Methodology of Structuring One's Diet

[zeno]

Given that Paleolithic humans were not given the benefit of being able to construct one's diet at their will, I would like to presume that their constitution (among other things) helped them to understand how much to eat, what to eat and why.

I'm curious as to how RAF-ers structure their diet. How do I know if I'm eating too much liver, or too much fat? I can understand that a certain amount of time and testing is necessary to determine this independently, but where is a solid foundation to begin from?

I'm particularly interested to hear from people such as lex_rooker and others who seem to have structured diets. How did you form such structures and why?

[achillezzz]

† - I n s t i n c t i v e  E a t i n g - †

[achillezzz]

Like iguana once told me

"Ask a chimp how much carbs you need" 

[sabertooth]

There is this Idea that once you eliminate all non paleo foods from the diet then over time you will rediscover the instinctive nature which guided the food choices of our ancestors.

Try to sample all of what the paleo diet has to offer and then try to take note of your reactions to different foods. Over time you will learn to listen to your bodies reactions and develop an apatite for the more optimal foods while learning to limit less than optimal foods.

Some foods like liver I will eat only so much before losing the taste for it, but if I go to long without organ meats I will get cravings.

There may not be anyone who can say for sure what the most effective starting point for this diet is. I started doing a more primal version, but after a couple of months I noticed that dairy and fruits were still causing me problems and so I began to limit foods that I felt were causing negative reactions, and eventually a personalized diet emerged through this instinctual process of elimination and recalibration.

I would think the starting point should depend on ones current disposition. If you are having certain digestive issues then there may be a reason to heavily limit dairy, starchy and sugary foods. If that is the case then you may consider going into a higher fat lower carb version of the paleo diet to quicken the healing process. If you are already fairly healthy then you have a lot more flexibility to chose foods based on your own personal preferences.

There are just to many variables when deciding what course to take, to make a universal recommendation...