Tuesday, March 04, 2008

Did you read that blog post on intermitent fasting?

Greetings from Orlando, Florida!

After having enough of shoveling snow, horrible winter driving, and being cold all the time, I've taken a week off to visit West Gate Vacation Villas in Orlando Florida.

Brier traveled awesome in the plane, and has been a little gem for the whole vacation (she's saving up the drama for when she becomes a teenager!).

My wife and I both fasted on the days we flew. We figured this saved us a combined 20-30 dollars worth of food we definitely did not need to eat.

It's been a great week so far, and I've committed to doing as little work as possible.

(Hard at work doing the best kind of work possible!)

Yesterday I decided to check my email. Imagine my surprise when I found over a half dozen emails all on the same topic...

"Brad, did you see the post by Dr. Eades on the four day work week blog?"

Well, my curiosity was peaked and I took the time to read the posts. And honestly, I disagree with a lot of what was said. I even went so far as to post a comment (which I rarely do).

(I should point out that Eat Stop Eat is not just intermittent fasting. Its the combination of a flexible form of intermittent fasting combined with resistance training...and the resistance training part is very, very important.)

After posting, I stopped to think about the phenomena of the blogosphere and the internet. After some serious thought I have decided that I am no longer going to spend time defending Eat Stop Eat. It's a lesson in futility. Their will always be nay sayers, the concept of starvation mode will never go away, and some people will never be satisfied with the simplicity behind the concept of weight loss being as easy as finding a way that allows you to eat less with the least amount of hassle.

It is also very hard for me to argue because I will always have a vested monetary interest in Eat Stop Eat, so I can never be completely unbiased (although I always disclose this, even in lectures and seminars).

For these reasons I will spend my time promoting Eat Stop Eat, but not defending it. Promoting it allows me to reach people who are honestly looking for help, and who are looking for an easy and effective way to lose weight.

Defending Eat Stop Eat typically involves arguing the semantics of research, a practice that can be best described as focusing on the trees instead of the forest...or in this case its more like aruguing about the stroma in the leaves.

I will leave the debating up to capable people like Chris Highcock, Adam Steer, Martin Berkhan, and Matt Metzgar, all of whom I beleive to be very bright, well spoken and well educated in the area of intermittent fasting, but than can also be viewed as much more unbiased on the topic than I can.

Brad

PS- I've handed off my black berry for the rest of the trip...

(Busy screening Daddy's emails until we leave Florida)

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5 comments:

Anonymous said...

i enjoyed your comment. i think you're right, there isn't really any need for you to prove yourself right to every citizen of the internet. well done.

Craig Ballantyne, CTT, Certified Turbulence Trainer said...

Brad,

some excellent positive feedback on ESE here:

http://turbulencetraining.blogspot.com/2008/03/eat-stop-eat-feedback.html

Focus on the positive,

craig

Carrie said...

Brad, your daughter is very cute!

As for the defense, yeah, it isn't going to happen. It's a bit like trying to take a Republican and making him/her see the Democrat's side of view. And we all know where that goes.

However, you'll be catching the open-minded ones (like me) who are willing to go ahead and give the whole thing a try, even if it does take them a little while to get there. I still prefer my many mini meals each day, but I lately find myself taking at least half-days of IF so I can have a maintenance day in the middle of a week. If nothing else, it's forcing me to face some still-underlying food addictions I didn't realize I had!

Carrie
THAThealthyperson.com

Carrie said...

Of course, I also forgot that you're smart enough to have a Canadian citizenship... but we still all know, don't we? The American media has a way of forcing itself on EVERYONE...

Chris said...

Brad - I don't consider myself a real expert, but I'll do what I can.

I re-read ESE yesterday and found even more in it than I remembered.

Thanks

Chris H
www.conditioningresearch.com