I've just come across the Paleo diet books by Wolff and Cordain, and I'm really excited. I know from experimenting with Atkins and Low GL diets that I feel much better when my insulin is stable and I'm not on a sugar rollercoaster. For me, there isn't much difference between eating wholemeal bread and a mars bar in the effect it has on my appetite and energy levels. Even porridge (oatmeal) makes me hungry 90 mins later.
In a way, finding out that I'm not eating the stuff I was designed to eat by my genes suddenly makes everything fall into place. I've never seen the need to cut out dairy before, as I've never noticed any problems, but salted butter is definitely one of my weak points. So I'm really up for giving paleo a go.

I have one big question though. Why no peas?- particularly the small ones like mangetout/ sugarsnap that can be eaten raw?
The books don't say why no legumes, and the answer I found on t'internet for not eating root veg and legumes was that paleolithic man discovered fire quite late in the period, and therefore for most of his 2 million years wouldn't have been able to eat anything that couldn't be eaten raw. But mangetout etc can be.

This question makes a big difference, because peas are a big deal in our family- favourite veg along with broccoli- and it might be a non-starter from the kids point of view (not to mention no bread, no cheerios, no sweets on Mondays!!!!).

We currently eat a 'healthy' UK pyramid style diet, (which is very similar to the US one) and I'm wondering if anyone has any experience of moving a family over to paleo. My husband and I are both doctors (he's a GP, I'm a psych) so I should be able to persuade him via the science, but the kids are a different matter. 17 year old son, doesn't like meat much although OK with fruit and some veg. Eats a ton of unhealthy stuff outside the home, I'm sure. Loves his oj. But he's 5ft 11 1/2ins and desperate to get to 6 foot, so I've already told him paleo man was taller than neolithic man ....Daughter, 15, has a learning disability and is obese in spite of only having 'healthy' foods available at home and packed lunch at school. She'll eat everything put in front of her but will choose carbs over meat every time, and loves her diet soda. I think she'll benefit most from this if I can pull it off. Youngest son is 9, won't touch fruit (apart from the odd rare banana) although will eat peas, broccoli and carrots without undue pressure. He loves meat (thank heaven), and sweets/ ice-cream. He will only drink water, rather amazingly. I should be grateful.

I'm thinking about buying tons more lean meat and fish so there's always leftovers in the fridge to snack on, and keeping salads made up and available at all times. Then if I gradually buy less and less bread, breakfast cereal, 'forget' to buy sugar when it runs out (youngest puts it on porridge for breakfast) with an 'Oh sorry, I forgot. Shall I do you some scrambled egg instead? Or there's some lamb from yesterday leftover if you want? That kind of thing. They don't react well to the 'Right, mum's done some more reading about what's healthy (*resounding groan from the rest of the dinner table*) and we're going to be eating like this from now on because blah blah blah' so I'm going to try the under the radar approach. After all, they all eat wholemeal pasta without even realising now, in spite of it being reviled as the devil's food when I first bought it.

Any other suggestions/ comments?

Ros x