His statement that,

"Over the past century there has been an escalating trend in Western societies of people abandoning starchy plant-foods for low-carbohydrate meat and dairy foods. A worldwide epidemic of obesity, heart disease, diabetes, and cancer has followed this dietary change. Thus, there are no exceptions—all large populations of healthy, trim people have lived on starch-based diets."

That's BS. I've lived through most of the century he's alluding to. When I was a child, people ate tons of meat and butter and drank full-fat milk. They were trim.

The epidemic of obesity, etc., etc., followed the "low fat lots of grain" recommendations not the low carb approach.

Even when I tried to follow the low-fat recommendations I couldn't make myself avoid meat. And sooner or later I'd have dry painful skin and would have to increase my fat intake.

I think he's wrong, for most people. I base my judgement on how I feel when I am on his diet. I never lost weight on it, couldn't stay on it for more than a few weeks at a time without binging on the foods it was missing (I was vegetarian, just couldn't do vegan and/or low fat) and it made me feel sick. In fact, my stomach hurts just thinking about all that horrible food. For most people, it is probably better than SAD, and for "craptarians", but that is such a low bar. But frankly, I have about as much respect for others who compare to SAD and then claim victory.

a) people are not obligate starch eaters - if we were those with insulin issues (both Type I and II diabetics) would be dead.

b) he's advocating grains, which we know have anti-nutrients and cause leaky gut and autoimmune issues.

c) As usual, his timelines are measured in tens of thousands of years, not hundreds of thousands to millions of years. Therefore, points to neolithic foods while ignoring millions of years of adaptaion.

d) Advocates carbs over proteins and fats "When cheeseburgers, pork chops, chicken wings, and cheese are the daily fare, then people are fat and sick." which most obese people follow. You'll be hard pressed to find a carnivorous obese person (ignoring the cheese in his statement since dairy, like carbs is insulinogenic.)

Therefore, no different than any of the other Conventional Wisdom advocates.

Most of the meats that obese people eat are convential raised, have fillers with some unnatural substance in them, and have breading or in a bun. The bun often has extra sugar too since wheat isn't very sweet raw. So very high carbs.

I don't think he's wrong. Adaptation is 10,000 year response, and the amylase argument is a good one. Despite our paleo heritage, we're now very well adapted to metabolize starch, and there's no going backwards on the linear path of evolution.

This does not discount the paleo lifestyle by any means. Eating starch is not a prescription for weight loss or better health. The problem with starch and other high glycemic carbs for most of us is that they digest easily. The resulting blood sugar spikes are fine for energy boosts, but also are effective for pushing bloodstream fatty acids into storage.

He sites studies, as we usually demand, so....is he wrong? Are the studies wrong?

he likely cites studies and interpretations that support his ideas while excluding that which did not. to quote my grade 9 science teacher "you can prove anything so long as you choose your facts carefully"