Greetings, listies-

Since male/female differences can arouse passions, a disclaimer: this note
is not intended as a flame, or to suggest, in any way, that only certain
roles are suitable for certain genders, nor that the genders actually had
*invariably* rigid role differentiation through all of human evolution.

Now then, to the point. In my self-study of paleodiet, I've noticed a
tendency to treat male and female diets nearly the same, without much
consideration about how the lifestyle itself would affect food intake and
pacing. Anecdotally, my wife and I have found that the very same type of
diet doesn't affect her the same was it affects me, in terms of weight loss,
energy levels, etc. etc.

Now, I know there's a lot of question about how hunter gatherer tribes
actually lived, but my understanding (and some common sense thinking about
how you'd avoid depleting game during a seasonal migration) is this: in the
morning, the men and young boys would head out to a new hunting area, ahead
of the "line of march" for the rest of the tribe.  While the men/boys tried
to shag down some larger game, they'd also pick off whatever small game they
could, which they might eat as they went through the day. If they *did* pick
off some larger game, they'd probably eat the most easily taken parts right
there, tongue, organ meats, etc.  Whether they stopped to cook them would
probably depend on the tribe's mastery of fire, and probably changed over
time.
Women (Some lactating),girls, and young children, as I understand it, would
migrate more slowly along the line of march, gathering fruite, nuts, roots,
leaves, and yes, sometimes small game, with the goal of joining up with the
hunters at the end of the day, to pool foods and divvy things up. One
presumes that if the tribe was any good, there would be some leftover
nuts/fruits/meat for the following morning.

To me, there are some implications in that scenario which suggest that
male/female eating patterns would have been different, and for long enough
time to have some evolutionary ramifications.  Women, for instance, would
almost certainly graze as they gathered, and for most of the day, would
probably not have had significant meat-based protein until later in the day.
Men would probably only be able to eat things that traveled well, like nuts,
or what they caught. In which case, they'd pretty much want to eat all that
they could hold of it.  At the end of the day, the main meal of the tribe
would probably be more balanced, with everyone eating some meat, vegetables,
fruit, nuts, etc.

Have any of y'all experimented (or read about experiments) with creating
differentiated paleodiets based on gender/age? In protein power, and a few
others, they create different regimens for men and women based on simple
metrics such as lean body mass, but they don't create different regimens in
terms of overall protein/carb balance, or content of meals based on
time-of-day.

Happy Independence Day!

Ken Green