Diet Advice: Eat a Repetitive Menu
I read the book “The Four Hour Body” back when it came out in 2010. I had a lot of luck with Tim Ferriss’ SLOW CARB diet and it helped me lose a bunch of body fat at the time.
Book: https://amzn.to/32gEkom
But it’s not that diet that I’ve been thinking about. It’s the ‘rules’ he compiled for weight loss.
They Are:
1)Avoid white carbohydrates (bread, potatoes, sugar, etc)
2)Eat the same meal over and over.
3)Don’t drink your calories
4)Don’t eat fruit
5)Take one day off (of the diet) per week. (encourages carb cycling)
As I’ve played around with diets and enjoyed modifying my diet for various goals over the years, I’ve come to appreciate the importance of Rule 2. Whether it’s Carnivore, the Slow Carb diet, or what I’m currently doing (Stan Efferding’s Vertical Diet), I think having a limited menu is crucial for compliance.
Here’s what repetitive menus allow:
- Meal prep for many days at a time, which saves time and money. If breakfast is a few hard boiled eggs and some dates, that’s easy.
- Frees up your limited reserve of will power because you already know what you’re having for lunch. Those impromptu drive-thru trips are off the plan, and you already have your food prepared anyway.
- Unburdens your of having to constantly try to come up with a menu for yourself. My family is coming around to the idea of repetitive menus and it makes my job of cooking easier. If I know I have my batch of veggie/rice, and grilled burger patties and eggs, I know that I’ve got a good meal ready to go. I know we’re doing salmon on Wednesday so I just make sure I have the stuff I need to bake it. It’s way easier.
- It allows easier macro tracking. I know that if I eat 2 burger patties and 1.5 cups of rice/veggie mash with some bone broth, it’s the perfect meal size and is repeatable without having to think. Once again, this frees up precious mental energy for other tasks.
So whatever ‘diet’ you’re working with, if you find yourself having trouble, pare down your menu to one to two breakfast, lunch, and dinner options, and prep a bunch of them in advance. You’ll likely find that your compliance immediately improves.
As for the other rules, I still incidentally comply to them but have found where I need to alter them for performance and need.
some more info: https://gizmodo.com/4-hour-body-the-slow-carb-diet-5709913