Interesting topic you've raised Leapingbare. One of several books that I was fortunate to receive at Christmas was, The Vitamin D Cure written by Dr. James Dowd. My wife and I have adopted the diet (not calorie restricted incidentally, just have to eat the good stuff) on January first, and can report better sleep, increased energy, and a positive sense of well being. In addition we already have had to take the belts up a notch to tighten them around our waists. With Sun, supplementation, and dietary changes, we are believers that better health is an inevitable result of better diet.
Indeed it is more expensive to maintain the healthy produce, and lean meats that are recommended. We can hardly wait to start harvesting fresh produce from our Square Foot Garden (another awesome book by the way), and realize a savings on our grocery bill.
We can eat all of the good stuff we want. Fresh produce, and controlled amounts of lean meat protein, which wild game is highly recommended by Dr. Dowd. We have gone without pasta, bread, cereals both cold and hot, basically all grains, no added salt to any of our foods, soda, and only 100% fruit juices since the first. We had some awful cravings, but think we are over the hump. Good foods automatically correct the chronic acid base imbalance that has adverse effects on the long term health of the majority of Americans.
Interestingly Dr. Dowd recommends another book titled The Paleo Diet written by Dr. Loren Cordain, which we will no doubt obtain at some point in the near future.