Ori Hofmekler Blog

Generally speaking, scientists and science have shown clearly that when you undereat, the brain exercises exactly like a muscle exercises. Brain-derived growth factors are triggered and new brain cells are produced by stem cells. Tissue recycling - a controversial issue - occurs. Nonetheless, scientific thinking is dogmatic. They postulate:

"If this is the Prediction then let us start isolating diet elements. Let us isolate the calorie intake alone. Let us then analyze the exercise element alone. Then let us combine the overall diet element and the overall calorie intake element. After that, let us examine the exercise elements and see how the two - exercise and diet - interact."

I contend that these sub-elements cannot and should not be separated. For example, a person adhering to the principle of intermittent fasting, as outlined in the Warrior Diet, should under-eat during the day followed by night eating. After a period of time they will find that appetite and food consumption, their choice of foods, even their taste preferences, will change. This usually manifests within five to six weeks. If you follow this eating cycle for a protracted period, you will eat differently and crave different foods. You will naturally develop a taste for foods at the bottom of the food chain. Your appetite and preferences will morph and become different. You literally will undergo a transformation in habits and tastes.

According to Dr. Mark Mattson, a leading researcher on intermittent fasting, participants who follow a one meal per day cycle have shown a natural tendency to reach a full sense of satiety on a lower calorie intake than the fixed calorie intake requirements imposed in studies. This skews results: instead of letting the participants follow their natural instinct, to eat less and feel full faster rather than observe how a one-meal-per-day approach naturally morphs caloric intake downward, participants are force-fed. They had to keep eating, against their will, to comply with the study's fixed calorie intake terms and precepts. With all due respect, it will take years before researchers realize how things really work in real life. There are so many variable and complexities, various elements are intertwined. There is the feeding cycle element, the food/fuel element, the calorie intake element, the exercise element - there are changes in food availability, and don't forget the gender element! It will take scientists, using classical analysis, forever to analyze and dissect these findings. Perhaps in the distant future science will come to the conclusions what we already know to be true! We already have so much empirical evidence, so much real life experiences (just check out our online Forum), that one can only hope that science will eventually catch up.