The AJAC Diet by Alexander Cortes

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About The AJAC Diet  Before I get into the nitty gritty, let me be very clear...  The reason I titled this the AJAC Diet was because calling it Alexander’s  overall philosophy of flexible dietary practices based upon context and  self-education would have been impossible to fit onto a book cover, or  catchy email title.  Anyone that has followed me on my blog, email list, twitter, etc, you  know that I absolutely emphasize contextual understanding and  perspective at all times.  That said, trying to encapsulate that into a “diet”, does not work, so  label this AJAC Diet if you want. But know that it is an overall  philosophy, not a hard fast system of rules. What I have arrived at here  is the dietary models, mindsets, and simple habits of eating that I  believe best serve people’s health.       The AJAC Diet is not an “effortless” diet, a “revolutionary” diet, or any  kind of easy answer with hyperbole diet. It’s a way of eating that  delivers optimal health based upon the needs of your own human  biology, and adjusted for lifestyle.     Let's get started.    

Introduction.   Perhaps the most regrettable mistake that I made when I started lifting  was that I focused approximately ZERO on nutrition.   Whereas many young guys will prioritize learning how to eat properly  to build muscle, I did not.   I can fondly recall workouts of 2-3 hours at the gym, and I would  consume little to no protein afterwards, and would drink fruit  smoothies (I thought at the time they were healthy, this was before the  low-fat bubble burst), and I’d barely eat because I assumed I would get  ripped this way.   This would go on for a day or so, I’d be incredibly sore and slow to  recover, then I’d get ravenously hungry and consume an entire pizza or  order double bacon cheeseburgers.     At that point my body got the calories it needed, but I’d go right back to  barely eating.     As you can imagine this was not conducive for health or muscle gain.     Over the coming years, I steadily changed my habits, comprehension,  and premises of what I considered healthy.     If had to trace it into a timeline, it would look something like this     2005-begin lifting weights   2008-Begin researching how nutrition affects recovery, this is my first  introduction to “Sports Nutrition” and ​the ISSN​ was the first resource I  found online 

2009-Got introduced to Paleo Nutrition through Loren Cordain   2010-Got introduced to the Weston Price Foundation, found online  2011-Discovered the work of Vince Gironda  2012-Explored bodybuilding diets through old manuals and guides  published during the Silver and Golden Age  2013-Found Mountain Dog Diet, essentially Paleo for Bodybuilders,  through John Meadows  2014-2015-Worked with around 300 clients online writing meal plans,  could see what worked and what didn't across a large population of  people. Heavily used Alan Aragon's research review to crosscheck what  I was doing   2016-Spent an entire year counting macros and calories   2017-2020-Arrived at the current model of how I eat now, which is  Whole foods based, high protein, and uses cyclical fasting both for  calorie control and general health and convenience.   2010-2020-Trained clients.   My philosophy on nutrition has been a 10 year process of continuously  refining my own diet, and distilling recommendations to work for the  broadest number of people. Almost all of my programs include dietary  guidelines, and nutrition is half the process in muscle and strength  gains.    

How I Eat on a Day to Day Basis  I have two models I follow  1. 16:8 Fasting-If I am maintaining my weight, OR working to lose  bodyfat, I follow a 16:8 model of Intermittent Fasting.    

I do this quite easily, as I have never been hungry in the morning,  and skipping breakfast has always felt natural.     If I need to drop bodyfat, I simply cut back on carb intake. If Im  not trying to dop bodyfat, I eat as many carbs as I want. As Im not  a carb fiend of sugar addict, I don’t pay conscious attention to how  many carbohydrates Im eating    2. If I am trying to GAIN weight, OR if I am training twice a day and  my recovery needs to be up to speed, I eat 3-4 times a day.   ---  Regardless of what model I follow, I ALWAYS eat the same food.     Red meat, ie steak, ie dead cow    I cook with lots of butter, ghee, or olive oil   I eat lots of white rice. I do not care that white rice is a simple  carbohydrate, as its zero sugar, is phenomenal for muscle glycogen  reloading, and as brown rice tastes like dried grass and has barely any  nutrients in it, I dont care about the nutrients from rice. I get my  nutrient from eat     I also eat eggs, avocados, and the odd smattering of carrots and green  vegetables.   If I go out to eat, I often go out for steak.     Sometimes I eat sushi.     I drink black coffee in the morning. Never past 12pm.     My diet never changes much, and I eat this way because I ENJOY eating 

this way. Its an anti-discipline approach, there is no restriction and no  difficulty in my eating because I enjoy it and my energy levels and  health are all fantastic. Why would I eat a different way?   People often ask my about my diet, and its very unsexy. There is  nothing special that I do.     I’ve traveled enough to note obvious differences in size and muscularity  between vegetarian populations and meat eating populations.     Those that eat meat are bigger and stronger. Those that eat plants are  smaller and weaker.     I consider any arguments about supposed “longer life” based on eating  plants to be contrived bullshit.     Human evolution and human history tells us everything we need to  know about how to eat.    Eat meat, eat whole foods, stay away from modern food. That is my  philosophy on diet in 10 words.   Context established, what follows are the 21 Overarching Principles  that I believe are essential to optimizing one's health, eating in a way  that is effortless and zero stress, and protects one mind from dietary  ideology and bullshit.          

1. Understand Your Metabolism  This is chapter one, and while very remedial it's worth discussing.     Human beings are carbon based life forms, just as every other animal is  on this planet. We need to eat because we continually regenerate our  bodys and power the cellular processes that allow us to function on a  daily basis.   If you can hold onto that idea, it should logically follow then that you  want to eat in such a way as to ensure optimal functionality of your  body’s biology.   Said simple, it would not make sense to eat in a way that made you sick,  weak, and malnourished.   Yet this is what many people do on a daily basis.   Each day, your body expends a certain amount of energy, and needs a  certain amount of macro and micronutrients for optimal health.    Energy is measured in calories.     Macros are protein, carbohydrates, and fat. Micronutrients are vitamins  and minerals.     Your body is essentially made of protein and fatty acids, and these are  the two most important macros to consume.    Your body also uses glucose predominantly for fuel, and this is what  carbohydrates provide (along with their own micronutrients)     Protein contains 4 calories per gram.  

  Carbohydrates contain 4 calories per gram.   Fat contains 9 calories per gram. Fat is more energy dense.     When you combine fat and carbohydrates together, you can create  hyperpalatable foods that digest quickly, are easily stored as bodyfat,  are easy to overconsume, and contribute to elevated blood sugar,  dysregulated hunger hormones, and are more likely to make you fat in  general.     While the psychological barriers and problems around eating healthy  are immense, the barriers to absolving ignorance are not.   It is easy to learn about macronutrients, metabolism, and how your  body uses this energy.   Possessing a basic understanding of your bodies need for energy  (calories), water (your body is made of water), and macronutrients is  attainable for anyone.   You need energy to LIVE, you need protein and fat because your body is  made of protein and fat.   You need vitamins because they all serve a specific metabolic purpose.  This includes knowing approximately your basal and active metabolic  rate (how many calories your body goes through daily), understanding  what those two things MEAN, and being able to read a food label and  not be baffled by it.     You probably need carbohydrates because your body runs on glucose.  You need to know that carbohydrates and protein contain 4 calories  per gram, and fat contains 9. You know that your body needs fat for  normal hormone production.  

This principle is not so much about knowing how to THINK about these  concepts and be protected in false and too good to be true claims.    To note, I am not suggesting that you NEED to absolutely count calories  and macros to be healthy. The point is in KNOWING HOW THEY WORK,  most of all relative to yourself.   All these things fall under the umbrella of Metabolism. If you know  NONE of these things and every term is mysterious to you, you will be  conned by EVERYTHING that sounds good. Proper nutrition starts with  appropriate education. 

2. You Become What You Consume  The ancient Greek physician Galen said let thy food be thy medicine,  and let medicine be thy food. He was right then and he is right today.  Your health is directly, immediately, and extensively affected by  everything you eat.   If you consume a high sugar, highly processed, pro inflammatory diet,  the effects will show up in your blood, your energy levels, your skin,  your digestion. Eating is not a separate act from health, it directs your  health every single day.   Everything you take into you will affect you/create you. So pay attention  on all levels to your environment and your consumption. This goes for  people, words, entertainment, books, ideas, culture, atmosphere, so on  and so forth  You are an adult, I shouldn’t have to tell you to not eat sugar cereal and  that vegetables are good for you. If you are really lost about what is  "healthy' eating, reading this book 

Deep Nutrition, by Catherine Shanahan.  

3. Listen To Your Biofeedback  Repeat this after me - YOU DO NOT IGNORE WHAT YOUR BODY IS TELLING  YOU.  Working with reality means dealing with reality as it is. If you eat XYZ food,  and every time after eating XYZ food, you are on the toilet cursing god, you  probably shouldn't eat that thing again. If you seem to get acne breakouts  every time you eat cheese, or you have a salad and your digestive tract goes  to hell, pay attention.  People have this very incredible ability to ignore all of their biofeedback, and  then be shocked when they realize they are eating to the detriment of their  health. Don't be that person.   Your primary biofeedback mechanisms to observe are the following:  ● ● ● ● ●

Daily energy upon waking, and throughout the day  Sleep quality and quantity  Digestion and defecation  Energy before and after eating  Hair, skin, nails, and eyes 

All the above are affected by your eating.   I cannot glean every example of HOW, but know that they are. If something is  off with any of these, it's reasonable to examine your diet and consider  connections.   

 

4. Focus On Whole Food Intake  We finally get to the actual food. Whole food means unprocessed. I'm  preferential to the adage of Jack Lalanne "if man made it, don't eat it!".  Whole food then refers to foods in their natural form, meat, eggs, fruits,  potatoes, vegetables, rice, etc.   Now you can't start arguing what about bread, pasta, oatmeal, dairy  products, etc, but remember, this is not dogma. If your diet is 90% meat,  greens, tubers, fruit, and some healthy fat sources for cooking, you're likely  going to be very healthy.   Whole foods are pretty much universally more satiating, contain a broader  spectrum of micronutrients, and are more nutritious overall.   Some processed food is understandable, but it is impossible to argue with  the overall superiority of a whole food majority diet.     The most major advantage of eating a whole food is SATIATION. When you  eat foods in their natural form, you become full, as you should be.   Whether its steak, eggs, vegetables, potatoes, it is in fact quit difficult to  OVEREAT whole foods.   You can certainly find ways to do so, you can drown fruit in honey, you could  conceivably eat peanut butter nonstop.   But even then, you are going to get full. Your appetite will decrease as the  volume of food increases. You may be able to gorge at one meal, but not  multiple meals.   Eating a whole foods diet eliminates the complexity surrounding to what eat.  Once you you begin eating this way, you will realize with time that you no  longer need to worry about what you are eating, and eating itself becomes  what it should be, an enjoyable process and something to look forward to,  not fear.  

5. Take Advantage of the Thermic  Effect  I recommended you eat a whole food diet. Here is the rough science  behind why that is    What has more calories?     2,000 calories from gummy bears?    Or 2,000 calories from oatmeal?     Is this a trick question?     NO, it is not. The Gummy bears have more calories.     How could this be? Because the gummy bears are far less thermogenic  than the oatmeal. The Thermic Effect of the Oatmeal is way higher. I  shall explain     The Thermic Effect of Food, AKA Dietary Induced Thermogenesis (DIT)    -All calories are NOT created equal. Yes, there are carbs, protein, and  fat. And Yes, supposedly you can measure the calories that they  contain. Protein and carbs have four calories per gram. Fat has nine.     But here is the kicker. The way food science works, calories are  measured by incinerating food in a calorimeter. This is basically an oven  that sets the food on fire.    

The heat it gives off as its incinerated, that is the caloric energy. That is  where the calorie measurement comes from.   There is a critical issue with this-Our bodies are NOT calorimeters. We  do not digest food by setting in on fire until its ashes. This is why car  analogies are stupid.      Your body does not absorb "calories". What it does is enzymatically  break down the food you into smaller and smaller pieces, and converts  the very nutrients into a usable form of energy. Usually glucose, but  there are many other nutrients as well (vitamins and micronutrients  have many many uses).     Because of this, calories from one food, say sugar, they are very very  different from another food, say oatmeal, or vegetables, or protein. The  digestion process is dramatically different.     It takes energy to digest food, this energy is given off as heat (thermic  refers to heat). Or said another way=It takes calories to digest calories.  Your body expends energy extracting energy, to say it a third way. This  point must be clear.     With that in mind, you can understand what thermogenic/thermic  effect means. Its a simplified Heat measurement of the energy it takes  to digest a food. Thermogenic foods require more calories to digest.  This essentially offsets the calories that are absorbed.     Thermic Effect Scale    Lets look at some numbers now     Protein-20-35% thermic effect  So this means that whatever calories are in Protein, 30% of that is going  to released as heat during digestion. 

  Carbohydrates-5-15% thermic effect  The energy cost of digesting carbohydrates is 5-15% of the total calorie  amount    Fat/Lipids-3-15% thermic effect  Fat is the most easily absorbed nutrient, BUT it is also the SLOWEST to  be absorbed. This is not a bad thing, as satiety is way higher. This is why  fatty foods make you full    Things that Fuck this Up    Now here is where it gets a little tricky. How many foods do you eat that  contain only ONE kind of macronutrient?     A steak is protein and fat together.     A piece of fruit is sugar plus fiber.     A bowl of oatmeal is carbs and a whole lotta fiber.     Yogurt is carbs, protein, and fat all mixed together.     The operative point is this-    Whole Foods are FAR more thermogenic than processed foods.    There is a reason that the percentages above are given as a range and  not a specific number.     Going to back to gummy bears example, SUGAR gets digested super  fast. 5% thermic effect, and you are absorbing that quickly with a  massive insulin spike and blood sugar rise. 

  The oatmeal, that's probably going to be about 20%, plus the digestion  is slower because of all of the fiber. Plus it contains way more water,  plus the caloric density is way lower the gummy bears.     I can give endless examples of this, but I'm going to assume you  understand the point. Whole foods almost always take longer to digest  than processed foods, and their thermic effect is far higher. Processed  by the very DESIGN are meant to digested fast and NOT make you full.  Their thermic effect is minimal    This is how you can have a phenomenon where people don't change  their calorie intake, and only change their food choice, and they LOSE  weight.     Or that the swear they are eating MORE, but somehow bodyfat is going  down. I've had this happen many times with women especially. They  start eating a high protein diet, and I change all their carb sources to  rice and whole grains, and suddenly they are getting full way faster,  they swear they can't eat this much, but somehow their waist is  slimmer and they're losing inches. How could this be???    Well, If you go from a highly processed, low protein diet to a high  protein, low sugar/low carb diet, it's entirely possible for you to get  bodycomposition changes of more muscle and less fat, yet you haven't  changed your energy intake all that much. You changed your insulin  sensitivity, nutrient partitioning, addressed your deficiencies, and  probably improved your hormonal health as well.     If you add in resistance training and cardio on top of that, you also  further increase your metabolic rate and increase the thermic effect of  the food you eat. So now you're adding muscle and burning fat at the  same time.  

  Additionally, the more muscle you have, the more calories you burn at  rest and especially while ACTIVE. At rest, a pound of muscle burns  about 6 calories an hour. Not much, but fat only burns 2 calories.  During activity though, muscle burns A LOT more. This is why muscular  people can seemingly eat far more calories than people of similar  bodyweights. Muscle tissue is more costly. Muscle tissue can contribute  up to 25% of your daily metabolic rate, and the more you have, the  more energy it requires.     So a lifestyle with a thermogenic diet of whole foods, with animal  protein, fibrous carbs, and natural fat sources, plus resistance training,  plus cardio, and you train for increased lean body mass and strength,    = a "lean" metabolism and elevated metabolic rate that burns through  calories and is shall we say, disinclined to readily store bodyfat.     If you add in optimized hormones on top of that, then you'll have  something akin to a teenager metabolism.     This is possible for anyone, provided you are willing to change your  eating habits.    

5. Eat Healthy Sources Of Protein  I'm making this one simple and simply providing a list. Again, don't read  this and start questioning why I haven't included game meats, alligator,  organs meats, etc. This is general guidance, not a vetting of every food  on earth. If you get your protein from these sources at each meal, your  diet is that much closer to being nutritionally comprehensive:  ● Eggs 

● Dairy products, but ONLY if you digest dairy well. If not exclude  them (cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, or skim, 1%, or 2% milk)  ● Fish  ● Chicken  ● Beef  ● Pork  ● Whey Protein  ● Legumes (IF they digest well)      

 

6. Eat Healthy Sources Of Fat  Fat is absolutely critical for metabolism and overall health.   Every cell in your body is made from fatty acids, and fat itself is a  precursor to every single sex hormone the body makes. if a diet is too  low in fat, bad things happen health wise.   Low carb and higher fat diets have often proven superior for a  reason-fat is more satiating, more nutritious, and more critical for  overall health.   The fats you eat should NOT be "fake" fats.   Vegetable oil is horrible for health, as all the other types of fake oils  (corn, canola, rapeseed, etc).   Your fat intake should come from the PROTEIN you eat, and from these  sources when cooking   Olive oil (DO NOT cook with olive oil at high temperatures, it has a low  smoke point and turns carcinogenic)  Butter  Ghee  Coconut Oil  Fatty meats  Eggs  Avocados and avocado oil  Walnut oil   

7. Eat Healthy Sources Of Carbs,  And Don’t Eat Too Many   Healthy carbs are unprocessed, nutritious carbs that contain no added sugar.  If you do consume sugar, it should be from fruit or honey. I strongly suggest  people limit overall sugar intake this way, as sugar has pretty much proven  itself to be universally lousy for health.   I use the term clean carbs often, and mean it; this list covers clean carbs.  ● ● ● ● ●

Vegetables  Tubers (yams, sweet potatoes, white potatoes)   Rice, wild rice  Legumes  Fruit 

What about bread?   I consider this a personal choice. I do not support anti-gluten hysteria, but it  has also been undeniable that many people seem to not digest gluten "well",  although they are able to digest it.   Very often people report that their digestive health improved when the  switched carb sources to rice and potatoes, versus say bread and pasta. So I  leave this upon you to test out yourself and see your response.  

 

 

8. Keep Overall Sugar Intake Low   I've discussed this in the past, but excess sugar is simply NOT good for  health. It creates addictive eating behavior, it's not good for hormones  or insulin sensitivity. It is bad for your skin, it crashes energy levels, and  it overall contributes to bad eating habits that are very difficult to break  out of.  Attempting to eat zero sugar, or at least very low sugar, it will key you in  on how many foods have sugar added to them, and how addicted  society is to it as a whole. A low sugar diet is almost guaranteed to be a  healthier diet. Recommend intake is 20-30 grams a day. Most  Americans consume over 100 grams, and have no idea they are  consuming that much.   To note, if you are LEAN and MUSCULAR, and you lift weights frequently  (these three generally go together), you can reasonably have higher  sugar intake without detrimental effects.   Your body's nutrient partitioning and lean body mass actually make use  of the sugar better than someone who is overweight and not lean. This  does not mean eat garbage, but in certain circumstances, higher sugar  intake is allowable.   

9. Learn To Cook  Learning how to cook is an enormously underrated skill. It teaches you  the science of food, it opens your mind that eating "healthy" does not  mean boring, it's a practice unto itself in learning how to learn, and it  makes you more self-sufficient/self-reliant.   A lack of cooking ability is a major obstacle towards improved eating  habits. When you simply don't know how to make food taste good, it's  easy to default to fast food and processed food.   Cooking opens your world up to infinite possibilities in taste and  satisfaction.  I follow simple principles when cooking:  Trust your sense of smell, smell is flavor  Don't think in terms of recipes, think in terms of flavor  Every recipe is an experiment in flavor creation  All flavors are a combo of sweet, salty, fatty  Frying pan, broiler, crock pot-all are easy to use, easy to learn, and  can cook an infinite variety of meals  ● When in doubt, watch youtube. There is no excuse to not learning  cookery other than outright refusal  ● ● ● ● ●

I personally consider Tim Ferriss's 4-Hour Chef to be excellent. To note,  this is a massive book that is actually a study of learning how to LEARN.   So don't try to read it linear. Pick and choose chapters at your leisure.  (and FYI, I have no affiliation with the book. Purchase it at your leisure)  

 

10. Practice Consistency  Consistency and Momentum will take care of any missteps.   The consistency you create through sameness, and self-discipline.   It's easy to be disciplined when you are eating same/similar foods all  the time. This does not mean a dry chicken breast with unflavored  broccoli (see learning how to cook).   One of the great misconceptions of eating is that you need massive  variety to your meals. This quickly breaks down in reality, because it's  trying to consume different meals constantly makes planning practically  impossible.  You overbuy food, you don't have time, and you default to prior bad  habits. When your breakfast is same/similar, your lunch is same similar,  your dinner is same/similar, suddenly meal prepping, or cooking in  general, it becomes far easier to plan and execute.   At the same time, when you eat healthy 90% of the time, the one off  incidents of dinners, going out with friends/family, parties, travel, they  become largely irrelevant. You've great a flywheel of habits and rituals,  and its momentum overcomes any temporal slowdown. You simply  resume your routines, and no stress need be experienced beyond that. 

 

11. Stay Well Hydrated  So simple that everyone ignores it.   My go to question when people complain of headaches, dry skin,  feeling light headed, having low energy, bad digestion, prone to binging,  tight muscles and stiff joints; DO YOU DRINK WATER? If the answer is  No, then that's the first thing to start doing.   Water is so essential to health it cannot be overstated, and the vast  majority of people are chronically dehydrated and never address it.   If you are one of those people that can ONLY drink flavored beverages  and hates water, GROW UP. You are not 5 years old for the sake of the  Gods.   A very easy way to spot mild dehydration is to assess your thirst when  eating. If you sit down to eat a meal and need to drink tons of fluid to  get the good down, you're dehydrated.   Ideally, you should be able to eat and NOT be thirsty while eating.  Drinking water while eating dilutes stomach acid and makes digestion  slower. It also demonstrates you don't have enough body water to  handle the food you are consuming.   Stay well hydrated between meals, and this issue will be solved.   My general recommendation is to simply aim for around a gallon of  water daily.   If you fall short, you fall short, but it gives you a target, and you'll find  your personal hydration sweet spot.   You'll also be amazed at how much digestion improves. 

 

12. Measure And Manage  There is a meta question of How Much, or To What Extent, do you need  to measure and weigh and quantify your food intake. This depends,  and the critical question is   "what is your ability to autoregulate?"  Autoregulate means you have internalized, unconscious, competent  control of your eating, your bodyweight (bodyweight is biodynamic by  the way and is SUPPOSED to fluctuate within a narrow range), and your  overall behaviors and attitudes towards food. You don't overeat, you  don't undereat, you don't binge.   When you gorge, you naturally compensate by eating less. When you  are very active, you identify the need to eat more food. You are  attenuated to when you need protein, or carbs, or fat, or salt.   Essentially, your mode of eating is entirely auto piloted, and it WORKS,  without you thinking much about it.   This is often called Intuitive Eating.  The problem though is that most people are wildly dysregulated; they  cannot “intuitively” eat because their intuition tells them to overeat,  they eat unhealthy foods, they cannot differentiate between how  variable their energies levels are from what they eat, and basically they  cannot rely on instinct in any way to eat properly.  

  What do you if you are one of those people?   Well, then you have to manage and measure. What you lack is  internalized mechanisms and instincts and self-awareness, and the  ONLY way to develop those is to PRACTICE them EXTERNALLY.   You cannot bring out what is not within you. You are going to have to  learn it from the outside In.   This means weighing food, tracking calories and macros, checking  bodyweight daily, following a meal plan, setting hard and fast rules,  learning how to meal prep, and doing these things until you become  unconsciously competent in them and the practices become ritualistic.   This takes time, FYI, and it might be massively upsetting, but it is the  only way I’ve seen psychologically “bad eaters” develop healthy  practices.   Order must be applied to chaos. Some people may NEVER be able to  eat carbohydrates regularly, touch junk food, or indulge much at all. It  could be a long time before they develop a healthy relationship with  food and are able to exert full self control. And that is okay, this process  takes time, and that must be recognized.      

13. Habitualize, Then Internalize  Building off the above point, learning systems and developing your own  intuition always starts as a conscious process. It's not going to feel  natural, it's not going to feel right, and it probably will NOT be what you  want to do.   But as I like to say, if your way worked, we would not be having this  discussion in the first place. Your way does not work, because your way  is not a way, it's a haphazard amalgamation of reactions, active  ignorances, and misguidance.   It will likely be very useful to create RULES for yourself. And to follow  them. These are not eternal rules for all time, but they are boundaries  that you create and follow (all boundaries are habits, for what we do is  equally defined by what we do not do).   Rules give you freedom from chaos, and direct your energy to where  it's useful. Rules becomes habits unto themselves when they are  followed long enough.   As you develop rules, habits, and self-discipline thereof, your nature will  begin to change. These things will gradually become a part of your  being, until you longer feel like a pretender doing them.   You are what you practice, and your beliefs will come to align with that.  The dissonance is a necessary stage in the experience.   This also takes time, FYI. 

 

14. Be Adaptable At All Times  I say follow rules, but do not be broken when you break your rules. Far  too often, stricture is mistaken for structure, and people utterly break  down when their diet cannot be adhered to.   This ism what I call “building from sand and fog”. Its the illusion of  structure that dissipates and is shifted easily.   Not being able to follow your usual way of eating is not grounds for  distress. If a birthday party can destroy your whole mode of eating,  your mode of eating was and is broken from the beginning.   I eat fast food constantly when I travel. That does not mean I get the  soda and fries that would normally come with it though. I stay very well  hydrated. I make a point to eat a big breakfast if nothing else so I have  energy for my day. I refrain from fried foods generally. And if it happens  that I'm a dinner and the social dynamic is to indulge, I indulge.   AND I DO NOT CARE, BECAUSE IT DOES NOT ULTIMATELY MATTER.   I can fast the next day if I need to. I can have only one meal a day for a  few days if I honestly gained weight and noticed it. Adaptability and  momentum complement each other. I have many tools at my disposal  to keep myself healthy, and unless I completely disregard my health  and quit caring about how I live, it's largely impossible for me to  become fat.  

And this is not because I'm an exceptional person. I know this is an  achievable state for anyone that is physically fit, trains hard, and  practices “food sense” as part of their daily life. 

15. Cut Fat Fast And Furious  “Keep the Goal the Goal”    ~Dan John~  I read this quote years ago, and its always stuck with me. One of the  biggest reasons people fail to lose bodyfat is because they do not  legitimately take the CORRECT action to lose fat.  Fat loss is not an “Ill TRY” process. Fundamentally it IS simple math, and  if you eat in a true deficit, and you maintain this deficit for weeks and  months,  You WILL lose fat. That is what will happen.   Do not misinterpret this and think it means follow a crash diet. Both  women and men are notorious for doing stupid things: eating only  1200 calories, not consuming enough protein, not counting calories at  all, not tracking what they are eating...the list goes on.   There are two things that need to be in place to cut bodyfat   1. A calorie deficit, typically started at 500 below your current  maintenance  

2. Adequate protein intake, at least 1 gram per lb bodyweight, and  higher than that if you plan on dieting to get to true single digit  bodyfat    

Cutting is predicated on you being:  ● Metabolically Healthy  ● Being lean with developed lean body mass  ● training correctly and eating healthily   When you are in this state, you can do dramatic cuts and use strategies  and tactics that another person would otherwise crash and burn on.   Following an intermittent fasting approach, going zero carb and doing  HIIT cardio, using high volume workouts and specific nutrient timing,  you've got fun things to try, and you've the mental stability to handle  the hunger and the discipline.   Short cuts in the 4-8 week range such as these can strip fat off, you can  resume a maintenance schedule, and it's a way to stay lean year  around with long term diets.   Done year over year, you can GRADUALLY become leaner with time,  while still building muscle mass.   Again, you must be already HEALTHY to do this. This is not a suggested  approach otherwise.   You can play a short game finite approach because your infinite game  approach is already in place.   

16. But Diet Slow And Serious 

This is most people.   This means that you approach dieting on a LONG term continuum. It  goes something like this (adapted from the Mike Israetel model)   ● ● ● ● ● ● ● ●

You set up a reasonable diet that you can adhere to  You aim for 1-2 lbs fat loss a week  You do not do anything dramatic to make this go faster at all  You adjust only when necessary  You do this for 2-4 months  You then change back to maintenance for 1-2 months  You repeat as many times as necessary  If you are VERY overweight, you can diet for longer periods of  time, with potentially shorter breaks in-between 

This is not sexy, but it works. And relative to your current state of living,  it's probably going to be a dramatic overhaul and a long learning curve  regardless.   

17. Stay Lean Always  Assuming you have reached a healthy bodycomp, you want to always  maintain this from here on out. If you are a man, this means not letting  BF% rise above 15%. For women, keep it no higher than 25%.   The reasons for this are clear: your overall hormonal health and insulin  sensitivity both begin to be negatively affected when you accumulate  excess fat about this level. There is no good reason to gain excess  bodyfat, fat is fatal as I like to say.   Staying lean does not mean being "ripped", it means maintaining the  lifestyle that supports this state of health.   

18. Recognize When Diets Sound  Too Good To Be True  There is no magic diet that is effortless, painless, requires you to give  up nothing, fixes your childhood abandonment issues, absolves you of  your emotional void of not having had sex, intimacy in years, you using  food as medication, you ignoring your body and wanting a quick fix, you  not exercising, your parents not loving you enough, you refusing to  change anything except take pills, you being obese, and so on and so  forth.  And being blunt, you probably need therapy if food is deeply rooted for  you and leads to tears, shame, and guilt.   So no, whatever the diet is not going to fix all the above. EVER.     

19. If I Had To Give An Answer, Low  Carb Diets And Fasting Work Best  For All Around Health  The health benefits of low carb, high fat, moderate protein dieting are  massive. Easy to follow, very nutritious, and the ONLY approach I've  seen work long term with obese people who achieved permanent fat  loss  Intermittent Fasting is extremely powerful as well; restores insulin  sensitivity, mobilizes fat stores, maximizes the effects of exercise,  increases growth hormones, increases energy.  

I am not the first person to key in on this at all. A well known obesity  specialist, Dr. Jason Fung, uses a fasting + low carb diet approach with  his patients very successfully.  Additionally, most human beings today are simply NOT that active. You  don't need to eat much in the way of carbs, and you certainly don't  need to eat all day.   

20. Control Your Emotions  

I hate the idea that “food is fuel” because it's not true. People BOND  over food, food is love, food is affection, food is meditation, food is  something to come together. Food represents more than “gasoline” for  the body. Your body is not a car.     Controlling your emotions when you eat is often half the battle to  controlling WHAT you eat.     For many many people, food and stress are intricately tied. People  “stress eat” to make themselves feel better, and then feel worse about  the eating.     The common recommendation to this is familiar to anyone that has  studied habit formation     1. Acknowledge your craving     2. Identify the TRIGGER for the craving.     3. Do something else to not satisfy the craving, ie, take a walk, eat a  healthier food, stop and wait for the craving to pass, drink water, etc  etc.    

The main focus in breaking bad habits is interrupting them, but I advise  taking this a step further  WHY are you stressed?     Diet is the metaphor for consumption. What do you take into yourself?  What is distressing you?     Attaching negative emotions with food, the problem is not just the food,  it's the source of the emotional distress.     Controlling your emotions is not an admonition that you need to STOP  “feeling” but rather a call to action; who is in control of your mental  state? What is stressing you so much to lead you to eat? Have you  attempted to solve these sources and stress and eliminate them?     The best way to handle stress is to eliminate it entirely.     If you have self-limiting beliefs associated with food, and view it as  punishment and reward, and attach moral weight to eating “good” and  eating “bad”, you need to break down these premises and realize you  are creating your own obstacles.     This is all easier said than done, and it takes time no doubt, but the  establishment of eating “healthy” requires it. If you do not examine  your emotional state and address the roots of your stress and mental  dissonance, you’ll never be in control of yourself.    

21. Diet Is A Continuum  

Final point, and hopefully this has been made clear    -learning how to eat is learning about yourself and your needs, and  your eating is a master metaphor for what you consume in your life as  a whole.   Fixing your eating improves many others area of your life for this  reason; you change what you intake from reality at large.    

 

Who Is Alexander J.A. Cortes?  My name is Alexander Juan Antonio Cortes. I am a writer, dancer, personal  trainer.. I have an obsession with the art and science of self-actualization. I  believe that everything in the body and mind can be trained to be better,  faster, stronger.   Here’s my website: ​https://cortes.site/  Follow me on Twitter: ​@AJA_Cortes  Follow me on Instagram: A ​ JA_Cortes  Learn about my other training programs​.