallon and Weston Price. Eaton has, however, make a fantastic recompense, in his chapter contributed to the Cambridge Encyclopaedia of Hunter Gatherers. The chapter is entitled 'Hunter-gatherers and human health' and while it draws on anthropological research among 20th century HGs, it pulls no punches at all and is a model of clear writing as well as being a succinct overview of human health as well as diet. Keith