My bet is that Michael Pollan, being the exceedingly reasonable person that he is, will say that the Paleo diet is based on reasonable scientific evidence and has a lot of positive aspects to it, but he can't endorse it because ultimately it's not sustainable for the entire world to adapt.

I would ask him if he believes a diet based on evolutionary medicine COULD be sustainable in some form for a larger population.

--Sarah

Michael Pollan is an extremely important voice, but he is not, nor is anyone, the final authority. Dr. Cordain is a better authority since he is focusing on nutrition more than he is focusing on industrial agriculture, which is Pollan's area. If we go back to Lucy, who walked upright prior to homo erectus, our digestive system is, for the most part, over 2,000,000 years old. Probably around eight to 12 thousand years ago starvation diet foods -- the cereal grains -- began to be grown in monoculture tracts, harvested, stored, and made into various prepared products, such as bread. This was an economic advance, and led to the rise of a more advanced civilization. But it was a setback for human happiness and health. No one digests grains in the wheat family well. We seem to have lost our taste for insects and Cordain does not include tubers which isolated, modern paleo people consume. Some people, like me, have subclinical gluten intolerance and some have a more extreme reaction, celiac disease. Some seem to do quite well with wheat family products, except look at all of the fat, fat, fat people walking around. So any health problems should first be addressed by stopping eating any refined sugars, any cereal grains in any form, and all dairy products except for organic, pasture-raised butter. Use only coconut, olive and fish oils. Eat smaller amounts of meat, and lots of greens and organic veggies. Winter squash replaces all starchy foods, except include sweet potatoes and carrots. Limit beverages to green tea and water free of impurities. Then people begin to get well. Powder Monkey