Eating Like A Hunter

Imagine a world we actually had to work for your food. No, I'm not talking about sitting at your desk for 8 hours a day expecting to get paid on the 1st and 15th of every month. All you're doing is working for money. Which isn't a bad thing by any means. We live in a world where, for the most part, we have to subject ourselves to such repetition and monotony. Now I understand there are plenty of jobs that are more physically demanding than others, but we all know that technology is rapidly making manual labor easier. I'm basically talking about the idea of going out killing an animal, picking your own fruits and vegetables, and having a feast.

Of course i'm not expecting you to go out and hunt for food. Not everyone has this luxury. Some of us live in major cities where it's near impossible for us even find a patch of nature that hasn't been paved with a parking lot. For those of us who haven't had the opportunity to hunt and kill wild game, there's still hope for us.

Here's a guy who has no choice but to kill his food!

And here's a picture of an expert hunter...Just cuz he's awesome.

City folk can still emulate how a true, apex predator would live. From now on, as much as possible, have this mentality: If I don't work out, I don't eat. This is the best and closest way to truly emulate how a true hunter and predator lives. Best of all it's very healthy and totally applicable in our world. I'll explain why...

We live in a land of overabundance. It doesn't take much effort to find food so starving is unlikely to ever happen. What you'll eventually get used to is the concept of an intermittent fast. What is an intermittent fast? Simply, it's not eating (no caloric intake) for a period of time. For some of us this means that we'll have to skip breakfast or go an entire day (24 hours) without eating. There are many health and performance advantages to fasting and this guy, this guy, and this guy can explain it better. Humans were create to survive and thrive. Whether you believe in God and creation or the evolutionary theories you will find that humans have been fasting for thousands of years. Whether it was for religious reasons or seasons where food was difficult to come by. God or the Big Bang - sorry I can't say that without laughing - created us to not only survive from, but also benefit, from fasting for extended periods of time.

Back to eating...Hunters hunted out of necessity. Humans have a natural taste for meat and fat. Protein and fat are one of the most dense and nutritious food sources on the planet and frankly humans would die out if So we've been bestowed in large brains and strong bodies to track and kill prey. Working out, or training rather, is the closest thing urban humans can do so that's why I do it.

Skipping breakfast is easy, in fact because you'll be skipping breakfast you'll probably get much more needed sleep and you'll most likely have the time to be more productive. You'll be surprised how much crap you can get done when you're not worrying about what you'll be eating.  Even if you don't have a 15 minute break, you'll most likely get at least an hour lunch. This gives you 20-30 minutes to exercise and the rest of the time to destroy food.  In America we live in an environment where food simply just happens, don't worry about it.

"The time it takes me to go buy my lunch means I don't have time to do a short workout."

I'll address this simply. A real man either prepares his own food beforehand, has a mate to do it for him, or has made arrangements that will accomodate for it. Anything else is just a weak excuse. You can even look at it this way - not all hunts ended in success. There's nothing wrong with skipping meals even after working out. I'm not saying I recommend it, but hey life happens and it doesn't mean your muscles are going to waste away. The guys i've mentioned above have proven that muscle-wasting won't occur just because you didn't eat within a 45-minute window. There are lot of other things that cause muscle wasting that you're probably doing too much of anyway. But that deserves its own blog...

Let me first say that I am in no way saying that my training methods and/or diet are the end all, be all diet prescription. But I do believe that it can be a good starting point for most people who have tried everything else as I feel I have. Everyone has different goals when it comes to their training.