4-Hour Body: The Slow Carb Diet

Okay.

We know you are all very curious to hear more about this whole 4-Hour Body thing that we shared with you on this post. You have been asking us a lot of questions, voicing a lot of opinions, and shocking us with your interest in the 4-Hour Body. 

We want you to fully understand what this program/diet/thing is all about, so we will give you some of the basics from our diet. 

First of all, the book is big. The author, Tim Ferriss, does not recommend reading it all at once. He suggests choosing a few of the sections to read and focus on, depending on how you want to improve your body. We chose to do "The Slow Carb Diet" and "Building the Perfect Posterier" (gaining muscle/strength). For now, we will just try to unravel the Slow Carb Diet chapter for you. 

The Slow Carb Diet:

RULE #1: NO WHITE CARBOHYDRATES

prohibited: all bread, rice (including brown), cereal, potatoes, pasta, tortillas, and fried food with breading. Tim Ferris says, "don't eat white stuff unless you want to get fatter" 

RULE #2: EAT THE SAME FEW MEALS OVER AND OVER AGAIN

"The most successful dieters, regardless of whether their goal is muscle gain or fat-loss, eat the same few meals over and over again. There are 47,000 products in the average U.S. grocery store, but only a handful of them won't make you fat.
Mix and match from the following list, constructing each meal with one pick from each of the three groups. I've starred the choices that produce the fastest fat-loss for me" - Tim Ferriss

Proteins
*Egg whites with 1–2 whole eggs for flavor (or, if organic, 2–5 whole eggs, including yolks)
*Chicken breast or thigh
*Black beans
*Beef (preferably grass-fed)
Pork
*Fish

Legumes
*Lentils (also called "dal" or "daal")
Pinto beans
Red beans
Soybeans

Vegetables
*Spinach
*Mixed vegetables (including broccoli, cauliflower, or any other cruciferous vegetables)
*Sauerkraut, kimchee (full explanation of these later in "Damage Control")
Asparagus
Peas
Broccoli
Green beans

Ferriss also suggests eating a lot of these foods. He usually does 5 meals a day with four hours in between each meal. 

RULE #3: DON'T DRINK CALORIES

"Drink massive quantities of water and as much unsweetened tea, coffee (with no more than two tablespoons of cream; I suggest using cinnamon instead), or other no-calorie/low-calorie beverages as you like. Do not drink milk (including soy milk), normal soft drinks, or fruit juice. Limit diet soft drinks to no more than 16 ounces per day if you can, as the aspartame can stimulate weight gain.

I'm a wine fanatic and have one to two glasses of red wine almost every evening. It doesn't appear to have any negative impact on my rate of fat-loss. Red wine is by no means required for this diet to work, but it's 100% allowed (unlike white wines and beer, both of which should be avoided). Up to two glasses of red per night, no more." 

RULE #4: DON'T EAT FRUIT

"Humans don't need fruit six days a week, and they certainly don't need it year-round. If your ancestors were from Europe, for example, how much fruit did they eat in the winter 500 years ago? Think they had Florida oranges in December? Not a chance. But you're still here, so the lineage somehow survived.
The only exceptions to the no-fruit rule are tomatoes and avocadoes, and the latter should be eaten in moderation (no more than one cup or one meal per day). Otherwise, just say no to fruit and its principal sugar, fructose, which is converted to glycerol phosphate more efficiently than almost all other carbohydrates. Glycerol phosphate p triglycerides (via the liver) p fat storage. There are a few biochemical exceptions to this, but avoiding fruit six days per week is the most reliable policy.
But what's this "six days a week" business? It's the seventh day that allows you, if you so desire, to eat peach crepes and banana bread until you go into a coma."

RULE #5: TAKE ONE DAY OFF PER WEEK

"I recommend Saturdays as your Dieters Gone Wild (DGW) day. I am allowed to eat whatever I want on Saturdays, and I go out of my way to eat ice cream, Snickers, Take 5, and all of my other vices in excess. If I drank beer, I'd have a few pints of Paulaner Hefe-Weizen.
I make myself a little sick each Saturday and don't want to look at any junk for the rest of the week. Paradoxically, dramatically spiking caloric intake in this way once per week increases fat-loss by ensuring that your metabolic rate (thyroid function and conversion of T4 to T3, etc.) doesn't downshift from extended caloric restriction.
That's right: eating pure crap can help you lose fat. Welcome to Utopia. There are no limits or boundaries during this day of gluttonous enjoyment. There is absolutely no calorie counting on this diet, on this day or any other.
Start the diet at least five days before your designated cheat day. If you choose Saturday, for example, I would suggest starting your diet on a Monday.

That's All, Folks!

If the founding fathers could sum up our government in a six-page constitution, the above is all we need to summarize rapid fat-loss for 99.99% of the population. Followed to the letter, I've never seen it fail. Never." 

So there it is. We have already lost pounds and inches of fat, we feel healthier than ever, and we look forward to cheat day (Saturday) every week :) 

What do you think of the Slow Carb Diet? Are you skeptical? It's okay, most people are. All I can say is, don't judge it until you try it. This Tim Ferriss guys knows his stuff.