• Eat as Much as You Want: Experiences with the Warrior Diet

    edited by Alexander Becker

    One of the advantages of the Warrior Diet is the clear and simple distinction between what is allowed and when: Undereat for 20 hours and indulge in overeating the remaining four hours -- each and every day. It is easy to adhere to the principles and to defeat potential attempts to cheat -- refined sugars, for example just aren't allowed.

    Certain other diets prescribe exact times for exceptions or specific amounts that basically invite you to eat some more or some stuff that would be off, but... seems to be... with some stretching of the rules... and so on.

    After eating according to the rules of the Warrior Diet for more than five weeks now, here are some impressions, in no particular order:

    • Weight: Although I don't follow the Warrior Diet to actually lose weight, it definitely works to get rid of some bodyfat (Hofmekler calls it "stubborn fat" in the book) if you combine the diet with physical training.
    • Undereating: Absolute undereating; only water, coffee, and fruit juices seem to work best for me in terms of alertness, energy, and overall well-being throughout the day.
    • Overeating: I eat as much food as I ate during the first half of the year all in one month and I still lost some weight; in excess of four pounds over the first three weeks. Overeating, and especially the included compensation feels very real and converges with my take on moderation.
    • Coffee: I stopped drinking coffee, the compulsive, repetitive, hourly coffee, half a year ago. Since then, I only drank a cup or so once a week. Now, on the Warrior Diet, I drink coffee again daily, one small cup in the morning and another one in the afternoon. Drinking that black bitter dervish on an empty stomach feels great, in contrast to what you and I expected. It really supports the undereating phase.
    • Food groups: I am still eating vegan, no meat, no dairy -- all warrior... My eating vegan is an ongoing experiment and I am happy with the results so far. As of now, I experience no deprivations or deficiencies. (Note: The Warrior Diet is not about eating vegan.)
    • Diet composition: A week on all veggies and almonds feels great. Extraordinarily great. I ate an average of 200g almonds each day and I even lost weight. (I even felt great after eating more than 400g on one single day -- don't try this on any other diet, you probably don't want to try this at all...)
    • Exercises: An intense workout on an empty stomach, right after work, in the evening just before preparing the big meal feels amazing and leaves me with even more energy than I brought home. I don't even feel hungry after exercising.
    • Cravings: The body seems to crave exactly what is nutritionally necessary. It's always amazing to see the vegetative functions working so well.
    • Instincts: Eating vegan, my instincts aren't too bloody... but I am taking care of the almonds and the fat intake and I believe that all instincts respond and react the way they should.

    Conclusion: I still and highly recommend the Warrior Diet for everyone, for physically active people as well as for the 24/7-in-front-of-the-screen crowd.

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  • Review: The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler

    edited by Alexander Becker

    Based on undereating during the day and eating that one big meal at night, the Warrior Diet is appealing in many ways and modeled after the ancient hunter's schedule of hunting and collecting during the day and resting and eating in safety at night.

    No calorie counting, no restrictions, the cyclic nature of the program and the sequence of salad, veggies, and carbohydrates at the end over the course of the night time meal is important and makes this diet -- work. Even killing an occasional pizza is allowed.

    The starvation vs. compensation cycle is intriguing in that it is obviously triggering something that Ori calls the warrior instinct.

    Heightened levels of energy and alertness in reminiscence of the old warriors on the hunt for their meal are a reality in the undereating phase and a means to counterbalance our lazy, civilized habits. The body isn't preoccupied with digestion during the waking hours and even more, almost starving -- you are allowed to eat, as long as you chose low glycemic index fruits and veggies in order to keep the insulin output low to regulate the balance of the most important hormones.

    The fascinating opposite is the overeating period. The day is divided into 20 hours of undereating and 4 hours of overeating in which you can basically eat what you want -- sans sugar and refined starch of course, but this should be common sense by now.

    Try this diet as a lifestyle and you will be amazed by the newly found energy and vigor and the sheer amount of food that you will eat during the hour-long eating sessions at night without gaining weight. In fact, you will even lose the last pounds of fat that are on top of your chiseled six-pack abs.

    Wild and raw, instinctive eating, and living... who doesn't want to feel like a predator in an otherwise sterile, domesticated world?

    Conclusion: Highly recommended, both the book and the diet.

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  • The Transition from Eating Mindlessly to Eating Consciously

    edited by Alexander Becker

    You commonly start with mindlessly eating what's being served to you. We all do. Most people don't think about their food throughout their whole lifetime, they just eat.

    At some point you may notice that what's being served is probably not what you'd really like to eat and you shop around and find the convenient stuff that is available at the corner. You end up being seduced by fast food, hamburgers, fries, sweets, and candy. Sounds familiar? I can relate to the satisfaction that comes after the seduction.

    You may or may not gain weight but somehow you begin to notice that a certain sense of well-being or lack thereof must be related to the food you eat. You still enjoy hamburgers with french fries but you are aware that it's not the ideal solution for that hunger and your bodies' wants and needs.

    Now, being aware that what you are currently eating is probably not the most healthy food available, you start noticing how other people's eating habits are even worse than your own and you feel much more healthy and generally better and more advanced than those mindless junk eaters. They are just not aware of their wrongdoing and you have to tell 'em.

    With your newly aquired knowledge -- remember, you're still on fast food -- you just have to point out that what I am eating, -- researched, composed and designed around principles of nutrition, digestion, and added value for the brain -- is possibly not the holy grail. (I appreciate that, I am constantly experimenting and optimizing.)

    Also because I feel like saving animals from being killed for my meal, you just have to point out that I may be, at some point in the future, lacking some protein because you maintain that animal protein is the most important thing in the world. You tell me about mineral deficiencies, and lack of iron, ... don't get me even started about milk and butter.

    Please, only one thing, ... please refrain from talking about nutrition while holding a hamburger in your hand, with cheese.

    P.S.: I'm still sucking up every piece of information I get, even with two hamburgers in your hands do I evaluate your well-meant advice -- it's just that you look so funny.

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