"Unless that apple tastes like the best apple you've ever tasted in your life, unless that treat or slight deviation in your diet tastes like a dish prepared by a professional chef ? you ain't doing it right?unless you are always on the brink of hunger ? hunger so deep and intense that eating a single piece of fruit or having a bagel with a hint of jelly is a transcendental taste experience, than you need to redouble your diet effort. There comes a point in deep dieting where the slightest stray from your day to day eating routine results in what I'd call, amplified taste."
This statement was made by a well known professional bodybuilder I interviewed in 1982 just prior to a major competition; he carried a 4% body fat percentile weighing 232 pounds with 19-inch arms and a 31-inch waist.
"I would love just one sip of that beer?but of course that is ridiculous; I cannot have even one sip of that beer ? not that it wouldn't be incredible?that sip would taste so incredible? As soon as this competition is over in three days I can have all the sips of beer I want - and I shall!"
This man won the Mr. Olympia competition within a week. Denial and discipline are dietary keys but an overlooked aspect is acquiring "amplified taste phenomena."
"When Douglas MacArthur liberated General Wainwright's survivors of the Bataan death march in 1945, they treated the emaciated survivor's to a banquet consisting of the first real food these men had eaten after four years of brutalization and starvation. A major literally fainted away and fell to the floor in a fit of taste euphoria after he took a single sip of cold, whole milk." --William Manchester, American Caesar
Hunger and heightened taste are inexorably linked. You can improve your quest to effect a total physical transformation by purposefully getting in touch with hunger. Okay, so maybe you don't have to take it to the extremes used by those competing in professional bodybuilding competitions or perhaps you need not develop the taste deprivation sense of a concentration camp survivor, but getting in touch with hunger could be the missing piece of the dietary puzzle. Hunger and taste amplification could bust you through to the next level. Progress need be visible, tangible and statistically verifiable. A sensible fitness program has twin goals: add muscle, strip away body fat.
Like a sculptor paring marble into a sleek and defined finished product, we lift weights to build muscle and we diet and engage in cardio to melt off unhealthy and unsightly body fat. The culmination of all our training and diet effort is a muscular, fat-free physique. When proper exercise and precision eating are combined in a balanced way they create a physical synergy wherein the sum of the individual parts exceeds realistic results. When synergy is achieved (a direct result of a precise balance between progressive resistance training, cardiovascular training and precision eating) rapid physical transformation happens incredibly quickly. To trigger true transformation, not imagined or infinitesimal, nutrition and exercise must weave together in a delicate ballet.
Intense effort must be offset with nutrient-based regeneration: proper nutrients need be consumed in proper amounts at the proper time. Carefully consider the relationship between taste and hunger and if you scratch below the surface you will see that hunger can be used to manipulate powerful primordial urges. Can you use hunger in such a way that primitive hardwiring can be used to advantage instead of as a detrimental binge trigger? Yes but this is a high-wire act without a net. Getting in touch with hunger can be both smart and productive; hunger amplifies the sense of taste and hunger makes us appreciate what we get when we get it. Hunger is multi-leveled and multidimensional.
One trick of the bodybuilding trade is to purposefully induce intense hunger in order to achieve an amplified sense of taste. By carefully preserving this heightened taste sensibility we eat less and appreciate it more. A binge becomes eating an entire apple instead of an entire half gallon of ice cream. Once true hunger is achieved, we reintroduce foods into back our diet?slowly, carefully?savoring them and appreciating them ? never overwhelming the taste buds and never exceeding our reduced capacity. In doing so, we prolong the amplified taste sensation.
Take three days and gradually, imperceptibly, eliminate solid food. At the end of 72-hours fruit juice and protein shakes are all that is consumed. Adhere to this for another 24 to 72 hours. After the fast period, reintroduce foods one at a time. At this juncture, the taste buds are so alert, tactile sensibility so dramatically elevated that food never tasted better. By not going hog-wild, by reintroducing foods in a controlled fashion, we purposefully preserve hunger. By coming in low and light and precise in our portion size, quantity and quality, we maintain the precious amplified taste sensation.
By purposefully preserving hunger we also ensure rapid and complete nutrient assimilation and improve food utilization. Go on a fast to acquire a deep and intense sense of hunger and don't go crazy coming off the fast. Reintroduce foods and once the food is reintroduced, reintroduce exercise ? gradually and slowly. Put it all together and you force the human body to oxidize stored body fat in order to fuel caloric shortfall.
Once this physiological phenomenon of taste depravation takes hold, it will continue until the individual does something to derail this marvelous heightened state. Professional bodybuilders purposefully put themselves into this amazing metabolic state and stay there for weeks on end, resulting, ultimately, in a body that is virtually fat-free while still retaining 90% of hard-earned gym muscle. Let's expropriate these tactics for our own purposes.
ACCESSING THE HUNGER ZONE
When you decide to come off the juice and protein shake fast, add back, in order:
Coming off the liquid fast, regardless the length of time you are able to maintain it, be it 24-48-72 or more hours, the first foods you taste will have a taste intensity that need be savored and preserved. That first piece of fruit you taste coming off the liquid fast will rival the descriptive ecstasy our IFBB pro bodybuilder used when recounting eating his apple. Depravation heightens taste sensitivity and as long as you don't overwhelm this amplified sense of taste, as long as you avoid eating too much or too often, you can maintain the taste ultra-sensitivity and thereby 'stay hungry.' Hunger as we use the term, denotes the proper combination of calories and activity and results in an elevated metabolism.
For all intents and purposes think of the metabolism as the body's thermostat. By turning up the thermostat we increase the number of calories burned while at rest. An accelerated metabolism allows us to eat often and eat a relatively high number of calories. The trick is not allowing ourselves to go berserk and begin recklessly consuming an excessive amount of calories derived from impure sources ? saturated fat, sugar or alcohol. The body's delicate metabolic gyroscope will be knocked off its pivot point and the accelerated metabolism becomes sluggish and inefficient unless great care is taken.
Get in touch with hunger on a periodic basis ? we all need to have sludge eliminated and the primordial sense of amplified taste reestablished. So take a tip from the pros and get hungry in a systematic fashion every once in a while.
Marty Gallagher is a former strength and fitness columnist for washingtonpost.com. He is also a former national and world champion powerlifter. Marty has written for world-renowned publications, including Powerlifting USA, Muscle & Fitness, and Muscle Media. His website, http://www.martygallagher.com, assimilates years of accumulated knowledge from the athletic elite and makes them accessible to the average person. The "Purposeful Primitive" way is deceptively simple, yet profoundly effective in the pursuit of fat loss, building muscle, increasing strength, and improving health. Read about http://www.martygallagher.com in Marty's daily blogs.
cheap limo service Lombard .. Lockport Chicago limo O’HareHere are some everyday, helpful hints to get you started,... Read More
Well, look at you go! You keep moving closer and... Read More
There are numerous ways to make a bad weight loss... Read More
It is common for new WLS patients to ask, "How... Read More
The right diet pill should be carefully considered when deciding... Read More
Which diet is the best? ALL of them and NONE... Read More
When it comes to the matter of weight loss, peoples... Read More
Low Carb, Low Fat, More protein, Eat all the fat... Read More
I was thinking about diets and such and it occurred... Read More
Would you run out of fingers, and maybe even toes,... Read More
WHAT DOES BEING FIT REALLY MEAN?The "INSIDE-OUT" approach to fitness... Read More
Search Yahoo for "papaya" and "kirstie" and you'll find at... Read More
I personal lost 60 pounds in 2003. Here are some... Read More
Liposuction works best with people who are a normal weight... Read More
Lets face it, most of us live pretty busy lives... Read More
"Life is like a box of chocolates," drawled Forrest Gump.Metaphors... Read More
If I Want to Lose Weight, What Can I Do... Read More
Gastric bypass patients often find themselves regaining weight soon after... Read More
One of the most popular diets is the low carb... Read More
With tons of information out there on "Fat Acceptance" does... Read More
The Review Diaries She Unlimited MagazineThere are masses of carbohydrate... Read More
Everyone who has ever tried to lose weight has hit... Read More
Weight Loss Their Greatest Opponent --------------------------------- Before high school and... Read More
Are you often overcome with an urge to splurge on... Read More
Today I stopped by my favorite coffee shop in Berkeley,... Read More
limo O'Hare Glen Ellyn ..We all have aspects of health we want to improve.... Read More
Diet advice ? a million "experts", hundreds of snake-oil miracle... Read More
Any dietary plan on the market has some portion of... Read More
Let's take a look at how your attitudes and perceptions... Read More
Diet is a dreadful word for most of us because... Read More
These days more and more people are getting intellectual instead... Read More
Q: I've heard you mention that you don't need tons... Read More
Reading labels is an essential part of any weight loss... Read More
Today obesity, diabetes, and heart disease run through us at... Read More
The problem isn't that you don't have enough will power... Read More
For some of us, food is warmth and love. We... Read More
I am embarrassed to admit how many different commercial weight... Read More
I asked my sister to come to my gym with... Read More
Phentermine, like many other prescription drugs, works with chemicals called... Read More
When we gain more weight than is good for us,... Read More
Diet Fads-Forget about 'EmAnother fad "best diet" bites the dust.... Read More
The holidays are definitely a special time of year. These... Read More
Many people today are interested in weight loss and weight... Read More
Serious diet pills are intended for people who are overweight... Read More
Unfortunately, obesity is reaching epidemic proportions, with over 60% of... Read More
Chant the following each day, several times. They are mantras... Read More
Good health is all too easily taken for granted until... Read More
I gotta confess: I'm completely addicted to crisps. Any kind... Read More
Hold the onions! Let's talk "liver". No, not beef liver,... Read More
Am I missing something here? If I am, someone please... Read More
Weight Loss |