life span.’’ Exercising while undereating, in Hofme-
kler’s opinion, ‘‘forces the body to detoxify, burn fat
and inhibit fat gain.’’ During the undereating phase of
the daily cycle, the body’s survival mode is dominated
by part of the autonomic nervous system (the part of
the nervous system that supplies the heart, glands, and
digestive tract, and governs involuntary body func-
tions) known as the sympathetic nervous system, or
SNS. The sympathetic nervous system functions to
increase heart rate, increase blood flow to the skeletal
muscles, and divert blood flow away from the gastro-
intenstinal system. Eating as little food as possible
keeps the body operating under the control of the
SNS, ‘‘and that’s when most energy comes from fat
burning.’’ Hofmekler maintains that undereating
increases the body’s utilization of protein by as much
as 160 percent.
The overeating part of the cycle allows the para-
sympathetic nervous system (PSNS), the other major
component of the autonomic nervous system, to take
over and regulate digestion, elimination, and other
metabolic activities that slow people down and pre-
pare them to sleep. Hofmekler believes that people do
not need to count calories for their nighttime meal;
rather, their instincts will tell them how much to eat.
In an article titled ‘‘Your Warrior Diet Questions
Answered,’’ he states, ‘‘The Warrior principles are
very simple: one meal a day at night. The Warrior
diet is based on instinctual principles in which one
does not have to check exact times, or for that matter,
count calories or restrict macronutrients.’’ In an inter-
view from 1999, he told the reporter, ‘‘Your body...
will tell you exactly what it needs [in terms of protein]....
It’s not a diet that’s ketogenic or based on suffering
and you count the hours. With the Warrior diet, every
day has a happy ending.’’
Hofmekler does not, however, trust people’s instincts
completely. His diet has a fairly long list of dos and
don’ts:
Avoid processed foods.
Eat only organic foods, because ordinary supermar-
ket produce and dairy products contain estrogens.
Drink only filtered water, and use only filtered water
in cooking.
Minimize the consumption of foods that are wrapped
or bottled in plastic containers, particularly soft plas-
tics. Do not store food in plastic containers at home.
Plastic fibers contain ‘‘estrogenic chemicals that are
dangerous to our health.’’
Minimize alcohol consumption because alcohol com-
promises the liver’s ability to rid the body of estrogens.
Eat carbohydrates last during the evening meal in
order to stabilize the level of insulin in the blood.
Cycle between high fat and high carbohydrate days
in order to maximize the body’s fat burning during
exercise.Exercise
Hofmekler considers exercise an important part of
fat burning during the undereating part of the daily
cycle. He recommends whole-body workouts (squats,
chin-ups, high jumps, frog jumps, kicks, sprints, and
presses) rather than exercises aimed at only one part of
the body, such as the abdomen or upper arms. Based
on his notion that Roman soldiers had to carry 40 to
60 pounds of arms and equipment on the back and
shoulders while marching 30 to 40 miles a day, he
maintains that exercise should focus on building
strong joints and a strong back. He also thinks that
workouts should be short and intense, no longer than
20 to 45 minutes.
A key part of the Warrior diet exercise regimen is
what Hofmekler calls Controlled Fatigue Training or
CFT. Basically, CFT means that the person continues
to exercise when they already feel fatigued, using
workout sets that mimic the fight-or-flight responses
that prehistoric people needed when they had to hunt
or fight while they were hungry. Hofmekler maintains
that humans have inherited so-called thrifty genes
from their Stone Age ancestors that make them better
able to survive under conditions of biological stress,
and that CFT activates those genes. The slogan for
CFT is ‘‘If you are not actively surviving, you are
passively dying.’’Nutriceuticals and dietary supplements
Hofmekler markets a number of protein powders,
protein bars, and dietary supplementsintended to
help the body burn fat, detoxify, rid itself of estrogenic
compounds from the environment, and maintain a
normal hormonal balance. Warrior Milk is a protein
powder intended to be mixed withwateror milk to
form a pudding-like ‘‘treat.’’ These products, some of
which are sold through a website called Defense Nutri-
tion, are said to be free of chemical additives, alcohol,
food coloring, preservatives, or fillers.Estrogen inhibitors
As the reader may have noticed from some of the
foregoing material, Hofmekler maintains that excess
‘‘estrogen mimickers’’ from the food supply and the
environment lie at the root of most chronic disorders
of modern humans, with overwhelming and sometimesWarrior diet