Diet is perhaps more essential to powerlifters and bodybuilders than it is to any other class of athlete. Bulking up to extreme examples of muscle mass, while finely sculpting these muscles into rippling definition requires a chemist’s sensitivity to how nutrients affect energy, stamina, and body. Enter Jamie “Chaos” Lewis, former all-time, all federation world powerlifting champion turned fitness blogger. Lewis developed the Apex predator diet over years of scrupulous personal experimentation with different low-carb, high-fat, and fasting protocols.
Source: Carvedouttastone.com
The apex predator diet can be viewed as part of a lineage of carnivorous bodybuilding eating plans stretching back to the 1950s when bodybuilding guru Vince Gironda originated the “steak and eggs diet.”
Lewis’s diet adds a few twists and specific details, but like Gironda’s approach, it is essentially a meat-centered cyclical ketogenic diet.
In this article, we’ll explore the apex predator diet to help you determine if it’s a good fit for your diet and lifestyle goals.
The apex predator diet is a type of cyclical ketogenic diet. This means it requires cutting most carbs, getting most of your calories from fat, and the remainder from protein. However, Lewis adds in low-carb, high-protein shakes to support muscle mass.
Here’s a rundown:
Applying these guidelines can be adjusted to support more muscle definition depending on your level of body fat.
If you have over 18% body fat, Lewis recommends an introductory approach that suspends “rampage days” until your body becomes accustomed to burning fat.
Lewis explains that how our bodies respond to food in terms of hunger, satiety, and fat burning has to do with rebalancing and resensitizing specific hormones: leptin, ghrelin, and insulin.
Leptin sends signals that you are full (satiated). However, overweight people are susceptible to leptin resistance, where their brains do not respond to the leptin’s satiation signals. Ghrelin, the hormone driving hunger, doesn’t turn off. The result is feeling constantly hungry and physically demotivated, even though you have more than enough calories.
To break out of this cycle, it may be important to avoid carbs for an extended period of time, allowing your hunger/satiation hormones to rebalance and re-sensitize.
Here’s the apex predator diet launch scenario for people with 18% or more body fat:
Lewis explains that he developed this way of eating after trying protein-sparing modified fasts, only to find himself feeling awful and lacking the energy he needed to sustain his intense powerlifting workouts.
This led Lewis to combine the protein-sparing approach with a variety of whole foods. He eventually landed on bone in cuts like beef ribs, which he found to be extremely restorative and nourishing.
Lewis makes clear that this diet is intended for people who practice intense weight training four or more days per week. And he finds this the best approach for athletes like himself for the following reasons:
The apex predator diet gets its name from the food choices at its center– the foods that apex predators (including prehistoric humans) prize in nature. [1]
This means one thing: fatty meats from large ruminant animals. For us modern humans, these are beef and bison, with some lamb and elk options. Aim for 1500-2000 calories per meal from meat alone. Fatty cuts will help you achieve these caloric goals.
Add butter, ghee, or tallow to boost calories in leaner meats like fish and poultry.
Lewis makes a big deal out of choosing bone-in meat, clutching that “built-in” handle as you use your incisors to achieve the primal flesh-tearing glee that they were intended for. Aside from the visceral appeal, bone-in meat does often stay more moist and have better flavor, so it’s worth heeding his call.
Lewis also recommends various supplements, along with the ultimate natural supplements–nutrient-dense organ meats.
For the “rampage day,” be moderate, consume whole foods, not junk–avoid seed oils and highly processed foods. Homemade ice cream, tallow-fried french fries, and low-toxin fruits are wholesome carb-heavy foods, along with other homemade or non-processed treats and lean meats.
When consuming protein shakes, choose low-carb options, mix with water (not milk, which is high in sugar), and avoid high-carb shakes like Muscle Milk, Syntha 6, and any shakes/mixes that advertise themselves as “weight gainers.”
The apex predator diet is specifically intended for competitive and extremely hard-training athletes, specifically powerlifters and bodybuilders. We’re talking hours a day for at least four days a week.
Most people need nowhere near as much protein as the 400-plus grams per day that Lewis recommends.
Most athletes can be served well by a standard cyclical carnivore or ketogenic approach.
Most normal people with low to normal activity levels will benefit from a standard carnivore or other low-carb, high-fat animal-based diets.
The Apex predator diet earns its name from the abundance of fatty meat at its center.
For millennia, humans and other apex predators have prized fatty meat from large animals for its unsurpassed nutrient density.
This particular take on the Apex Predator Diet was developed and popularized by competitive powerlifter Jamie “Chaos” Lewis.
Lewis’s apex predator diet combines principles of meat-based carnivore eating with carb-cycling and protein-sparing modified fasts.
The idea behind this way of eating is to dramatically increase fat burning while simultaneously boosting energy and bulking muscle. However, due to the tremendous protein and caloric intake that this diet entails, it is likely only suitable for extremely hard training athletes.
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