Why We Are Fat and How Not To Be, Ever Again!: The Eco-Diet and Fitness Plan

ISBN: 9781626755635

Table of Contents

Introduction

PART I – Food

Chapter 1 - The Eco-Diet

Chapter 2 – Following the Eco-Diet

Chapter 3 – Understanding and Permanently Embracing the Eco-Diet

Chapter 4 - Why this Diet?

Chapter 5 - The Logic behind the Eco-Diet

Chapter 6 - Defining the Problem – How We Got Into This Mess

PART II – Moving Your Body - Exercise

Chapter 7 – Overview and Philosophy

Chapter 8 – Our Time, Effort and Money Mostly Misspent

Chapter 9 – Rediscovering the Joy of Movement

PART III – Building Muscle

Chapter 10 – Muscle vs. Fat

Chapter 11 – Strength Training

Chapter 12 – Some Additional Strength Training Topics and Information

Conclusion - Bringing It All Together

Appendix A - Addressing Eco-Diet Additions to Our Original Paleolithic Diet

Appendix B – Modern Industrial Agriculture – Big Money, Big Influence & Documented Issues of Concern

Appendix C –Paleolithic Eating in Modern Times – Addressing the Paradox

Appendix D - How the Eco-Diet Relates to Some Common Food Science Topics

Appendix E –Diseases Uncommon to Current and Ancestral Paleolithic Diet Practitioners

Resource Information

References

The more I know the less I know

Socrates

Author’s Note

If there was one word to sum up why most of us are generally out of shape and getting fatter all the time that word is confusion. To me, no other single word does a better job. You go through a bunch of other words first: genetics, laziness, sugar, fat, carbohydrates, fast-food, hormones, etc. In the end though, it’s "confusion". This is the one word you will find underlying all others. If you keep asking the question why? when looking for the real reason why we are mostly fat, unhealthy and getting worse all of the time, eventually you will arrive at confusion.

Still, this word brings with it hope. It logically leads to the idea that if confusion is causing the problem then getting un-confused will solve it. This book is about un-confusing you. It is also about using your new awareness to get you to the physical state you desire permanently. The first thing we must do is ask why we are so confused. If you keep asking the question why? eventually you will find the truth.

The sources of the information presented here are from renowned doctors, scientists, evolutionary biologists, anthropologists, investigative journalists, athletes and doctors. In this respect, I am only a messenger. Still, I am fully enlightened to this philosophy and fully experienced in its practice. What I have done is put the information together in what I hope is an understandable, compelling and most importantly, useable form.

Let’s go back to confusion for a moment. It never ceases to amaze me just how many intelligent and educated people who want to get slim and healthy are utterly befuddled by how to make this happen. That is precisely what motivated me to write down what I’ve learned. I constantly encounter smart people who are faced with literally thousands of supposed solutions yet who are still confounded by their lack of success in attaining their health and fitness goals.

Most of the people I talk to blame themselves for their poor physical condition. They blame their bad genetics, low will-power, laziness, and lack of discipline. While they are still open to solutions, some have unhappily accepted their poor physical state. Most of them have spent large sums of money and exhausted tireless effort in trying every supposed weight-loss and fitness solution that has come along.

I have had many conversations with people about the philosophy and the ideas presented in this book. Many of the people I talk with have heard disparate bits and pieces of these ideas before, but never a whole, physiologically answer. This book represents a clear presentation of that proven answer.

Introduction

The Bad News and the Good News

If you are fat and unhealthy, like I was, I have good news and bad news. By the time you find this book, you will already know what the bad news is. You’ve tried diets and exercise but have failed to get lean and healthy. In fact, you’ve probably become even fatter and less healthy. There are hundreds of diets you may have tried: Atkins, low carbohydrate, high carbohydrate, high protein, vegetarian and so on. You may have tried diets based on blood types, hormones or the colors of foods. You may have tried powders, pills, potions, or secret herbs from the rain forests of South America. At some point you may have even fasted or starved yourself, anything to lose that excess fat.

In attempting to reach your goals you may have experimented with the wonders of the modern pharmaceutical industry, with legal amphetamines and other drugs that promise to make fat magically disappear. You may have tried diet foods with new types of man-made fats that go right through you, diet shakes and drinks, meal replacement bars and milkshakes. You may have tried the programs where they send you every meal, prepackaged in the mail and it’s even the stuff you are not supposed to eat like lasagna and chocolate cake. You may have visited weight loss clinics run by doctors with locations around the country promising you successful weight loss guidance. Along the way you may have also tried Hollywood diet drinks and cleansers endorsed by our favorite movie stars.

If you are like most of us you have tried exercise. You’ve likely tried a variety of gyms, trainers and programs. You might have bought home gyms and fitness systems and gadgets, some that you saw advertised on late night television. Many of us have tried classes – aerobics, jazzer-size, boxing, spinning, yoga, kickboxing, tae-bo and boot-camps with military style discipline. Endless hours of long distance running and other repetitive forms of exercises are also commonly attempted in our quest to lose body fat.

At some point in your struggle you have likely heard the tough love, hard line message that strict diet and exercise are the only ways to solve your problem. You were told in no uncertain terms, usually by a doctor, to restrict and cut down your caloric intake and start exercising whether you liked it or not. You were told that this would be a battle you will face for the rest of your life, period. Finally, there is surgery. Gastric bypass and liposuction are the most common. Yet, even after surgery, many slowly gain back the body fat they lost.

At some point towards the end of this losing battle you may have said to hell with it and quit. You just accepted the fact that you are fat. You would have likely been helped along here by a new chorus of friendly voices who agreed - Eat, drink, and be merry, We are all going to die anyway. You can’t defeat your own genetics; you are just meant to be fat or at least pleasantly plump. You told yourself that you will just never be one of those attractive slim people. You have failed; just accept it and move on. You may have started this whole process again on the first day of a new year but you inevitably ended up in the same place – failure.

Here is the good news. There is a way for you to become as lean and healthy as you wish. The solution presented here will give you that success. Why will this solution work when all of the other things just described did not? The answer is that none of those pseudo solutions addressed the real, underlying cause of the problem. This book does, definitively. You cannot find a real and successful solution until the real problem is first correctly identified. That is exactly why all of these other ideas, products and programs have failed us so miserably.

First, please understand that previously you have been set up to fail. It’s not just you; almost everyone around you is also failing. To understand the reasons behind this type of mass failure is to begin to comprehend the problem. Simply put, all of the reasons for your failure were disguised as solutions.

It’s just like on the soap operas. You know that story where the sick person is dying of some unknown disease and just keeps getting worse, but there is one person who is the sick person’s caretaker and won’t let anyone near the one who’s ailing. Then, you discover that this supposed caregiver was lacing the sick person’s food and medicine with poison all along, slowly killing them. This evil, manipulative and greedy person actually caused the sickness in order to be the sole beneficiary in the victim’s will.

The situation most of us are stuck in is surprisingly similar. It’s time to finally reveal those who are poisoning us, taking our money and making us fat. Once identified, we will isolate and remove these problems from our lives, forever. Here are some of the positive highlights of this program:

The ideas presented here do not involve discipline or denial.

The ideas require very little effort and no work.

You can eat as much food as you want, and it is not special diet food.

There are no restrictions of large food groups like proteins or carbohydrates.

The solutions are simple and can be applied easily and almost anywhere.

This program raises your metabolism and burns the most calories. (2,61)

The solutions will put you in peak health and help prevent disease and illness and even physical injury.

The solutions are permanent and sustainable for the rest of your life. In fact, going back to your old ways which made you fat and unhealthy will be difficult if not impossible once you start.

Cheating is allowed on this diet – but it is self-regulating, meaning you will not want to cheat.

The ideas are proven to work and will bring you success.

There is no limit to that success. That is, you can get as slim, muscular and healthy as you wish.

Finally, there is nothing additional to buy - no pills, wonder solutions, secret herbs, fitness machines, pre-packaged meal plans, therapy sessions, drugs, or surgeries – nothing but the easy to understand ideas presented in this book.

The book is divided into 3 major areas presented in order of importance.

1) Food

2) Exercise

3) Building muscle

This is not a typical diet book. As such, it presents more science, logic and philosophy than most of its contemporaries. In order to change your current habits for life, the solution must be supported by an absolutely sound body of evidence. Once you begin to follow the program and reap the benefits, you will not want to stop. This is a plan you’ll follow for life. I have been following it effortlessly for over two decades. Thousands of others have had the same resounding success.

I have encountered countless overweight and unhealthy people who have tried dieting and given up after repeated failures. They consider themselves on the outside looking in at the thin and good looking people. There is nothing wrong with their will power and discipline, or their metabolisms for that matter, though they may think there is. At 40 to 50 pounds overweight for most of my adult life, I was one of those people.

I recall seeing a bunch of obese children at a fat camp years ago. They were being interviewed for a story about the camp, the program they were on, and the individual challenges they faced. They were completely charming, sweet kids. They spoke of being ridiculed, laughed at, socially castigated and viciously made fun of by other children. They were innocent victims of circumstances: their family history, diet, and lack of adult guidance to exercise and eat right. Like most kids, they faced their situation with an unmistakably bold optimism. This is something people tend to lose as we get older and face the realities of the harsh, adult world.

The saddest part was that these children felt like they were letting down their parents and even the kids who made fun of them - they blamed themselves. Their problem was really no different than any other malady except that people tend to be unforgiving when you are fat. The tenacity and sheer will to succeed they possessed was impossible to miss. These kids were running up and down hills, swimming, counting calories and eating less through sheer will power. They were absolutely determined to redeem themselves and escape the shame they had experienced.

The injustice here is that all of their work, the purity of their intentions and efforts would almost certainly result in failure. It was simply tragic to watch these eager kids struggle so hard only to fail. For these children, just as for the rest of us, any successful plan must revolve around our natural behaviors. This plan does. Further, it is something you will do for the rest of your life. Your success will simply continue indefinitely.

Confessions of a Low Will-Power, Fat and Unhealthy 26 Year Old

When I was 26 years old, I was in much worse physical shape than I am today at the age of 47. I was bulky because I lifted a lot of weights, but fat. At 5’9’’ tall I weighed around 210 pounds. It seemed my clothes were always too tight. When I put my cowboy boots on I felt like a fat, stuffed cowboy trying to show off his big arms. Unfortunately, the arms came with a huge set of love handles that were an unwelcome but permanent part of my physique.

I used coffee, triple cream and sugar, as my get up and go stimulant. I usually felt really hungry or stuffed and bloated, but rarely satisfied or in balance. I always felt a little off physically. Aside from getting sick often with colds and the flu, my stomach and digestive system never felt quite right. I had what seemed like a terminal case of irritable bowel syndrome.

Breakfast; I lived for breakfast. I would eat breakfast for lunch and dinner, too. I had the whole city mapped out for places that served breakfast all day. The restaurant menu needed to have not only bacon, eggs, and toast but also steak and hash browns. For a place to really make the list though, to really qualify, it had to serve waffles as well; preferably with flavored syrups like blueberry, cherry or chocolate. (That’s right –chocolate flavored syrup) After 3 scrambled eggs, steak and a half pound of bacon, waffles were like having desert with my coffee. It wasn’t eating, it was heaven. Breakfast for me was like being in a food amusement park. Being hungry just added to the experience. But that was the old me. The new me is much different.

Old me:

26 years old

210 lbs

Exercise – up to 2 hours per day 4-5 days per week

Body fat of 26%

Perpetual irritable bowel syndrome, and digestive system problems

Endless cycle of high will-power, deprivation and sometimes starvation dieting

New me:

47 years old

172 lbs

Exercise – 1 hour per day 3-4 times per week

Body fat of under 12%

Digestive system operates perfectly I feel like I have had a bowel transplant

No dieting – ever.

When it comes to what I eat there is no will power required. Further, there are no restrictions whatsoever on the quantities I eat. I have no anxiety or feeling of missing out where food is concerned. The net result is that it is much more difficult to go off this plan than to stay on it. It is like breathing fresh, clean air vs. smog. It is effortless. I have sharper concentration, more energy, more virility, healthier looking skin and all bodily functions perform better than they ever have. I am measurably stronger and faster than the old me. Not only that, but all of these results just continue to get better. These results were and continue to be more surprising than I ever imagined.

PART I – Food

The doctor of the future will give no medicine, but will interest his patients in the care of the human frame, in diet, and in the cause and prevention of disease.

Thomas Edison

Chapter 1 - The Eco-Diet

If You Had A Pet Human, What Would You Feed It?

Let’s say you just became the owner of a pet human and you want to feed it its natural diet. The best answer regarding exactly what the natural diet of a human is would come from an expert, such as an anthropologist or an evolutionary biologist. Consider the same question put to a zoologist in regard to another animal. The answer would be what the animal currently eats in its natural, wild setting. That answer would include all that is known about what the animal ate throughout its natural history. For a human, the best answer would be what our species ate in the wild, just prior to roughly 8,000-10,000 years ago. That would be the end of the Paleolithic period of history and this would represent our natural human diet for roughly 99.999% of our history on the planet.

The Paleolithic era began 3 million years ago. The beginning of this period was marked by the appearance of tool making hominids (our distant ancestors) to its end, the melting of the last ice age approximately 10,000 years ago. That is where we get the 99.999% figure. It is a simple fact that this period covered the vast majority of the existence and evolution of humans.

Our original diet from the vast Paleolithic period was as follows:

Note: Don’t worry. The Eco-Diet will be much less restrictive

Wild animals, eggs, fish which were hunted and eaten

Fruits and vegetables, gathered and eaten

Nuts and seeds (no peanuts, they are actually beans)

Humans did not eat any dairy foods - milk, butter, cheese etc. (There were none)

Humans did not eat grains – wheat, barley, rye, oats, rice, breads, etc

Humans did not eat corn

Humans did not eat beans

Humans did not eat potatoes or some other starchy roots

This is what our human ancestors ate for our entire existence on this planet except for a tiny fraction of time that only began roughly 10,000 years ago. This is the most correct answer to the question – what should you feed a human?

Our ancestors hunted and killed wild animals. They never tried to milk them. They did not eat grains in that our ancestors from this period had not discovered milling and cooking grains to make breads and pasta or other grain based foods. They did not eat corn for the same reasons they did not eat the grains. Corn actually originated in Central America, as did potatoes. The proliferation of these foods is very, very recent relative to the history of the human species. Essentially, our species ate whatever could be hunted or gathered and eaten raw.

It was only in the last few thousand years that humans even began to eat these foods. Beans, corn and potatoes are actually toxic when eaten raw. This is their natural deterrent to insects and other species eating them. Again, cooking and eating grains, corn, beans and potatoes are, in a relative way, very new dietary additions for our race.

Following this original diet in strict form can be exceedingly difficult. To follow this original diet takes considerable commitment. I have never been able to do it for much longer than a few weeks at a time. Nonetheless, it is our indisputable original diet. It is this sound logic that will represent the rock solid foundation of the diet presented to you in this book. While not an exact replica of our pure ancestral diet, it will be the logical compass and filter for all direction regarding what to eat.

From Paleo to Eco

Do any urban, city dwelling people follow this diet today in our modern times? Actually, yes they do. In the world of popular diets it has been on the fringe for quite some time. It has its practitioners and ardent followers including doctors who have studied it extensively. Outspoken practitioners and proponents of this diet have been known to take things to the extreme in mimicking our original Paleolithic style of eating. Hunting with bows and arrows, skinning and eating a wide range of wild animals and foraging for food are hardly practical endeavors. These people tend to be very strict, allowing no room for exceptions or dalliances of any kind. In my experience researching and reading about this diet, some of these proponents seem to have the loudest and most well heard voices with books, websites and other references available on the subject.

These purists, although rigid in their practice of this diet, are very well spoken, authoritative and very credible. Ironically, they tend to demonstrate the unfortunate impracticality of following a true Paleolithic diet for most of us. Their strong dedication and belief in this dietary philosophy tends to be the very thing keeping it from mass popularity. Yet the logic, scientific basis, and documented results of the diet are indisputable. More than any other plan, this diet is the best answer to the question: what should we eat?

Personally, I have found it very difficult to negotiate daily life while adhering to the confining requirements of the Paleolithic diet. I and many others have eventually given up on the strictest form of the diet. As a consequence of finding this diet too unrealistic to follow, most people fall back into the eat drink and be merry - you’re going to die anyway or other illegitimate dietary philosophies. Nonetheless, our original human diet is the source of this more liberal version and any changes and additions that have been made are with complete respect to this, our perfect evolutionary diet.

Yes, humans everywhere should rediscover their original diet, but there will be no benefit if they try it and then stop. The modifications herein will allow far more people to appreciate our original diet and all of the incredible physical benefits that result from following it.

Nature and the process of evolution have given us exactly those foods we need to stay thin, strong and healthy. The concept behind the Eco-diet considers what we should consider our foods in a forensic way. How do we replicate the original healthy and natural diet of our ancestors in today’s modern society? We know what humans ate for 99.999% of their existence. The simple question becomes: how do we make a version of that original diet work in today’s society? The answer to this question is the basis for the diet presented in this book.

This book is an attempt to span the unhealthy gap between our modern diet and our original one. The idea is to tweak, soften, and slightly change, our true evolutionary diet without degrading its incredible effects. These minor changes have been addressed carefully with the experts and scientific proponents of Paleolithic eating. The result is a hybrid diet that is much easier to follow, but that still pays full respect to its evolutionary parent. The Eco-diet may be effectively described as a Neo-Liberal version of our original Paleolithic diet.

Very little related to diet and health is perfectly linear. Following this slightly changed and more adaptable form of the diet will bring results that are virtually indistinguishable from the results experienced by following a strict Paleolithic era diet. Yet, the enjoyment and practicality of following this diet make it much, much easier to embrace.

The Eco-Diet

The Eco-Diet is the humble child of The Paleolithic diet. Like most sons or daughters, it is less conservative than its parents. The reasons for its more liberal nature are virtuous though. The transition from the way we eat now to the Eco-Diet is less daunting, the adaptation much easier. Some very common foods which were decidedly not a part of our original diet have been added back. They are secondary choices and not meant to replace the staple meats, fruits and vegetables.

The greatest thing about the Eco-Diet is that the incredible benefits it brings outweigh the costs of following it. The food is healthy and delicious. There is very little inconvenience or cost to follow it. All those who try it tend to never go back to their old eating habits.

The Eco-Diet also takes into consideration the concept of micro-economics. That is, the idea of getting the most out of life by carefully considering all of your choices. The Eco-Diet passes this cost/benefit test better than any other possible dietary plan.

The Simple Rules to Follow

Foods to eat:

Primary:

Meats – cows, chicken, hogs, birds (and eggs), lamb, goat, fish, buffalo, etc.

Fruits

Vegetables

Secondary:

Nuts and seeds (these are actually primary evolutionary foods, but we have made them secondary only because they are highly caloric)

Potatoes and similar starchy roots

Corn – unprocessed, well cleaned and cooked

Rice – preferably brown

Beans/legumes – well cleaned and cooked

Foods to avoid:

Grains - breads, cookies, pasta, cereal, baked goods or any cooked grains. (Again, unprocessed corn and brown rice have been added back as secondary, but allowable exceptions)

Dairy - cheese, milk, cream, ice cream.

Instructions:

Primary foods: Eat as much as you wish such that you are never hungry. These are the staple foods you should eat every day. (Daily quantities of nuts and seeds should be limited, only because they are highly caloric. More on reasonable quantities of nuts and