Building Strength by Mastering Hunger

“How can we expect to feel our best unless we live in harmony with the way our bodies work?” —Denis Wilson, MD

In the United States, more than 35 percent of adults and nearly 17 percent of children are obese. This is true in spite of our cultural obsession with diets, exercise fads, and health food. Denis Wilson, MD, faces this issue head-on with an unprecedented science-backed fitness regimen that works on building strength and is convenient, natural, and adaptable to even the busiest modern lifestyle.

In The Power of Fastercise, he draws on the latest medical research to help people lose fat and preserve muscle through a sustainable practice without rigid dieting. This fresh, informed look at fitness works with instead of against the body’s essential need for movement, metabolism, sustenance, and strength. The following excerpt presents the fundamentals of Wilson’s revolutionary ideas.

The following is an excerpt from The Power of Fastercise by Denis Wilson, MD from the Winter 2019 Seasonal Journal. It has been adapted for the web.

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Sometimes it can feel as though our bodies are fighting against us. But maybe we’re just having a big misunderstanding with our bodies.

Some fitness problems boil down to simple miscommunication.

In recent medical literature, terms such as signaling, perception, and response are showing up more and more.

This research shows that our bodies respond to signals they perceive. Wow. That’s really incredible when we think about it. Given the right signals and resources, the human body can grow, heal, think, sing, dance, paint, run, jump, and reproduce. The human body is incredibly complex, yet it is built to respond to simple signals to help make our lives as easy, successful, and pleasant as possible, automatically.

Automation is at the base of the modern technology that has revolutionized many aspects of our lives. Like the human body, machines and computers respond to signals they perceive. “If this, then that,” is a phrase at the heart of computer programming. If this signal is perceived, then that action is taken. This automation helps run the internet, cell phones, cruise control, air travel, space exploration, an endless array of home appliances and fascinating entertainment, and many other conveniences.

If we send the right signals by pressing the right buttons in the right sequence at the right times under the right conditions, then wonderful things can happen. However, if we don’t send the right signals, then none of the magic of modern technology happens, which can be disheartening and frustrating.

The same can be said for the human body. In fact, I contend that the complexity of the automation happening in your body on a daily basis far outstrips the technological “miracles” of computers, smartphones, and smart homes. There are so many amazing things that our bodies can do automatically. They clean our blood, make sure we get enough oxygen, digest food, refresh us with sleep, and maintain our body temperature, to name just a few.

Sometimes, though, it can seem that our bodies also gain fat automatically. Imagine if we could send our bodies simple signals that directed them to automatically lose fat and build muscle instead. Fortunately, that is possible, and in this book, I explain in detail both the science and the practical actions you can take to send such signals to your body.

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