Friday, July 15, 2011

Cheats and the 80/100 rule

Neither are of my liking.

Cheating implies that one, somehow, would prefer to eat something other than what one is "allowed" but one doesn't, generally, unless the craving is very, very, very strong, in which case, one's willpower momentarily banishes and one cheats by indulging in "forbidden" ambrosias.

It seems to me that the "cheat" menace is what has motivated the formulation of the 80/100 rule which, more or less, claims that if one is on the right path 80% of the time, one gets 100% of the benefit.

Well, like I said, neither concept works for me (they might work for others, of course). Thus, I don't cheat or shoot for 80%. What I have detailed in the blog is exactly what I eat.

There are only two exceptions, both of which I have mentioned in passing before and that I will now elaborate on.

First, I use what I call "crutches" in order to transition into a new set of circumstances. For example, intermittent fasting (IF) was a big unknown, that is, I didn't know what to expect. Therefore, I started IF by breaking the fast with a cup of consommé when I felt the hunger became unhealthy. I only did this three or four times, until my body accepted the new feeding schedule. (Note: together with sprinting, IF has turned out to be the best discovery of this particular journey).

Second, I eat out once a week. This is a kind of social event (therefore, somewhat bizarre by nature) that I am at present engaged in. There will be time when I don't have to do this any more but I must say that, for the entire time that I have been on a paleo diet, I have had this once-a-week peculiar meal.

And the meal is peculiar, indeed. Take note. I can eat as much as I want of the following although I generally eat what is listed below and in the order it is listed:

1. Two servings of fruit gelatin swimming in sweetened heavy cream.
2. Two slices of fresh pineapple.
3. Salad: lettuce, onion, tomato, bacon bits, Parmesan, and a flood of some unknown kind of creamy dressing.
4. Egg drop soup.
5. White bread (~200 grams).
6. A burger patty and an open chicken thigh, both broiled on a fire pit (~250 grams together).
7. Apple pie and a scoop of vanilla ice-cream.
8. Two slices of fresh pineapple.

It is easily the largest meal of the week (I struggle at times). Also, it has so many ingredients that are not paleo that it would be a waste of time to try to enumerate them.

I believe my entire diet is now "on the record". I will continue to fine-tune the template menu but there should not be any major changes...