No Place, at any time going backwards in history did someone track down and kill a beast and then turn their nose up at the meat and fat in order to eat some freaking leaves.

I don't think we hear a lot about low fat/low animal product diets on here or other forums a lot because people are so shocked and amazed after years of following exactly those guidelines and ending up quite overweight, it is a beautiful revelation that the inclusion of those things can reverse things like metabolic syndrome and result in significant weight loss. I suspect those who are having a successful life with low fat and animal product intake are just happily going about their business.

I also think we need to be careful about lumping modern hunter-gatherers in with paleolithic hunter-gatherers. I heard an interview on NPR earlier this year with someone who studies Amazonian tribes, and many tribes have had to turn more and more to relying on what they can dig up (i.e. starchy tubers) over the last 20-30 years because of loss of habitat for tribes and the animals they hunt. It isn't that they never ate a lot of meat, it is that they are having more difficulty finding it. I suspect environmental degradation has had this effect around the globe. Humans have kind of been victims of their own success when it comes to hunting, we most likely hunted the big game in Northern Europe to extinction during the late Pleistocene. And then proceeded to hunt many of the remaining large ruminants in Europe to extinction during the Roman era. I think it was being left with smaller, less fatty game, that led to animal husbandry and our modern livestock to ensure a constant supply of animal protein and fat.

Experience changes everything. Some people actually do follow low fat/low animal consumption diets for specific medical reasons, but the most wide spread issue here is weight loss, with athletic performance probably coming in second, and a significant contingent of folks with significant gut issues. Meat factors very strongly as a good idea for folks across all those fields.

My experience was this; the more fat in my fridge, the less on my body. I was even rendering fat off of briskets. Nowadays I carry a jar of ghee around with me. I still have fat in my fridge that I probably need to throw out. Needless to say, having that much fat in your fridge means you are also eating a lot of it. It is just what works, especially if you used to be obese.

I'm one of the more pro-carb paleo people that you will encounter, and even I believe that it's probably a bad idea to get more than 35% of your calories from carbs. So, the question then becomes: where do you get your calories from? Your only choices left are proteins and fats. It's virtually impossible to get pure protein from non-animal sources, and it's really difficult to stomach huge amounts of pure protein. So, ya gotta make up the bulk of your calories with fats.

If you're trying to lose body fat, then I guess that you don't need to worry about getting enough calories, but believe it or not, there are plenty of us Paleo folk who don't want to lose weight, and didn't become Paleo in order to lose weight. Thus, the issue of sufficient calories has to be addressed. The best answer is: Fat!

The short answer is probably what Ben said, and also that "fat is flavor." I also think it's important to note that less fat doesn't necessarily mean low-fat. I like my sweet potatoes, and I like them with a glob of pastured butter on top!

The choice doesn't have to be between low-carb or low-fat, excepting those who find one situation suits his or her metabolic needs in a superior fashion.

Many would disagree with you, I'm afraid.

Research I have read suggests that we had quite moderate fat intake - possibly more than we consume today on average. The balance would have been quite different, less PUFA and more sat fats.

Some modern research shows that we crave fats instinctively, and that we are exquisitely sensitive to the texture of fatty food - switching on our pleasure centres. This is hard wired into every one of us. Modern hunter gatherers, like the Kalahari bushmen, will immediately go for the fat and organ meats first.

It seems that we ate nearly no starchy food, and not even that much fruit - unless we go right back to the tropical rainforests.

The sweet tooth is a "modern invention", and we have selectively cultivated fruit to taste sweeter to cater to this new trend - which is, without question, to our detriment.

Modern evidence is pointing to fat as being the healthiest source of energy bar none, and the Inuit demonstrate how well you can be on a diet that contains virtually no plant foods. Moreover, it was observed that on this kind of diet, fat intake is critical, and that health can suffer when game has little fat content (as in the Spring, when fat reserves have been exhausted through the Winter)

Simply put because you are the first to assert it's perfectly Paleo. Can you substantiate that claim?

Whatever the community may think of Cordain's advice regarding diet, I haven't seen any who contest his facts. He seems to have spent the most time researching Paleo diets, working directly with notable anthropologists like Peter Ungar. He states that Paleo diets were much richer in meat (55% of calories) than what the typical American eats today (25% of calories). He advocates low fat, however, since he claims that Paleo game was leaner.

Wolf follows along the same lines, not surprisingly, and Jaminet advocates a higher fat diet. One of his reasons given was that Paleo man preferentially ate the fatty parts of animals.

That's not to say that these authors are exactly advocating a diet of 12 eggs a meal either just not "very low consumption of both fat and animal products".

The reason I reckon a lot of people post on these forums it's to meet like-minded people that they generally find to be rare in their day to day lives.

I switch between high carb low protein meals and high protein high fat. I know when I eat the high carb low protein meals, they look very..normal. As in they look very healthy in both paleo and SAD definitions. Most of my coworkers know I don't eat bread, but beyond that they just think I'm health conscious, they'll see me eat a salad or baked potato with salmon and greens, nothing that would look out of place in a women's weekly diet plan.

I wait until evenings and weekends to eat lovely fatty food. (I avoid hidden omega 6 by eating most of my fat in home cooked food)

So if you eat plant-based paleo, you're probably less likely to need answers because society is a bit more set up to cater to your needs.

Just to add that most of the low fat products are higher in sugar than the normal fat varieties which can't be good.

Paleo can be high-fat, low-fat, or any other macro ratio. Every person on here has a different genetic makeup, and although we are all similar, we function best on different ratios. Here are some things we can agree on. Paleolithic man did not eat industrial seed oils. Paleo man did not eat preservatives. Paleo man did not eat transfatty acids. Paleo man did move around more than the average person today. Paleo man was exposed to more sunshine that the average office worker today.