Thank you for sharing your experience.  It's easy to talk about what humans "should" or "must have" eaten...but once you try to actually do it yourself, you realize very quickly that fat is the scarcest and most prized resource.

JS

Low-fat "paleo" doesn't work for me, either.  If you restrict carbs, then you restrict fat, you've got nothing left, because one can only process so much protein.  Result: involuntary deep calorie restriction -- and all the hunger, chills, low energy, and cravings that you get for free with crash diets. 

As far as dairy, I think casein is the most problematic part.  Butter has only trace amounts and is fine for me, and even the Whole 30 allows clarified butter now, which removes even those traces...but if I eat too much cheese or drink too much milk I get acne. 

And while it's fashionable of late to say "Hey, I ate beans for a couple weeks and feel fine," that's not a useful data point, and I find myself growing more sympathetic to some of Cordain's suspicions of Neolithic foods: see this article. 

JS

I might be confusing Fat Head with Tom's "Big Fat Fiasco" series.

JS

His academic papers of the time repeat the dogma, and I can't speculate on the reasons.  Fortunately, he's backed off dramatically, and the field has long since moved on.

JS

That totally destroyed his credibility with me. But in reading his book, I got the feeling that his anti-fat stance was some sort of sop to get acceptance from the nutritional establishment, as being pro-sat-fat might have meant the book would end up in literary oblivion.

I believe you're correct...although I seem to recall an intermediate stage where SFA is bad, but only in the presence of excess carbohydrate (or something like that).  

Note my closing statement: "My purpose is not to trash Dr. Cordain: he’s done a great deal of good over the years, and “Origins and Evolution of the Western Diet” is a solid summary of the issues, one to which I’ve referred people many times."  I absolutely credit him with his work over many years, and we wouldn't be where we are if not for his efforts.  However, I believe it's instructive to know exactly how and why this particular stance is incorrect, because "Origins and evolution of the Western diet" is still widely cited.

JS

My facts are straight.

Adult caribou typically weigh 175# (small females) to 400# (large males) -- although bulls of 700# have been recorded.  (Source.)

Adult bison weigh 1000# (small females) to 2000# (large males).  (Source.)

JS

BULLSHIT, bison are big but they're not multiple a caribou.

Fortunately he keeps such comments to a minimum, does an excellent job documenting the importance of fat in the diet of meat hunters (even if he doesn't understand exactly why...limited ability to process protein), and doesn't claim that it was somehow unhealthy for them.

JS

Page 41 and thereabouts even more anti fat statements

" Camped in the middle of a barren, demanding landscape, living on a restricted diet and with limited source of heat, we found that in a matter of a few weeks we experienced a craving for fat – devouring chocolate bars, peanut butter, oily sardines, and even eating spoonfuls of margarine right out of the tub. Though I shudder at the thought now, at the time there was nothing I wanted more than fat."

[Fixed the HTML -JS]