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There are many experts whose ideas appear regularly on this blog. I am thinking of Wolf, Kresser, Sisson, Shanahan, Gedgaudas, Jaminet, Masterjohn, Kruse, Peat, etc... Some of them you may love and others you might hate (and even mock). Has anyone sat down and compared each one's recommendations to find points of unanimous commonality or hot dispute? For example as far as I can tell, nobody has a problem with bone broth. Shanahan and Peat emphasize meat on the bone and gelatin. Kruse thinks seafood is most important. Some allow dairy, chocolate (Jaminet thinks 35 grams/day is fine) and wine. Some allow "safe"starches while others think they are unnecessary/harmful. Obviously no one allows gluten grains or seed oils. I keep seeing a field of Venn Diagrams in my head when I try to take this all in.

I am asking this question because I have only been primal/paleo for about five months and have been trying to find a good path through all the material. I see finding an optimal way of living/eating/exercising for one's self to be like solving a compelling murder/mystery where who-did-it is often a moving target. It is overwhelming sometimes and while I realize that it may be delusional to think that there is One True Way that you can find if you just study harder, I can't help trying to "figure it all out".

Off the top of my head, Peat seems the most out there with an emphasis on milk, orange juice, minimal vegetables and white sugar as a supplement. Sisson seems to be the most chill and inclusive of the most types of food.

Does anyone have a reference directly comparing some of these experts ideas?

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4 Answers

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Is it true that Masterjohn would not allow gluten grains? I thought he (& WAPF in general) was fine w/ grains if they were properly prepared, & even some forms of wheat.

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I could be wrong about that...it is hard to keep everyone straight! – tbunchylulu Nov 14 at 23:51
I think Robin's right: "While there is no doubt that there are people who should avoid wheat altogether, I am left with doubts about whether all wheat past the point of einkorn and emmer must be banished from the human diet in order to lead the majority of us back to health". That's a quote from Masterjohn. – Mscott Nov 15 at 9:21
Thanks Mscott! And tbunchylulu, it really is hard. And I didn't answer your question, but my answer is no -- don't have a reference, & made up my own rules. – Robin Nov 15 at 11:56
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The same thing doesn't work for everybody, I think one needs to have a clearly defined goal and a nutritional strategy then just start testing experimenting. However, one thing is clear. Make sure you are eating and doing exercise you love! I always tell people to eat what you want and see how it makes you look. It is good to be in an information gathering mode for it will give you more to draw on when making conclusions about your choices, Paleo or otherwise.

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Heard above, "The same thing does not work for everybody."

True........so why compare. Why dont you think about things differently to get to where you really want to go?

My thoughts on this question: http://www.jackkruse.com/the-change-rx/

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Well, one reason would be to get a sense of what is most important--in either direction. If most paleo proponents conclude that X is helpful, that's certainly suggestive that X is probably safe for you, and may even be a critical component. Running a series of N=1 trials on yourself and testing every food is slow going, and will make a number of mistakes due to normal variability in how one feels. I used a similar approach in trying to find common elements in cultures that Weston Price studied--what did multiple groups think was important? A Venn diagram of paleo would be a neat artifact. – Joe Nov 15 at 15:48
Everyone's personal context is different because of epigenetics. How do you find what works best for you is explored best in the blog I referenced above. It maybe slow going but it gets results. – The Quilt Nov 15 at 19:27
Quilt, thanks. That was well written and I see my attempt to take in and synthesize all this sometimes contradictory information as furthering my personal education. As a mathematician, I can't help but want some sort of completely consistent Theory of Everything, but I realize humans are messy, unique and always changing. – tbunchylulu Nov 15 at 20:14
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I don't know of one, but it would be fairly easy to make a table with experts across the top and different food groups/lifestyle elements/etc down the side. Maybe someone with a blog could do one, or we should create one on the wiki page?

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