As with any intermittent fasting plan, the warrior diet limits the times during the day when you are permitted to eat, advocating a single meal a day. But is this way of eating effective for losing weight, and more importantly, is it safe and sustainable in the long term? This guide will tell you everything you need to know.
What Is the Warrior Diet?
The warrior diet is based on a book of the same name written by Ori Hofmekler, and it claims to “switch on your biological powerhouse for high energy, explosive strength, and a leaner, harder body.” The plan is a version of intermittent fasting that alternates a period of fasting with a small window of time in which to eat all of the day’s calories. The warrior diet promotes exercising and undereating during the day, when our nomadic and hunter-gathering ancestors would likely be busy finding food rather than eating it. For exercise, the diet encourages short workouts that emphasize strength training, especially for your joints and back, and high-velocity exercises such as jumps, kicks, and sprints. During the day, raw vegetables and fruit, small amounts of protein, and beverages including water, natural juices, coffee, and tea are permitted. The book states that this period should not last more than 16 to 18 hours, but many newer variations of the diet encourage undereating or not eating at all for 20 hours. Then in the evening, you eat one large meal. There are no restrictions on how much or what kind of food you eat, so you can include any protein, fat, and carbs you want. Diets that are centered around intermittent fasting, like the warrior diet, may also put your body into ketosis, according to research published in October 2017 in Ageing Research Reviews. Ketosis, the basis of the keto diet, is a metabolic state in which your body gets its fuel from fat rather than sugar. But experts are skeptical about the benefits of the warrior diet. “The plan encourages a swing from starvation to bingeing, and it’s not really something a body could or should withstand without consequence. It makes your body either starve and feel really deprived, or it makes your body work so hard to try to get rid of that giant eating binge,” says Bonnie Taub-Dix, RDN, author of Read It Before You Eat It: Taking You From Label to Table.
Better Blood Pressure and Cholesterol Levels A review published in October 2021 in the Annual Review of Nutrition found that intermittent fasting may lower blood pressure and cholesterol levels.Improved Insulin Resistance The same study also reported a link between intermittent fasting and decreased insulin resistance.Reduced Inflammation A study published in Nutrition Research examined people who fasted for Ramadan and found that fasting lowered inflammation levels.Better Brain Health A study published in December 2018 in Aging and Disease found that intermittent fasting might delay age-related brain impairments and improve recovery from stroke.Protection Against Alzheimer’s Disease A study published in November 2017 in Frontiers in Molecular Neuroscience found that intermittent fasting may help protect against Alzheimer’s in mice. However, it’s not known whether humans will have similar results.Lower Cancer Risk A study published in November 2018 in Nature Reviews: Cancer found that fasting might reduce your risk of developing cancer.
It’s not clear whether the warrior diet would confer the same benefits as other types of intermittent fasting. And even if it does, this trendy version of the diet might not be your best choice. “I don’t want to discount intermittent fasting, because there’s some good research behind it,” says Samantha Cassetty, a registered dietitian based in New York City and the coauthor of Sugar Shock. “But this is an extreme version where you’re only eating in a small window. It’s unhelpful, unrealistic, and unsustainable for most people.” “If you’re doing this diet for weight loss, the reason it might be working is because it is reducing your calorie load. There’s no magic to it,” Cassetty says. It can be difficult to eat a day’s worth of calories or more in a short window of time. Of course, it isn’t impossible to do so, and you could also gain weight if you eat an excessive amount during your daily window, Taub-Dix points out.
Fresh raw fruits and veggiesUp to 6 ounces of protein, such as eggs, chicken or turkey breast, fish, shellfish, plain low-fat or nonfat yogurt or kefir, cottage cheese, whey protein, nuts, or protein powderFreshly squeezed fruit and veggie juicesWaterCoffee (a small amount of milk is fine but no sugar)Tea
During the diet’s eating window, it is recommended that you start your meal with raw vegetables, then add protein and cooked veggies, and finally whole-grain carbohydrates. Include a variety of tastes, textures, aromas, colors, and temperatures. You can eat:
VegetablesFruitsEggsMilk, cheese, and other dairy products, preferably low fat or nonfatButterLean meat and poultryFishBeansNuts and seedsLegumesCheeseOils, except hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated oils and margarineWhole-food carbohydrates, such as carrots, beets, pumpkin, and squashGrains such as rice, oats, quinoa, barley, and milletFermented foodsOne glass of wine
Refined sugar and refined, processed pastries are not allowed on the warrior diet.
Day 1
Curry chicken in tomato broth, steamed vegetables, and low-carb pumpkin cheesecake
Day 2
Baked red snapper, zucchini fries, and crepe blintzes
Day 3
Pepper beef and broccoli and warm raspberries with yogurt
Day 4
Egg white omelet with black beans and berries with maple syrup and red wine
Day 5
Angel hair rice pasta with tomato sauce and eggs and papaya gelatin
Day 6
Turkey-stuffed peppers and a green citrus smoothie
Day 7
Chicken chipotle flatbread and low-carb pecan pie It’s not for everybody, however. Taub-Dix says that it’s particularly risky for people with disordered eating, people with diabetes, children, women who are pregnant or lactating, and older adults. She doesn’t recommend it for anyone, and she says if you want to try it, you should talk to your doctor or dietitian first. If you decide to try the warrior diet, you may need to figure out how you’ll manage social situations and family activities that include meals outside of your eating time. “When any eating plan restricts you from socializing or enjoying meals with friends and family, I think that’s a red flag,” Cassetty says. The small window of eating time may make it difficult to get the nutrients you need. Cassetty pointed to protein, which ideally you want to eat throughout the day to help rebuild your muscle tissue. “This type of calorie restriction can also trigger stress, make you preoccupied with food, make you hungry and irritable, and promote headaches,” she says. And if you have kids, it’s not a good eating plan to model for them, since it signals that there’s something wrong with eating meals at routine times. It might be hard to time your exercise with your eating. “If you’re exercising in the morning, that could put you at risk of fainting, dizziness, nausea, headache, or injuring yourself,” Cassetty says. And if you’re going to restrict your eating time, eating earlier in the day is preferable since that’s when your metabolism is most efficient, according to a study published in March 2021 in Biomolecules. This is the original book that launched the warrior diet
Favorite App
Window Use this app to track your intermittent fasting meal windows.
Favorite Recipes
Warrior Lifestyle This site has a host of resources to try if you’re following the warrior diet.
Favorite Podcast
The Warrior Diet Episode on ‘The Intermittent Fasting Podcast’ Take an hourlong dive into the ins and outs of the warrior diet.
