Review: The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler

This Book is about Intermittent Fasting

The proponents behind the various schemes of eating have their own arguments: you should eat every third hour to keep a steady blood sugar level, keep hunger off and avoid the "starvation response", whereas the alternate view is that the blood sugar level is perfectly regulated by the human body even when you're not eating, hunger is mostly about habits, and that there is no short-term starvation response. The views behind the IF camp is also supported by science. Perhaps not very surprisingly, I'm a proponent of IF.

Main advantages of fasting, and therefore the basic ideas of IF, include:

• makes you more alert through the hormonal environment imposed by fasting;
• mimicks caloric restriction on life span and health;
• boosts the effect of resistance training;
• forces the body to rely on stored body fat for energy;
• lowers insulin levels, helping so-called stubborn fat come off more easily; and
• making the meals (meal, really) more filling if energy intake is restricted.

Some of these are still controversial and/or have been verified only in rat studies (such as the prolonged life span), however, others have support in studies on man. So far, so good.

Ori's Take on Intermittent Fasting

Ori discusses fasting in terms of undereating and overeating in an historical context, where warriors (e.g. the Romans) would nibble on food during the day to support heavy physical activity, which at the end of the day would be followed by a meal and relaxation, preparing for the next day. Here is where we find the main difference between The Warrior Diet and other IF approaches, where fasting means fasting (no caloric intake), whereas Ori gives go on fresh fruit and vegetables, and an occasional protein source such as whey, yoghurt and eggs in small amounts. The reasoning goes that one should consume foods containing certain enzymes, meaning live food, as well as for maintainin the proper alcaline/acid balance. Fasting is by Ori considered to help the body detoxify itself, which would not be possible if constantly in the fed state. This is certainly controversial, and so far I have not found any evidence the body indeed needs enzymes from food to function properly -- the ones required will be produced by the body itself. Same goes for the acid balance. The parts on hormones and how various foods (and toxins) affect them is mostly-accepted, and is an interesting read, though. Specifically, he discuses the effects food has on the sex hormones and the ones controlling your metabolism, and speculates how eating correctly might even reverse certain illnesses.

The reader might be lead thinking Ori proposes a low-carb diet, but the emphasis is more on proper carbohydrate sources rather than limiting them altogether. In fact, in the recipe section and recommended foods, many meals are high in carbohydrate and low in fat. That might not be completely representative of the overall views, however, as it is stated at several places in the text that in order to lose fat (especially the stubborn kind), you should trade carbohydrates for fat; limiting the intake to vegetables and the higher-glycemic carbohydrate sources to directly after working out, or as the last course of your meal to minimize the insulin response. There is also a section on Ori's preferred style of resistance training (avoiding failure at all costs, again mimicking how warriors were supposedly trained). Neither the advice on resistance training nor the recipes is something you couldn't pick up in a beginner's strength training book or cook book.

Aside from the rather long (and somewhat repetitive) sections on warrior history, what made the book interesting in my view is mainly the theory on "meal intensity" and how it plays a greater role in muscle development than simply total intake, which really does go in line with my observations, as well as (slightly far-fetched) one Norwegian study comparing the effects six versus three meals a day, with the latter resulting in greater muscle mass gains. Having one meal at the end of the day, when everything is done and there is time for relax, would be more in line with how wild animals live, while also being a nice way to round off the day. Perhaps somewhat analoguous to sleeping, you would rather want your eight hours of sleep in one chunk instead of naps spread out over the day. Anecdotally, I've noticed better results (mainly in terms of fat loss) doing 20-22 hour daily fasts, compared to the 16 hour regimen I used to follow. Whether the reason is that I do eat less is not important, as I'm allowed to eat until satisfied once a day followed by a good night's sleep, ready for the next day's tasks. Moreover, quoting Mark Sisson (Mark's Daily Apple; The Primal Blueprint) in his article 17 Reasons You're Not Losing Weight in the section on IF:

If all goes well, your hunger won’t necessarily disappear, but it’ll change. A successful IF tames hunger, makes it less insistent and demanding.

What Did I Learn?

Would I recommend this book? Maybe, if you're interested in history, spirituality and a bit of biology/hormones. I personally followed something close to the plan outlined by Ori for a few weeks before I read the book, agreeing fully in the praise of the diet by the athletes in the preface of the book -- it is a lifestyle I can see myself follow. Moreover, Ori acknowledges there might be times where you would not be able to follow the recommendations fully, and that you should just let it pass to later on continue with your new-found way of life. Lifestyle is really where emphasis is put, where most other diet books are about restriction. Granted, fasting is also a form of restriction, but in my view the least problematic of plethora of restrictions available.

If you're not prepared to put the time or money into the book, I'd say you will be equally well off simply fasting until night, eat and then go to sleep, as the rest of the book does not really introduce anything required to, well, not eat, save for some advice on certain foods and their health benefits. Working out (specifically resistance/weight training), as with most good books on diet, is optional, but encouraged to speed up fat loss, improve on your physique and general health. Again, the material could be easily picked up elsewhere for specific goals, however, I believe that the book for many gives a nice back-to-back "diet solution" which could be comforting. It's fairly cheap, so why not?