Starting The Warrior Diet

I was hoping to do a snowshoe race today, but my left hamstring has been bothering me all week. I went to do an indoor track workout on Tuesday night and I couldn't run beyond 200 yards without it tightening up. I was busy with school work (report cards) and other things so I haven't worked on the hamstrings like I should. I decided it was safer not to race and probably won't run the Freeze Your Buns 5K tomorrow. I did start something exciting today and it was sort of like a competition.

I had been reading about The Warrior Diet online. Last night I bought the book. It was written by Ori Hofmekler. This morning on a lark I decided to make a drastic shift in the way I look at food and meals. I wasn't sure what would happen and I wasn't fully committed to doing the diet, but I gave it a shot and it made for a very interesting day.

I know I need tons of work on my eating and haven't found a way to get off the foods I like to eat that are not good for me. The past year I have felt the effects of food on my body as well as the cravings and habits that keep me eating the same way. I love sweets, chocolate, and ice cream. I have been eating less of these things the past few years but as I eat less I still am not eating well. I generally find myself eating and craving food throughout the day and then I never feel good after eating it. I do miss the days when I could eat whatever I wanted to eat, but those days are long gone and I need a better and easier nutrition plan that fuels my body and muscles and doesn't just keep me full throughout the day.

So I started The Warrior Diet. Basically you undereat most of the day and then at night you overeat. There is a lot of reasoning behind this strategy, but basically you are eating less during the day to stay alert and active and then at night you sit back and enjoy your food. It is supposed to change the way your body deals with food and help you get stronger, leaner, and more alert. You also are to eat low on the food chain. So you eat fruit, vegetables, and nuts during the day and eat healthy food at night.

I started the day with a full glass of water, something I have been doing for a month now. I have found I like the taste of water in the morning. I didn't eat anything for a few hours and then I ate an orange. I lost the craving for my normal bowl of cereal and felt fine all morning. By the time lunch time had passed I was still feeling pretty good. I had another orange and a few cashews. I was feeling better than normal for this point of the day. I liked how I felt and decided to commit a bit more. I went to Trader Joe's and got some supplies. I had a small amount of cashews and a couple of strawberries and did some light kettlebell work. At dinner I had a salad with some whole pea pods and some seedling things I had bought earlier. Sarah had made a nice steak and broccoli meal from the Precision Nutrition book. I noticed it smelled and tasted better and I was enjoying the eating. I finished with some rice. For desert we heated frozen blueberries and a bit of honey on the stove and then put it over plain yogurt. It was very good. I enjoyed my food more than normal and feel great. I have enjoyed the day of controlled fasting and eating immensely.

What you have to realize is that I ate no cookies, ice cream, diet soda, or other bad things that I usually eat daily. Who knows if the plan will work for me or not. If not I learned and tried some things I never did before. I have never had just a piece of fruit for breakfast in my life. I love cereal too much. It worked though. I ate more oranges in one day then I ever have. I had three. I ate uncooked broccoli for the first time. I had plain yogurt (I did put stuff on it) for the first time. I felt great all day and had feeling (sort of edgy) in my belly but I never really had hunger pangs. I am going to keep at it. Sarah was so interested in what I was doing she says she will start doing the same thing tomorrow. I don't know how it will fit with running once I get back heavy into it. Hopefully when I figure out what to eat before a workout I will be fine.

All in all it was a very fun day today. I am making such a huge paradigm shift in the way I eat that I am curious and hopeful that I will see good results. It seems simple enough for me. I would love to lose those cravings throughout the day and learn to eat healthier foods throughout the day.