Eat Less, Move More Is The Worst Weight Loss Advice Ever!

It's sadistically entertaining watching how we, humans, create the ultimate traps for ourselves and then go on wild goose chases to find the root causes for the problem down to the deepest intricacies. Let's look at this advice of 'Eat Less & Move More' and see how practical it is.

EXERCISE DOESN'T BURN ENOUGH CALORIES

Exercise burns calories. However, that's not enough to compensate for extremely high caloric intake from hyperpalatable and addictive food combinations(eg. Happy Meal is sweet, crunchy, salty and chewy all at the same time!) and in practicality, considering how high our obesity rates are, this approach of "eat less, move more" is an epic failure. People interpret it to mean that they can burn away excess calories which is counter-productive when the solution is to not consume boat loads of calories in the first place. How do we do that? This can be done by creating a simple and easy diet for people to follow which they can adhere to. In other words, we need to stop focusing on taste, diversity of foods and deliciousness as the first and foremost priority when choosing new foods to eat. 

MOVE MORE... THE RIGHT WAY

There's nothing wrong in exercise or "moving more". However, it's more important to move in the sense that many people need to start focusing on building habits, routines and goals. This also includes getting outside of our comfort zones and meeting new people. This gives life a purpose and meaning while taking them away from using food as a pleasurable and addictive activity. We've started to cave ourselves in sensationalism, chasing other people's narratives and finding quick solution to all our problems. We need to start focusing on our own narrative and liberating ourselves from constant information and sensations that want to grab our attention that take full advantage of building diminishing social hierarchies and targeting individual insecurities. 

MEASURING MACROS ISN'T FOR EVERYONE

Until everyone has a personal metabolic ward surrounding them, getting a great estimate on calories is tough. FDA allows for a 20% inaccuracy in the calories for labels on food products which makes it even more muddy. Various other factors play into how certain foods may be processed based on individual's physiology, activity levels and how energy is transferred and dissipated. It's complicated. Macro tracking can be simplified and generalized to make it work but we think it's far easier to focus on specific types of nutritious foods(steak, eggs... and Energy Pods - shameless plug) rather than focusing on calories by themselves. Additionally, constant tracking is just another routine to life and for many people, it's just another headache. In a sea of information overload, simple solutions that work are powerful. An analogy here is when refueling the car. It's much better to have the 'click' at the end telling us that the car is fully refueled rather than measure an exact amount of fuel has to be added every time you have to refuel the car. That is the exact mechanism we use in our Nutty Carnivore protocol. The body, anecdotally, seems to adjust to a routine of formulated diet and regulates itself accordingly and we've found that to be far more liberating and simple rather than enjoying a buffet of various addictive foods and using them as a coping mechanism for issues that have nothing to do with food. For many, this approach may seem restrictive but for those who enjoy trading life for experiences outside of food, it's very liberating. After all, life is indeed very short.

BAD NUTRITION CLAIMS

Practically speaking, nearly all nutritional claims on food products are rubbish. Why? Context matters. For example, a jar of peanuts saying 'heart healthy' is a terrible advice in practicality as a few ounces of peanuts won't make a big difference if the consumer is additionally chowing down sugar, processed carb and fat laden cakes, pizzas and donuts all day. Even if such nutrition claims are pried, they may have some very weak nutritional studies to support such a claim. An example is "Meat causes cancer!!"

TRAPS EVERYWHERE

If you watch TV, you see close ups of sizzling food that is practically telling your brain, "EAT ME!" Go to a cinema and you'll see strategic ads of coke and sugary beverages plastered on the movie screen. The smell and aroma of foods are geared to lure you towards the food. The world of consumerism preys on human emotions, insecurities and basically the reptilian reward circuitry. Then you get educators and health institutions urging to eat less when EVERYTHING in the food (and even fitness) industry is gravitating you to eat more. Now that's great way to set up people for failure. Yup, go waltzing over ice but don't you dare try to slip!

THE BITTERSWEET VICTORY

The human narrative has always been bittersweet, plagued with suffering and maybe that's the utopia we need to accept is part of our nature. In much of the modern world, in order to combat global hunger while at the same time chasing taste over health, from restaurants to fitness centers to hospitals to kitchens, we have won the battle. We pursued innovation to cater to our pleasure and comfort and we won. We've put so much of our budgets in marketing, sales and trying to one-up ourselves in the food, fitness and health industry so we can get that one small edge over competitors and monetize our product. Guess what? We won. However, at what cost? We now face the extensive diseases of the modern world, from cancer to diabetes to autoimmune conditions, heart disease and many more. Isn't it odd that our companies and institutions have succeeded but as individuals, we have failed. Maybe it's just that evolution has a funny way of humbling and mocking us. Maybe, the perfect world contains suffering, competition and struggle and we need to accept it for what it realistically is and part of our narrative. Final advice? "Eat Simple, Enjoy Life!" and that's been the driving force behind the Nutty Carnivore Diet.