Day Twenty Four - Undereating

One thing the Warrior Diet has done for me is increased the amount of quality foods I'm eating. My intake of fruits and vegetables has increased many 2-3 times as much per day than before. I tend to shop more on periphery of the grocery store focusing on the fresh produce and fish and meats. I'm wary of the highly processed foods as they not only wreak havoc on your blood sugar/insulin levels but also complete destroy the ability to enjoy the natural sugars in fruits and vegetables. The other day I listened to an interview with Michael Pollan at Democracy Now. Pollan is the author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and there was point made that really upset me.

MICHAEL POLLAN: Yeah, it’s a literary scientific experience now going shopping in the supermarket, because basically the food has gotten more complex. It’s—for the food industry—see, to understand the economics of the food industry, you can’t really make money selling things like, oh, oatmeal, you know, plain rolled oats. And if you go to the store, you can buy a pound of oats, organic oats, for seventy-nine cents. There’s no money in that, because it doesn’t have any brand identification. It’s a commodity, and the prices of commodity are constantly falling over time.

So you make money by processing it, adding value to it. So you take those oats, and you turn them into Cheerios, and then you can charge four bucks for that seventy-nine cents—and actually even less than that, a few pennies of oats. And then after a few years, Cheerios become a commodity. You know, everyone’s ripping off your little circles. And so, you have to move to the next thing, which are like cereal bars. And now there’s cereal straws, you know, that your kids are supposed to suck milk through, and then they eat the straw. It’s made out of the cereal material. It’s extruded.

So, you see, every level of further complication gives you some intellectual property, a product no one else has, and the ability to charge a whole lot more for these very cheap raw ingredients. And as you make the food more complicated, you need all these chemicals to make it last, to make it taste good, to make—and because, you know, food really isn’t designed to last a year on the shelf in a supermarket. And so, it takes a lot of chemistry to make that happen.

I thought about that some more and it started to piss me off that it was so obviously true. Nobody makes money selling bulk items, they've got to process it somehow, most often reducing and nutritional value and then selling it back to you at 10 times the bulk value. I don't think I want to be a major part of that anymore. It just seems so stupid. You're paying more for less and getting sick because of it. I'm not against people making money and I think they should be able to sell whatever they want but I don't have to buy it and I've already started buying fresh and bulk.

Today I got a 5.5+ pound bag of steel-cut oats for $4.40. That comes to 79 cents a pound! Do you know how many servings of oatmeal 5.5 pounds of oats makes? The comparison would probably be a 55-count Quaker-Instant Oats box retailing at $16.00. Even if you're adding sugar to your oats you'd still be saving money not to mention the loads more nutrition you'd be getting. So I'm slowly building up some bulk grains in the pantry and I've been buying fresh meats at the grocery store to bring home and cook, like the shrimp yesterday.

Also, for the past several years I've entered into an agreement with a local farm that delivers fresh produce/bread/milk/grass-fed beef to my door once a week. I found them through Local Harvest. There's a whole slew of different agreements out there depending on the farm. Mine has several options but I rarely need to go produce shopping during the season and I'll probably make better use of it this year thanks to what I learned on the Warrior Diet. Not to mention it supports local small family farms over polluting corporate feed lots. Nice to have local small farms in the areas, big factory feed lots stink, both literally and figuratively.

Anyway, I had my protein shake and banana this morning and then a nectarine and some blackberries for lunch. I'll probably have an apple this afternoon sometime. This is one thing I don't see me changing too much after this experiment, the under-eating phase. I'll probably stick with fruits and vegetable during the day as I find it so freeing and energizing. I may experiment with eating something as soon as I wake up for workout fuel but I haven't felt the need for it much at all.

Day Nineteen - Exercise (and some philosophy)

You know, I try to search the internet for other people's experiences on the Warrior Diet and there's a wide range, like everything else I guess. That's why when people ask my advice, I always tell them what I like to do and then explain that nothing works for everyone. That's why you need to try different things. Find what works for you. If you love carbs and eating low carbs makes you feel miserable, then it's probably not a long-term solution for you. You'll eat a pizza one night and you'll gain 20 pounds of fat over the next 3 months.

The top complaints about the Warrior Diet include: constantly hungry, no energy for training (or fear of same), and getting sick eating so much in 4 hours.

Constantly Hungry - Nope, not even close for me. I rarely even think about food during the day. The only effect I experience during the day might be a slight signal from my stomach requesting a little bit of something to tide me over. That's usually a handful of berries, a banana, a protein shake on workout days, etc. I rarely eat over 400 calories during the day. Many days I eat nothing at all.

No Energy for Workout - I feared this, especially working out in the morning. How could I expect to do so on an empty stomach? Well, it hasn't been a factor for me. I actually have more energy in the morning if I don't eat. Today I lifted weights for an hour and 20 minutes and I bested my previous workouts in either weight or reps completed. Then afterwards, just for the heck of it I did weighted dips AND pull-ups in a super-set fashion. Doing HIIT sprinting feels a bit different but it's not a lack of energy. There's almost a feeling that the body is burning a fuel that it's not used to burning. It feels sort of like being in the "zone". There's a good interview with Ori over at T-Nation. Ori explains:

T: But to be a true warrior — someone who needs to endure physical hardship, or even an athlete who needs to compete — you need some sort of glycogen storage, right? And that's hard to do when you eat only once a day.

OH: You're reaching a very important point. You've got to eat in such a way that you're capable of fighting for two hours straight, or wrestling or marching for hours on end, or being without food, or whatever. When I was a Navy SEAL(* - ed.), that's what we trained to do. By not eating, we learned to stretch our glycogen reserves. Those who train on empty, more and more and more, will find out that they have more and more glycogen reserve ability in their muscles and liver. The last time I looked up the research — I think it was a year ago — sedentary persons with what was thought to be about 200 or 300 calories of available glycogen reserve could stretch it up to 2,000-3,000. Some people even had 5,000 calories of glycogen reserve. There's a whole area of science about the situation of a body under glycogen depletion, and it's so relative. But one thing's for sure, as long as you are glycogen depleted — what I call fasting — your insulin sensitivity gets higher and higher, as does your protein efficiency. Sometimes, it goes 30-50% higher. That means that, after fasting, your protein efficiency could be 30-50% higher. You can eat less than 30% and still digest as much protein.

* = Apparently Ori wasn't a U.S. Navy Seal as claimed in the interview, but a special-ops in the Israeli army or something like that. Of course people are upset about that, and rightly so, that's pretty lame if he claims that. I've said it before, there's a lot about Ori and the Warrior Diet that I find to be B.S. but I don't throw the wheat out with the chaff.

Can't Eat So Much at Once - I eat until I don't want to eat anymore. Over four hours it's not that difficult. I often finish up in 3 and have a little dessert before bed. I don't feel sick at all, I feel satisfied. I also rarely crave junk food. When I get home, I immediately start putting my salad together and that's REALLY what I want to eat, it's so good. I sometimes add avocados. I've got this great olive oil and Pomegranate-Infused Red Wine Vinegar that I use as a dressing. The salad is as big as a football and it's delicious. You know how many times I've come home from work and put a salad together for myself before I started this diet? How about never. Of course, I've always been a big eater. I guess that's why it works for me.

So there you have it. If you're going to ask me if the Warrior Diet will work for you, well, I can't answer that. You might be hungry all the time, you might have zero energy for working out and you might not be able to eat so much in 4 hours. What can I say? Find another diet.

Diet

I hate the word "diet" and you may have seen me use the terminology Warrior method of eating, rather than diet. Diet itself is a good word meaning "way of life" and not necessarily associate with food but the word has been usurped by the quick fix weight loss programs.

One reason I hate it is that "diets" don't work. Anything promising you quick fixes is probably not going to work for you. You may try something and it becomes a catalyst to jump-start you on your way to a healthier lifestyle but chances are if you spend money on a specific diet, it won't work long-term for you.

I don't really consider the Warrior Diet a "diet" in a sense that I'm following something I couldn't do for the rest of my life. The major changes I've made in the food I eat is really only eat a good salad to kick-off the overeating phase and reducing garbage carbs. I'm not going to rail against carbs but I think I have been looking at foods in a calorie-conscious manner rather than quality calories. Like I'd choose eating crackers over almonds because the crackers had less calories and fat. Well, that's probably not the best choice if I want to lose stubborn fat.

Those are the little things that are important to learn. I've got two more weeks on the Warrior method of eating and if I don't continue to follow it completely I think I will definitely reduce my garbage carbs. I was so sleepy yesterday it was silly. I'm tired now but it was because of the good workout this morning and I don't think I could nap if I wanted to.

I don't have time to exercise!

Some cheese with that whine?

Oh, I know what you're thinking.

Mr. Chesthair, you are the very epitome of manliness. I would like to try and get in shape but I just don't have the countless hours you obviously devoted to your near-perfect physique. Nor do I have the funds to pay for some gym with the what I assume is some sort of super-technology that sculpted your mind-blowing physique.

Don't be embarassed. I get that a lot. Here's what I use in my "gym" (the unfinished basement):

Pull-up bar - Homemade
Heavy bag - (left over from when I was a kid, I wouldn't go out and buy one)
Sand-bag (80 lbs) - Homemade
Kettlebell - 1 pood - (Because they look neat and I use it often too I guess)
Gymnastic Rings - Homemade
6 foot PVC pipe - for warm up drills

The foundation for my workout regiment is bodyweight exercises. The reason for this is that I don't ever want an excuse for not working out. Keeping a foundation of bodyweight exercise allows me to get a great workout in at home or anywhere really. I can find a place to do pull-ups anywhere. I enjoy searching for them. "Isn't that sculpture beautiful?" "Yeah, and I bet you could do pull-ups on the end there."

Last summer I found Simplefit and it changed my entire outlook toward getting in shape. Sure, I life weights at the gym, but I do that because I like doing it, not because I feel I have to do it. If next week I didn't feel like going to the gym, I could manage to put together a workout routine I could do at home that would be just as effective and intense.

As far as time goes, the Simplefit program shouldn't take you more than 30 minutes a day and often much less. If that was the minimum you did, 3 times a week, you'd be seeing results in less than 1.5 hours per week. Anyone that can't find 1.5 hours per week in which to exercise probably isn't out of shape to begin with since they're so busy. So remember, I don't have money or time is not an excuse.

Day Eight - Weigh-in & Why?

Another questions from THE NEW ME:

what made you decide to do the warrior diet if you were having success with the way you were eating prior to it?

I have a bit of stubborn fat around my midsection that doesn't want to go away. When I try to increase my cardio workouts or reduce my calories, or both, it seems to effect my performance lifting weights. The Warrior Diet purports to target the stubborn fat. The undereating phase forces the body to burn stored fat. It seemed like a great way to get everything I need to keep muscles healthy while losing that fat around the midsection.

Here's the results of one week of being on the Warrior Diet:

Weight: From: 178.2 To: 172.8
Body Fat %: From: 18.1% To: 17.0% (morning reading, always high, afternoon reading is like 15.5%, but I do it in the morning to be consistent)
Waist (1" above navel): From: 32.50" To: 31.50"
Waist (1" below navel): From: 34.50" To: 33.75"
Hips: From: 38.25" To: 37.75"
Bicep: From: 13.25" / 15.75" To: I measured this incorrectly in the beginning and I'm not going to measure it anymore. It was really 14.75" flexed and they still are.
Chest: From: 41.50" To: 41.50"
Thigh: From: 22.00" To: 21.75"

I have some theories. First and forements, I've read a lot about people retaining water with high carb diets and then losing a ton of weight when they switch to low carb. Perhaps the same can be said of eating consistently throughout the day, that the body holds onto a lot of water when you're eating all the time. I know during the day when I'm not eating, I drink a helluva lot more water than I normally do. Could be because my body isn't holding onto a lot of it. That could account for much of the weightloss. Take the measurements with a grain of salt, I never exactly know where to measure or do it consistently or pull with equal pressure. There definitely was change though, that's all I'd be willing to vouch for.

Lest you think I'm making this up David seems to be having similar results after one week of the Warrior Diet, very similar.

Intermittent Fasting = Better Health?

Found an old article about Intermittent Fasting (IF) on Science News. It's from 5 years ago so studies on IF aren't that new and go back at least as far as 1946.

Skipping Meals Might Offer Health Gains

I suggest reading the article if you're thinking about trying IF, here are some teasers:

animals have improved insulin sensitivity. In people, this change protects against diabetes

improved the animals' resistance to a neurotoxin that simulates Alzheimer's disease

The sometimes-fasting rats also showed muted cardiovascular responses to stress, suggesting that they more readily adapt physiologically to such situations.

meal skipping may be analogous to exercise in how it improves physiology

The article also interviews a nutrition researcher who basically dismisses the idea by saying that eating once a day reduces overall calorie consumption and that is the cause of the benefits. Unfortunately, my experience hasn't shown that. I was eating 2000-2500 calories in the weeks before I tried this experiment my evening meal is right around there. Last night I said it was around 1900 calories, but that didn't include the 4 squares of extra-dark chocolate I had before bed. That pushes the total up over 2000. Interesting stuff.

What I notice now is that it's more satisfying to have one huge meal then spread across the day. 3 meals of 700 calories aren't as great as 1 of 2100. When I was losing weight not once did I say "no thanks, I'm full" and mean it. I've said that 4 times this week.

More on Intermittent Fasting

I was looking for more information on the Warrior Diet so I did some searching on the RossTraining forums (link added to sidebar). I found this thread that has a lot of useful information from people that actually tried it. That thread included this link to a Performance Menu forum discussing Intermittent Fasting (also about to be added to the sidebar). Apparently, people will completely fast (no calories) for most of the day rather than limiting themselves to low GI fruits and veggies. The consensus seems to be that the Warrior Diet is an easier to follow version of IF (Intermittent Fasting). Some go so far to speculate that you'd see more benefits from a total fast rather than the Warrior Diet fast. I'm on the fence. I can see both sides. If fasting regulates blood glucose and insulin and increases fat metabolism, and all studies show that it does, then eating throughout the day is going to raise those levels and effect fat metabolism to some degree. However, I believe that if you're strict about the fruits and vegetables you eat, i.e. make sure they are low GI foods, then you can minimize the increase in blood glucose and the benefits of the vitamins and nutrients of the fruits and veggies are worth the minor disruption to fat loss.

That being said I am going to try a complete fast today. Only coffee, tea and water. I've added a tiny amount of milk but I'm not counting this. If everything goes OK I think it might be good to throw in a couple of complete fasting days every now and then.

Intermittent Fasting

The operator of Simplefit pointed out some articles he had up on the site about intermittent fasting. This is one of the main tenants of the Warrior Diet.

The first article on the Simplefit site is fairly straight forward, intermittent fasting regulates glucose in the body and is good for your brain. The second article about intermittent is a little more technical but you can guess what the point is. I looked up some of the terms to be sure. But the summary is that glucose levels in the body determine how much fat is burned. Glucose is regulated by the release of insulin in your body. Insulin inhibits fat metabolism. The more glucose, the more insulin, the less fat you burn. This isn't calories burned were talking about, it's the actual fat on your body. Intermittent fasting results in low levels of glucose in the body. When your body has low levels of glucose, it has low insulin levels and burns more fat.

Following this concept, it makes sense to keep low glucose levels during the day for as long as you can. The Warrior Diet does this by creating a 20 hour controlled fasting period where glucose levels remain low and you burn fat. Eating only vegetables, and low glycemic fruits with maybe a little protein/fats during the day creates this controlled fasting state that allows the body to burn fat more efficiently.

At least that's the theory.

Purpose

Today I decided to try out The Warrior Diet created by Ori Hofmekler. The main point of the diet is to eat little during the day with little grazing on fruits and vegetables and maybe a little protein, say, after a workout. Then when you get home for the evening, eat as much as you want until your satisfied. Of course the food you indulge in should be of good quality. You wouldn't want to eat a bag of Doritos for example. That's sort of the hard part. I've heard this diet sold before on the "eat as much as you want" bait that hooks a lot of people no doubt. People think, nice, I can eat a dozen doughnuts! Well, no, the food needs to be good food. There are other details to follow and I haven't finished the book yet even but I'm not working today and thought it'd be a good day to see how I feel eating a small bit live, raw foods and juice during the day and then eating a big meal in the evening. I thought I'd document it here.