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Ok - so this isn't really about a cage match between Inuit or Kitavan.

It's a question about reassessing why we feel so strongly about eating a Paleo diet.

The pro-tuber camp has a single card they play... I call this the Kitavan card.

The low-carber camp has a single card they play... let's call this the Inuit card.

I dont see a lot of "middle grounders" - those of us that eat much less starch than a kitavan, and much more carb than a inuit. However, the majority of the major Paleo authors advocate this without going to either extreme... and yet many who are new or uneducated about it still believe it's one or the other.

I just hope we don't unearth some rare tribe in some obscure jungle that lives off some form of proto-neolithic food, so people can justify x by saying "The Y tribe did it!".

I understand using modern hunter-gatherers as a benchmark into what is healthy, but the inuit rely heavily on neolithic agents (and major illnesses have followed in their wake). The kitavans are heavy cigarette smokers. In fact, even though modern hg's are a great window into the past, I would argue they aren't as much an insight into our Paleolithic ancestors - as our ancestors had a much more migratory lifestyle that wasn't as geographically limited (and more importantly, wasn't influenced by the modern world).

Whatever happened to "I eat this way, and it keeps me from getting sick... and I've modified it to suit my needs." ?

At it's base, eating a whole foods diet, rich in animal-based calorie sources, devoid of refined sugars, grains, or pulses, is good for everyone... the rest is just details into what works the best personally.

Honestly, there seems to be a lot of "them vs. us" lately and it seems to revolve around which card you play. But in all truth, we are more alike than different.

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 Ha! I don't know which I like more, your title, which made me laugh, or your observation: "Whatever happened to 'I eat this way, and it keeps me from getting sick... and I've modified it to suit my needs.' ?", which made me nod in total agreement. I confess to pulling out the Inuit card, but only to show that the way I eat has been done before, not that it's the Holy Grail for everyone. – Rose Jul 21 2011 at 13:32
I agree that no modern HG can be a direct model for Paleolithic times. For one thing, it's possible the availability of big game has changed drastically, and there would then have to be more reliance on gathering in any modern group than there would have had to have been before. – Ambimorph Jul 21 2011 at 14:38
the vast majority of the foragers studied eat a high-starch diet. Not just the Kitavans. Either way, this isn't a hack or a real question, so it's closed. – Bread-Eating Beelzebub Jul 21 2011 at 15:19

closed as subjective and argumentative by Bread-Eating Beelzebub Jul 21 2011 at 15:17

4 Answers

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No one has a “single card they play.” It’s not that simple.

I see almost every person on these boards, and generally out in the world (in fact, the SAD is one of these precise middle grounds), as occupying exactly the middle ground.

I don’t think many people are using current HGs as a benchmark for anything. It’s a silly idea if only for the reason that the globe is dominated and entirely influenced heavily by non-HGs.

Nothing happened to "I eat this way, and it keeps me from getting sick... and I've modified it to suit my needs." I’d say its exactly what the bulk of us use for basic reasoning.

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 I guess you are right Ben. I just see those cards played, mostly in threads that attempt to define paleo as lowcarb or highcarb. – Joshua Jul 21 2011 at 14:03
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 Exactly. For every zero carber, there seems to be many dozen moderate carbers. And often, the zero carbers continue to do so because it helped them with a medical condition. – Kamal♦ Jul 21 2011 at 14:04
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I think people need to realize they don't know what others needs are. If your following a specific dietary regimen and it works for you that doesn't necessarily mean its gonna work for the whole world. Once people realize this I think we'll be able to discover a lot more truths in the health game.

I find that most people here are pretty tolerant of others food choices, there is the occasional zealot but they are usually shut down.

That's what I love about paleohacks, the up vote system is one of the best things that ever happened for internet forums.

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Cliff, you and I sometimes do not see eye-to-eye... that being said, this post was insightful and I agree wholeheartedly. – Joshua Jul 21 2011 at 15:06
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"I eat this way, and it keeps me from getting sick... and I've modified it to suit my needs." is alive and well.

You might not be seeing much of it b/c tribes are louder than nomads. Furthermore, many of those polarized tribe members are also thinking that way, and just happened to end up in a camp with a sweet "scientific" argument. Reffing Inuits or Kitavans is so much more glamorous than N=1. More memorable too, apparently.

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+1 for "tribes are louder than nomads" – Joshua Jul 21 2011 at 15:06
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What if both will start comunicated and destroy the cage and escape.

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