How much fat did Grok eat? page 3

[Paleobird]

There are certainly paleo plans out there that follow a lower fat plan compared to PB - I think based on the assumption that fat could have been hard to come by in HG societies. I have tried them and they just do not work for me. I pretty much stick to Marks plan which I view as fairly high fat (at least 50%) because it means I can eat without counting or restricting - I can just allow my appetite to dictate what I eat. I can't do that on a lower fat diet so personally I am grateful for the early advice I got to make sure i am eating plenty of fat.

Here is what Mark says:
"Learn to love them. They are the fuel of choice and should become the balance of your Primal Blueprint diet. Fats have little or no impact on insulin and, as a result, promote the burning of both dietary and stored (adipose) fat as fuel. Think about this: if protein and carbs stay fairly constant (and carbs stay under 150), you can use fat as the major energy variable in your diet. Feeling like you need more fuel (and you’ve already covered your bases with protein and carbs)? Reach for something with fat. Nuts, avocados, coconut, eggs, butter, olive oil, fish, chicken, lamb, beef, the list is a long one. 100 grams of fats per day would only add 900 calories to our girl’s daily average, putting her at between 1620 and 1940 calories a day. Even if she averages somewhere between 1400 and 2200 calories per day over a few weeks, as long as she pays attention to protein and carbs, her body composition will shift to lower body fat and more desirable lean mass. If she decides to do some walking, a few brief intense weight sessions and a sprint day here and there, that process would accelerate greatly. If she gets to a point where she’s content with her body fat, she can even add in a little more fat to provide energy that she previously got from her stored fat."

Yeah, I talk about calories and get jumped all over for being un-Primal. People forget that Mark never says eat unlimited amounts of fat and you will lose weight effortlessly. He is talking about balancing the three out within a calorie budget. The thing that is too easy to do is to get carried away with all the yummy fats and not, as Mark says above, cover your bases, particularly on protein.

I have now gotten to the point he makes in the last sentence where I can be a little more liberal with the fat. I could not have lost the weight however without curtailing the fat intake. YMMV

[jammies]

Yeah, I talk about calories and get jumped all over for being un-Primal. People forget that Mark never says eat unlimited amounts of fat and you will lose weight effortlessly. He is talking about balancing the three out within a calorie budget. The thing that is too easy to do is to get carried away with all the yummy fats and not, as Mark says above, cover your bases, particularly on protein.

I have now gotten to the point he makes in the last sentence where I can be a little more liberal with the fat. I could not have lost the weight however without curtailing the fat intake. YMMV

He's not actually suggesting a specific caloric intake - he is just using calories there as a surrogate for intake and chose an example of what a woman might eat. My point here is that for you, when you needed more intake after meeting protein and carbohydrate basics you added more protein not more fat. Which in my interpretation is just a little more cordain style paleo than PB . Don't get me wrong -it's all just a spectrum of the same thing - I'm glad it works for you and it seems protein works for many people. But for me using fat to fill in that energy gap just works better. If the ground beef I am buying is 17% fat and the veggies are essentially fat free, then I really do have to add in fat in the terms of fatty cuts of meats, avocado, butter, olive oil etc to get up to 50%. This really does amount to unlimited fat for me - as fat triggers my satiety mechanism very quickly so I just can't really over-do it....too much anyway

However - getting back to the OP - if I were eating head to tail on the animal (which I am working towards....slowly) then I would be eating suet, marrow, brain, etc and would be closer to my goal fat intake without adding more in.

[jammies]

Images of how much fat a grass-fed bison has (carcass photos):

Tribe of Five: Hunting for Good Food and Roaming Bison

Grass-fed/wild meats do have less intra-muscular marbling, but we need to remember that HG groups don't eat just the muscle meat, unlike many North Americans. They use most of the animal, including rendering the fats, so although the muscle meat itself is leaner, the animals still store a good lot of fat. This is especially true for game animals in cold climates--they're lean in the spring, but by fall, the deer are nice and fat for winter, as are the rabbits, squirrels, and so on. Also, anyone who's cooked more traditionally cut meats will discover that a grass-fed cow still has enough fat to make a nice cushion of fat on top of the roast to keep it moist when you cook it, as long as your butcher doesn't trim all that good stuff off.

Wow - those are some cool images. I really had NO idea there was so much fat - every talks about bison being so lean - it's just that we are leaving the best parts behind I also love how golden yellow the fat is compared to feed-lot fat, you can really see the effects of the grass in there.

[jfreaksho]

mostly on vegetable matter and small game

Read up on "rabbit starvation," which is also known as "protein poisoning." A lack of fat will kill you.

[Paleobird]

Read up on "rabbit starvation," which is also known as "protein poisoning." A lack of fat will kill you.

True, but that doesn't mean we need to take it to the opposite extreme. A lack of salt will kill you. But eating a pound a day of it isn't very good either. Like I said, moderation.

[rubinglen]

wow, thanks for all the great answers and links guys!!

[Bissen]

Grok ate all he could....