What those people have in common is that they eat low carb, lots of fresh vegetables, no grain, no diary and some fish, eggs or meat. Plus they get a lot of exercise.

Oh, where to begin.

First of all, I eat a lowfat vegan diet, a la Drs. Esselstyn and McDougall. That is because it is the diet that makes me feel the best and has the best science on its side. I tried lowcarb for almost eight years (on and off) but I didn't lose any weight after the first 15 pounds, and always felt wired and wound up on it, and couldn't get a good night's sleep.

HOWEVER....

I don't even know where to begin regarding this video and Jeff Nelson's comment.

First of all, the video is sensational and misleading. I did a google search for the lowcarbers in the video and found several pics that were not headshots. They did not look fat at all, with the exception of Sally Fallon. I could also find you many pics of lowcarb/paleo "gurus" NOT included in the video who are quite lean.

Second, the opposing comments on the video have been deleted. Why? What are you afraid of? The truth can stand on its own. If you are deleting opposing comments it looks like you have something to hide or do not have faith in your position.

On to my next point -

Dr. McDougall's newsletter, The Paleo Diet Is Uncivilized, is inaccurate.

He claims that the original Atkins diet is "the ultimate in low carb eating", and that "In an attempt to remedy the obvious harms to human health caused by very low-carb eating, apologists (including the Atkins Nutritionals) have added fruits and non-starchy vegetables to their programs."

This is not true. First of all, EVERY form of lowcarb dieting allows "non-starchy vegetables". The original Atkins diet, from the first book, included fruits, all vegetables, and even grains after the initial induction period. Unfortunately for Dr. McDougall, for information about "the original Atkins diet", he provides a link to Webmd, which clearly states, "The diet does allow for adding fruits, vegetables, and whole-grain foods after the two-week induction period."

The whole newsletter is just a mess of inaccuracies.

Let me make it clear...I do not believe a lowcarb diet is healthy. I tried it, over and over, for almost eight years. I am now following a lowfat, plant-based diet and feel wonderful. However, no one is served by misrepresenting the facts.

I hope VegSource will take down this ridiculous, sensationalist, inaccurate, misleading video. And, it would be wonderful if Dr. McDougall would make the appropriate corrections to his "paleo" newsletter.

I believe someone else pointed this out, but the fact is that if you want to be lean and energetic and not calorie restrict or overexercise, you have to eat a diet low in protein and fat, and high in carbohydrates. Such a diet can be more or less healthy, depending on to what extent you eat refined foods, cooked foods, animal foods, etc.

Contrary to what Jennifer Allen claims above, there are people who have gone from eating a paleo diet to eating a vegan diet, myself included. Cooked paleo did not digest well and left me weak and foggy, and raw paleo digested better but left me feeling much the same. Both paleo diets induced calorie restriction through appetite suppression unless I held protein to 20% or less.

A vegan diet with higher fat (over 10% of calories) required me to restrict intake in order to maintain weight (the food is more dense, more calories per bite and fills the stomach slowly) and involved eating oils which are not whole foods (unnatural) or copious amounts of avocados or nuts (also unnatural). Low-fat cooked vegan was better in terms of mood, energy and mental clarity but the food was difficult to digest and unappetizing without adding toxic irritants like salt, sugar, garlic, onions, vinegar, etc.

Low-fat raw vegan solved all the problems I had eating paleo or cooked vegan: the food is easy to digest, appetizing, healthy, does not overly suppress appetite and I can eat as much as I want, as often as I want.

After a few months of eating a low-fat raw vegan diet, my BMI has fallen from 20.7 to 19.2. I have just as much muscle strength (despite averaging 5% of my calories from protein) which means I have lost 10 lbs. of fat and water. I expect this to continue, without need for meat, supplements, stimulants such as caffeine, cooked food or irritants.

The paleo diet is successful because adherents of the diet eliminate salt, which easily results in many pounds of water loss, up to 10 or more pounds for people with lots of excess body fat. Then the high protein induces weight loss through appetite loss. Finally, the removal of dairy and grains clears up many problems because both are problematic for humans, both are agricultural foods, they are new arrivals on the human dietary scene, causing allergies, diverticulitis, leaky gut, excess mucus, etc. The success of the paleo paradigm can thus be summed up: eliminate toxic foods such as dairy, grains and salt, and calorie restrict. The veggies, fruit, nuts and wild or grass-fed meats are all window-dressing to give the diet the appearance of health in the minds of SAD eaters.