Neanderthals only lived to 30 years or so.

Interesting idea, but I doubt that many folks would be up for the work required (over the long haul anyway)…
The idea reminds me of the new book PANDORA’S SEED in which the author tracks the ills (“unintended consequences”) that were set in motion when humanity made the shift from hunting/gathering to agriculture… One of the best books I’ve read this summer!
My review, “A History of Our Brokenness” is online here:
http://erb.kingdomnow.org/featured-pandoras-seed-by-spencer-wells-vol-3-27/

Ug.

I suppose there would be no catsup or A1 sauce either.
sounds pretty goofy to me.

or . . .
living here in Puget Sound one could exist on clams and blackberries. but the toxic tide might kill you.

Scot,
I’m a football fan… that automatically makes me a Neanderthal!

Ohio is for Neanderthals, Allan.

Ha! Scot… I won’t debate you on that one.

Scot,
In all seriousness. About six years ago, Carol and I got serious about losing weight and we went on a diet similar to the paleo diet. Not only did we lose weight, but my borderline cholesterol and blood sugar dropped well within their normal ranges.
Perhaps Neanderthal is not all that bad.

I’m around crossfitters all the time who get excellent results with paleo. I’ve tried it and it is hard to stick to 100%. I’m happy with 80% adherence. Dairy and honey are my downfall!
But it works and it supports elite athletic peformance.

I recently read a fairly reasonable (and amusing) take on why one person chose to eat “paleo.” The author begins:
“One of life’s singular pleasures is dining out with friends, which is why we try to do it as often as possible. But these days, there are a lot of raised eyebrows around the table when my wife and I order food sans bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, polenta or beans. I don’t want to call attention to my food choices, but I always feel obliged to explain, albeit reluctantly: “I?m eating paleo.” I say this with some degree of embarrassment. I know this will forever brand me as a weirdo.”
If you’re interested, the rest is here: http://www.fitbomb.com/p/why-i-eat-paleo.html

In all seriousness, the Atkins diet is basically this diet. I did it for about 2 years (or was it 3?). loved it.
I think I might go there again….we now have chickens in the yard so fresh eggs are on the menu….

…oh, and I saved all my allowance of carbs for the beer….:)

DRT – this is not essentially the Atkins diet, since the primary goal is not weight loss (via counting carbs) but sticking to the kinds of whole foods that our bodies do better with. Carbs are fine, the question is where are they coming from? Also, my impression is Atkins doesn’t seem to have much of a problem with all kinds of low carb processed foods, whereas from the Paleo diet perspective once you start processing food the end result tends more towards something your body won’t recognize or know how to derive its nutrients.
Total exclusion of dairy is not a settled issue for paleo diet adherents. The effects of dairy on people does vary; a lot of people may be allergic to dairy without even knowing it. For myself I’ve cut out all dairy except for relatively unprocessed (raw milk) or fermented milk (plain greek yogurt), I seem to do fine with. Whereas before I had problems with standard pastuerized milk, etc.
just some thoughts
joe

The pedant in me has to point out that the Neanderthals were not really “our Stone Age ancestors”. They were mostly a dead-end branch of the evolutionary tree, although apparently there was a little interbreeding as they were displaced by homo sapiens so we may carry a little Neanderthal DNA.
The scientist in me prefers the foolproof “First Law of Thermodynamics” weight-loss program. Expend more calories than you consume.
But I’m glad we haven’t had anybody (so far) accuse you of heresy for this post, on the grounds that mentioning our “Stone Age ancestors” is equivalent to denying the Resurrection

Actually all non-africans have 1-4% of DNA derived from neanderthals. I think it’s the equivalent of your great, great, great grandfather being a full blooded neanderthal.. that’s quite a bit of DNA. Either way I’ve been eating paleo for a couple months and this is the real deal folks. I’m convinced this is the best diet in the world.

Ben #1
Don’t know about Neanderthals (and I think AHH is right that they are dead branch from the evolutionary tree) but global human life expectancy at birth was about thirty years up to the Industrial Revolution (now in the upper 60s.) A few lived to be very old but 1 in 4 children died before age 1.

My physician has a cartoon in his examining room that has two cavemen crouching at a fire. One says to the other, “I don’t get it. We get plenty of exercise, we have no pollution, we eat only free range animals, and yet know one around here lives past thirty.”

I ate this way for a couple of months when I was ill. I lost 15 lbs. i ate only vegetables, meant.

Most Neanderthals didn’t reach to the age of 30 not only due to dangerous animals and injury but mostly likely due to food items that were not cooked properly which would result various kinds of worm infestations ranging from Tapeworms, flukes, rounds and hook worms along with other parasites.
Suggestion, good diet but proceed with caution.

“”no dairy, beans, grains or starches”"?
I find that hard to believe.
They were almost starving and would eat what ever they could find!
The Paleo diet isn’t something new, Google “Paleo Diet” there are references that go back a lot further. People just caught-on and decided to make an issue of it.