When I first came across Jon Benson and Janis Hauser’s eBook “The Every Day Diet” (aka EODD), I must admit I was intrigued and a little skeptical.
Why?
Let’s just say “The Every Other Day Diet” is a bit offbeat. His methods seem unrealistic at first glance, a bit “too good to be true” so to speak. That was my first impression anyway…
Unlike most diets that rely on heavy calorie restrictions to burn fat, this program actually encourage you to eat whatever you want every other day! Sounds good if it really works, right?
The real question is: could a diet like this really help you lose weight and keep it off? Honestly, I wouldn’t have thought about it, but I had to give co-author Jon Benson the benefit of the doubt, as he is a well-respected fitness expert who has published numerous diet and fitness-related books over the years. .
Anyway, I had come to the decision that the show was worth a closer look and bought a copy so I could share a review with my readers…
What exactly is “EODD”?
I have my own explanation of “The Every Other Day Diet” below, but before you read that, you might want to hear Jon Benson himself explain how this program works and why it’s different than most others.
Why should we list Jon? Well, the guy practices what he preaches. He was able to lose 70 pounds. using the same principles on which he based the EODD.
Once I started to understand the simple science behind EODD, things started to make more sense. The program is designed to restrict calories and burn body fat. without compromise your body’s ability to burn calories. In the eBook they call it “interval eating” and “planned variance,” fancy words for caloric cycling.
What is the caloric cycle?
Simply put, it’s a way to manipulate caloric intake and trick your body into thinking calories are No they are restricted, when in fact they are.
So why does your body need to be tricked into thinking there is no caloric deficit? Well, your body starts to slow down its metabolic rate, which makes it harder and harder to lose weight. Unfortunately, this is a survival mechanism that has been around since we were cavemen.
EODD uses caloric cycling to maximize your metabolic rate, which makes a lot of sense.
The structure of the EODD diet
The “every other day diet” is divided into what they call “burn days” and “feed days”. On burnout days, eat only 30-50% of your maintenance caloric intake. On feeding days, consume up to 150% of your maintenance caloric intake. You are allowed to eat the foods you like on these days, as long as the portions are controlled.
And that brings me to what Jon calls the HOME method for calculating how much food to eat.
Simply put, food portions match the different parts of your hands, which makes it pretty easy to measure portion sizes.
Can I eat any food I want?
Well yes and no. Let me explain…
There are three different variations of the EODD that you can choose from:
- Primer: This is the most flexible of the three programs and allows you to eat whatever you want every other day.
- Lifestyle – The maintenance schedule, recommended after the initial priming phase. There are only two “feeding days” here, which means you can only eat whatever you want during these two days.
- Extreme: The strictest of the three plans, intended for athletes and bodybuilders.
The “first” is the only program where you can eat whatever you want every other day. Jon recommends that you start with this program and progress to the “lifestyle” program, which only allows two days a week where you can eat any type of food.
In the end, I think the every other day diet is worth a try if you’re looking for a simple program to help you lose weight while enjoying some of the foods you love.
Bottom line, if traditional diets haven’t worked for you, then the every other day diet may be the approach to take.