Diana Hsieh has a great read over on Modern Paleo on “three major obstacles” — the value of health, individual differences, and the science of nutrition — that make it difficult to categorize essential vs optional paleo principles:
Of course, we can define a paleo diet, because it means something definite. We can also identify the general principles of a paleo approach to health … That’s crucial for doing paleo well, I think.
Yet to think of some of these principles as universally “essential” versus universally “optional” would be a mistake. Instead, they should stand in our minds as “more or less important for me.”
Do read the whole post! BTW, I’ve been in my new digs for a week and a half and hope to be back to a regular posting schedule fairly soon. Thanks for your patience.
Weight Maven is written by Beth Mazur. Beth believes that obesity is more symptom than cause and that the real problem is our modern culture -- especially diet. Beth writes about ancestral health, health policy, & mindfulness. And cats! 
Reblogged this on Eathropology and commented:
As usual, Weight Maven has the scoop. She’ll point you to an excellent article by Modern Paleo that addresses the issue of why a one-size-fits-all approach–whether plant-based or paleo–isn’t going to work. I would probably not have seen this if it weren’t for her.
Wow. Thanks Beth! That was one intense read! Takes a while to unpack all its ideas. (I’m still unpackin’…the ideas…and I hope you’re making good progress unpacking the movable stuff! What a big chore. Hang in there. I bet you are getting close to the “finish line”…er, although, to be honest, I’ve got a few boxes never unpacked from when we remodeled…um, 12 years ago. Pretty sure what’s inside. Not positive. LOL)<–embarrassing true confession :)
Thanks for the link Beth and amen! Like so many other people, over the years I have tried a wide variety of approaches to lose weight and maintain weight loss. It’s pretty much been a losing proposition (lol), though I feel very lucky that my body did NOT react to these attempts by piling on a lot more weight after every rebound.
Not one of my “experiments” with various dietary regimens (vegetarianism, cutting out wheat and sugar, etc.) has yielded any true results. Since I’ve always been quite moderate in my eating style (I don’t binge), I can actually eat a small amount of chocolate–which is not a bad thing–or sugary crap and not go stark raving mad. In fact, the only thing I know is that taking a magnesium/calcium supplement every day and eating Kashi cereal in the morning with milk (and therefore consuming two foods known to be the Devil’s spawn: dairy and wheat), have gone a long way to finally making me fairly “regular” after a lifetime of constipation.
The other thing I know is that I am constantly fighting all those voices in my head (I met almost all of them on the Internet) telling me that everything I eat is bad…and I don’t even go to McDonald’s!
Thanks for letting me do a mini-rant.
Glad to see you’re back blogging. I’ve missed you.
Beth, I would like to recommend a blog that provides wonderful insights, I believe, into innovative satiety management options and into the usual (not so promising) weight-loss strategies, and why they fail so miserably (strategies, for instance, that focus on calorie capping and that regard hunger as a minor or an annoying “nuisance” rather than the serious roadblock to sustained weight loss for those who wish to pursue health in relation to weight). I find Dea Robert’s perspective to be very refreshing and informative…especially on the primary focus of her interest… “It’s the Satiety” (her blog title). Hope you’ll enjoy! I imagine you’ll find a cool “quote of the day” there and you’ll share it with the rest of us. There are many from which to choose, but you are the PRO at that…so I’m leaving the quote stuff in you capable hands! :)
http://itsthesatiety.com/
Thanks! I already have Dea’s blog in my reader. You’re right, it’s a wonderful read!