Years ago a friend of mine found himself in a terrible predicament. Rob is 6’3” tall, and has what would be considered slim frame. He is one of those tall slim guys people often say have a “hollow leg” because of the huge amounts of food they can eat while never getting fat. Anyway, in high school this guy had the diet of a compost pit. He would eat anything, and in the most unusual combinations. I remember sitting in the lunch room and watching this guy eat French fries with gravy, chocolate pudding, then a sandwich, then yogurt and a giant cookie, washing it all down with a Coke and then a glass of milk. He would consume huge volumes of the most unusual combinations of processed foods all of the time.
A few years after high school my friend got some terrible news. He was formally diagnosed with a condition called Colitis. Without going into detail this condition results in lesions or open sores on the inside of one’s lower intestinal tract. When the condition is at its worst it creates a perpetual condition of the worst form of irritable bowel syndrome imaginable. Currently, there is no cure for this disease. Poor Rob went to doctor after doctor to deal with this condition for years. The best that the medical establishment could come up was a prescribed diet of very digestible foods. He was told to eat simple sugars, breads, baked goods, and other low fiber foods; foods that would supposedly agitate his digestive system the least.
The problem with Rob’s suggested diet is that these foods were high in saturated fats and sugars and were most often very processed. Into his late twenties he really began to put on weight. At the height of his confusion Rob weighed in at 250 pounds. On his slim frame this looked terrible. He just did not carry excess pounds well at all. Still miserable with the outbreaks of his colitis and even more miserable now that he had put on so much weight, he began to further investigate treatments for his condition. Rob read books and did his own research on alternative treatments for this disease. He came across dieticians and doctors with new thinking on how to live with the colitis.
In his search he came across a high fiber diet recommended for colon health. This diet was full of fruits and vegetables and shunned many of the processed grains he had been eating. He tried this new diet and began to have some clear success with weight loss, he also felt much better. Further research brought him to other experts who suggested a diet with no dairy or grains whatsoever. Rob finally arrived at what he described as the “Cave Man” or Paleolithic era diet. Like me, he didn’t always follow this diet in its strict form.
Rob went from 250 pounds to 190 pounds in a little over 6 months. Here’s the best part – for him it was virtually effortless. He ate as much as he wanted and felt stronger and healthier. The digestive condition improved dramatically and for long periods simply disappeared. He experienced a direct correlation between minor dalliances from this diet and the symptoms erupting again. Like most people who discover our original diet, he found that during those periods that he was eating Paleolithic foods (naturally raised meats, fruits, vegetables and some nuts and seeds) almost exclusively his pure fat loss was even more dramatic and pronounced. So much so, that when he reached 190 pounds he loosened it up considerably so he would not end up too slim for his height.
He has hovered around 200 pounds since then. He often refers to this diet as the “fat control dial”. Meaning he can absolutely and effortlessly control his body fat in the same way he can turn the volume up or down on his stereo. If he eats a little too much of his mother’s Italian home cooking one week, he simply tightens up the diet for the next few days and effortlessly stays at the weight he wishes. He described one of his favorite lunches as 5 hardboiled organic eggs, a can or two of white albacore tuna with some all natural spices and dressing, 2 crisp apples, and some maple encrusted almonds or walnuts for dessert (yup, the guy can eat). All of this and he doesn’t even exercise.
If you’re looking for a diet plan and exercise program based on both science and the natural diet our ancestors followed for centuries we invite you to check out the eco-diet at http://www.eco-diet.com