Let’s get away from philosophy and talk some tactics for a minute. Traditionally, winter
time is when we stay inside with the heater, fireplace, lot’s of blankets, cats on our lap,
and any other warm situation you can think of. Even though I live in Orange County,
California I still get cold in the winter, it’s all relative. Chicago residents I am sure will
beg to differ and yes, you have a point. Keep in mind you can’t use the cold to fire up
your metabolism if you get frost bite.
I am introducing a whole new idea for a diet based on one of the oldest traditional North
American cultures, the Inuit eskimos. This is not the Inuit diet though. That is a diet fad
that some people follow eating high fat, high protein “Inuit style” food because Inuits are
generally regarded as long-lived and disease free. However, there are many shortfalls
to this diet and many obstacles that people don’t even think about.
The Inuits eat a lot of their diet raw. They eat raw livers and other organs along with
drinking seal blood. You know why they do this? To get the proper nutrients so they
can stay alive. Vitamin C which is an important part of the WWD is generally hard to
come by with the Inuit diet. Without fresh fruits and vegetables, Vitamin C is only
available by eating the raw organs of freshly killed animals and drinking their blood.
Feel like doing that? Yea, me neither. (4) Plus, the Inuits don’t actually live for any
amazing amount of time. Average life expectancy ranges from 60-80 years which is
nothing special.
Ok, but why bring up the Inuit diet? Here’s the deal. They live in the Arctic. It’s cold up
there and they need to stay warm. Humans (mammals) are warm-blooded and
therefore we have to stay at or around 98.7 degrees or we will have some serious
issues. When it’s hot, we sweat to cool down. When it’s cold, we burn extra calories
that are converted to heat energy to warm us up. This is the premise for the WWD.
The Inuit eat upwards of 6000 calories per day in the Winter! Yes, that’s how many
calories it can take to keep them warm enough to avoid hypothermia. Keep in mind that
they also wear furs, coats, and have some modern heating amenities. So no, you won’t
be trying to freeze yourself.
The only way to consume 6000 calories a day is to eat a LOT of fat. Since the
traditional Inuit diet is rich in protein and fat, some of the protein and most of the fat is
converted to glucose in the liver for energy because your cells use the glucose as
energy. Let’s take a second very briefly to talk about how the body converts food to
energy. This is a brief lesson, although important, it is not a lesson in molecular biology.
ATP (adenosine triphosphate) is the primary energy that our cells burn for fuel.
Mitochondria in the cells generally take glucose (blood sugar) to make this fuel our cells
need to operate. However, when we run low on glucose, our body uses two other
sources to make ATP. Protein can be converted by the liver into glucose. This happens
when we consume more protein than our body needs to use OR when we really need
glucose and our body takes protein from our muscles and converts it. The second way
is that our body converts our fat stores and converts them into glycerol and other fatty
acids which the mitochondria can convert into ATP. I know the science of it isn’t all that
fun to read about, but it’s important to understand when considering “diets” and how
they work.
Many fad diets out there suggest that you cut out the carbs and just eat protein. The
reasoning behind this is that your liver can convert the extra protein to glucose (as
explained above) to power your cells. In addition when the protein runs out, then your
body will burn fat for the same process. This is called glucogenesis and it is a survival
mechanism, not a means for everyday functioning.
What an awesome scenario right? I mean if you’re trying to lose weight, by eating a
really high protein diet you can burn off your fat. WRONG. See the problem is that
meat and fat don’t have the vitamins and minerals that your body truly needs. Burning
protein and fat for energy is a short sighted idea for losing weight. It has nothing to do
with getting healthy, AND as previously stated the second you go off the diet, your body
will most likely “yo-yo” back. Taking vitamins and other supplements don’t solve the
problem as I will explain later in the micro-nutrients section.
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