WHAT IS WARRIOR DIET? HERE IS A COMPLETE GUIDE OF EVERYTHING YOU NEED TO KNOW
What Is Warrior Diet? Here Is A Complete Guide Of Everything You Need To Know
Warrior diet sounds pretty cool! But what actually is it, should you adopt it, and is it just another fad? In this article, Beauty and Tips gives you the complete lowdown.
The first question that you’re probably dying to ask is whether the warrior diet is related to actual real warriors by any chance?! Surprisingly, it is! Back in the ancient times, warriors would barely eat during the day because they were too busy doing everyday warrior stuff, such as fighting, hunting and gathering. As a result, they would usually just eat one very large meal in the evening, which would often suffice. This means that if you follow the warrior diet, you’ll essentially have to fast all day. Sounds tough? It is, but the good news is that there’ll be a GIGANTIC meal waiting for you in the evening!
Anyone who’s on the warrior diet can eat during the day but eating must be kept to a minimum. Fluids are fine, but snacks need to be rationed. And when evening swings around, it’s time to enjoy a veritable feast. Protein and vegetables are commonly paired together, while other food combos are avoided. Sound good so far?
But Where Did The Warrior Diet Come From?
In 2001, Ori Hofmekler had finished serving with the Israeli Special Forces. He’d become accustomed to a certain diet while serving in the army but he wanted to find a way of increasing his energy while losing weight. After reading about the warrior societies in ancient Rome and Sparta, he learned that these absolute beastly men would fast all day before wolfing down a huge meal at night. It worked for them, so why shouldn’t it work for Ori and the rest of us?
Sounds Cool. But Is The Warrior Diet For Me?
Some people just find it really hard to lose weight. Even after following a diet plan to the letter, the pounds still aren’t falling off. Of course, there are many diet plans out there and what worked for one person won’t necessarily work for the rest of us. But the warrior diet could be worth a shot if you want to lose weight because it’s essentially a lot like intermittent fasting. This means that, because your body will deplete energy levels throughout the day, you’ve got plenty of time to burn calories.
The creator of the diet reckons that nutritional stress is a good thing. In fact, it’s more important than exercise. When we combine both nutritional stress with exercise and eat the right things, we can lose weight and feel fitter than ever. It’s important that when you fast during the day – you stay active, otherwise, fat will accumulate and it won’t mobilise.
Remember – the ancient warriors hardly lounged around all day until their wives cooked them dinner. They were out on the battlefield fighting wars! They would eat a small snack in the morning and stay active on an empty belly before feasting at night. The right balance between exercise and fasting helped them stay fit and, according to Ori Hofmekler, they didn’t have to worry about body fat.
Guidelines For The Warrior Diet
If you’re thinking that the warrior diet might be for you, here are some guidelines you’ll need to follow.
1. Make Sure You Stay Hydrated During The Day
This is imperative. If the warrior diet is to be effective for you, you must stay hydrated. This doesn’t mean you should drink lots of coffee, energy drinks or fruit juice. Instead, you need to drink lots and lots of water. How many glasses should you drink during the fasting phase? Aim for 9 but drink 10 if you can. To get a boost in nutrients, add cinnamon, lemon, mint or cucumber to your water.
Water will take the edge off hunger and keep you feeling full for as long as possible. It will also ensure that your body ticks over nicely without food.
2. Eat Foods That Are Rich In Protein
For dinner, you should eat lots of protein. This will minimise the amount of carbs you eat, and it will also help your body to rebuild muscles that have been left a bit depleted during the day. Drink milk with protein powder along with your meal if you want even more protein.
3. Learn How To Stay On Top Of Hunger
For many people, staying on top of their hunger will be the hardest thing. You WILL get hungry, and at times you’ll get really hungry. But this is the part where you need to act with the resilience of a warrior by training your brain to endure. After a few days, your brain will get used to your new routine and won’t bother you as much for food during the day. Awesome! That said, if you ever decide to come off the warrior diet, you’re going to have to re-train your brain all over again.
4. Avoid Junk Foods
Junk and processed foods are not allowed on the warrior diet. For one thing, they didn’t exist back in the days when the warriors were raging across Europe and Asia with their spears and angry faces.
Secondly, the warrior diet is aimed at restoring your health. Because processed foods contain lots of taste enhancers, food preservatives, colours, artificial flavours, salt and sugar, they’re just not allowed. They’re bad for you and too much of them can actually ruin your body,
Avoid the likes of ketchup, fries, pizza, burgers, sausages and fried chicken, too. Only buy the good stuff and, if possible, buy organic food stuff.
5. Workout And Stay Physically Active
Warriors didn’t just sit around all day doing nothing until it was time to eat. They didn’t watch Netflix, lie in bed until noon or scroll through their Facebook feed. While they were fasting, they are either out on the hunt or they were fighting battles.
Although you won’t be hunting or fighting wars, you need to be physically active during the day. Exercise regularly. Do a mxi of yoga, weights, strength training and cardio to keep things interesting.
Warrior Diet Sample Meal Plan
So, if you decide to adopt a warrior diet, what should you eat on an average day? Here’s a meal plan that you could follow:
Pre-Breakfast – 7.00 – 7.45am
Start the day with a glass of warm water. Drop some lime juice or honey in it for taste and more nutrients.
Proper Breakfast – 8.30 – 9.00am
We recommend going with a boiled egg white that you eat with 5-6 almonds. Wash it down with a cup of green tea.
Lunch – 12.30 – 13.00
Not much here. Either enjoy a small bowl of fruits, a yogurt or a small raw vegetable salad. Don’t do all three.
Dinner (Feast) – 19.00
This is your main meal so it’s time to indulge yourself. We recommend combining grilled chicken or fish with veggies and mashed potato. Enjoy some dark chocolate and a cup of green tea to finish.
Alternatively, you could combine grilled veggies and kidney bean chili with two pita breads. Again finish with some dark chocolate and a cup of warm milk.
Another option is a carrot, potato and broccoli casserole.
This warrior diet sample meal plan works because it lets you eat three times a day; you’re not allowed to eat much, but for those of you who are literally dreading the idea of fasting all day, it should work as a nice compromise.
Lime juice with water is a great way to start the day as it flushes out toxins that have built up during the day. Breakfast, meanwhile, is where you get your early morning source of protein, while fruit for lunch is always a winner.
It All Sounds Great! But Are There Any Disadvantages of the Warrior Diet?
1. The Warrior Diet Isn’t Based On Science
One of the biggest issues people will have with the warrior diet is that it isn’t based on actual science.
The diet worked for Ori, but it was based entirely on his own observations. And as we all know, what works for one person might not work for the rest of us. As such, while the warrior diet might give you the results you want, it also might not.
2. The Warrior Diet Doesn’t Mean You’ll Choose Healthy Foods
One of the reasons Ori looked into the warrior diet was because he was interested in learning how to lose weight. But one of the obvious problems with the warrior diet is that, because we have to fast all day, we’re going to be pretty ravenous when meal time swings around. And at that point, we’re hardly likely going to want to settle for a salad. Instead, we might want pizza and hamburgers!
Think back to the times you’ve been wolfishly hungry. Did you want vegetables? Or did you want all the pizza?
Moreover, the warrior diet means that we can’t eat until night time. And as we all know, it’s usually at night when we make poor dietary choices. We’re tired and we just want to order a takeaway.
3. The Warrior Diet Might Mean That You Miss Out On A Lot Of Nutrients
Health conscious people tend to get through a lot of nutrients over the course of an average day. Perhaps they’ll kick their morning off with a glass of lemon water that accompanies a bowl of oatmeal, berries, seed and fresh fruit. From there, things just get better. Maybe they’ll enjoy some salmon, some potatoes, some yogurt and so on. Nutrients are important, and by spreading their meals out throughout the day health-conscious people are able to get as many nutrients as possible.
The warrior diet, however, is very different. Because it consists of just one huge meal at the end of the day, a person who’s on the warrior diet will miss out on lots of essential nutrients throughout the day.
Most of us need to eat lots of meals during the day to get all the nutrients we need. If you’re relying on just one main meal at the end of the day, it’s highly likely that you won’t get the nutrients you actually need.
4. The Warrior Diet Tampers With Your Blood Sugar Levels
If you want to lose weigh, keeping your blood sugar levels stable is kinda important. Moreover, constant spikes in blood sugar levels can put you at risk of diabetes.
The warrior diet causes extreme fluctuations in your blood sugar levels. If you barely eat during the day and then eat excessively in the evening, your blood sugar levels could soar. Then, they’ll plummet again the next day when you don’t eat.
More and more adults in the western world are developing diabetes, and the last thing you need is another possible cause.
5. The Warrior Diet Can Actually Cause Weight Gain
When Ori Hofmekler came up with the idea of the warrior diet, one of the reasons was that he wanted a diet that could help him lose weight. However, while going up to ten hours without eating each day sounds like it could help us lose weight, the opposite is probably true.
When we go so long without eating and starve our body of calories, our metabolism decreases. As a result, once we eat our huge meal at the end of the day, our slow metabolism able to burn calories as quickly as it used to do. As a consequence, we gain weight.
The biggest problem is that the weight you’ll regain will mostly be fat. This is kind of a bummer when the whole point of the warrior diet was to help us lose lean tissues and fat.
6. The Warrior Diet Just Isn’t Relevant Anymore
Lastly, this needs to be said: We are not warriors anymore. The warrior diet might have been followed by ancient warriors but, um, we have cars, careers, nice houses, smartphones and the Internet. We have no real need for this ancient diet, but probably we can get some inspirational tips from it.
Have you ever tried the warrior diet?
Stay happy and healthy!
from Beauty And Tips Magazine
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