The body is an intelligent thing. It is a self containing unit which will do whatever it can to adapt and survive. However, sometimes it just gets too far from homeostasis and this is when side effects occur, such as excess fat storage.
For example, if you have ever watched the show Survivor you would have noticed the contestants drop a ton of weight, mostly fat, while they were on the show. They only had limited food to choose from which was usually wild meat or fish, whatever fruits and vegetables they could find and possibly some rice. Because of this ‘healthy’ diet and physical activity, they dropped fat and sometimes a little muscle.
Then you see them on the reunion show where the winner is crowned. They have mostly gained back the weight they have lost (not always) due to excess food and their ‘western’ diet which contains too much processed food.
We can overcomplicate fat loss as much as we like but it always comes back to a simple recipe.
- Eat lean meats and fish, fresh fruits and vegetables and some healthy fats, but not too much.
- Do Cardio Strength Training to boost your metabolism, build lean muscle and get strong.
- Do some Interval Cardio Training to burn some extra fat and increase your fitness.
- Walk whenever you have any spare time.
If you just followed this simple recipe you could be far healthier than you are now and carrying less body fat as your body would be working better.
Not to mention you would get sick less, your skin would look amazing and you would have endless energy!
You may have noticed that grains and dairy don’t make the list. That is because a ton of people are allergic to wheat (gluten) and dairy (lactose) amongst other allergens. If you read ‘The Dark Side Of Fat Loss’ it explains why in detail. If you care about your health YOU NEED THIS BOOK!
My biggest motivation for eating healthy is long term health. After getting really sick with Chronic Fatigue I know that I never want that to happen again.
Humans are motivated by moving towards PLEASURE or away from PAIN.
So for me avoiding the PAIN of being sick is far more motivating than the PLEASURE I recieve from eating whatever I like. So I choose to be healthy.
I dont ever want to be sick nor do I want any of my family and friends to be sick. It is the worst thing ever. So I’m gonna get my body healthier than it’s ever been and maintain it so that I dont get sick.
I also want to ensure that when I have kids, they have the best chance of being healthy from the start by passing on good genetics to them.
Why is the reward of a fit and healthy body not worth the effort to many people?
For some people it is, but they are seen as the ‘extreme health freaks’ (me included).
So how can you recieve most of the reward without looking like a ‘health freak?’
I think the 90% rule is the way to go. Even at 80% you will be streets ahead of the majority of the population according to Sean Croxton, writer of ‘The Dark Side Of Fat Loss.’
The 90% rule will give you 3 or so ‘cheat meals’ a week to eat whatever you like which works quite well.
However, there are many people like me who have little or no self control when junk food is put in front of them. I cant buy cheat foods and leave it in the house for a future date. If it’s there, I’m gonna eat it.
I don’t buy cheat foods unless I’m allowed to eat them that day.
Myself and many other ‘health freaks’ will have one day per week where we eat whatever we like.
Then we go back to eating super healthy for the rest of the week because we know we will work better and feel better eating like that.
It also allows the body to get rid of the junk and work efficiently for the majority of the week without the bad food disturbing the status quo of the digestive system.
Is it better to have your cheat foods all in one day or spaced out throughout the week? I can’t be 100% sure but I would say that the one day is the superior choice.
This is why. If the body works perfectly on a natural diet or is rebuilding a healthy foundation (if you’ve just switched), introducing a food that is detrimental to the rebuilding function will only set you back.
If you did that 3 times a week for example on Monday, Wednesday and Friday, you would end up making less forward progress as the body would have to work harder processing the bad stuff instead of focusing on just improving health.
If you can get the bad stuff in and out in a day, then you have all week for the body to work on building it’s health to maximum capacity.
I’m not the only one to think like this. Paul Chek who is one of the worlds most well known hollistic health freaks, is always looking at whether your body is actually working properly from the inside out.
At 50 this year, Paul Chek is one fit, healthy and strong guy. In an interview on T-Nation, it’s quoted ‘Chek could outperform a lot pro-athletes in their twenties.’
In his book ‘Eat, Move & Be Healthy’ Chek purely talks about gaining health to change the how the body looks, and more importantly functions.
Get healthy and you’ll get lean.
After No Junk January finishes, I’ll continue eating one cheat day per week for most of the year.
For me, I know that I’m gonna want cheat foods on Saturday. It’s the day that I’ll relax and unwind from the week and I’ll be going out somewhere. I also train quite hard on Saturdays so it works as an added reward as well.
For some people, Friday is your day to relax. Maybe you head to the pub after work for a few drinks and out for dinner that night. If so then you should make friday your cheat day. If that’s too hard, you may be better suited to the 90% rule and eat well all day Saturday and let loose in the evening or something similar.
Unfortunately when alcohol is involved, nutrition gets out of hand, because after a certain amount of drinks, you don’t care what you eat or if you’re on a diet. So tread carefully.
