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| I have been training hard for around 4 months now. I am sitting at around 12% body fat at 54kg/8.5 stone and attribute this to training and eating well. I’d still like to gain another 1/2 stone of muscle |
From my earlier post on survivalist-oriented, practical physical training, the question arises “What diet compliments survivalist training to work with the demands and purpose of the survivalist lifestyle?”
The reason I have titled this article “For European environments” is because the diet and physiology of peoples from different parts of the world are different, regardless of what mainstream society wishes us to believe. As far as survivalism is concerned, we are interested in matching ourselves to our environment. This methodology would not work for living in Africa in a survivalist scenario, for example. I have attempted to include foods which for the most part are readily and cheaply available in Europe (to simulate what we will be able to grow and forage in a survival situation) and foods which support our climate and conditions and the maintenance of a body fat which, while healthy, remains firmly in double figures which would be disadvantageous in warmer climates where one would want a body fat somewhat lower than mine and with different genetics regarding fat distribution.
I first started getting into health foods at the same time as esotericism and metaphysics, a good 3 years ago or so now. As I delved into information, it soon became clear to me that to process this information on a deep level required an overhaul not just of my software (my mind) but also of my hardware (my body). I learned quickly that it is impossible to have a sharp mind and controlled spirit if one has no control over their body, the three elements are inseparable. This is where a lot of the problem with the modern world comes in. Most people despise the changes in the modern world but have been made weak and malleable by the food industry to the point where they are physically incapable of presenting any objection to the current system. It is no coincidence or “prejudice” that the fattest people in society or the most naive, the dullest, the weakest, the most subservient, disinterested and most dependent upon the modern system.
Through changing one’s diet, one also undergoes a spiritual change that makes the information that myself and others present easier to digest, if you will. The more one pays attention to the stimulae they receive, the greater one’s sensitivity becomes to these changes.
Cutting out carbohydrates: Working around a paleo framework
In recent times, I have tried to shift my diet away from refined sugars (glucose primarily) altogether and now don’t drink fizzy drinks, put sugar in coffee or eat sweets on a regular basis. I am working towards cutting starch out of my diet too but this is the reversal of a lifelong habit and will take a long time to reverse. Carbohydrates, whilst necessary in small quantities, contribute towards ageing as they produce free radicals when digested. The digestion of certain forms of carbohydrate such as those found in pasta make your brain release high levels of serotonin and tryptophan, which zone you out and put you to sleep, acting like depressants.
In my own personal experience, eating a diet based around the concept of paleo with a focus on intermittent fasting leads to higher energy levels and noticeably increased energy levels. For men, studies suggest eating large meals and avoiding snacking leads to higher testosterone levels. When one goes long periods of time without eating (including snacking), this better simulates the lifestyle we have evolved to support and keeps serotonin levels optimal.
Paleo dieting, meaning eating only meat, fish and fruit and vegetables (removing most complex carbs like pasta, rice bread and usually also dairy products) is an efficient and authentic way of staying in shape, and my personal diet is loosely paleo. There are logistical and financial confines which make going completely paleo at the present time impossible.
What good does survivalist/paleo dieting do for your average person?
I have never been overweight, but one of the biggest things that the paleo lifestyle does is helps to regulate body fat, as inevitably on a paleo diet you’re going to be consuming less carbohydrates and sugars. Instead of utilising carbohydrates and sugars, you want to be eating more good fats and your body will instead utilise these fats for energy instead of carbohydrates. In a sense, carbohydrates are a redundant food group if you eat enough of the right kinds of fat. Because the level of carbohydrates I consume (relative to the rest of my diet) is low, my body is burning fat to fuel my muscles, which is why I am this lean (my body fat percentage is approximately 12%). Essential fats are monounsatured and polyunsatured fats, rather than the saturated and trans fats which are as gross as they sound. One can get these healthy fats from foods like nuts; I personally aim to eat a packet of nuts per day.
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| I got ahold of some Kefir while it was on sale recently. It is normally quite expensive but one 250ml bottle contains 25% of your RDA of vitamins B2 and B12, 40% RDA of Calcium, 30% RDA of Phosphorous 7.5g of Protein, lots of antioxidants and is pro-biotic. |
Vegetarianism is a modernist luxury and, unless I see evidence to the contrary, it is likely impossible to survive on a paleo diet – meat diet. A paleo – meat diet would essentially be a raw vegan diet which is extremely unhealthy as one is likely to become deficient in all manner of nutrients such as protein, Iron, K2 and Riboflavin.
Paleo generally disallows dairy products, but at the present time I find milk to be a good and affordable source of protein and also of fats. I regularly drink Icelandic Skyr (high protein traditional yoghurt) and Kefir (Caucasian drinking yoghurt, traditionally made with goat’s milk). Shirali Muslimov, a Caucasian man who claimed to be 160 years old at the time of his death, attributed his long life to daily drinking of Kefir, which is very high in antioxidants.
Avoiding refined sugars:
If I eat bread, which I usually only have either in the mornings or before a training session, I have brown bread. Unlike white bread, brown bread doesn’t generally contain sugar and whilst it is a good source of energy it doesn’t make you nearly as fat.
I rarely drink sugary drinks, only fruit juice on a regular basis. Fizzy drinks taste disgusting, are filled with mind and body altering additives and large quantities of sugar.
I use sweeteners in place of sugar when I drink coffee or tea, but am careful to avoid sweeteners such as Aspartame and Akesulfame-K, which present documented health risks. My sweetener of choice is Sodium Saccharin, a plant-based sweetener.
My thoughts on Vitamin Supplementing:
I have experimented with vitamin supplements over the years, particularly with Vitamin D and also with multivitamin supplements. I currently don’t regularly take any vitamin supplements but in winter to balance out the lack of sunlight and my suboptimal skin colour in relation to my environment I have in the past supplemented Vitamin D3 with no noticeable effect on my health.
My issue with vitamin supplements lies in the bioavailability of the vitamins within the supplement. “Bioavailability” refers to the percentage of the compound consumed to be digested and utilised by the body. Vitamin supplements, and particularly cheaper one’s like the one’s I have had experience using (I used a Holland and Barrett D3 supplement and a Swisse multivitamin particularly) have a low level of bioavailability. What this means is that you are supplementing a vitamin simply to have a high-quality piss to feeds the rats down the drainpipe with, very little of the vitamin is getting into your blood. I don’t claim to be an expert in biochemistry, but from my own reading over the years it has stuck with me that vitamins from natural food sources are more bioavailable.
Quality Water:
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| If I do say so myself, my lats are fairly developed and I attribute this to my deadlift work which a lot of gym-goers shy away from for some reason. I agree with The Golden One that its very difficult to develop a strong back without deadlifts. My current 1RM is 95kg. |
What about water?
I stopped drinking tap water around 2 years ago after research and personal experience that demonstrated to me that continuing to drink it was seriously harmful. Tap water contains lead, mercury, cleaning chemicals, dissolved toilet paper, fluoride (a brain depressant) and large amounts of bacteria. When we drink tap water, we are essentially drinking the inside of a drainpipe; remember that.
Good quality water is so affordable and accessible that it doesn’t make any sense not to drink it. Its actuality cheaper than tap water to do what I do, which is to buy huge 5 litre bottles of Spring Water from ALDI, which are about £1 each. For £5, I end up with 25 litres which lasts my household for about 2 weeks.
If I run out of spring water, I sometimes have to use tap water. However, since I have become so attuned to quality spring water when I now drink tap water it actually makes me feel sick and light headed. It is strange how desensitized we become to these things.
If I lived in an area where it was accessible, and if you do, I would highly recommend spring water foraging. This involves going to a fresh water spring in nature and collecting the water yourself; its completely free and healthy.
Fertility & Balancing out hormones:
In an off-grid world, maintaining natural levels of sex hormones such as testosterone, progesterone, oestrogen and the like through natural means becomes of paramount importance. There won’t be any more IVF treatments, hormone replacement therapies or easy corner-cutting tactics. The natural world is a brutal but fair world. If you treat your body like crap or you have poor genetics: the gene pool is going to cut you out.
For most people with hormone deficiencies, the issue is fortunately merely a result of a poor diet or poor lifestyle. 1 in 4 men over the age of 30 have testosterone levels below the healthy range, and even those with testosterone levels within the normal range have suboptimal levels of testosterone. Low testosterone in men makes them bitchy and whiny, fat, unmotivated and overly emotional. Essentially, low testosterone in men turns gives a man all of the bad qualities of a woman with none of the good qualities.
The opposite is true in women. A significant proportion of women, particularly younger women, have suboptimal oestrogen levels. However, oestrogen levels increase as women age; therefore, older women have healthier hormone levels. In women, low levels of oestrogen make women aggressive, shrinks breast tissue, makes them too thin and has likely single-handedly caused the Feminism Crisis. The reason women (and low testosterone men) generally start to carry more lumber as they get older is because of this rise in oestrogen. In general, modern women have deficient levels of oestrogen which is causing a lot of the problem we are seeing with the increasing levels of transvestite behaviours because peoples’ hormones are all over the place. The reason a lot of modern women are angry, have no sex drive, are obsessed with their career and hate children is to do with hormonal deficiencies.
A 2007 study found a “substantial” drop in U.S. men’s testosterone levels since the 1980s, but the reasons for the decline were considered “unclear”. This trend also does not appear to be related to age.
The average levels of the male hormone dropped by 1 percent a year, Dr. Thomas Travison and colleagues from the New England Research Institutes in Watertown, Massachusetts, found. This means that, for example, a 65-year-old man in 2002 would have testosterone levels 15 percent lower than those of a 65-year-old in 1987. This also means that a greater proportion of men in 2002 would have had below-normal testosterone levels than in 1987.
For men, the best foods to eat to boost testosterone levels are foods that are rich in cholesterol. In recent years, the compound cholesterol has been demonised for its contribution towards heart disease, but what people don’t understand is that there are two types of cholesterol: “good cholesterol”, HDL (High Density Lipoprotein) and “bad cholesterol”, LDL (Low Density Lipoprotein). LDL is the primary contributor towards heart disease whilst HDL is one of the most important compounds in the human body and men aren’t getting enough of it. HDL cholesterol is found in eggs, flax seed, oranges, fish oil and krill oil.
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| My legs are currently my weakest area. My current focus is on getting my Squat 1RM up from 60kg to 80kg. |
The reason HDL is so important for men is because HDL breaks down into testosterone, and thus if a person isn’t eating food with enough HDL in it then they are going to be testosterone deficient. The demonising of cholesterol as an entire chemical group is ridiculous. For men, to get your hormones in balance its important to eat HDL foods on a regular basis. Fish oil and krill oil are great if you can stomach the taste, but I personally can’t and instead prefer to have lots of eggs. The yoke of the egg is the part that contains the cholesterol so don’t leave out the yokes!
For women, the main aim should be to increase oestrogen and progesterone levels. Some women have irregular cycles and infertility issues caused by low progesterone. Getting pregnant really isn’t a concern of mine so I won’t claim to be an expert on the subject, but leafy greens like spinach and kale contain a lot of progesterone so be sure to get enough of them. Kale is great for all sorts of things; it contains an array of vitamins and protein and also grows all year round, so I grow it in my garden and eat it as a better alternative to lettuce.
My physiological statistics:
Height: 5ft 9.5
Weight: 8.5 stone / 54kg
Body Fat Index: Around 12% (Based off calliper testing and comparing with other athletes)
Waist circumference: 26 inches
Bicep Circumference: 11 inches
Neck Circumference: 13 inches
Arthur Hath Risen 