well, that "paleo handbook" is something I mentally invented. First I read Audette, Cordain, Weston Price, and several others who advocate "paleolithic nutrition"...and I have an internalized voice that analyzes matters from that perspective. If you're interested in general, you could visit www.paleodiet.com and start reading the (many many) links.

In specific, I got some good hits by doing a google.com search for "carb loading paleolithic" where paleo dieters describe and debate to what extent pre-agricultural humans ate carbs.

From: http://chetday.com/vegmyths.htm

"With regards to endurance and energy levels, Dr Price traveled around the world in the 1920s and 1930s, investigating native diets. Without exception, he found a strong correlation between diets rich in animal fats, robust health and athletic ability. Special foods for Swiss athletes, for example, included bowls of fresh, raw cream. In Africa, Dr Price discovered that groups whose diets were rich in fatty meats and fish, and organ meats like liver, consistently carried off the prizes in athletic contests, and that meat-eating tribes always dominated tribes whose diets were largely vegetarian."

and

"It is popular in sports nutrition to recommend "carb loading" for athletes to increase their endurance levels. But recent studies done in New York and South Africa show that the opposite is true: athletes who "carb loaded" had significantly less endurance than those who "fat loaded" before athletic events (J Raloff. "High Fat Diets Help Athletes Perform." Science News, 1996, 149:18:287)."

glad to be of help!