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[jay-ell]

We must also remember, when seeking to emulate the lifestyles of our cave-dwelling ancestors, that whey they ate meat, they had to chase it down first. The modern lifestyle doesn't burn half as many calories -- unless maybe you're in the military or something -- so I think we should take that into account when we decide how many pounds of meat we eat in a day.

[miles]

We must also remember, when seeking to emulate the lifestyles of our cave-dwelling ancestors, that whey they ate meat, they had to chase it down first. The modern lifestyle doesn't burn half as many calories -- unless maybe you're in the military or something -- so I think we should take that into account when we decide how many pounds of meat we eat in a day.

Good point, and true for any diet. If you (I) can substantially increase the amount of exercise in your (my) life, you (I) shouldn't have to be consumed with self-loathing when you (I) occasionally (at least once a week) eat a double double animal style with fries.

[lprkn]

So let's not go too crazy about the details.

I'm trying not to. There is that natural human tendency (maybe just mine) that steers toward orthodoxy. I'm trying to avoid the mentality of controlling all the little details so that I can control my life and the universe and maybe I won't die someday. So if I eat something that was not available 10,000 years ago it doesn't mean the end of the world. I hope.

But then again: lprkn says "I am not used to buying fresh." There's really the thing. If you aren't buying fresh food, what the heck have you been living on?

Fast food, restaurant food, beer. Things a bachelor with a reasonable amount of disposable income eats. I have been in a military barracks (shitty dorm) for the last six months, so I had no appliances with which to cook anything.

It's just that when you buy a week's worth of food at the store the cost hits you more because it's all at once, rather than spread out, even though it ends up being less money overall.

[jaydub]

I was more or less on-board with the paleo idea until someone told me you can't eat dairy on it.  Since I'm "lactase persistent" (most southern ancestors were from 50N latitude), I can (and do) chow on cheese, yogurt, milk and the like all day long.

[wombat]

Fast food, restaurant food, beer.

Yup. And almost anything cooked at home from raw ingredients will be a step up from that.

Who is it whose line is "don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"? I think just going that far back would improve nearly everyone's diet, never mind ten thousand years ago.

[Nabubrush]

My grandmother served me chicken in aspic once. That . . . wasn't good.

[greenkoolayd]

whoever decided that aspic was a thing a person should eat must have been hard up for a meal.

[jay-ell]

Yup. And almost anything cooked at home from raw ingredients will be a step up from that.

Who is it whose line is "don't eat anything your grandmother wouldn't recognize as food"? I think just going that far back would improve nearly everyone's diet, never mind ten thousand years ago.

My grandmother was a farm kid who was raised by her father and uncle, neither of whom knew how to cook. She wouldn't recognize as food most of the once-exotic-now-commonplace fresh fruits and vegetables (mangoes, kiwis, avocadoes), not to mention 98% of the stuff on the pages of Bon Appetit. She fed her family fatty beef roasts, mashed potatoes (made with milk straight from the cow), and boiled-to-death lima beans and brussels sprouts about 5 times a week because that's all they could afford.

My OTHER grandmother was, I guess, a pretty good cook, though. Being Catholic in the pre-Vatican II days, they ate LOTS of fresh fried giraffe, caught by my grandfather (who was a great giraffeerman). She still wouldn't know what to do with arugula, though.

[CortJstr]

My OTHER grandmother was, I guess, a pretty good cook, though. Being Catholic in the pre-Vatican II days, they ate LOTS of fresh fried giraffe, caught by my grandfather (who was a great giraffeerman). She still wouldn't know what to do with arugula, though.

"Anything that isn't iceberg lettuce is weeds and shouldn't be eaten by people." - lots of people's grandmas

[lprkn]

A good giraffeerman is hard to find these days

[AugustWest]

Give a man a giraffe and he'll eat for a day.  Teach a man to giraffe and he'll sit in a boat and drink beer all day.

[wombat]

The iceberg lettuce comment indicates that I am showing my age - I should be probably saying great-grandmas.

JL, your grandma might not have ever seen a mango, but she'd recognize it as a fruit. She'd also recognize that the recipes in Bon Appetit are put together out of edible substances. What she wouldn't recognize is all the stuff made of multisyllabic ingredients, packaged to last on a shelf for months and months. Even stuff sold in health food stores. Have you ever read the label of a protein shake powder? Mysterious stuff.

And I feel quite sure you'd still be healthier on the food you describe than on a diet of McDonald's.

[jay-ell]

JL, your grandma might not have ever seen a mango, but she'd recognize it as a fruit. She'd also recognize that the recipes in Bon Appetit are put together out of edible substances.

I think you're overestimating my grandmother. This is a woman who used to buy plastic tubs of chicken livers, fry them in leftover bacon grease, and eat them on toast.

She also at a lot more hot dogs than I would feel comfortable feeding my family, after she got older and my grandfather had passed. So I don't think that particular grandmother is a very good example of how to eat fresh foods.

[wombat]

I think you're overestimating my grandmother. This is a woman who used to buy plastic tubs of chicken livers, fry them in leftover bacon grease, and eat them on toast.

Ooo, I wouldn't eat it every day, but that sounds delicious.

[jay-ell]

I find the idea repulsive, but even if it weren't, can we at least agree that this is not a model of healthy eating that should be followed by relatively sedentary people in the 21st century?