what is the warrior diet?

19Aug08

I realized that as it was hard for me to find information I should spend some time explaining what exactly The Warrior Diet is and how it works.

After all, you need information to help you get going.

The Warrior Diet is a diet that goes against a lot of the mainstream ideas. Over the years The Warrior Diet has gained a big underground following, mainly consisting of athletes and martial artists. Aside from that it has also gained popularity with the low carb crowd even though, or maybe because, The Warrior Diet is not a low carb diet.

The main principle behind The Warrior Diet is under eating during the day and overeating at night. Like I said, it goes against a lot of mainstream ideas. Definitely no big breakfast here.

However, regardless of what people are trying to make you believe, there really is no conclusive evidence that supports multiple meals per day. And to me eating little food during the day and a lot of sense makes sense from an evolutionary point of view.

After all, when you’re running around trying to kill a mammoth or gathering enough food for you and your family to survive while trying to dodge predators, you won’t have much time to sit down and eat during the day. It won’t be until nightfall that you’ll have the time to enjoy all the wonderful food you collected.

This brings us to one of the biggest misconceptions about The Warrior Diet as well. The main point is to under eat during the day. However, this does not mean that you should fast during the day. It just means that you should eat little during the day.

In his book, The Warrior Diet, Ori Hofmekler will go into detail about the kind of food he recommends. But to get you started, minimize food consumption to mostly raw fruit and vegetables, soups, and small amounts of light protein foods. As you are not eating much during the ‘working’ part of the day your body will burn fat to keep your energy levels balanced. People doing The Warrior Diet all mention an increased energy level during the day which is in line with the information in the book.

According to Ori Hofmekler this is because during the day the sympatic nervous system gets stimulated by under eating. If you want to know more about this than I recommend you go to Ori Hofmekler’s website and buy the book.

The overeating phase of The Warrior Diet starts at night. You are encouraged to switch between days of different fuel foods. For instance, have a high carb day (i.e. grains) followed by a high fat day (i.e nuts). There are some guidelines though when it comes to eating at night.

1. Start with subtle tasting foods like salad, vegetables and protein food before eating more aggressive foods like carb food or fat food (i.e. grains or nuts).
2. Introduce all tastes, textures, aromas and colors possible in your main meal. So like most of us already know, the more colourful your meal is, the better it is.
3. Stop eating when you feel more thirsty than hungry.

Especially the last part can be a bit tricky. I’ve found that most people, myself included, don’t really notice the difference between hunger and thirst. At least not consciously. What I have found to be a good way to tell when this happens though, is the number of times I reach for my drink. When I’m getting full I find myself reaching for my drink more often than at the beginning of the meal. This is my sign to stop eating.

Another point of The Warrior Diet is, just like with other diets, exercise. This makes perfect sense.

Up until a 100 years ago human beings were much more active then they are today. Cars, planes, trains, etc. have all taken away a lot of exercise. Add to that we do much less physical work these days and you’ll have to agree, we don’t move nearly as much as we used to.

Ori Hofmekler recommends strength and speed training as well as velocity drills. He actually created a specific exercise program for The Warrior Diet called Controlled Fatigue Training. Again, for more information about that refer to the book.

Aside from all of this it Ori Hofmekler recommends that you use supplements. It’s no secret that food today is less dense in nutrients than it used to be so this should not come as a surprise. All supplements that are recommended for The Warrior Diet should be easy to find. If you don’t feel like going out and looking for them though you can order them here.

Now for one of the most important questions, is The Warrior Diet a crash diet or a lifestyle?
I guess The Warrior Diet will work as a crash diet. I lost fat very quickly and am still losing fat. However, it is not intended to be used that way. The Warrior Diet is meant to change your eating habits and keep you lean and fit throughout the rest of your life.

Ori Hofmekler is a pretty good representative for both The Warrior Diet and being fit. After all, how many people look like this at 56:

Ori Hofmekler

Filed under: warrior diet   |  Leave a Comment
Tags: diet, hofmekler, lose, loss, ori, warrior, warrior diet, weight, weightloss