Paleo Renegade ... Recap

Three months on with a 'Renegade Diet' inspired eating regime ...

Feast on a great evening meal
Fast for 16 hours
Begin a period of easy eating: light protein and fat but little carbohydrate
Begin a period of feasting: pretty much whatever macronutrient ratio you like for evening meal

With an ancestral context, that fits very well with what Cordain spoke of regarding food timing and availability during the day.

Upon waking, we have a scratch, a piss and walk around, picking over the leftovers from last night's feast ... which, no, there isn't any since the dogs gnawed on what we left last night.

So, as the new dawn fades and the day yawns before us, we head off to work ... today, to the office, factory, farm, wherever, ancestrally, out into our land to hunt and gather.

During the day, we might happen to cross a stream, spear a few little fish, pick a few rock dwellers from seaside pools, catch a small animal, pick a few berries, that sort of thing, and so ... maybe around noon you're ready for a little light lunch.

Back to the camp late afternoon with the spoils of the day, in modern terms, the money we've just earned to pay for the things we've got stored away in our cupboards, fridges and freezers; an evening meal for the family to be the focal point. Now we can eat something starchy.

Well, as a recap, I don't seem to have gained or lost any weight other than the usual loss of a couple of inches around the waist that I get this time of year - lean for spring, bulked for winter - but I think that's perfectly natural and absolutely evolutionarily accordant for a northern European.

I do feel great! I never really went in for breakfast, but now I absolutely enjoy my lunches, certainly with no heavy carbohydrate and never feel pogged, sluggish or dull in the afternoon and always hit dinner without any sense of already feeling full and having to go through the motions, ending up feeling even more pogged.

Mrs does like something upon waking and so some yoghurt and berries does her well.

Here's a couple more lunches ...

... I love this format!

Proper Primal Peck [Paleo Renegade]

I'm not absolutely sure what led to what and had me reading about the Renegade Diet since I hate the notion of Diets (capitalised) but The Renegade Diet appears on the face of it to be something very familiar to paleo, primal and generally ancestral eaters and very close to something I wrote about here, inspired by Cordain's notion of ancestral food timing.

It's a framework, like the Primal Blueprint, incorporating eat, sleep, work and fast.

The foundation appears to be a long fast of 16 hours. Once you've eaten in the evening, fast for 16 hours. I tend to eat around half seven, or so, and be done by eight, so sixteen hours later takes me to noon the following day ... about the very time that I like a light lunch ... like this.

The Renegade Diet breaks the fast ("breakfast"?) at this point and begins a period of "undereating" with light, easily digestible foods mostly protein and fat: white fish, yoghurt, avocado, vegetables ... sound familiar? Four hours. Carbs are okay, but keep 'em low ... small amounts, say, from berries. Again, hunter/gatherer-style. After that four hour period, a new period of "overeating" comes into play, during which we're to feast. Carbs are in, from simple sources like root vegetables.

I have not read the eBook which you can go and find for yourself, but on the face of it this all seems very familiar and something I came to myself through ancestral eating - notably, Cordain, but through Sissons, too.

Furthermore, this is exactly what J Stanton is talking about in his excellent (and free) guide to practical ancestral eating: Eat Like a Predator.

Beyond how and when to eat, J gives us a simple guide about what to eat: "foods that can be picked, dug up or speared ... mostly speared" ... and so, my lunch is fruits like avocado and tomato, that can be picked, meats or fish, usually fish, eggs, and keep the things I can dig up for my evening meal.

Cordain's notion is borne out here; that the main meal of an ancestral human's day would have been early evening, breakfast skipped, scraps of leftovers at most and small items that could readily be grabbed or quickly speared and gobbled down during the day - a fish, a lizard, a small mammal, an item of fruit, a handful of greens.

Summary? Skip breakfast, enjoy a light, protein and fat orientated lunch, feast in the evening! As J would say, "Eat like a predator ... fast ... and gorge; prey graze".