Fat Pigs, Paleo Athletes

Skinny People, Very Fat Mangalitsas

Paleo customer "Z" showed up at the farmers' market again. He's five weeks into his paleo challenge. He's supposed to avoid foods that a paleolithic era (Stone Age) person wouldn't have eaten. So, for instance, no bread nor cheese nor butter - as those are from the neolithic era. Tubers (potatoes) are fine. Meat is fine, of course. Plant oils are not, and margarine is totally out.

John Besh's Mangalitsa bacon (photo by Erick Loos)

Basically, with the exception of butter and cheese , he's eating what the Hungarians in the black and white photo ate.

He looked to be in excellent health. This time he bought:

• bacon
• lard
• lardo

I would have given him a deal on some meat, but he was disinterested. The reason is that calories aren't just calories - what you eat has a huge impact on satiety and happiness.

Looking at the pig, it is clear she's got a lot of bacon, fatback (for lardo) and fat for lard and very little lean meat.

She's the perfect match for this guy, another paleo customer and athlete* (let's call him "K"):


K's purchases are in line with Z's - heavy on the fat. He's bought the meat and loves it, but when he shows up, he there to buy bacon and lard.

I have many fit customers like K and Z. I asked K to take his shirt off to prove that you can eat a lot of animal fat and not look like a Mangalitsa.

Please guess what he eats and how he trains. Post in the comments. I will reveal the details later.

* His sport is leg-heavy. He's shirtless to show you how lean he is.