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Dieting for Life Diet Bites -Weight Loss Tips How Many Calories Do You Need Per Day? Recommended Calorie Needs for Individuals Weighing: |
The Cave Woman Dietby Coty Fowler In spite of it's name, this diet does not include being dragged by the hair, hunting with clubs or skinning big game. Though you might feel good enough to do all of those things. What it does include is a return to our evolutionary roots. As a student of anthropology, I read every book I can find on ancient homonids and their culture. In January of 2002, while cruising Amazon for something new about our primitive cousins, I came across two books on ancient hominid diets. Out of curiosity, I ordered them. In a nutshell, about 12,000 years ago the last Ice Age ended. Within 2,000 years of the ice sheet receding, agriculture began and new foods became the staple they are in today's diet. This new diet, called Neolithic, had an immediate effect on human health. Skeletons of Neolithic farmers show poor nutrition compared to the previous generations of hunter-gatherers. They died younger, were shorter, had more cavities in their fewer teeth and showed the first evidence of obesity. The problem with the new diet of the Neolithic period was that we didn't evolve to eat those new foods. The small human digestive tract is unique among primates. We have only one stomach and a relatively short large intestine. We are more suited to digesting and extracting nutrients from meat, fruit, nuts, and some vegetables. This was of particular interest to me since I knew I was allergic to wheat and was also lactose intolerant. If I couldn't digest those items, maybe there were other items I couldn't digest and just didn't know it. After reading both books, doing some research on the Internet and at my local library, I fashioned a diet for myself. And the Cave Woman Diet was born. On January 16, 2002, when the last kid returned to college, I began my diet. Since the previous January, I had been exercising, lifting weights and generally killing myself to lose a grand total of ten pounds. And it took a year! Not a very satisfying result from so much effort. I began by purging the kitchen of every slice of bread, every cracker, every package of pasta, and every cream-filled pastry. I was ruthless. Next, I went to the store and bought meat. Beef, pork and chicken. Also, fish and shrimp. Then I hit the produce section. Fresh vegetables and fruits nestled in the shopping cart next to nuts and dried fruit (without sugar added) and eggs. The rules for eating were simple. Eat nothing that couldn't be found in nature. Eat only when I was hungry, even if it was every two hours. And eat only enough to satisfy my hunger. No gorging. I began my eating day at 9 am. I scrambled an egg in a small amount of butter and topped it with a dash of cheese. At 11 am, I was back in the kitchen eating pastrami or corned beef (not processed, but from the deli). Just a couple of slices rolled inside a thin slice of cheese. At one, I had lunch. Usually a left over item from dinner the night before. Pork chops, a stuffed pepper, a ground beef patty. Whatever. I made a small salad to accompany this with a teaspoon of salad dressing. Between three and four in the afternoon, I was hungry again. This is when I got out the fresh fruit and nuts. Usually apples and walnuts. I munched them while I fixed a dinner of steak, chicken, pork or fish. I also prepared the fresh vegetables for the meal. I'm partial to broccoli, cauliflower and carrots, but I also ate snow peas, mushrooms and other vegetables, though no corn.
By eight or nine that night it was time to drag out the fruit again for something to snack on. At the end of 5 days, I had lost three pounds and my chronic indigestion. Goodbye Tums! And I was never hungry since I ate all the time. Previous dietary study indicated that to change our metabolism it is necessary to eat often. This reprograms the body to stop storing fat. The second week I dropped four pounds and my energy level skyrocketed. I was not just cleaning house, I was cleaning closets and kitchen cabinets and organizing items for a yard sale. Interestingly, I had no more sinus headaches or joint pain and had eliminated over the counter decongestants and arthritis pain relievers. At the end of six weeks, I had lost twenty pounds, my clothes no longer fit and I had energy to spare. I was sleeping better and my anxiety level was greatly reduced. I felt better than I had in years. I had continued a modified version of my daily workout during this diet period. Chronic back pain plagued me since my twenties and I used exercise to keep my muscles from seizing up. I had to wonder if my diet would have been as successful without the twenty minute a day workout. So, at the end of my third week, I put my wheelchair confined husband on the diet. He lost 12 lbs! A man who cannot move lost weight. I was definitely onto something here. I thought at the end of six weeks, it was safe to add a few goodies back into my diet. I missed a few things like a slice of bread with my meat and cheese and an occasional sip from a root beer float. Only in moderation, of course. Big Mistake! Those small indulgences made me sick. Tummy ache, diarrhea, headache. It didn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that modern foods were making me sick and probably had been all my life. That was pretty strong motivation to continue the Cave Woman Diet. I am now at my ideal weight. I no longer suffer with indigestion and allergies. And I am more energetic and productive than ever. My coaching business is taking off. My writing business is flourishing. And I feel and look better than I have in years. So, get out your loincloth, sharpen your stone tools and become a Cave Woman! Eat the way Mother Nature designed us to eat. Once you break the addition to grains and sugars, you will never want to touch them again. CAVE WOMAN DIET QUESTIONS ANSWERED There must be a revolution going on out there. Since I first wrote about the Cave Woman diet, I have been overwhelmed with questions concerning everything from why this diet works to who do I think I am, a doctor? In an effort to fan the flames of revolution, I want to answer the most common questions for as many dieters as possible. I hope your question is in here somewhere, but if it isn't, don't hesitate to let me know. I'll be glad to email you a personal response. 1. I can't eat that often! I'll weigh a ton. Unfortunately, most of us have been programmed to be afraid of our food. And we should fear those foods that are bad for us. But everything allowed on the Cave Woman Diet is completely natural and safe. The reason we have to eat every 2-3 hours is to convince our bodies there is no longer a need to store fat. You see, fat is our body's natural fuel. We substitute sugar and grains for fat and then we eat only 2-3 times a day. Our body is saying, "Hey, we better save up on fuel. There's not much coming down the pipe. Let's hold onto this extra fuel." By eating small amounts of food every 2-3 hours, we are telling our body that times are good. There is no famine on the horizon. We can have all the food we want anytime we want it. This is what changes our metabolism. Once our body gets the message, which can take 2-3 weeks, then it starts throwing away all that fat it stored in preparation for hard times. As long as you eat the right things, in smaller portions, you'll be fine. 2. Why did our ancestors start eating cereal grains in the first place? Ah, progress and civilization. But, actually, overpopulation is the real answer to this question. Hunter/gatherer societies of the Paleolithic period could travel hundreds of miles if necessary to follow constantly migrating game. But about 10,000 years ago that became nearly impossible. Everywhere they traveled, they ran into other people doing the same thing. And being cursed with a big brain they decided to settle down in small societies, domesticate animals for their consumption and grow their own vegetables and fruits. Sounds like a great idea, but they had to improve on it. Without refrigeration and canning and with only rudimentary ideas about curing meat, they decided to grow something they could store more easily. Potatoes were easy to grow and kept forever in a cool, dark place (like a cave). Grains could be turned into other food products and kept for long periods of time. These new products were also more filling and fed more people. It made perfect sense at the time for primitive people. It makes no sense now.
3. Why not exercise? It's good for you. Yes, it is. I don't advocate giving up exercise. The point is, it is not necessary to work out vigorously to lose weight. Not if you follow the Cave Woman Diet. Did you know that our ancestors only worked 2-3 hours a day? Yep, that's right. They weren't lazy, it just didn't take much time to meet their basic needs. The men usually hunted game, either big or small, and the women gathered wild fruits and vegetables. Then they sat around eating or drawing on the walls for the rest of the day . Modern humans work 12-14 hours a day, work out to the point of exhaustion or injury and yet are fat and suffer disease. Doesn't it make you wonder what the ancients were doing right? 4. I've tried to give up sweets but I can't, I crave them. This is called the joys of addiction. Did you ever get irritated with a smoker? Well, welcome to the club. It doesn't matter what you are addicted to, cigarettes or sweets, it's still an addiction and it's just as hard to kick. But just as surely as cigarettes threaten your health, the wrong foods threaten it, too. I know this sounds like a broken record, but if you are using sugar or carbohydrates for fuel, then your body is still storing fat. Make your body burn the fat for fuel like it was designed to do. It may not be easy, but then if it were, there would be no smokers and there would be no obese people. 5. Why should I believe you? Are you a doctor? And why would the government or my doctor lie to me about the food pyramid? This is a great question with a complex answer. I thought I knew the reason for the government's advocacy of the food pyramid before my research. Corporate greed! Government conspiracy! Medical cover-up! But that's only part of the story. Food production is an economic commodity and a powerful tool in controlling the masses. Early state societies used it for that purpose. Ye Old History Book will confirm that the feudal lords obtained their high place in society and their wealth from food production. It has become a way of life in our culture and it isn't going to change anytime soon. Not unless we change it. The whole modern concept of nutrition is actually a product of 20th Century technology. When scientists first began to identify vitamins and nutrients, they built the food pyramid on their findings. They had to find foods that contained these vitamins and nutrients. With typical cultural bias, they looked at foods we were all ready eating - modern foods - the wrong foods. So, darn it, it wasn't a conspiracy. However, we now know that it doesn't work. We can get vitamins and other nutrients by eating the right foods for our bodies. We can conquer stored fat by changing our metabolism. We can stamp out diabetes and autoimmune disorders by returning to our roots. We can do it all with a cultural food change. As far as believing me, no I'm not a doctor or nutritionist. I'm a writer, a life coach and a full time caregiver. But what makes me someone you can believe is that I proved the Cave Woman Diet works! It worked for me. It worked for my husband who is confined to a wheelchair. It's working for the five local people I know who are using it and I sincerely believe it will work for you. Besides, what have you got to lose? If nothing else has worked, give it a try. 6. Are you going to write a book? Yes, though I never thought I would. I'm in here everyday working my little fingers to the bone. But as fast as I'm working, the book won't be available for some time. Publishers only have one speed - slow. Therefore, if you need meal suggestions or recipes before the book is available, let me know and I will post them at this website.
Let the revolution begin! Thank you, Cody for sharing your Cavewoman Diet with the readers at Diet Bites!
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