Vegetarianism v. Paleo Diet

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I've been reading quite a bit lately about the benefits of the vegetarian diet as well as the so-called Paleo diet.  Both forms of eating are "natural," in the sense that they include foods found in their natural state, rather than the standard American diet that is composed almost exclusively of processed food.  There are some who prefer to concentrate on animal protein, and those who subsist exclusively on raw plant foods.  In either case, it cannot be ignored that the standard American diet of processed foods can't possibly be healthy.  And the evidence is not far from view.  The standard American diet is relatively recent on onset: from the days of the Industrial Revolution about 150 years ago, when white sugar and white flour became all the rage, indicating that its users were more affluent, to the food industry at large introducing more and more processed foods into the marketplace, no doubt in response to the commodity lobbies, and our increasingly hectic lifestyles.  To compensate and make things easier, McDonald's and its ilk began to spring up everywhere: processed, fast, preserved foods.  This encouraged both parents to work outside the home (no one needed to stay home and cook), and chauffeur the kids to various extracurricular activities in cars.  This sort of lifestyle began in the 1950s, early 1960s, very recent vintage.  And the results?  An astonishing increase in disease, astonishing increase in cost of living.  All protests notwithstanding, buying and preparing food in its natural state seems much cheaper and more conducive to good health than what we have come to do in our lives.  Could it be that the Mediterranean lifestyle would be the underpinning of health?