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Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler

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The Warrior Diet: Switch on Your Biological Powerhouse For High Energy, Explosive Strength, and a Leaner, Harder Body
By Ori Hofmekler
Blue Snake Books, 2nd ed., 2007
Reviewed by Selina Rifkin

Let’s be clear, the purpose of The Warrior Diet is not to lose weight. This way of eating is largely directed at people who are already very active, and is about their feeling great and having their edges honed sharp. That being said, the overweight person who chooses this diet would probably lose some of the extra pounds. But it’s not easy. Hofmekler was a member of the Israeli Special Forces and still works out hard every day. His methods are demanding even by the standards of experienced trainers and weight lifters, and he goes for the long, lean, functional body, rather than bulk. His exercise routine is detailed in the book, but is not required for the diet.

The diet itself revolves around the idea that our ancestors did not eat three square meals a day. Hofmekler gives detailed accounts of what and when the Romans and Greeks ate, and their attitudes about food. He points out that hunter-gatherers would have feasted on meat when available, and that many generations of humans have experienced cycles of abundance and scarcity as far as food is concerned. The warrior diet makes deliberate use of this pattern to stimulate the body to heal and rejuvenate. The pattern of eating is as important as the food choices.

The eating cycle Hofmekler advocates seems at first to be in opposition to common dietary advice: One eats very lightly during the day and heavily at night. The day-time regimen can be a pure fast of water only, but Hofmekler himself considers this to be extreme. One eats lightly enough to still experience hunger, however; and unless one is an extreme athlete, carbohydrates are not allowed. During the fasting period, one is urged to consume vegetable juices either from a juicer or blender and light proteins, such as yogurt, kefir or whole eggs. Live foods are emphasized for their enzymes, but Hofmekler never mentions the enzyme inhibitors found in some raw foods. Coffee is fine, as is lots of water. While he calls this fasting, one could also view it as a series of small meals, which is often recommended for weight-loss.

The evening feast has specific rules:

  1. Start with subtle-tasting foods and move to stronger flavors.
  2. Include a wide variety of tastes, colors and textures in your meal.
  3. Stop when you feel satiated or when you feel more thirsty than hungry.

Hofmekler’s diet choices are generally WAPF-friendly, but with some glaring exceptions. His “avoid” list includes refined flour and sugar, margarine and hydrogenated oils, soy powders, commercial whey powders, too much polyunsaturated oil, and synthetic supplements, but includes exaggerated concerns about mercury in fish oils. He loves juicing, but is clear that some vegetables need cooking—particularly the cruciferous ones. He believes that meat should also be cooked for better assimilation. Except for salads, all evening vegetables should be cooked.

Hofmekler highly recommends fermented foods of all kinds for their enzyme benefit, and is also fond of bone broth. He has nothing nice to say about pasteurized dairy and cites raw milk as beneficial. He has no objection to salt, but says that sea salt is vastly better. However, Hofmekler also recommends raw nuts and seeds and loves to eat unsweetened dry cereal at the end of the meal. And while he gives a qualified plug for saturated fats and approves of butter and cocoa butter, all the recipes at the end of the book are low-fat, calling for lean cuts of meat, skinless chicken breast, non-fat cheeses and non-fat dry milk powder.

Hofmekler says his diet will work without the workout, but it is unclear how his method of eating is terribly different from calorie restriction, or simply eating more healthy, nutrient-dense food. While his method could benefit an overweight, but otherwise healthy person, it could mean trouble for someone with unstable blood sugar, or a family history of diabetes. He correctly states that during fasting, insulin levels go down and growth hormone is released. But he incorrectly states that insulin resistance is reduced during fasting, when in fact, numerous studies show that fasting increases insulin resistance.

Overall, the diet is interesting, but seems of limited value to anyone who actually wants to lose weight. Furthermore, for those of us not in the business of waging war, but, say, raising children, it is a distinct advantage to nourish ourselves and our families with three or even four satisfying meals during the day. Being slightly hungry all day is a good way to stay lean, mean and aggressive. . . and anti-social. For those who are healthy and looking for an edge, this diet could be modified to include high quality saturated fats and soaked seeds, while omitting raw egg whites, but for the rest of us, it gets a thumbs down.

 

This article appeared in Wise Traditions in Food, Farming and the Healing Arts, the quarterly journal of the Weston A. Price Foundation, Winter 2008.

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About Selina Rifkin

Selina Rifkin is a Certified Holistic Health Counselor and Licensed Massage Therapist. She lives in CT with her husband, step-daughter and two cats.

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Comments

  1. Jason says

    summation?
    The majority of this “review” is a straight summary. After 5 paragraphs validating sound advice presented in this book, the last 2 paragraphs contain predominantly subjective opinions that view the book only as a fad diet approach or weight loss scheme. Then the reviewer states the potential danger in regards to blood sugar and diabetes relative to controlled fasting. The reviewer states: “… incorrectly states that insulin resistance is reduced during fasting, when in fact, numerous studies show that fasting increases insulin resistance.” The reviewer uses the unnamed studies as evidence to support this quoted claim. Indeed many studies exist to support the thought that fasting increases insulin sensitivity or reducing resistance.
    -http://inhumanexperiment.blogspot.com/2009/01/intermittent-fasting-improves-insulin.html
    -http://jap.physiology.org/cgi/content/full/99/6/2128
    I propose that this uninformative and highly subjective review be removed, or another reviewer be given an opportunity to formulate an opinion and construct a new and objective informative review; thumbs down, or up.

    Reply

    • brother's keeper says

      Jason, the reason I think you are right, just intuitively, is that sleep improves insulin sensitivity. Lack of sleep is a path to diabetes. Fasting is a type of rest.

      Reply

      • brother's keeper says

        I’d like to request that the reviewer post the links of some of these ‘numerous’ studies. Please.

        It doesn’t make sense that the good effects he lists in the first part of the sentence, which are very good, would occur, and then the insulin sensitivity not be effected. How one comes off a fast is super important, so it would be good to look at these studies carefully.

        My dad’s doctor told my dad that supplemental vitamin E increased strokes. Well, when I found the study he was referring to, I knew why. It was not natural vitamin E, but synthetic.

        Reply

  2. john coughlan says

    The Warrior Diet by Ori Hofmekler
    The problem with this Diet is the diet itself.
    although Mr Hofmekler is good at reading materials has he done any clinical trials?NO,has he even bothered? NO.As an ex soldier myself I already knew that calorie restriction throughout the day is good but only because I don’t have to eat K rations!.In the army you eat when your told too! eating,breakfast,lunch and dinner of high calorie and HIGH FAT FOOD. However we burn it off!(have you seen fat soldiers?)(or for that matter body-builder soldiers NO because they are useless.we urn calories through natural exercise.Climbing,running and some weights(but not body-building)in fact body-builders always failed the basic fitness test,they are a joke.
    If we did not eat breakfast we would faint!.Now if you look at SAS personal etc,yes they are lean,why?
    I tell you, because obviously they starve themselves for the main purpose that they can survive on low rations,they need to,as they are in the field hidden with hardly any support and no supply’s handy.But do they keep this up?hell no way!,when those guys are back on base they stuff their faces,with good food,not cookies!as soon as possible.
    So if you eat,eat low on the food chain(I agree with him there)but eat regular meals of good solid food AND BUY A DOG!!! 😀
    jOHN 45 YEARS OLD and still lean and mean.

    Reply

  3. Dom says

    It does work
    I stumbled onto this concept from a Good Friday fast and found that I was quite alert all day as Hofmekler states. I remember reding about Hofmekler’s concepts some time ago. I tried the Warrior eating method to drop weight for soccer and it worked like a charm. I dropped ten pounds easily and I was training with weights 3 times a week with running only at the game. (I was too sore in the legs after games to do any running during the week!) I became quite lean which is needed for speed on the field. As a trainer, I used the method on a dozen clients with fantastic results. It seems that the body learns a new set-point and gaining the weight back is very, very difficult. The women I placed on the diet lost in the range of 12-16 pounds. After they went off it, they still kept a good 10-12 pounds off and kept it off. I experienced the same thing. One of the Zerox reps that comes by the office swears by this method and he’s trim and fit at 46. He’s been using the method for 12 years or so. The 2-3 evening meals are truly a celebration and it’s a pleasure to eat as much as you want. It goes against all nutrition principles but it does produce results. Of course, I used the Westin Price principles in my meal preperation and still do. I can’t speak highly enough of this method, especially for busy people that have difficulty trying to make time to eat. I would not recommend this for collegiate or professional athletes such as football or volleyball nor for strength athletes but everyone else should give it a try.

    Reply

    • SRG says

      Questio.n: I’m a personal trainer as well and have been educated a bit on this diet plan from my husband who is a trainer and bodybuilder himself. When you had your clients on this diet, did you or they do two a day workouts at all? If and when they did, which session got the post recovery meal? I train at 10am and again usually at 6pm,but my heavy lifting is done at the 10am session. Thanks

      Reply

  4. Jamaal says

    CFT, SPN
    I currently follow the Warrior Diet with a few modifications. Overall, I find that the eating regimen provides many, if not all of the benefits Hofmekler touts in his controversial work. I will admit, however, that my initial attempt, that is the first time I tried this method of eating, I suffered persistent hunger pangs and eventually bailed out with no quibbles. What brought me back to the program was my constant (and still extant) frustration with the chaotic and contradictory field of nutrition. I decided to fully engage myself in this so-called “primitive” way of eating and I must say I haven’t a single complaint. Hofmekler’s “philosophy” is certainly not “mainstream,” an element I’m sure many Weston A. Price’rs can appreciate (not to suggest that going countercultural automatically makes one correct).

    Reply

  5. carlos kessler says

    ALL PRAISE
    i was doing a kind of “freestlye” warrior diet myself for the last 2 years – just because i felt much better by eating less and just specific things during the day and the bigger meal at the end of the day. but this was more based on a “feeling” not so much on a scientific approach. earlier this year i found the page (and read the books) of jürgen reis (an austrian professional climber and freak 😉 who follows this diet. after reading all his books and hearing all his podcasts i switched totally to the warrior lifestyle – in fact, it is much more a lifestyle than a diet… and what can i tell. it woirks like HELL. you feel just GRRRRRRRRRRRRREAT. really.

    5 weeks ago i just came back from a 4 month trip from southamerica where i lost 7 kilos (we were backpacking all the time) but during the last 4 weeks of this trip i stood with my family in lima (peru) and again gained a “lot” of fat – thanks to my peruvian family and their style of “cocina criolla” which includes countless meals, lots of carbs, lot of meat and basically no vegetables or salads… its like fueling yourself for and endless hardcore work (which of course never takes place ;-)…

    well, back again in berlin (germany), the town i live (i’m half german, half peruvian) i instantly began with the warriorstyle… and like i mentioned before. i just had to wait 2 -> T-W-O weeks (!!) before i saw the first incredible results in the mirror. i really couldn’t believe that, but it fortunately is like it is 🙂 and of course i’m just in the beginning… i’m doing a lots of sport and loving the lifestyle! i can only say “all praise to this form of living” (not dieting)!

    (and just to make this clear: i’m not paid 😉 and i love eating meat, organic of course and fish and all that yummi things… at the end of the day). and: if you combine this with an exercise you will even get a greater result.

    to all: give this style of living a try if you really want to see substantial change in your everyday-allday!

    greets from berlin, germany!
    carlos

    Reply

  6. Ray says

    Warrior Diet
    I agree with Jason.
    I have done this for months at a time and I feel amazing on it. I have lost weight, and felt strong, with the edge he talks about.
    Another thing, look up how Herschel Walker eats. He says he has eaten ONE meal a day since College(he one the Heisman). Now, sometimes his one meal was 10 snicker bars he said, BUT the point is: The Warrior Diet works, for me, and for top athletes.

    Reply

  7. Miriam says

    Dubious review
    The reviewer is a councellor & masseuse, not a nutritionist so I do not have much faith in her review.
    The diet’s author studied health sciences so he has good knowledge on how the human body works.
    Like all lifestyle diets – caveat emptor exists – horses for courses is always a factor to keep in mind.
    I hope to give this approach a go at some point if only to have a personal experience with it as I will be studying Nutrition.

    Reply

  8. Knox says

    Warrior Diet
    This diet absolutely works. What the reviewer completely missed is the fact that this diet switches your body from burning primarily carbs to burning primarily fat for fuel. Compare it to a paleo diet and it is very similar. However, the exercising before eating is unique to this diet.

    I’ve been on the diet for 10 weeks and I feel great. I fast breakfast (except for coffee), exercise in the AM, eat eggs, cheese and meat for lunch, and for dinner a large salad and a serving of meat. If I snack, it’s usually almonds or cashews or a piece of fruit.

    My food cravings have competely disappeared!! I am no longer driven by cravings. I’ve lost 15 pounds and my blood sugar is tremendously improved and progressing toward normal. I feel great!

    My recomendation to anyone else would be to test your nutritional typing and, unless you flourish on mainly veggies, try this diet for a month before discarding the idea.

    Reply

  9. Uncle Theodor says

    The Warrior Diet for feeling great
    i was one of those who believed that a good, full breakfast is the most important meal of the day…WRONG!. it’s a disaster. i’m not convinced by Ori’s theory about the Romans and the Greek warriors, but it really does not matter. eating right after you get up in the morning makes you sluggish, and sleepy all over again, as though you never slept for 8 hours.
    for as long as the food is in you, that’s what you’re going to feel…the same after lunch. you feel sleepy and groggy…eating simply does that to most human beings, insulin sensitive or not.
    the diet, or lifestyle, whatever you want to call it, makes sense because when you eat at night you feels sleepy at at time when you don’t mind going getting some zeez it makes sense for this reason.
    no great theory necessary.
    of course, you ought to be careful what you eat at night if you want to fall asleep. for instance, eating cheeses gives me nightmares. and of course too much sugar is also a problem…
    SOOOO! eat a good, healthy dinner, get a good night sleep and get up in the morn knowing that the stored fuel from the previous evening will keep you running for the rest for the rest of the day
    repeat as necessary…

    Reply

  11. Debra says

    Been Workin’ For Me…
    I’ve been doing this for the past 3 wks, I have lost at least 1 pant size and about 2″ off my waist so far. I don’t have a reliable scale, so I’m going to weigh myself at my dr.’s next week. In the past, I have tried over the counter and percription pills to lose weight, nothing ever really worked and I was shocked to find myself 30 lbs overweight at 54yrs old. I started out with a “Master Cleanse” that I stuck to, for 3 days. Then I started eating 1 meal a day, anything I wanted, for only 1hr. I still drink my Lemon/Lime-Ade with occasionall shots of Crushed Red Pepper mixed in, which seems to naturally kill my hunger pangs. I have lost weight, strange skin rashes have cleared up, my pants that barely fit are now loose AND I have saved a LOT of $$ only eating once a day!!smilies/cool.gif It’s the best diet/lifestyle change I’ve ever come across.

    Reply

  12. Vic says

    Not a particularly valid review
    Ori Hofmekler is one of the few people who practices what he preaches and knows what it’s like to train hard. The Israeli special forces are second to none and these guys embody the word “tough.” While this review got a thumbs down, I found that most of what was said actually supports Hofmekler’s work. The fact that he is down on carbs, toxins, simple sugars and junk food puts him at the top of my list. I think he knows what he’s talking about both from experience and his knowledge of biochemistry and physiology.

    Reply

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