It's not just what you eat, but also how you eat
By John Freeman, PhD.
May 18 ,2006
The strictly-protein diet phase has just about come to a close and the grapefruit diet seems to be DOA, but just as one fad in dieting fades away, another is sure to take its place. The next fad that is gaining steam is the diet that emulates that of a Stone Age man/woman, or as commonly referred to as the Evolution Diet.
"People are starting to realize that we're not designed to eat just one macronutrient such as protein or carbohydrates and that we need some of all three [including fat] to be healthy." Joseph Morse, author of 'The Evolution Diet' said.
More importantly, Morse sees that people are finally viewing how they eat and when they eat certain foods to be just as important as what they eat. "Someone can maintain their caloric intake but lose weight if they just alter when they eat their normal foods."
This revolutionary way of looking at diet was developed by Morse in the last few years as a way to optimize one's health by, "eating the way we were designed." Some have called it eating like a caveman, but Morse rejects that idea. "Paleolithic peoples went weeks at a time without much nutrition and lacked healthy things in their diet like skim milk, soy, and whole-grain."
Cordain's 'Paleo Diet' and Audette's 'Neanderthin' have also gotten on the 'Natural Man' band wagon and have produced diets that try to match what we were designed to eat, but neither specifically describe how we should eat the way that Morse does.
Techniques that the Evolution Diet professes to work in keeping metabolism and energy up and losing weight include snacking on low-sugar, high-fiber foods (labeled LoS Hi-Fi foods) throughout the day and gorging on high-protein meals after exercise and before sleep.
Sleep is another benefit that the diet appears to help. "When someone maintains a relatively small stomach throughout the day, then expands it with protein, a lot of energy must go to that region of the body to help digestion. When you accompany that with the sleep-inducing attributes of amino acids like tryptophan (found in most protein-rich foods), what results is a great night's sleep." Morse said.
"This is part of what we call 'appropriating one's diet.' It involves eating certain foods at certain times or stages of the day to facilitate the surrounding activities. We've found this to be extremely helpful both in weight loss and overall health." Morse said.
If the traffic to the diet's official website Health Profile (found at evolution-diet.com) is any indication of the diet's popularity, it could be the next big thing in diets. For the sake of our collective health, let's hope that it's not a fad and sticks around.
