Clarence Bass – 180 Degree Health
Bass is a famous ripped old dude, known for his multiple Over-40 Mr. America titles and maintenance of a very impressive physique all the way into his 70′s as shown in the photo (age 70).
Bass is an excellent example of someone who truly has achieved great leanness and has maintained that leanness his entire life – and done so without excessive strain, hunger, and so on. His secret – a coarse, low-calorie density whole foods diet of “coarse,” and more or less allowing the weight to come off naturally by eating to appetite of a whole foods diet (high-carb/low-fat relatively speaking) while doing a lot of exercise (but nothing absurd – his exercise routine includes a couple of 20-minute aerobic intervals per week, a couple of leisurely hikes, and two full-body weightlifting sessions).
Although Bass should not be worshipped for his appearance of health – he has had many health problems recently including hip replacement, osteoarthritis, and hypertriglyceridemia (I probably would too if I consumed soy milk, skim milk, and a peanut butter sandwich every day and fruit with every meal), clearly he has some secrets to share. His main secret, as you can read about in this online article, is simply eating a nutritious whole foods diet and being very patient with the weight loss – losing no more than a couple of pounds per month.
But as you can see from the compilation of quotes below, his philosophy is very much in line with that promoted by 180 and other 180 favorites like Jon Gabriel. In short, if you are hungry and deprived, impatient, and you don’t eat real, whole, nutritious food most of the time - you will fail.
These are all themes of healing the metabolism, regaining lost health, and pursuing any health and physical appearance goal as lined out in this eBook DIET RECOVERY.
Anyway, here’s some words of wisdom from this largemouth Bass (the dude writes almost as much as I do) from his most recent book, Great Expectations… Emphasis on certain lines by me:
“…it’s not a good idea to limit the quantity of food you eat. Forcing yourself to stop eating before you’re full and satisfied doesn’t work very well. My observation is that few people can do it for long, and it’s not necessary anyway. As explained in my earlier books, eating a balanced diet of mostly whole foods will usually put your weight on a downward path. You don’t have to worry about restricting the amount you eat, because you become full before exceeding your calorie needs.”
p. 87
“Some of you, especially new readers, may be wondering why a guy interested in lifetime leanness would eat calorie-dense nut butter. The answer is simple and lies at the very core of my diet philosophy. I like nut butter, and it’s a bad idea to deprive yourself of foods you enjoy… Diets based on denial are psychologically flawed… It’s human nature to crave what you can’t have, and craving usually spells doom for dieters. I don’t have cravings – because I don’t deny myself foods such as nut butter.”
p. 98
“My dieting philosophy is that I don’t believe in dieting. I don’t diet in the normal sense of the word, ever, even when peaking… Dieting conjures up thoughts of hunger and deprivation. Dieting doesn’t work, because it makes people uncomfortable and unhappy. I believe the key to permanent body fat control is eating satisfaction. There’s no need to eat foods you don’t like – even when peaking – and there’s no need to ever leave the table feeling hungry.”
p. 104
“Severe dieting (or starvation) causes the body to produce more of the enzymes responsible for depositing fat. These fat-depositing enzymes create a tendency to get fat. Severe dieting also causes a slowdown in metabolism. This isn’t just a theory. It has happened to me on several occasions. Cutting calories too severely caused me to lose weight but gain fat. On one occasion, I lost 5.6 pounds, and my body fat went up. I lost a little over 6 pounds of muscle and gained a pound of fat. Not good!”
p. 141
