Intermittent Fasting: The Warrior Diet

Ori Hofmekler, whose formative military experience prompted a life interest in survival science is the creator of the Warrior Diet. He introduced the program in his book in 2002. The Warrior Diet was one of the first documented diets to incorporate the idea of intermittent fasting as the core concept of its nutrition plan.

If you chose to try out the Warrior's approach, you will be expect to fast for 20 hours every day and eat only one large meal at night. This is probably contrary to what you may have been taught, that eating more food in the evening will cause weight gain.

It doesn't matter when you eat your calories; what matters is the fact that you work off more calories than you take in during a 24 hour period.

Overeating may still be detrimental to your health and cause weight gain if you are not careful about what you eat. If you eat 500 calories per day more than you burn, you will gain weight, no matter what time of day you eat them. The fasting period of the Warrior Diet isn't a strict fast as the other methods we have explored. The Fast is actually a period of "undereating". What this means is that during the 20 hour fast you can eat occasionally however what you eat will be limited to small servings of raw fruit, vegetables, fresh juices and maybe a few servings of protein if desired.

The 4 hour eating window referred to as the "overeating" phase is at night. The reason for this is to maximise the Parasympathetic Nervous Systems ability to help your body recuperate allowing for the nutrients consumed to be used for repair and growth while you sleep. Your "undereating" period during the day is supposed to maximise the Sympathetic Nervous Systems "fight or flight" response. This response should promote alertness, boost your energy and cause your body to produce hormones to stimulate fat burning.

You have to combine any diet with regular exercise. This one is no different. Exercise at least three times per week. Spend at least 30 to 60 minutes working out. and my favourite part, include strength training and aerobics  if you want to lose weight while on the Warrior Diet.

What to eat is important but not how much!

Holfmelker recommends you start with veggies, proteins and fats and eat as much food as you like. If you're still hungry only then should you add some carbohydrates. As always, behave like a responsible adult and make healthy choices.

Benefits: If other methods of fasting that require you to abstain from food completely during the fasting period just can't work for you then this program might better suit you. The Warrior Diet allows for eating a few small snacks during the fasting period. This can make it easier to make it through the long fast.

The downside: Even with the healthy snacks you still have to go without food for 20 hours. The guidelines for what to eat are pretty strict and may be difficult for many to stick with long term.