Starting Tim Ferris’s diet today from his book “The Four Hour Body” referred to as a “Slow Carb Diet”. This means that your source of carbs will come from very slow release low glycemic index carbs like beans, lentils and vegetables. Basically this diet has the following guidelines:
1) Avoid “white” carbohydrates or starch based carbs.
2) Don’t drink calories.
3) Don’t eat fruit.
4) Take one day off per week and go nuts.
So the diet basically gives you 1 day per week to go crazy and eat anything you want. ANYTHING. In fact you actually have to eat quite a bit on this day to stimulate the hormones and get the reset your body needs to keep losing body fat. I’m daydreaming of all the things I plan to eat on this day. Oh my god it’s going to be a fiesta.
This diet certainly isn’t one I would ever stay on for extended periods of time, but I do want to try it out and see just how low I can take my body fat levels. Tim claims this is one of only 2 diets he has tried that has produced veins on his abdomen. There are other very similar diets that bodybuilders use to cut body fat down to sub 5% levels before a contest.
My weight today is 227 and my bodyfat level is reading 19% with the bio-impidence monitor.
Hi Chris. Thanks for commenting. I actually do eat fruit – A LOT! Or I should say I ate it a lot before starting this diet. Fruit is certainly great for you – no doubt about it. This diet is by no means permanent and it allows for fruit intake on your binge day. Tim Ferris’s contention on limiting fruit intake is in its effects on insulin and how it inhibits fat mobilization for energy. There is certainly research to confirm this. I actually altered the diet slightly for myself in that I allow Wednesdays to be a day where I drink a very large fruit smoothie in addition to the Saturday allowance. Tim also states in his book how humans don’t really need to eat fruit every single day, but this really depends on where you get your nutrient profile from. As long as the nutrients are being taken in, then the source isn’t so important. I consider myself a fitness and nutrition geek so I like to examine many different diets and sometimes try them out to really get a sense of how they perform in practice.
Hi Todd, So happy about your family blog. How’s Portland? I have family there too so maybe we can grab a coffee sometime and catch up. As for now, one question, how do you not each fruit?? It’s my favorite healthy snack and the kids love love love them. What’s the downside of eating fruit while on a diet?
Chris – Perez when we met, now I’m a Bullard with 4 kids 🙂