Susan, Bodhi:

Thank you!  

This article took a long time and a lot of work.  I thought at first that it was going to be a simple 12-step plan, but quickly realized that I couldn't do justice to the 'why' without writing more.  And I didn't want to promulgate yet another long list of "don't do this, don't do that"...I wanted to give people who aren't paleo some idea of WHY we go to all the trouble, and why we won't eat their delicious homemade muffins.  I'm glad it spoke to you.

Courtney:

Drinkable food made of grains...sorry, right out.  If you need alcohol, stay classy with wines and distilled liquors.  

Plus, you're a woman, so you get to drink Midori and all that delicious fruity stuff.

JS

Susanna, shoo:

Thanks!  Glad I could inspire you.

nada knut:

"so all the research on fatty meats,butter,cholesterol,coconut oil,etc. and the effect on not only the heart and blood vessels,but also colon,bladder cancer,etc. is wrong and you are right."

What research?  Give me references and links.  I bet you'll be surprised when you find out that the research says things like "A meta-analysis of prospective epidemiologic studies showed that there is no significant evidence for concluding that dietary saturated fat is associated with an increased risk of CHD or CVD." (link) and "Red meat intake was not associated with CHD (n=4 studies; relative risk per 100-g serving per day=1.00; 95% confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.23; P for heterogeneity=0.36) or diabetes mellitus (n=5; relative risk=1.16; 95% confidence interval, 0.92 to 1.46; P=0.25)." (link)

"not to mention that your paleos enjoyed a life expectancy of 20."

"The average modal age of adult death for hunter-gatherers is 72 with a range of 68-78 years. This range appears to be the closest functional equivalent of an "adaptive" human lifespan." (link)

Someday you'll taste a nice fatty steak, seared in butter, and you'll realize that it's what your cells have been craving all your life.  We'll be here to welcome you home.

J-C:

You ate better than 98% of Americans are eating right now, even if you didn't like it at the time.  I agree that it's nice to be able to afford tender, fatty muscle meats, and only eat the occasional bite of liver for nutrition purposes.

I'll make sure not to try cashew fruit.  Isn't it covered with poison oak-like oils anyway?  How do you pick something like that?

Jay:

I'm not an expert on Australian fauna.  The only nutrition information I can find indeed shows roo meat to be ridiculously lean...and though it's proportionally higher in polyunsaturates than most red meats, and doesn't have a particularly favorable n-3/n-6 ratio, it's so lean that this isn't really a concern.  You're going to have to cook it in fat to make it palatable anyway, and with such little intrinsic fat it can't make too large a proportion of your diet.  Think of it as eating protein powder shaped like a steak.

Based on the data I have, I'd say it's fine in moderation...but you'll need an extrinsic source of fat to balance it out.  I'd be putting a fried egg on top, myself.  Then there's the old standbys of butter and coconut oil...but my favorite for cooking lean meat will always be grass-fed beef tallow.

You might ask someone else who lives there for a confirmation.  I was going to say Jamie Scott, but he's a Kiwi.  Anyone else know any Aussie paleos?

JS

Theresa:

No, eat the fatty stuff anyway.  Consider some EPA/DHA supplementation along with it, though, to keep the PUFA ratios more in line.  I am not of the school that thinks "just eat as much n-6 as you want, and eat gigantic amounts of n-3 pills to compensate"...but since even grain-fed beef is very low in PUFA, you can take reasonable amounts of fish oil to balance it out.  (And keep in mind that EPA/DHA content is the ONLY important number in fish oil supplements, particularly DHA.) 

Keep in mind that there are many vendors of grass-fed beef, perhaps even one near you:

http://www.eatwild.com/products/

And quite a few of them ship!  Shipping is reasonable for larger orders ($1/pound or less).  Check this sub-directory for details:

http://www.eatwild.com/products/farmsthatship.html

JS