I was going to do a whole post about this, but was unhappy with every draft and edit. I like the guy and I try not to crap on other paleoish bloggers because there's so many other targets anyway and why bicker over preferences?

But, he's presenting at AHS, as am I, and so I have postponed the post. Instead, I wrote a comment on my blog about my principle beef with Don's approach.

http://freetheanimal.com/2011/07/hang-gliding-is-so-macho-chicks-need-not-apply-dont-even-try.html#comment-74359

So after struggling with the draft of the post for days, not getting it where I wanted, I have decided to can it, owing to my realization today that Matesz is presenting at the Ancestral Health Symposium in early August, as am I. And I have confirmed he is still presenting.

Whether or not a post from me about his recent 180 degree reversal would in any way detract from the event I don’t know, but I don’t want to risk mucking it up for others, especially the organizers.

So, the post is postponed indefinitely. We’ll see what happens at AHS and I’ll go from there.

Here’s the principal gist of my heartburn with the matter.

• Why not evolve within the context of a wider paleo paradigm rather than declare it extinct (“Farewell to Paleo)?

• He did this for 14 years on himself and patients according to him, claims to have had lots of bad results, and….he did this for 14 years? 14 years? 14 years!? Bad results for 14 years? …???

• I have myself drifted away from the obligatory low-carb influence in paleo, i.e., potatoes, fruit and now, some white rice. So in terms of carbs, still paleo. In terms of foods, mostly so, but why would I need to call “Farewell” to Paleo? And even if I did, why would I need to express it like…’well, I was wrong for 14 years but now I’m just as right as I asserted I was right during those 14 years and you are all wrong’?

• His style. If you look at his past Paleo posts he writes with the exact same authoritative style as he writes now. This goes to credibility.

• He wrote the most absolutely absurd and laughably ridiculous (I mean knee slapping stupid ridiculous) post about how saturated fat, because it hardens at room temperature, increases blood viscosity (makes blood thicker). To add to that, he wrote that it’s “simple physics.” So when a physicist who teaches fluid mechanics put him in short pants, as well as Chis Masterjohn and Stephan Guyenet, guess what he did, after more than 80 comments, as I recall? He deleted the post and comments without a single whisper about it — as though it never happened. That makes me seriously question his character and honesty. I do have a PDF of that ignorant stupid post but have not decided whether to upload it so it can be linked. Chris M, however, saved about 70 of the comments.

http://www.facebook.com/notes/chris-masterjohn/comments-from-the-missing-physics-post/212743168746835

• The fact that this major turnaround happened right after he married a kooky acupuncturist is just weird, to me. But maybe that’s just me. I got married my first time at 40, my wife too, at 41. We made a very small deal of it. I just find it bizarre that when older folks get married and especially when it’s 2nd or 3rd for both of them, they make a spectacle of it. Nobody fucking cares. Heres her kookfest blog.

http://thefoodway.blogspot.com/

• I believe it was in his “Farewell to Paleo” post that one commenter pointed out exactly what I have, that he posted so authoritatively on paleo, high fat, and so on. The same commenter went on to post a number of authoritative quotes from past blog posts, using the same sorts of data and charts and such that Don s now using in his 180 degree reversal. Last I checked, those comments no longer exist. Unless I am mistaken, they were deleted.

I could probably list more things, but you get the idea. This is in no way about evolving Paleo, moving forward with new knowledge, experience, insight as I have done since getting over the original exuberance.

But I think Don wants to be seen as an authority, a teacher, a guru. Probably why he’s so into Eastern mysticism.

I'm not giving a lot of credence, frankly - at least, not as how "paleo" pertains to me; much of what he is writing does not jibe with my personal experience. If I eat a lot of starch, or any carbohydrate over about 50 or 60 grams a day, it will make me sluggish, cranky and halt any weight loss I may be experiencing dead in its tracks. However, while not fearing fat has been one of the nicest things about going paleo, I never took it to mean "drown your food in fat" and don't quite understand those who pour bacon grease and coconut oil all over everything or eat butter by itself. I'm simply happy to be able to cook with healthy fats and eat fattier cuts of grass-fed beef without worrying that I'm going to drop dead from coronary thrombosis.

I really can't say that Don is wrong. But the counterbalance is in posts by Dr. Harris and Mark Sisson. I think more back and forth on this is needed. Certainly Don brings up some very interesting points, especially in this post:

http://donmatesz.blogspot.com/2011/05/who-said-paleo-diet-had-high-fat.html

Counters:

http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/4/9/jousting-with-the-atlantic.html
http://www.archevore.com/panu-weblog/2011/4/5/wild-vs-grass-vs-grain-fed-ruminants.html

http://www.marksdailyapple.com/a-metabolic-paradigm-shift-fat-carbs-human-body-metabolism/

I haven't read it, but anytime the the words low-fat and evolutionary diet are combined it just doesn't add up to me. Why would our ancestors have thrown out any port of the animal they worked so hard to kill. It's simple to me.....in order to survive, kill the biggest thing you can find and eat every last morsel that is edible over a period of time.

After Don's egregiously stupid post about the melting point of fats (which he deleted after getting pwn'd in the comments), I don't have much faith in his grasp of science. Now he's saying stuff like this:

http://tinyurl.com/3f79fuf

Load up on rice and potatoes = Primal Wisdom? More like Conventional Wisdom.

For my physiology, his current recommendations are terrible. Before going paleo-ish low-ish carb and losing the excess weight, I used to eat a starchy, high-carb diet, and it made me fat and lethargic. Recently, I experimented with eating a small sweetpotato on gym days, 3 days per week, and it up-regulated my appetite to the tune of 2 pounds per week of unwanted weight gain. At this point, I can't take anything Don says seriously.

and you think that is normal to have such a reaction? doesnt something seem wrong to be sluggish b/c you ate 50 measley grams of carbs??? im trying to start debate here and hack at it

even the perfect health diet says if you wanna drop body fat, drop the fat intake

i give him a lot of credit for living a VLC high fat diet for so long then changing his views so adamently and totally admitting he was wrong. hell, even when he initially added back sweet potatoes he admitted to a bad reaction(soon after the PHD blog started) but now that doesnt seem the case at all

just trying to understand what went so wrong(as someone who has blogged about VLC high fat eating, AKA longterm and now opposing what he use to promote