• One of the best things to ever appear on the net on the subject of diet and human evolution. It's an interview of Paleodiet [listgroup contributor] Ward Nicholson by health newsletter editor Chet Day, and is probably the most meticulously documented, closely detailed, well-researched discussion I have ever read.
        Note that the interviewer and interviewee are both coming from a perspective of discussing "Natural Hygiene," an all- or mostly-raw, usually vegetarian dietary philosophy--Day is writing from the perspective of a practitioner of this philosophy, whereas Nicholson is writing from the perspective of one who has largely abandoned such dietary concepts. Don't let any of this deter you from reading the interview, however. It is a must-read item. --Dean Esmay, host and moderator of the PALEODIET listgroup (11/5/97)

• I just have had occasion to read the interview you gave published in Chet Day's newsletter in three parts. It is without a doubt the clearest and most elaborately reasoned synopsis and explanation of natural diets that I have ever encountered. I congratulate you on this complete work, and thank you. --Jay Caplan (11/13/97)

• Thank you so much for all your research, integrity, clarity, and balance. That is the most sensible, open-minded, and helpful examination of what constitutes a healthy diet I have ever read. I'm a technical writer, so I know how much time and effort goes into an interview like that. To me, the best thing about your approach is your even-handed curiosity. It is obvious that you are more interested in discovering the truth than in justifying a dogma. That is in stark contrast to the fruitarian, vegan, and anopsology pieces I have read. --Robert Jones (1/19/98)

• I so much appreciate the time you took to compile all this information and your efforts to present it in a sane, objective, and understandable format--as I'm sure so many other tired, confused, and guilt-ridden people like me will. I have spent the last 10 years in dietary misery whilst desperately yo-yo'ing in my attempts to eat only fruit and veg due to having fundamentally accepted the Natural Hygiene principles as the only possible "truly healthy" way to eat. Again, thank you for your efforts, and especially for your strength of character in being able to step outside your own beliefs. At the tender age of 27, but with increasing "small" health problems which are becoming frighteningly bigger, this information is like a breath of fresh air to me. --Billi-Jean Hayes (1/24/98)

Setting the Scientific Record Straight on Humanity's Evolutionary Prehistoric Diet and Ape Diets (October, 1996)
In what I suspect will come to be known as one of H&B's most controversial issues, Ward Nicholson gives us about 10,000 of the most clearly argued words on the fascinating topic of humankind's "real" original diet. Unlike most articles on this topic which, kindly put, rely on "common sense" and "blinded naturalism," Ward went to the sources and did his homework. This footnoted article may well change the thinking of any rational fruitarian or vegan who no longer feels as good as he or she felt when first opting out of the Standard American Diet. Of all the issues I've printed, I consider this one MUST reading.

Fire and Cooking in Human Evolution, Rates of Genetic Adaptation to Change, Hunter-Gatherers, and Diseases in the Wild (November, 1996)
In Part II of his interview, Ward Nicholson puts his analytical mind to the question of cooked food. Raw-foodists love to think that human beings always lived on and lived best on totally raw food and just are not genetically suited or adapted to any kind of cooked food. Ward looks at the anthropology and comes to conclusions that annoyed a lot of traditional-thinking Instinctos and Natural Hygienists. If hard science and clear thinking and articulation ring your bell, then you want this issue in your collection.

The Psychology of Idealistic Diets and Lessons Learned from the Natural Hygiene M2M about Successes and Failures of Vegetarian Diets (January, 1997)
Not one to keep from annoying just about everyone, in Part III of his magnificient series, former Natural Hygiene Many-to-Many coordinator Ward Nicholson turned his microscope on the issue of idealistic diets. With his usual clear thinking and highly readable prose, Ward gives pause to anyone who sticks to a diet just because it sounds right to them. If you're having problems with a diet, then it's probably the diet causing your problems and not your inability to stick with its tenets, Ward tells us. Must reading for anybody who believes he/she has THE answer to the human dietary.