@James81: Sorry, but one of the references is a book scourging through 150 years of nutritional science in a very dry manner with a bibliography that makes your head explode. The next one is a presentation of a scientific paper.
I fully agree that the rest is purely anecdotal internet stuff. But it is a good intro and - not knowing who I am talking to, I thought it was a good mixture. I can link to scientific papers and journal articles if you want to.
I've read both bunches of literature, both the vegan/vegetarian parts and the carnivore part and the carnivores make more sense. No mention of spirituality and cleansing or detoxification there. Just biochemistry and a bit of anthropology.
It's true. Everyone acts like an expert on the web. But the same is true offline. That's why one should always consider that one is wrong about everything and try to find holes in one's pet theories. That's why I am currently reading mostly vegan/vegetarian books to find something that's wrong with my meat-diet. I'm the first to change my mind when faced with conflicting evidence. Anecdotal stuff on the internet is a good start, but it's far from sufficient. In the end, you have to make up your own mind. I began all of this as a full-fledged vegan, but stuff like this makes you doubt that primates don't eat animal products:
YouTube - Chimpanzees team up to attack a monkey in the wild - BBC wildlife
It all began from there. That said, I could challenge you on the fruits and veggies. All the evidence for fruits and veggies I've seen so far is either anecdotal or epidemiological.
Fruits and vegetables cause more DNA damage than other food:
Associations of antioxidant nutrients and oxidativ...[Cancer Epidemiol Biomarkers Prev. 2007] - PubMed Result
From the abstract:
"African-Americans had ... lower self-reported intake of most antioxidants (than whites). Levels of oxidative DNA damage, measured using the alkaline comet assay, were lower in African-Americans than Whites"
and:
Green tea extract only affects markers of oxidativ...[Br J Nutr. 2002] - PubMed Result
"The overall effect of the 10-week period without dietary fruits and vegetables was a decrease in oxidative damage to DNA, blood proteins, and plasma lipids, concomitantly with marked changes in antioxidative defence."
The reason for this is that plants, like all living things, don't want to be eaten. That's why there are antinutrients and toxins in plants. We bred most of that out of most of the plants we eat or we cook them to destroy the toxins.
I also believe that this much exercise causes oxidative damage. A bit of googling presented me this:
Science Links Japan | Exercise, Oxidative Stress and Health Benefit.
But I must admit that I haven't researched it, yet, so I can't say anything about it.
One of the main benefits of the internet is that if you are curious it forces you into a postmodern state of mind. You can expose yourself to tons of different points of view. It helps to take none of these too seriously, including your own. The great thing is that you can actively search for evidence that what you are believing or doing is wrong and look for the best evidence you can find. In terms of nutrition and exercise, these would be scientific journals. And even there one has to beware which kind of study one is reading, is it epidemiological, what are the flaws in the research, funding by pharmaceuticals etc. There are no boundaries for skepticism. Of course, books, articles and blogs help for orientation.
I agree with you completely that we currently have very little clue as to what makes a healthy diet and that in the end, you have to experiment and make up your own mind. But to do that you have to constantly challenge everything you think you know to be true. The state of science in this area does leave a lot to be desired, but you have to take what you can get.