Saturday, January 21, 2012

Lew Rockwell versus David Friedman on Losing Weight

David Friedman says:
It occurs to me that the malfunctions of the fast mind may help explain why it is so hard to lose weight. Consider the well known principle of caloric leakage, the principle that holds that although a cookie has lots of calories, a piece of a broken cookie does not, the calories having leaked out—so you might as well eat it. Or consider my well established weakness for marginal cost zero food—another serving at an all-you-can-eat buffet.

The explanation for caloric leakage is the inability of my fast mind to deal with fine distinctions—a piece of a cookie is entirely different from a cookie, cannot be viewed as half a cookie, and so my knowledge that it has half the calories of the cookie never gets triggered. The explanation for the second problem is that, faced with zero marginal cost food, I have no need to pass the decision of whether to eat it on to my slow mind to decide whether it is worth the cost in money—and my fast mind doesn't worry about the cost in calories.
Lew says toss the cookie crumble equations, go primal, and just eat like you are supposed to.

Empirical proof:






15 comments:

  1. I eat primal 99% of the time. The only problem I have is that I really like beer-- it's a hard habit to kick.

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    1. I must agree, it is the hardest thing to stop, I love my beer and micro breweries but have been avoiding it as I change, 2 months in and already down 20 lbs and 3 inches around my waist.

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  2. Oh yeah, Lew was getting kind of chunky there for a while. I am glad to see that he's sticking with it. However, the primal blueprint isn't so much about losing weight as it is to allow your body to work as efficiently as possible.

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  3. Good for Lew! I couldn't help but notice his transformation over the last few months.

    I cannot recommend the Primal Blueprint strongly enough. I went primal over a year and a half ago and I'm never looking back. I was already healthy and in good shape prior to going primal but the difference in how I feel on a day-to-day basis now versus how I felt a couple of years back is like night and day.

    I'm stronger and faster now despite the fact I workout significantly less. My recovery time between workouts is shorter, I focus better during the day, sleep better at night and I'm no longer plagued by strong bouts of hunger during the day (these used to be very strong following workouts).

    Going primal changed my entire approach to eating and nutrition and all for the better. I'm glad to see Lew is enjoying the same success.

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  4. I switched to the "primal eating" approach almost a year ago. I lost 30+ lbs, skin conditions disappeared, joint aches eliminated. During this one year period walking was the only exercise I did, most of it on the weekends. Dr. Paul cured my political apathy. "Primal" eating cured my health.

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  5. Lew looks great! I noticed the change two months ago or so. Outstanding!

    I largely eat primal, and as a 49 year old, am back to my Navy Lieutenant weight without even trying, 25 years later.

    Highly recommended (though blood type As should go heavy on veggies and light on meat/protein, per 'The Blood Type Diet', also highly recommended).

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  6. It's always entertaining watching people with no willpower justify why their lack of willpower is not the cause of their problems.

    "I'm not fat because I keep putting unhealthy food in my mouth and get no exercise. I'm fat because I eat at a buffet where additional servings come with zero cost."

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  7. Lew is looking awfully good these days; so much more trim. I want to echo what others have already said here, how going Primal has helped me. Once I went primal, I didn't want to live any other wait. Eating bacon and eggs for breakfast every morning and lose weight? Sign me up, haha! In all seriousness, I really do enjoy the primal life style. Mark does such a great job explaining everything in his book (http://goo.gl/CRcGb) and on his blog.

    People shouldn't eat grains and sugars, but for the most part, people aren't willing to give those two things up. This is why we see so much obesity. Once you give up the grains and sugars, the weight comes off. It's how our ancestors lived, it's how we should live. Simple as that.

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  8. Lost a lot of weight with Weight Watchers online, but was always hungry, and had some lingering health problems I suspected to be diet-related. I started Primal this year, and have lost an additional few pounds. The big change however is that my health issues have improved dramatically.

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  9. now if only the primal lifestyle regrew hair... ;-)

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    1. This is a half-serious comment, but I'll let you know there is a serious answer to it. First of all, you may have a magnesium imbalance. If you do not, you might try some 100% pure Castor Oil (no hexane!). This stuff is thick and oily so a little bit goes a long way. It *may* help you regrow hair. It also has been known to resolve skin ailments, and I have personally used it successfully to help with muscle aches and pains in place of NSAIDs. I have found it does reduce swelling. A little internet research will give you some decent info.

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  10. This post is getting new found popularity from LRC since its original posting so I'll post my comments now.

    To the person above that suggested the blood type diet is good to follow, I'm sorry but the entire premise of the diet is bunk. I repeat, the blood type diet is unsubstantiated and frankly full of basic inaccuracies that form its central thesis.(Such as O being the oldest blood type when it's really the youngest)

    Regarding actual, working methods and lifestyles, in addition to Mark Sisson as ambassador to the primal/paleo/evolutionary movement is a gentleman named Arthur DeVany. He's considered the grandfather of the movement, and at 70+ he's still in fantastic shape. I mention him specifically here because he's a free market economist by profession as well as a promoter of the evolutionary lifestyle for health and wellness.

    His book is called "The New Evolution Diet" and he calls the diet (for lack of a better term) "Evolutionary Fitness" (EvFit/ EF) for those looking for more information.

    I, like Tom Woods, can personally vouch for the EF lifestyle. I moved from 224 lbs in June 2009 to 178 lbs at the end of that same August without any difficulty or discomfort. Embrace fats, its the key to our wellness.

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  11. Now we have to work on DiLorenzo and Block. ;-)

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  12. I'm doing intermittent fasting in addition to Primal....it's made me feel even better.

    I only do 2-24 hour periods a week(I did a couple of 36 hours fasts, it's not for me), but I do a light intermittent run at the end of my 24 hour fasts and it feels great.

    Good stuff!

    I'm not in my rugby playing shape of twenty years ago...yet-but it shouldn't be long.

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