Militant vegan, Dr. McDougal, asserts that humans have waaay more amylose (Enzyme which is ONLY for breaking down starch into glucose) than any other primate. He has even written a book called The Starch Solution, I believe. He further argues that since the brain needs over 100 grams of glucose per day, that also shows we are "obligate starch eaters" - and that gluconeogenisis is only an emergency backup system for ensuring adequate brain-glucose in the face of carb deprivation.

http://www.fourhourworkweek.com/blog/2010/09/19/paleo-diet-solution/

Haters make me famous.

Questioning out loud here. Isn't rice gluten free? I suspect that could be why people seem to survive on it without health risks. Just a though. My very basic understanding of the problems with grains is that the gluten is the problem. If rice doesn't have it, then the main problem with rice would be the insulin increases and the loaded calories?

Maybe someone with more idea of what they're talking about can expand on that for me. I admit I'm a paleo numpty just starting out with this lifestyle.

http://blog.cholesterol-and-health.com/2011/08/against-dietary-dogmatism.html visit this site for the hands-down best anti Paleo argument ever

Just one more that I think of from time to time. Any restrictive diet may be problematic for people with eating disorders. For example, trying to restrict the diet of a binge eater may just lead to more bingeing. Or it can lead to more obsessive-compulsive food issues than existed previously.

"Intellectual honesty demands that we understand and respond to the smartest & best arguments our critics make."

There's an implied "we in our movement or our camp" in this argument. An implied solidarity among leading-edge Paleo eaters whose moral responsibility stems from being an evolutionary vanguard.

Yawn. So not interested in that proponent/opponent binary angle.

I evaluate food choices based on the science I happen to encounter (non exhaustive, yet I tend to mine for conclusions that seem rational and empirically grounded). I tracked the Ancestral Health Symposium and its presentations, not because I felt a belonging to the group, or a desire to belong, or anything related to sympathy for Our Side versus Theirs. I tracked the arguments of that forum to educate myself.

So, no, not really. I don't feel any obligation to face down data of some putative group of others. Dean Ornish has lost any claim he might have hoped to have on my attention. Not because I have trouble focusing. Rather, I came. I heard (Ornish's nutritional case). And I found his case wanting, hence stopped listening. If he says something new/different on nutrition — or more likely, if I hear that he does — I may listen to him anew.

the paleo diet is healthy because you eat less! Which is linked to living longer and a high carbohydrate diet is linked to disease and a shorter life span. However its not about strict paleo all the time but taking bits and pieces making sure to do your research then costumizing your own health plan. Did you know that if you feed ducks bread they get tumors and cancer" So I know its just ducks and maybe other animals too but dont you think that bread can affect us too? Please respond.

I have my experience and what I see the American public do around food. I read the Research of Linda Bacon Phd and I also work within the eating disorder community at Beyond Hunger ( book "it's Not About Food )

We obsess over it because of many reasons, we want to live longer, healthier, not be fat etc.

I see that the food issue gets so complicated, because we have complicated it. Yes, food had been tampered with since we were cave men and women. But so has every other natural aspect of life.

A human being needs to feel they are valued and loved in the community in which he or she lives. A human being needs to feel a sense of connection and belonging. A human being needs to feel their contribution is worthy of the community. If they do not feel this, stressful emotions are produced. Feelings produce strong chemical reactions in the body. Negative and stressful emotions on a chronic basis create damage to the body.

Eat your palo, your vegan or your SAD diet if you will,or just listen to your body and trust it. Trust your emotions. If you feel crappy a lot it could have more to do with the difficulty you have in creating and sustaining a healthy sense of community. A perfect diet can never do that for you. It didn't for me.

Here's mine, specifically in the more broad sense of paleo, specifically, being grain free. This is a consideration of all four points:

Grains are scorned for these reasons: gluten, antinutrients, carbs, & low nutrient density.

1) Most varieties of grains and grain-like seeds in existence are gluten free. It's just the handful that we've picked out and hybridized to death and grown on an appalling scale that typically have gluten.

2) Antinutrients are largely neutralized through "proper preparation." In addition, most nuts and seeds, allowed in the most basic paleo guidelines, are far more dense in antinutrients than any grain, and people are not widely encouraged to "properly prepare" those. A bread made with white rice flour might seem pretty inoccuous, antinutrient-wise, compared to a bread made with ground, raw almonds and then baked at a heat that might damage oils. Some, like Sisson, say that it's an issue of context, and SADers are more likely downing large portions of grain at every meal, versus someone who snacks on a small handful of nuts here or there, and in that small amount, the antinutrients are unlikely to amount to much. But you don't hear that same "contextual exception" for eating a small amount of gluten-free grain.

3) Whether you're in the "safe starch" camp or not, there exists a solid belief in the paleo community that some starch consumption is generally safe, and often beneficial, for those with healthy metabolisms. With this in mind, how is 50 g of carbs from soaked, sprouted buckwheat any different than 50 g carbs from a peeled, white potato?

4) Grains are low in nutrients, true, but if white rice is DEVOID of nutrients and is considered acceptable by many, why not a bit of soaked quinoa instead? Compared ounce for ounce, cooked quinoa and teff are more nutrient-dense, marginally, than a cooked potato (white OR sweet, beta carotene aside). Cooked buckwheat runs about on par with potatoes for overall nutrient density. Sure, peeled potatoes and soaked grains will never be as nutritious as eggs or meat, even conventional forms, but I don't understand why we hate on the occasional consumption of a grain versus the occasional consumption of tubers, at least on a dogmatic level, considering the inconsistencies above.

Personally: I don't eat many grains because potatoes taste better, and I don't eat as many carbs as I used to, because I feel better when I'm not riding the blood sugar roller coaster. But the arguments don't add up to me to make me feel bad about eating nixtamalized maize in my Mexican food. My metabolism is resilient enough and my immune system doesn't think twice about it, so I count it as a starch and move on. I believe many people have good reasons to avoid grains (just like some people have good reasons to avoid eggs, shellfish, tree nuts, etc.), but I don't believe it's necessary or beneficial to make the avoidance of grains gospel.