The Metabolic Typing Diet

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One man's food is another man's poison.

Imagine there were three different types of fuel that every car could run on, gasoline, diesel, and vegetable oil. However, rather than just running on a single fuel, a mixture of the three was needed for each car to run at full capacity. Every make and model had its own perfect ratio of gasoline to diesel to vegetable oil. If the ratio was off, the car would lose power and performance, suffer reduced fuel efficiency, and break down more rapidly. On the other hand, when the fuel ratio was perfect to the vehicles requirements, its performance would improve, fuel efficiency would be maximized, and maintenance work like inflating tires and changing oil would feel like a thing of the past. In other words, a station wagon would begin to look, feel, and perform more like a Mercedes-Benz. Wouldn't everyone want to find out their vehicle's perfect fuel ratio and make sure they stuck to that ratio as much as possible?

This month's book review is on William Wolcott's The Metabolic Typing Diet. If you have ever attempted to find, read, and understand diet advice, you have likely found it only leads to one thing, no not results, confusion. Not confusion because the material is too complicated to understand, but rather, confusion due to the fact that so many books, articles, and celebrity trainers either offer contradicting advice, or severely water down a single point or philosophy to the degree that their theory could, and in all likelihood, should, be expressed in a Tweet of less than 140 characters instead of an over-priced 'best seller' with a flashy cover and not one credible reference. However, the concern of this review is not with the abundance of misinformation. It is with the addressing one of the reasons why there are so many conflicting viewpoints regarding nutrition.

Going back to the hypothetical car situation with the different ratios of fuel, you can hopefully connect the metaphor of the vehicle as a human body and the gasoline, diesel, and vegetable oil as protein, fat, and carbohydrates. This means that, yes, every person has their own ideal ratio of protein, fat, and carbohydrates, also known as their metabolic type, and that yes, someone whose bodily systems are functioning like an old station wagon can improve them to that of a MercedesBenz with the right nutrient combinations, and vice-versa with the wrong nutrient combinations. This is due to the nutrients affects on what Wolcott calls 'fundamental homeostatic controls'. In other words, balances that keep the body functioning how it is supposed to function.

Applying this thought process to the mixed success rates on vastly different diets, it becomes clear that when people have success on a diet they are likely eating in accordance with their metabolic type. On the other hand, when people do not have success on a diet, or even take steps backwards, they probably are not getting in the correct fuel mixture their body needs. One person's food can literally be another's poison.

If you have ever been frustrated sorting through the piles of nutritional misinformation, have ever had trouble figuring out what to eat, how much to eat, and when to eat to achieve your goals, or have tried diets in the past but failed for any reason, then Self Made Nutrition is for you. Officially launching later this year, Self Made Nutrition will look to cut through the dietary myths and help people achieve real and sustainable results by figuring out their ideal nutritional requirements, maximizing function of the many systems of the body required for optimal health, and developing the habits to make it a life long change. Keep a lookout on SelfMadeFitness.com for more information and updates as the we get closer to the launch!

Enjoy this review? Get a copy of The Metabolic Typing Diet in the Self Made® Book Store!

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