hold on to your grass fed horses, this is not yet a science-fiction dystopia, quit acting like it is. 1) you can still eat "paleo" if you so choose and no one is going to arrest you. 2) I don't think your friends and co-workers would be that difficult to convince. After all they are living in the same society as you. 3) really? shed the term "paleo" and just go for "Real Food" "paleo" makes it sound like you want to eat nothing but what you can find in the woods, which is not exactly healthy either: even the Iroquios and Algonquins had to farm in order to supply all their dietary needs, I know a few Iroquois and Algonquins myself nice people actually, really know their stuff. Go spend a day talking with them, you won't be under such naive notions then. and 4) quit hating on grain, you need to eat it. if you don't you will find yourself feeling greasy and unhappy. People are omnivores, and we are evolved to eat grains, yes, even corn. However, only eat corn in small amounts as it is very high in calories, much higher than wheat, rice or any other grain. carbs are essential, and this diet is just another one of these low-carb diets like the Atkins, so yes, it's just a fad. Am I condoning grocery-store-bought "health food" no, that's got plenty of icky stuff in it. However, if you were to grow some wheat, and grind it yourself like people used to do, then I'd say sure eat it. Of course, everything in moderation, you should NOT be eating the kind of portions of grain that the government food pyramid recommends, but you should be eating some. Archaeology tells us that long before humans started farming THEY WERE EATING GRAINS. Even back on the African savannah, they were eating grains. They have found substantial amounts of grain in Paleolithic caves. Also realize that the people living at the sites where evidence of mostly meat eating was found WERE NOT MODERN HUMANS! that was Homo erectus, our ancestor, who had slightly different dietary requirements. I'd think twice about basing my dietary choices off another animal's no matter how closely related. For example: I would not be silly enough to design a diet primarily based around termites even though they are highly edible and form a large part of chimpanzee diets. There is also archaeological evidence that humans were once prey (google Swartkrans for more info) and more recently scavengers, so shed the "eat like a predator" thing too, we're not supreme predators, we're predators when it suits us, prey when we fail and scavengers otherwise. What humans are, is really smart rats (the other really successful omnivore in the world). We get into everything, eat anything we can, and infest every square inch of the planet. We love to live in large groups and we do really well in the competition for food. We reproduce like crazy (we even, alone of all the mammals, have no estrus cycle so we can have 5 times more babies). Our altruism, cleverness, tool-making abilities, and culture allowed us to succeed (culture extends are memory so that we do not have to individually learn everything we need to know). Our linguistic abilities (which enabled the ability to disagree without killing each other), religious tendency (which allowed us to live in otherwise too-large societies), and invention of moral rules (which again allowed us to disagree without killing each other) made us the dominate species. Our ability to make surpluses of grain through domestication enabled the great civilizations of the past. There is anthropological evidence to back this up (google Catalhoyuk if you don't believe me). Although it's nice to think of ourselves as "the best predators" we are not, there are plenty of predators who are far better equipped than we are (i.e. the man-eating lions, and those guys were maneless). Quit dick measuring and start actually eating. and yes, I am assuming you are male, since no woman in her right mind would believe any of this crap, she would have the ancestral memory of thousands of years of gathering wild grains. Even the eskimos eat grains, smarty. Still not convinced: here's more things wrong with your argument: Agave nectar is not a circumlocution for "table sugar" agave nectar is from the agave plant (duh) actually the same plant that gives us tequila. It is not "table sugar" any more than maple syrup is (also a sugar that comes from a plant). Besides, sugar is good for you in small quantities (which is the real problem with Agave nectar, it's too sweet to be used consistantly). And finally, never peel your potatoes, the skin is the good part! sheesh! in fact never peel anything, the skins of fruits and veggies have wonderful nutrients and minerals in them that you can't do without including: surprise! vitamin D. Just make sure you buy organic, or better yet, grow those fruits yourself. Do not however feel the need to eat citrus or bananas, if you don't live in a place where they naturally grow (if you're in Florida of course, go ahead and have some), you don't need them. As for cooking with meat fat if you want to do it I say more power to you, but realize that the people who invented that technique were farmers who worked outside all day trying to grow wheat in rocky soil. Don't do it unless you plan on exerting yourself fully for 16 hours straight. "vegetable oils" are not a lie, that's an umbrella term for things like peanut oil, corn oil (this one IS to be avoided) canola oil, olive oil, etc. lettuce oil? broccolli oil? what universe do you live in? I for one have never seen these particular oils, and would probably throw a tantrum if I did. if you ate a balanced diet you wouldn't need supplements, so the fact that your diet includes taking supplements means that it is clearly not balanced or "paleo": Stone Age hunter-gatherers didn't have supplements instead they had grains, and fruit skins. in addition, DO NOT get rid of legumes, they are excellent for you, perhaps the best foods you could eat with all sorts of great and wonderful vitamines and minerals that you DON'T get from other sources including potassium for those of us who don't live in Florida, and nitrogen (not to be confused with nitrates which are bad for you), and often times iron, magnesium and other minerals (depending on what's in your soil) iron deficiency is really not cool, it makes your brain fuzzy believe me, I have trouble with it all the time. Beans are not birdseed or rabbit food, they are People Food (birds won't eat them, neither will rabbits, believe me I've tried this). Even for a committed carnivore beans of some kind are essential.Do I advocate eating soy everything? no, particularly not fake meat, as that is simply disgusting (and doesn't at all replace meat). tofu in every form is just a way for vegans with low self-esteem to fit in with the general population. However, a nice meal of succatash (corn beans and squash, cooked together on an open fire) is a whole different matter. In fact that's a perfectly balanced meal (as the Iroquois living in my hometown realized long ago, which is why they ate it all the freakin' time) right there (all the starch, veggies, protein, sugar, fat and carbs you could need for a long day of working on a farm, or hunting in the woods) WITHOUT ANY MEAT! a good meat substitute that is very cheap and obtainable (and very "paleo") are mushrooms, which your "diet-guide" completely glosses over, which is why I know your "diet" is just a fad. You have ignored nature's greatest invention: fungi, in all their forms. Mushrooms have most of the same fats and other things that are in meat, but lots more vitamins and minerals as well. Some even taste a bit like meat. They are, like animals, incapable of photosynthesis, and can be easily obtained from the woods. You are not truly "paleo" and cannot call yourself that until you have gone foraging for mushrooms, hunting for meat, foraging for nuts and berries or something else like that. I am sorry, you do not know what it is to eat off the land, I do, I've had to do it in the dead of winter, in New England (even if only for a day, I have done it). As for dairy, well, take it or leave it, it's not essential, but nice and won't cause any problems if you do eat it. and finally: flaxseed oil (or linseed oil) is furniture polish yes (not to mention all sorts of other things like shampoo and varnish, and paint sealer), but it is ALSO food, and very good food, which although not necessary can be an excellent substitute for other fats, for those who aren't exerting themselves to the max 16+ hours a day. I am of Welsh and Irish peasant heritage, and believe me while I enjoy my meat it is not something that I can or should eat all the time. My ancestors ate meat maybe 4 times a year (on the Celtic festival days), even back in the Iron Age, meat was difficult to get especially if you weren't the one who owned the deer-hunting forest. My family ate lots of fish (which unfortunately I can't eat anymore, because fish are now toxic since we dumped mercury and other crap in our rivers, another thing your diet seems to overlook) and lots of mushrooms and lots of veggies but not a whole lote of starches or meat fats. I am also an Anthro major, do your research, Paleolithic people ate meat maybe twice a week if even that, and that was only those who had a hunter in the family. They got most of their nutrition from roots and plants that they gathered. considering that I just poked enough holes in your argument to make it look like Swiss Cheese (and that was just off the top of my head, if I actually had a book in front of me I could likely have found more errors), I suggest you do some research and revise your theory. Humans are not the most effective predators on earth, which is why if you are on safari in Africa you still have to be aware that at any moment a leopard could eat you, and believe me you don't stand a chance agains the leopard. We are however the most arrogant animals on the planet, but I happen to live in a place where despite all modern conveniences and technology every winter storm still threatens to wipe us out. Every cold snap could be the end of my pipes, which could make water leak onto my roof which could bring my entire house down around my ears while I sleep. So, what have I done about it? prepared myself with the knowledge of how to actually survive in the woods in winter should I need to, and by collecting as many seeds as I can. Seeds are wonderful things for those who need to carry large amounts of calories around with them all the time. They have lots of calories, lots and lots and lots (think about it, what are seeds? they are plant eggs, as with all eggs they contain the nutrients that the baby plant needs until it can grow on it's own, which includes a prodigious amount of calories) put that way seeds don't seem so much like bird-food anymore do they? and you can carry more seeds than beef jerkey (or even pemmican). Now, I know how to make pemmican, I know how to make a bow and arrow, and how to shoot it well enough to kill something. I know what berries to eat and which to leave alone so long as I am in the woods I grew up in. I could survive a winter in my hometown if the entire economy suddenly shut down, could you do that? no you're just compensating for your small dicks by eating lots of meat and talking like macho men. Well, we'll see who survives when the apocalypse comes me or you.

Awesome post, you've completely nailed the issue. The only thing I can think of to preserve our sanity is another Gandhi quote:
"We need to be the change we wish to see in the world".
Short of being forced at gunpoint to surrender my grass-fed beef and eat hummus, I'm going to carry on living the Paleo lifestyle and let the results speak for themselves!

JS,
I had no intention of becoming a radical, I just was determined to find health. I'm alarmed and repulsed by the truth that the promotion of human suffering is so profitable. I'm also feeling a little vulnerable as the only gnoll in my neck of the woods. I can't decide whether to curl up in a ball and cry, or just go eat a little more meat. I am comforted in my paranoia to hear from the rest of you out there. Where is our tribe meeting after the apocalypse? Please wait for me...

As for thebakingfairy, I'd rather just step in the flaming dog poop rather than try and read that again.

Having followed Paleo (both as a personal WOE and on blogs and such) for a while, I have come to the conclusion that if we value our own futures, as well as the futures of our children, it would be best that we consider a move to the third world, where such government control is less ominous.