Emergent Fitness: Losing Fat: A Guide for the Lazy (Part I

As the title of this post suggests, I'm about to tell you the laziest way ever that one can lose lose fat.

This is not to say that what I'm going to propose is "easy" per se. Rather, it's simple and effortless in the sense that you won't have to count calories, and you won't have to do much more for exercise than perform some form of resistance training once per week and just get in a good 40-60 minute walk every day.

The Diet

What We Were Made For

I've mentioned previously the concept of food reward and how the satiety of the food we eat on a regular basis can negatively or positively effect the level of "body-fattedness" that our bodies try to defend. If you'll remember, I mentioned that protein, fiber, and water content were most associated with a high satiety index (SI) value, and that foods which contain ample amounts of such are shown to reduce hunger and in general promote lower calorie consumption.

It's speculated that natural foods, which are high in protein, fiber, and water, are what our bodies have been designed to handle. Before the advent of agriculture, and long before the industrialization of food production, we as a species lived off the land; eating whatever wild game, fish, or foul we could kill (protein), and scavenging for any sort of wild growing fruits, vegetables, and tubers (fiber & water) we could find.

Not only did living in such an environment promote much "healthier" levels of calorie consumption, but such living conditions also necessitated a higher level of activity (i.e. a lot of walking, some sprinting, and occasionally having to contend with a heavy object or two).

What Happened?

Contrast this environment with our modern one, and you can easily see that there is a great discrepancy between the sort of environment we were made to live in, and the environment which we have created for ourselves via agriculture and industrialization. Nowadays, for the most part, we make a living by exerting very little physical energy, and our food often comes in colorful packaging (filled with excessive sugar, fat, and artificial flavors to promote chronic consumption).

In our market economy, great care is taken to ensure that we gleefully and readily eat mass-produced foods such as chips, boxed cookies, sugary cereals, etc. These foods have, believe it or not, been specifically and meticulously designed by food researchers and scientists to be the most addicting/habit forming substances possible. As a result, when we expose ourselves to such foods, our homeostatic system (which was designed to live in a "hunter-gatherer"-esque environment) is overloaded. While we would otherwise only be motivated to seek out food to survive, in an environment rich in calories, tastes, and textures, we can't help but capitalize on the situation by eating to excess. After all, such foods would have been the "jack-pot" for our ancestors, and they would have happily taken advantage (oh would they have taken advantage!) of a stack of cookies and ice cream if they ever were to come upon such things in the wild.

It's not intrinsically your fault if you've found yourself on the verge of, or in the midst of, obesity. It's not you, it's the environment to which you've exposed yourself.

Now, I don't want us to overly demonize the industrial food market. Food producers are just looking to create a profit, and sure enough, they've found that we the costumers are willing and ready to divulge cash for cheap, tasty, and calorie rich foods. Supply and demand is the name of the came, and the conspiracy goes no further.

How We Can Reverse Things

I don't think I have to go to great lengths to describe what to do. We know what sorts of foods promote moderation, and we know what foods favor excess, so, if we want to get ourselves to a healthier and more natural level of body-fattedness, we need to avoid the foods (for the most part. I'm not saying you shouldn't enjoy a piece of pie ever again in your life) which promote excessive eating, and we need to instead eat natural whole foods.

If you were to eliminate all processed foods and replace them with ample amounts of fish, meats, raw & steamed vegetables, whole fruits, potatoes, sweet potatoes, plain rice, and properly prepared grains and legumes, you would be surprised at how easily the pounds would fly off.

Suggestions

In general, the more fat you need to lose, the more simple and bland you should make your diet. By reducing you daily food options to only the bare essentials (protein, fiber, and water) your body's homeostatic systems should respond by defending a lower body-fattedness quite readily. Moreover, because you won't be fighting your body, but rather working with it, the process will be fairly painless and effortless. That's not to say that avoiding packaged and sugary foods won't be challenging, but at least you won't go hungry. You may suffer withdrawals, but nothing more.

I should also add that, while things like plain potatoes are actually quite filling (more than meats!), carrying around excess fat is associated with chronic inflammation and insulin resistance. As a result, your body's ability to properly handle carbohydrates is somewhat impaired. Thus, I recommend, at least early on, that you avoid eating large quantities of carbs in general. Instead, stick to green and fibrous vegetables and limited quantities of berries as a fruit source (apples and citrus fruits are an exception since they are some of the more satiating fruits, not to mention excellent sources of vitamins and minerals). You don't need to count carbs, just limit your carb options to mostly vegetables and some fruit to make it harder to consume higher quantities.

Dietary fat is also something important which must needs addressing. You need fat in order to ensure healthy hormonal regulation and, in lieu of carbs, fat is an excellent source of long term energy. Use fat sources like olive oil, coconut oil, butter, and ghee for cooking and using on salads. I recommend you avoid things like nuts (especially salted and roasted varieties), nut butters, and cheese in the beginning stages. I've personally found that I have a hard time putting these foods down once I start to eat them, thus, at least for myself, they promote excess. While I believe such foods can be healthy additions do one's diet, hold off on them for a while until you start getting close to or reach your goal weight.

Eat plenty of protein. Protein is the most satiating macro-nutrient of all, and higher levels of protein consumption have been associated with better retention of lean body mass while one loses fat. Include plenty of protein at every meal. Wild caught fish and grass fed meats are the best sources as they are less inflammatory than conventionally fed and farm raised varieties. You are what you eat so to speak, and if you eat an unhealthy, obese animal, you might just find yourself suffering for it in terms of chronic inflammation and joint pain. These issues arise in part because conventionally fed animals, which consume a diet high in grains rather than grass (the thing they're supposed to eat) and suffer obesity, have imbalanced ratios of omega 6 to omega 3 fatty acids (greater levels of omega 6 to omega 3 are associated with inflammation). As a result, when we eat these inflamed animals, we are taking in this same pro-inflammatory balance of fatty acids. With that said, grass fed meats and wild caught fish can be on the expensive side of things, and in some situations they can be hard to come by. If you must buy conventional meats for the sake of convenience, get leaner cuts so as to avoid over consuming excessive amounts of omega 6.