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Monday, January 17, 2011

The Cheetah & The Cow


The cheetah is the fastest land animal on earth capable of reaching speeds up to 70 mph (112 km/h). It is a muscular, slim and athletic hunter.  Note its strong shoulders, arched back, svelte waist and powerful hind quarters.  Shown at full stride in the picture above, it is elegant and majestic.

Most of the time, it lounges and plays.  When its time to hunt, the cheetah will stalk and expend sudden bursts of energy to chase down prey.  Full sprints chases usually last 20 seconds and seldom go longer than a minute.

The cow on the other hand, is a domesticated animal which doesn't hunt. As a ruminant, it is a herbivore and grazes between 7 to 12 hours a day. Commercially bred cows are fed a high-grain diet to facilitate rapid weight gain.  I think the cow reminds me of a modern sedentary office worker.


We end up looking like what we eat.  Do we graze or only eat when we are hungry?  Do we plod along like a cow or do our exercise patterns mirror the sudden energy intensive patterns of a cheetah?

To summarize, I work like a cow but play like a cheetah.  :)

Victor

3 comments:

  1. Love the blog, been reading it and have lots of questions Vic!

    I really like the intermittent fasting thing...does the body go into starvation mode after only a few hours, or does will the metabolism be up for a day/few days with the fasting?

    And what about times to eat... can breakfast be skipped for example? And can one eat a meal, say at 9pm at night?

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  2. Starvation mode doesn't occur until after about 60 hours into fasting. Since we're only skipping a meal or two, the body never enters starvation mode. What it does is burn glucose, glycogen and fat.

    While the stomach may feel emtpy, it is actually an alive, alert feeling. Its best to try fasting only when you have adapted to a lower carb diet. Going cold turkey can be challenging.

    I normally skip breakfasts to keep my eating window between 12 pm to 9pm. Plain coffee, teas, water is great. No pop, diet pop, juices or anything with sugar or artificial sweeteners.

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  3. Well, I've been doing your diet for two weeks, since you sent that photo out and I already slimmed down a lot.

    I'm reading the science on the PaNu and other sites and wow, it's great.

    ReplyDelete