Abel James : The Wild Diet

What is The Wild Diet?

Simply, The Wild Diet suggests that we take a deep breath and start eating real food again.

We once had access to an immense variety of seasonal foods from small, local sources. Now we have access to very few varieties of very few foods from a massive industrial system often thousands of miles from where we live.

It’s important to note the few staples of the Standard American Diet – namely corn, wheat, and soy – are not produced in such massive quantities because they’re healthy. They’re produced because they make money for rich people.

Modern food manufacturers have overwhelmed grocery store shelves with foods that are nutrient poor, rotten, spoiled, dead, old, and contaminated with antibiotics, chemicals, and growth hormones.

GMO’s are creepy, artificial flavors are horrifying, and selective breeding has unleashed some freakish foodstuffs upon the general public. If selective breeding can do this to a wolf, imagine what they can do to a tomato.

Monoculture is raping the land, generating obscene wealth for a select few, and producing “foods” that make us fat and sick. We need to return to a system that works with the land, with nature, and with our own physiology and spirit.

Sure, it takes work to make (or find) fresh, wild, natural food these days. But the benefits for the health of our bodies and the land we inhabit are undeniable.

Here’s a small example of what you eat when you don’t pay attention…

• Think you’re better off eating foods with “natural flavor”? Chew on this: secretions from the anal glands of beavers produce a bitter, smelly, orange-brown substance known as castoreum that is used extensively in vanilla and raspberry flavoring. It’s legally labeled as “natural flavoring.” – The Wild Diet
• This is the state of affairs when you trust food manufacturers, my friends. I hope you like beaver butt.

The Wild Diet is a Paradigm for Making Healthy Decisions

The Wild Diet is not a dietary bootcamp; it is a template for making healthy eating and lifestyle decisions. But as a rule, the closer you can get to eating plants and animals that would thrive in their wild and natural habitat, the better.

Eat plants and animals that were recently alive and well. Heirloom and heritage plants and animals are in themselves healthier as a result more nutritious then their industrial counterparts. Imagine grain is expensive, hard physical work is necessary, and sweets are a treat.

And don’t be afraid to get some dirt under your fingernails. It’s good for you.

http://fatburningman.com/what-is-the-wild-diet

intermittent fasting

Since the 1930’s, animal studies have been telling us that restricting calories improves health and longevity. For many decades, most believed that it was necessary to “starve yourself” to reap the benefits. Recent science has shown us, however, that you can actually trim your waistline, improve your biomarkers of health, and increase your longevity without the pain, suffering, and hunger that comes along with restriction. Intermittent Fasting works, too.

Fasting and feasting keeps us lean largely because it forces the body to metabolize fat for energy more efficiently. And by limiting spikes in blood sugar because there’s no incoming food to digest, your insulin sensitivity can improve dramatically. Another benefit of fasting and feasting: by eating less often, it gives the opportunity for our bodies to repair themselves, without being distracted by needing to digest food. The result is less inflammation, more muscle growth, and of course, more fat mobilization. Studies support that fasting then feasting, or having less frequent meals, doesn’t decrease your metabolism. And eating every few hours, including breakfast, doesn’t increase your metabolism, either. Hunter-gatherer meal patterns, with large dinners and little to eat during the day, seem more natural. That’s why skipping breakfast often comes so easily.

Some studies also show that breakfast boosts hunger throughout the day. I can vouch for that. I tend not to get hungry until I start eating. They’ve found that cortisol is the main culprit. It’s highest in the morning as a normal process of getting you to wake up and prepare you for the day ahead. Often called “circadian cortisol,” the urge to eat in the morning can actually be a response to cortisol flooding our system and not because we are actually hungry. Simply, when you have high levels of cortisol and eat, you’re likely to experience an insulin spike and a decrease in insulin sensitivity. That’s why you might be starving a mere 1-2 hours after breakfast

http://fatburningman.com/the-meal-frequency-fallacy/