Paleo Diet and Paleolithic Diet Questions & Answers

Question

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Please share your ideas for food/meals/recipes that would qualify as low reward.

For example, is butter on a boiled potato too tasty. Only plain potatoes allowed? Are plain sweet potatoes just too tasty? What about coconut oil on a potato? That doesn't sound too tasty too me... No salt at all? What about herbs and spices? Nada?

What would you eat on a low reward adventure?

flag	asked Dec 1 2011 at 16:36 Dave S. 20.9k●1●11●65

Beth-WeightMaven · Accepted Answer · 2011-12-01 16:48:34Z UTC

Check out Aravind and Kamal's experience with Losing Fat With Simple Food for lots about their testing of a low reward diet. Here's what they ate:

Representative Daily Diets
- Kamal
●     Breakfast - Berries, Milk protein isolate (unflavored)
●     Lunch - Beef stew (beef, carrot, celery, salt, pepper), Banana
●     Dinner - Steamed fish (fish, salt, pepper, lemon juice), plain spinach, plain squash, Tiny bit of walnuts
●     Snacks - None. Started eating sushi during re-feeds later on. Ate more seasoned Paleo foods with added fat on rare occasions (e.g. BBQ, travelling, hot date)
●     Calories ~ 1100-1200 per day, 3000-4000 on 1x/week re-feed days with added rice
●     Macronutrients ~ 50% protein, 30% carbohydrates, 20% fat (high % protein was to minimize muscle loss due to extremely low calorie consumption)

- Aravind
●     Breakfast – boiled eggs, sweet potatoes (or whole milk with whey protein if rushed)
●     Lunch – White rice with ghee, green vegetables (okra, spinach, broccoli) cooked in little ghee without spices, full fat (homemade) yogurt
●     Dinner – White rice with traditionally prepared lentils, white potatoes, green vegetables, and yogurt; Or spinach salad with mixed veggies, boiled eggs, and “ghee vinaigrette”
●     Snacks – 85-90% dark chocolate, macadamia nuts, bananas (eliminated once diet soda addiction overcome)
●     Calories ~ 1700-1800 per day
●     Macronutrients ~ 55% carbohydrates, 25% fat, 20% protein (pre-experiment ~45% carbs, albeit higher overall calorie consumption)
●     Dietary staples remained unchanged, however seasonings, salt, spices, added fats significantly reduced. Diet soda eliminated. Very limited alcohol consumption

Olga · Answer 2 · 2011-12-06 23:09:51Z UTC

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I think downright nauseating food is the way to go. Sardine-spinach-almond milk shake, any one?

answered Dec 6 2011 at 23:09

Olga
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I actually suggested to my regular Starbucks cashier that they ought to have a cappuccino with lobster shavings on top. She knew me too well to think I wasn't being droll. – Dorado Galore Dec 6 2011 at 23:23

Dorado Galore · Answer 3 · 2011-12-06 23:26:07Z UTC

To think of defining and choosing foods in terms of their lack of being rewarding (satisfying, tasty) is about as appealing to me as defining a departure from my regular diet, as a "cheat."

For many, it appears that "eating well" is to be seen as a form of penance. On the same continuum as sackcloth and ashes, hair shirts, other talismans of the "I am not worthy" worldview.

I do not eat "for pleasure," but if I get to the point where I can allow myself to eat only foods I do not enjoy, I'll become a breatharian. In which case, my "breath reward theory" will place a high priority on roses.

DH · Answer 4 · 2011-12-06 21:42:49Z UTC

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steamed broccoli, chicken breast, beef (no salt), plain yams...low reward here i come. (no enthusiasm)

answered Dec 6 2011 at 21:42

DH
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score 3 · Answer 5 · 2011-12-02 13:18:55Z UTC

I've been confused by the "food reward" concept for months now.First Stephan and then Harris. Things became much clearer when I read Kamal and Arivand" "low reward "diet. People, the low reward diet is the Paleo diet. And I became convinced that my initial confusion was because I was already doing the "low reward diet" ,by doing the Paleo Diet.I think the confusion that I had and many on the website have with the"low reward concept is that people on this website are not doing the Paleo Diet. Kamal and Arivand , though famous Paleo hack celebrities were not doing the Paleo diet. They were talking about the paleo diet, they were "experts in the Paleo Diet, they were very entertaining pundents of the Paleo Diet , they were going to Paleo conferences. But until they went "low reward" they they not really Paleo enough to accomplish their goals. Their new meals were like my regular meals. My meals are delicious, absolutely delicious. They are 100 % Paleo. Nothing Neolitic at all except Grass fed raw butter/cream). But comparing them to Kamal and Arivand's low reward diet they look nearly Identical. (I do salt my food.) So the bottom line is . This food reward "thing is just Rube Goldberg Paleo. (Google). Paleo is low reward even though potentially deliciious. Low reward is just an awful choice of words. It seems to mean the opposite of what it really is. Long live Kamal and Arivand! And they will live long if they stay "low reward" aka Paleo.

Steve Parker MD · Answer 6 · 2011-12-02 13:08:02Z UTC

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Click through to see Dr Guyenet's recommendations for low-reward foods: http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/2011/06/food-reward-dominant-factor-in-obesity_28.html

-Steve

answered Dec 2 2011 at 13:08

Steve Parker MD
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Thanks for the link - helps a lot. – Dave S. Dec 2 2011 at 14:36

AndyM · Answer 7 · 2011-12-02 11:59:21Z UTC

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What would a low reward meal plan look like?

Depressing.

answered Dec 2 2011 at 11:59

AndyM
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Hahaha. +1 so you don't get any more depressed. – Dave S. Dec 2 2011 at 14:34

Cory151 · Answer 8 · 2011-12-01 17:38:36Z UTC

I looked into this for a bit but then realized nobody would have dinner with me if I ate this way. Those seem to be fine for 'stage 1' but come the final and 'sustained stage' your picking 3 food and eating them for as long as you can maintain. Pretty much boiling everything needing cooked, nothing added to any food. Like playing the piano with boxing gloves on if you ask me, yeah your technically playing the piano but nobody including yourself likes it.

Id love to see how it stacks up to Paleo in weight loss and overall sustainability.

Mitch · Answer 9 · 2011-12-01 17:24:51Z UTC

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My first wife, Margaret, could whip up some amazingly low-reward meals. I think just marrying a terrible cook can be a good start. In retrospect, the entire marriage was low-reward. So shoot me a message and I'll send you her number.

answered Dec 1 2011 at 17:24

Mitch
580●3●6

Unfortunately, I married a half-Italian with a gift for cooking. You know, now that I think about it, my mother, of English descent, boiled and cooked the hell out of everything until there was very little taste left. And yet my parents, my 5 siblings and I were all overweight/obese. Probably the processed crap between meals and ice cream after dinner. And she did make awesome pies and cinnamon rolls. If I only ate the hamburger "hockey pucks" perhaps I would have been better off! – Dave S. Dec 1 2011 at 18:19

2

lmao at this answer... – JayJay Dec 2 2011 at 3:52

Best answer I have ever read on paleo hacks for the fact that this situation is hilariously true. – Bill Dec 6 2011 at 23:36

Nance · Answer 10 · 2011-12-01 16:56:32Z UTC

Do you live to eat or eat to live? I don't think a low reward menu exists for me.

On SAD, lack of high reward never stopped me from eating too much. For example, I didn't find spaghetti that great but I'd still eat 'til I was stuffed. I could eat a whole sleeve of saltines and I thought they were awful. If it was near my mouth, in it went!

Now that I've fully transitioned to ancestral eating, I only eat when physical hunger becomes strong and then I eat a meal many might consider low reward--I don't spice my food beyond a little salt and pepper and the flavors come from mixing foods. I don't make ancestral baked goods, I usually drink my water kefir without adding fruit juice or sweeteners and my favorite fruit is grapefruit.

Brad · Answer 11 · 2011-12-01 16:39:11Z UTC

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You could try nose clipping. Read some of the forums and blogs at Seth Roberts' website to find out more.

answered Dec 1 2011 at 16:39

Brad
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At first, I thought you meant clipping my nose hairs and I was all like "What?!" – Dave S. Dec 1 2011 at 18:21

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If you use a swimmer's nose clip while you eat, you can't taste the food, so anything you eat will be low reward. – Brad Dec 1 2011 at 18:27

And way cheaper than those Sensa sprinkles. – Dave S. Dec 2 2011 at 14:37

What would a low reward meal plan look like?

11 Answers