Kurt is a very important cog in the Paleo world and always the one to talk some sense into our heads...

I think his article is one of the best i've read, EVER!

So, yeah, i'm all for Paleo 2.0!

Already sharing the link with my friends. I'm glad to have a fresh, reasoned, current summary of the core principles that most people could digest.

It is a great article and something I will be sharing to everybody interested in Paleo. It puts in words a lot of things I have been thinking about.

I'm not normally into the Pañu website, but that's a really well written article; I've never really seen what the difference is between Kurt Harris and Robb Wolf's advice.

I think its awesome. One of the best articles on our subject i've read. Dr. Harris isn't afraid to change or modify his position on nutrition or whatever else he's interested in. Also check out his latest interview over at The Healthy Skeptic Podcast. Its very good.

Awesome post IMO. I think it basically comes down to eating real natural foods and not stressing over stupid things to try and fit in the idea of being "paleo."

Excellent article. There's nothing really new in it, especially if you've read the rest of his posts, but he sums up the important points and his process of discovery very well. It should be a great article to send people who are becoming interested in unconventional views on food for the first time and need a primer.

I was surprised when I read this:

Many are aware that 6:3 ratio is important, so they try to compensate by taking fish oil to balance the 6:3 ratio. This doesn’t really work too well – you can’t realistically eat that much fish, and if you take fish oil supplements, you now exacerbate the second and more important problem with excess n-6, which is your total PUFA intake. High total PUFA, especially including the highly unstable n-3, leads to oxidative damage to your cells. Your arteries, liver and other organs don't appreciate extra oxidative damage.

This seems to contradict what most in the Paleo community advocate. Especially when you have the Robb Wolf Fish Oil Calculator on Whole9.

http://whole9life.com/fish-oil/

He didn't answer the paleolithic potty training issue in that post.

i've posted it on facebook and emailed it out to many of my friends. i feel there is now no reason for me to explain why i eat the way i eat to anyone when he does in 20 minutes what it would take me several hours to do half as well...

Dr Harris's post is fantastic. I'm for it!

it seems to be that a lot of what his post was directed towards is (most of) this site itself.

so it'll be funny to see how many people jump on the "i was with him all along" wagon

Honestly, I think most people on PaleoHacks have moved beyond "It this paleo?!?" and are looking upon history more in "Stephan way" (who died eating what, who thrived eating what) without "How much mammoth per day did Grok eat and where can I buy mammoth meat ?".

"Grok" is Mark Sisson's (I believe) but it's not a dogma in any way. It's more of a help since in 90% cases, "What would Grok do" is usually more healthy/better than the alternative but it was not meant as 10000 B.C. time machine. As for Cordain, well, again I think most here have moved to other sources of info.

I look at "paleo" as an umbrella term since it has so many versions but all in all the labels are irrelavant. If someone wants to dismiss "paleo" because he thinks it's about recreating the Stone Age, then it will be his loss.

From his latest posts, for me, "There is No Such Thing as a Macronutrient" is still FTW, FTW, FTW.

Admitting that his diet recommendations seem to correspond more with the Weston A. Price Foundation than the average paleolithic diet out there was eye opening. My own diet has evolved from Art DeVany to PaNu to a WAPF lite (without grains). I never thought there was much difference between WAPF and PaNu other than the grains and reading Dr. Harris' Paleo2.0 post reassured me on this.

We could evolve to eat most anything. The principle, to me at least, has always been the question of what we are best adapted to eat. This has far more to do with modern nutrional research, which is sorely underfunded, and far less to do with what a slightly underevolved Grok did, as detailed evidence will always be scant and speculative.

I'm glad that he is stepping up as a scientist (a la Taubes) and distancing himself from the Larsonesque rationale for this lifestyle. It only adds to the credibility.

I loved him his post. Contrary to what a couple people have written, I think much of it is contrary to what many people on this forum write about.

Taubes' carbohydrate hypothesis is that carbohydrate drives insulin which in turn drives fat storage. Harris has not adequately addressed this. Just because he (Harris) does not want to "indict a whole class of macronutrient" does not mean it shouldn't be done. Fat and protein are necessary, but are carbohydrates? Or are they merely convenient?

If you need or want to lose weight, you better watch your carbohydrate intake. I'm on the zero carb end of the paleo spectrum. I have lost a lot of weight and I need to lose a lot more.

Those subtractions are the most important things to avoid, but any mention of optimal nutrition must mention trace minerals, acquired preferably through the consumption of offal.

Additionally, starch via white rice seems largely innocuous.

so much of what attracted me to the paleo way of eating and being was the simplicity of it all. long before i knew what the paleo diet was, when i was vegetarian and raising my first baby, i would go to this mothers group for moms and babes 0-4 months old. it was great, but the level of neurosis in there made me start to dread it. i always sort of felt that my baby would let me know what she wanted, and that if i couldnt figure it out it was because i wasnt paying attention. that attitude served me well for the most part. i saw other mothers in the group spinning themselves into depression and hystericas and anger and resentment and fear over things like, "my mother in law told me not to pick up the baby when hes crying, but i want to." and, "someone in the checkout line said that my baby was too skinny and that i needed to supplement with formula; should i?" and, "what sacrifices to i need to make so i can afford the 300 dollar diaper bag to match my 700 dollar stroller?" it all seemed INSANE to me. so, i blogged about my new invention, "instinctual parenting" or "evolutionary parenting." pretty sure i wasnt the first one to come up with that, but the idea was essentially to just follow your gut and do whats best for you and your baby, and that you know your baby best. if i ever was in a situation where i didnt know what to do, i would always ask myself, "what would a mother in rural guatemala do? what would a mother do ten thousand years ago?" i have to say, the answer was always the right one, and that little mothering hack made our life so much easier, funner, healthier, happier and simpler.

its a long way of saying that i really appreciated dr. harris' post. i read it as an invitation to relax, to be in tune with your body and what it needs, what it craves, how it feels, and to go with that. i personally like having a list of specific foods that i avoid, and leaving it at that, not fretting when i eat soybean oil on occasion, or if there are trace amounts of gluten in the soy sauce at the restaurant. thats just best for me. i tend to (and you do too- dont deny it) get caught up in the specifics of food. several times a day i hear the voice in my head telling me to settle down and just make the healthiest choice. i think that the voice of reason, or the voice of least-neurosis, should be loudest for some of us.

KGH was the precursor to my Paleo-genesis about 7 weeks ago. Someone I trust (who isn't even Paleo) linked me to his original Tylenol and the War on Drugs post with the simple suggestion: "Read this". I did, and I loved the analysis, so I checked out the rest of the blog. 2 days later I had given up gluten and my Paleo journey was underway.

His most recent post will likely get passed around and influence more people to experiment with Paleo.

While a lot of the content of the post was good, I didn't think it was new data, nor was it particularly original (to him vs. other great writers/bloggers/researchers). I seem to be the only person who thought he was erecting something of a "Paleo strawman" just to knock it down. I offered the mildest of criticisms in a comment in that thread, and he basically insulted me in return. So now, I've crossed him off my reading list. There are plenty of other great (and scientifically rigorous, and optimistic, and intellectually generous) sources who already agree that "lean meat isn't the answer" etc. etc.

(All that said, if other people have been finding that post handy in turning on new people to healthier ways of eating and living, that's wonderful. It's just that for me, life is too short to read someone who thinks he's all that and a bag of pork rinds.)