May 22, 20194 min read

Abel James the Fat Burning Man on Ancestral Eating, Optimal Living, and Diet Wars

Updated: Apr 22, 2020

Listen on

Apple Podcasts // Spotify // CastBox // Overcast

Hello again, my friends. Welcome back, I’m Brian Sanders and this the podcast that you just turned on and don’t need a reminder on what it’s called. But maybe you need a reminder of my name because I didn't put it on the cover art and I didn’t put a picture of myself with my shirt off… yet. That’s how you’ll know it’s a real podcast in the Fitness & Nutrition section of iTunes. Until then, I’ll just say hello again to return listeners and if this is your first episode make sure to start back at episode one. Every episode is important and a valuable piece of this elaborate web we call nutrition and health.

I had a great time kicking back with the Fat Burning Man Abel James in this episode today. We are on a really similar paths and believe in a lot of the same things. He has a degree from Dartmouth in Psychological and Brain Sciences, he’s the author of The Wild Diet, he’s a radio show host, musician, and was also featured on the ABC show Diet Wars where he helped his contestant Kurt lose 50 pounds in 6 weeks using, you guessed it, a high fat diet.

He’s a great resource for everyday living and tips and an awesome member of the community. Let’s get to the episode after a few brief updates of what’s going on lately.

We’re selling out of a lot of the great grass finished sustainably raised meats at http://NoseToTail.org Maybe don’t try to put in an order just yet. It’s a complicated process to use an entire animal, butcher it into all the cuts, manage an inventory, and ship it out across the country.

In the meantime if you’d like to support this show you can become a member of the tribe on Patreon at http://patreon.com/peakhuman. You’ll get access to the comprehensive show notes Keto Kristi does there. It really will help to keep this content free. And if you’re one of the few people who hasn’t pre-ordered the Food Lies film you can do so at http://indiegogo.com/projects/food-lies-post

I’m about to put in another Eat Meat shirt order so grab one on Indiegogo quick. This really is a tribe and the whole community is involved in making it work. Thanks so much, I really can’t express how appreciative I am of everyone. Let’s hear from the fat burning fella himself, Abel James.

BUY THE MEAT NosetoTail.org

Preorder Food Lies: http://indiegogo.com/projects/food-lies-post

Support me on Patreon! http://patreon.com/peakhuman

SHOW NOTES

Traveling opened his eyes to other ideas around food and the culture around foods
There is a lot of tradition around food that people in the US are not aware of
Fast food and institutions changed the traditions in the Western world
Our ancestors had the right instincts around food, our grandparents never ate like we do now
It just takes a little bit of common sense to realize why our current nutrition climate is flawed
quote from Nina Teicholz “but like lost languages, lost skills, and lost songs, it takes only a few generations to forget”
We live in this world where things are supposed to be getting better and improving yet we have so many problems
Abel’s technology detox went as long as 8 months
If you believe in fasting than you should believe in taking breaks from technology
We should be eating seasonally
How he turned to a minimalist lifestyle, sold all his belongings, and travelled around with his wife
His “Wild Diet” is based on eating whole foods, primarily seasonal vegetables and meat
Most of your energy will come from fat if you are eating an ancestral diet
You can abuse anything that starts out as healthy, so eat seasonally
The American diet has extremely low diversity, ancestrally we had a lot of diversity in the diet
Eating intuitively
On a day to day basis he incorporates fasting, he started with 16/8 but now he prefers to eat only one meal a day which comes naturally for him
He breaks his fast with some raw vegetables and bone broth, and for dinner he will have a home-made meal
Eating out all the time likely leads to eating poor quality food
He packs his own food when he travels
When you prepare your own food, you know what’s in it, you have confidence in it and you won’t be blindsided by foods that set off cravings for days
It’s important to recognize your “trigger foods”
Are the foods you are eating making you hungrier or satiating? This is a good compass and very telling of if you are eating the right foods
The words “paleo” and “keto” are misleading people to think these are health foods when they are still hyper-palatable processed foods
If he wants to celebrate with food he will make a healthier alternative
He was featured on the TV show: ABC TV called Diet Wars, a fitness and weight loss competition where trainers/coaches compete to get their clients to lose weight
His client lost 82 pounds and has kept the weight off after a few years
During the Biggest Loser, everyone regained all their weight or more, it’s not healthy to lose weight extremely quickly or in unhealthy ways there are ways to do it healthy
His strategy was to eat whole foods, embracting fat, and utilizing intermittent fasting
Nutrition is blown out of proportion in the media with names like vegan, paleo, and keto, everyone is looking for the new next diet but the truths lie in these simple principles and there’s no one diet fits all
His show was almost 10 years ago and he still believes in the same principles
Where to find Abel James:
www.fatburningman.com for health and food related content
www.abeljames.com for music related content