Video: Debunking The Paleo Diet (my response...)

Well I have just finished watching the above video and I agree she has makes a few valid points.  But whenever I am drawn into these arguments about what we should be eating today - what frustrates me is not what people listen to, but what they don't. Common sense.

Here's a few of my thoughts:

Most of her Nitrogen analysis in relation to humans in comparison with other animals became a deduction of "maybe", "perhaps" and "it is likely that..." nothing at all conclusive there.

She compares us to carnivores and discusses our similarities with herbivores when it suits. But hold on a second, are we not omnivores? Not herbivores OR carnivores. Which is why we have traits applicable to both categories of animals.  HCL acid in the stomach for meat digestion anyone? Why do humans have this if we were not able to eat meat? Why do we not produce cellulase as herbivores do to digest cellulose? There are plenty of more examples she elegantly refused to discuss during her talk.

She talks about red meat a lot, but what about fish? I think she makes an assumption that paleo is just a red meat diet. I eat copious amounts of fruit, vegetables, tubers, fish and organ meats (as well as lean meat).

Common sense dictates that the paleo diet is a model. A template. A guide. I am not trying to create exactly what was eaten in the paleolithic.  But to avoid what I believe in the neolithic (modern era) that is unhealthy in terms of anti-nutrients and toxins.

Paleo maybe a myth. To be honest most things are until we found out the truths that later reveal previous falsehoods. I am happy to use the term Paleo to describe my eating habits and my lifestyle - because it is simple. It's effective. I can track bio-markers of health by conventional medicine to get validation based on the best of present day understanding.

Using the term Paleo will also enable people to understand what I am talking about.  After all anything complicated relies on abstraction to make it understandable to the masses, just like using an iPhone really.  I don't need to understand the complicated inner workings of an iPhone to be able to use it, I just need to be able to understand the simple interface.