Not Fasting.

Intermittent Fasting?is quickly emerging as the hottest dieting trend, next to Keto. Advocates for taking periodic breaks from eating — for up to 24 hours once or twice a week — tout it as an effective and research-backed means of losing weight and improving health. That message has been reaching more and more ears of late, and a quick search on Amazon shows why - there are over 10,000 books on Intermittent Fasting on Amazon alone.

So when someone suggested Intermittent Fasting to me, I agreed to try it for one day. As I got ready to fast, I found myself cramming food into a time block, and it was a lot more than I usually would eat. I hadn't even fasted, yet I found it already to be disruptive to my body because of the higher than normal food intake in such a short span as I got ready to fast. Needless to say, I won't be fasting.?

Intermittent Fasting is a fast track to disordered eating because it causes you to eat in a way that goes against your body's natural rhythm, and it is feeding eating disorders; Approximately 30Million Americans suffer from eating disorders with a devastatingly high relapse rate of 40% or more within two years. I also have serious concerns about what it does to someone's metabolism for the long haul. And based on growing statistics on obesity and how 95% of people gain the weight back after losing it within two years, my first impression of this destructive diet trend is accurate.?

The?value?of the total US Weight Loss market is estimated to be around $72.6 BILLION DOLLARS! The problem with my approach to health is there is not much money to be made from it.

I pride myself on fueling with a minimally processed diet and limited caffeine, as I carry a fairly tough training schedule for IRONMAN. My diet is quite simple; I eat born or grown food 95% of the time with favorite treats like dark chocolate and Picky Bars built into my daily diet as I don't subscribe to "cheat" days. I eat a balanced diet of fresh and frozen fruit, veggies, eggs, fish, chicken, and healthy fats like coconut oil and 100% REAL BUTTER. I do not count calories; instead, I focus on eating enough protein and fat and do my best to avoid wheat, soy, GMO corn (I do eat organic popcorn all the time), and dairy except for butter, corn syrup, refined sugar, and red meat (this is just a personal preference, nothing wrong with red meat at all).?

My results speak for themselves; I have lost and sustained nearly 40lbs now for four years, slashed my cholesterol by 40%, and all my markers, like blood pressure, etc., are fantastic. My V02Max places me in the top 1% of my age group with a fitness age of 20. And most important of all, I feel fantastic, and my endurance is through the roof. I seem to be burning fat just fine with my approach to my diet. And not one single person can say I have had it easy.

Reach out to me if you need a hand getting off these ridiculous diets that are setting up people needlessly for failure. Please note, that I am not offering "medical advice," just sharing my opinion and what has worked for me. Nor am I here to sell you an app, a book, or a diet.?