Join us on Facebook!

If you're interested in joining a growing conversation about the Spartan Diet, why not join us on Facebook? Just click here, then click on the "Like" button. After that, you'll see Spartan Diet page posts on your Facebook "News Feed."

Spartan Diet fans are posting pictures of their Spartan Diet recipes, which often lead to great conversations about ingredients (and where to find them), cooking methods and Spartan Diet principles.

So if you use Facebook, please visit our page! If you like it, please "Like" it!

Scientists test Spartan Diet foods as sunscreen

Scientists at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio are experiementing with extracts from Spartan Diet foods that, when applied to the skin, may prevent skin cancer.

The researchers have found that combinations that include resveratrol, found in red grapes; ellagic acid, present in berries and walnuts; and calcium D-glucarate, found in a wide variety of both fruits and vegetables have already proved effective in protecting against skin cancer, even in low quantities. Interestingly, these ingredients worked far better in combination than when each was tested by itself.

The ongoing research supports previous experiements that found that right foods (all major Spartan Diet foods) can prevent skin cancer and sun damage to the skin.

It also supports research conducted in Japan that found extra virgin olive oil applied to the skin after sun exposure greatly reduced skin damage and skin cancer.

Interestingly, some 2,600 years ago, the Spartans started the "fad" in Ancient Greece of applying olive oil to their skin after competing in the Olympic Games and other athletic competitions (which always took place in the blazing Greek sunshine). The Spartans were just doing something they did every day -- after training and excercising all day in the sun, the Spartans routinely applied olive oil to their skin.

Scientists are just now starting to understand how a diet like that of the Ancient Spartans, and also how applying antioxidant rich food to to the skin, prevent skin cancer.

It's worth noting that even though Spartan men and women spent enormous time in the sun every day, and altough they mostly lived well into their 80s and older, they didn't seem to get skin cancer.

Food for thought.

How to do a Spartan Reboot

The ancient Spartans made a constant ally of hunger. They cultivated familiarity with hunger, and were so controlled in their diet that outsiders were shocked, horrified and amazed at how little the Spartans ate.

Of course, they ate well, and generally got enough to eat. And our modern Spartan Diet involves neither deprivation nor excess.

But wealthy aristocrats from Athens and elsewhere given a rare invitation to join a Spartan mess for dinner found something very different to the gluttonous, drunken symposia they were accustomed to. Spartans made an art form out of providing each person with precisely enough food to sustain health, but not a bite more. Boys in the agoge were repeatedly starved so they would become familiar with, and tolerant of, real hunger. If you can imagine hundreds of teenage boys capable of going days without food -- without complaining -- then you can imagine the Spartan agoge.

The irony of Spartan hunger is that Sparta was an incredibly wealthy polis, and their wealth existed entirely in the form of fertile farmland and food production. Every Spartan citizen by definition owned a huge farm. They had the means -- far more than most ancient Greeks -- to have stuffed their faces at every meal, but, as a matter of principle, abstained.

In the modern industrialized world, the cultivation of sensible hunger is utterly alien to us. We never go hungry. Not really. Although our incredibly low-quality food and sedentary lifestyles make us experience an urgent, panicky kind of hunger, most of us never go very long without eating all we want -- and more.

We're habituated with food-related discomfort. We're used to feeling edgy, dull, bloated and "stuffed." We've all experienced the cloudy, weak feeling from over-indulging in greasy, fatty or sugary foods. But hunger? We really don't understand it.

The Spartans did. And for good reason: It's a powerful practice to cultivate. If you do it right, hunger can sharpen your mind, lighten your body, and give you incredible energy.

New research at Washington University explains at least in part why the Spartan Reboot gives you mental and physical energy. Apparently hunger changes how the body manages the storage and use of fat molecules called lipids in a way that prevents those molecules from activating fatigue.

Want to try it?

A technique we call the Spartan Reboot enables you to use hunger to quickly attain high energy, mental clarity, physical stamina and overall vitality. Here is how to do it:

(This is a great thing to do on Sundays, by the way, to prepare for an awesome Monday.)

Eat a healthy balanced breakfast and lunch at the normal times, plus some fruit in the mid-afternoon. Then, after eating your fruit, go on a very long walk, hike or run – at least fifty percent more time or distance than you usually do. We generally do about 15 miles or so, but your miles may vary. Make sure you stay well hydrated.

Then you skip dinner. Go to bed early enough to get a solid 8 hours of sleep.

That's it! You've only skipped one meal. But when you wake up, you'll feel like a different person. Your body will feel light. Your mind will be super sharp and clear. And you'll have physical and mental energy and stamina all day. And you won't even be that hungry. In fact, if you follow your hunger, you'll probably want to eat less than you normally do.

Try it, and please report your results back to us here in the comments area of this post!

Exercise makes you less hungry - study

Brazilian researchers believe they have discovered why people who don't exercise feel hungrier than people who do.

In a study conducted at the Department of Internal Medicine at the State University of Campinas in São Paulo, researchers found that "physical activity reorganizes the set point of nutritional balance through anti-inflammatory signaling," at least in the obese rats they studied.

It turns out that during exercise, the muscles release key proteins that optimize the body's signaling system for hunger. Stated another way, in the unnatural condition of little to no exercise, all aspects of the body's hunger triggering system are not present, which explains in part why couch potatoes experience more intense hunger than triathletes.

The Spartan Diet calls for daily exercise, and relies upon the fine-tuning of your hunger-satiety system for optimizing food quantity (instead of counting carbs or calories).

Berries prevent age-related memory loss - new research

New research has discovered that in addition to health effects previously discovered, polyphenolics in berries and other whole foods actually perform "housekeeping" chores in the brain, sweeping away "biochemical debris" that causes age-related memory loss and mental decline.

The research, presented by Shibu Poulose and James Joseph of the U. S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) Human Nutrition Research Center on Aging in Boston, found that in younger people cells called microglia engage in a process called autophagy, which involves removing biochemical debris that would interfere with brain function. As we age, microglia slowly become less effective, the debris builds up and people experience age-related mental decline, including memory loss. The research found that the polyphenolics sustain the effectiveness of microglia, enabling them to continue protecting the brain well into old age.

A wide range of foods contain these polyphenolics, including berries and other fruits, especially those with dark red, orange or blue colors, and also nuts, including walnuts.

Eat these foods according to Spartan Diet principles -- eat them as fresh, raw and organic as possible.

(Photo shows Spartan Muesli with Spartan Cashew Milk topped with blueberries and acai.)

How to get REAL extra-virgin olive oil

Extra-virgin olive oil is a wonderful thing. The "extra virgin" designation indicates the highest quality: Olive oil extracted from the first pressing that has an acid content of less than .8 percent.

Organic extra-virgin olive oil is the only oil on the Spartan Diet. But there's a problem. A recent study by the University of California at Davis Olive Oil Center, in collaboration with the Australian Oils Research Laboratory, found that many products labeled as "extra virgin olive oil" in fact are not.

Unlike in Europe, where the "extra-virgin" designation is defined by law, there is no enforcement of standards in the United States.

Researchers found that 69 percent of imported oil labeled as "extra-virgin" in fact was not, whereas 10 percent of oils produced in California and sold as "extra virgin" were not. However, nearly all (99%) of oil labeled as extra-virgin olive oil in the United States is imported, so many American olive-oil eaters have never even tried US-made olive oil.

Researchers found that a wide variety of events can disqualify olive oil from the extra-virgin designation. Inferior-quality olives, oxidation of the oil, improper storage or the addition of lower-quality oil all can ruin olive oil and make it not truly extra virgin at the time of purchase.

In other words, many olive oils sold as extra virgin in fact did qualify at the time the oil was pressed, but has been degraded by some event later in the storage, transportation or bottling process. Oil can be oxidized, for example, by sunlight, heat or oxygen. The oxidation process raises the acidity level to above the "extra-virgin" limit, no matter what the label says.

This may explain why California olive oils tested so much better than imported oils: UC Davis is in California, so the California oil was all local, less handled and probably fresher.

Even olive oil that's high-quality extra-virgin stuff when you buy it can degrade in your kitchen. Improper storage (with sunlight or heat) can damage the oil, of course. But even in ideal conditions, the quality of olive oil naturally degrades over time. One study found that after 6 months, olive oil loses about 40% of its antioxidants.

You can also ruin olive oil at the last minute by cooking it at too high a temperature.

So what's an olive-oil obsessed Spartan Dieter to do? First of all, we need to think of extra virgin olive oil as something different than the indestructible cooking oils we grew up with. Because it's unheated and unprocessed, olive oil is really almost a fruit juice.

You want to make sure your extra-virgin olive oil comes from a reputable producer, has been properly stored and handled between the producer and the store, and has been pressed as recently as possible.

Some farmer's markets offer locally produced extra virgin olive oil. Because you're buying it directly from the producer, it's less likely to have been damaged during shipping and so on. This is not always the case, however. Grill the seller until you're satisfied he or she is doing it right and selling the real deal.

Look for domestic olive oil, wherever you live. The less transportation the oil undergoes, the fewer the opportunities for spoilage.

Buy only organic. In our experience, organic producers tend to be more honest and more careful with oil quality. Besides, who wants pesticides in their salad?

Look for acidity level. Some olive oils proudly boast of their low acidity levels. This is a good sign. The lower, the better.

Ultimately, however, there is no substitute for becoming an olive-oil snob and knowing the difference based on how oil looks, smells and tastes. Because even good oil can go bad in your kitchen.

Look for olive oil tasking opportunities, and cultivate your ability to tell good oil from bad, virgin from non-virgin and extra from not-so-extra.

Extra-virgin olive oil in small quantities is the foundation of the Spartan Diet. But if you want truly extra-virgin olive oil, you can't just passively accept what labels are telling you. You've got to fight for high-quality olive oil -- but it's worth the battle.

Farmer's market discovery: green almonds!

I love this time of the year. The weather is mild and the Farmers’ Market is teeming with life. I’m not talking about the big crowds with families enjoying their morning shopping at the market, or the joy of watching young children tasting fruits and learning about real food. I’m referring to the incredible varieties of produce and rare seasonal treats that appear at farmer's markets and which you will never see at the supermarket. What really caught my eye today were the beautiful freshly cut, right off the tree, green almonds.

The almond is native to, and was first domesticated in, the Mediterranean Middle East -- present day Lebanon, Israel, Syria, Jordan and nearby countries. However, almond trees spread throughout the region, and have been a major food in Greece for thousands of years. In ancient Greece, almonds were eaten in a wide variety of states, from dried and roasted, as we eat them, or green and right off the tree. Green almonds are still eaten in Greece. The Greek word for green almond is tsagala.

The fuzzy green shell is still very soft and can easily be cut with a paring knife all around like an avocado. Inside you’ll find the kernel, which is surrounded by a thin skin, the one that becomes brown once matured. The inner kernel is translucent and soft to the bite. It tastes like it has tannins (slightly astringent), which makes sense as it's still young and green. It's hard to describe the flavor, but think of an un-sweet cross between grape and cucumber.

The farmer I bought these from told me that green almonds can be eaten whole with fuzzy shell and all or shelled -- just the tender kernels by themselves. They can be steamed or sautéed with olive oil, garlic and herbs to enjoy them by themselves or put into salads or throw them into soups.

Almond season starts late April and lasts through mid June. - Amira

How to protect your skin from sun damage -- with food

Researchers at the UK's University of Newcastle found that eating tomatoes helps prevent sunburn.

The volunteers in the study who ate five tablespoons of tomato paste every day were on average 33 percent more protected against sunburn than the control group. Researchers calculated that this quantity of tomatos is the equivalent of constantly wearing a 1.3 SPF sunblock.

The scientists attribute this effect to an antioxidant present in tomatoes called lycopene, which is also responsible for giving tomatoes their red color. It's also found in red carrots, watermelons and papayas.

Lycopene has also been linked in the past with protection against age-related events like macular degeneration, the formation of skin wrinkles, prostate cancer and the rise in bad cholesterol.

The research suggests that we should re-think our understanding of sun damage and skin cancer as not just about exposure, but also diet.

In the past few decades, we have seen dramatic rises in both Vitamin D deficiency and skin cancer, one thought to be caused by not enough sun, and the other by too much sun.

Of course, individual cases vary -- and statistical changes can be partly determined by the immigration of people to climates incompatible with their skin types -- but in general the rise in skin cancer may be closely linked to the degradation of diet.

In the past ten years, an enormous number of discoveries have been made about the link between diet and skin cancer. Broccoli, green tea, grapes, pomegranates, onions, red kidney beans, blueberries, cranberries, blackberries, rasperries, strawberries, apples, pecans, cherries, plums and black beans, tumeric (every single one of them a Spartan Diet superfood) have all been found to contain compounds that "fight" skin cancer.

Even extra-virgin olive oil applied to the skin after sun exposure -- a practice the Spartans started in Ancient Greece more than 2,600 years ago and something they did every day -- reduces the risk of skin tumors.

These breakthroughs are typically reported in the media as "this food fights skin cancer" or "that food linked to cancer protection." In reality, humans are designed to both get a lot of sun and also eat the foods that "fight" skin cancer. It's the removal of these foods from our diet that may be a leading cause of the the skin cancer epidemic.

Talk to your doctor about your personal skin cancer risks, based on skin type, climate and other factors. But also don't wait for a cure to come in pill form. Prevention is the best medicine, and the best food is the best prevention.

The Spartan Diet is loaded with all the foods researchers have found to prevent skin cancer. We also call for plenty of outdoor excercise. Doing both wisely in consultation with your doctor is your best approach to optimal health free of vitamin D defficiency and cancer of any kind, including skin cancer.

Processed foods: The good, bad and ugly

Most foods are "processed" at some point. For example, if you slice an apple, you have "processed" it. If you cook rice, make a salad or bake salmon, you have by definition transformed them from unprocessed to processed foods.

People talk about "processed foods," but it's a confusing term because some processing is good and necessary, and some is bad and unnecessary.

The Spartan Diet draws a very sharp distinction between foods processed for eating on the one hand, and those processed for preservation on the other. Although the Spartan Diet is made up almost entirely of raw, whole, unprocessed foods -- at least when you buy or pick them -- foods that have been processed for eating are on the diet. Olive oil, for example, has been processed. The oil has been extracted from olives, and that's a process -- and a necessary one if you want olive oil. However, it has not been processed for preservation. Good olive oil hasn't been pasteurized, irradiated, or subjected to any process to give it shelf life. Olive oil stays good for months on its own, if properly handled, so no such intervention is necessary. High-quality, organic extra-virgin olive oil is a processed food. But because the processing isn't for preservation, it's OK.

Here's the problem: Food decays. As soon as an animal has been killed, or a plant food has been removed from the plant or soil, it begins a process of decline. Some foods, such as grains, stay perfectly good for years. Some fruits can last days or weeks after being picked. Others, such as lettuce, decline in hours.

As foods decay, the taste, smell, and appearance are transformed. As a survival mechanism, we are hard-wired to be attracted to fresh foods and repulsed by old foods. Nature is looking out for us. Our preference for fresh foods is designed to keep us healthy.

In order to manage the mass distribution of food cost effectively by reducing spoilage, and to make seasonal foods available for sale all year, people have come up with processes that slow or hide this decay. Food preservation is all about hiding the age of food, and tricking human instinct into accepting old food as fresh.

In ancient times, people salted and dried foods for preservation. These processes are still used, but we also have more modern methods that include canning, pickling, irradiation, pasteurization and many others. (Food companies also use food additives to preserve and improve the appearance of old food, but this post is about understanding processed foods, rather than food additives.)

Just about every food or drink that comes in a bottle, can, carton, box, bag or plastic container has been processed for preservation. And because of this processing, which universally degrades nutritional and gastronomic quality, these foods are not on the Spartan Diet. (One notable exception is frozen foods, which are generally good enough if fresh versions are unavailable.)

Most food preservation methods are products of advancing science, technology and infrastructure improvements. But in the last few decades, our civilization has advanced to the point where we can eat fresh foods every day, and never eat foods that have been processed for preservation. A historically unprecedented variety of fresh, whole, raw un-adulterated foods are easily available to the vast majority of people in the industrialized world.

People still buy foods processed for preservation, largely because they are far more aggressively marketed (the processing and additives turn them into a branded product) and because they can appear to be cheaper. But they're not necessary. And avoiding all such processed foods, and eating a diet of fresh foods, you can enjoy much better health -- and far better tasting meals.

Spartan Diet foods are simply foods of the highest quality. Foods that have been processed for the purpose of making old food look fresh just aren't good enough.

How to raise a Spartan child

A group of retired military leaders issued a report recently called "Too Fat to Fight: Retired Military Leaders Want Junk Food Out of America’s Schools."

The report cited Department of Defense data showing that 75 percent of Americans 17 to 24 years old are ineligible to join the military. "Being overweight or obese turns out to be the leading medical reason why applicants fail to qualify for military service."

Healthcare experts say the obesity crisis is now so bad that it threatens national security.

The report's recommendation focuses on removing junk food from schools. That's a great recommendation, but it doesn't go far enough.

It a nutshell, we're growing so soft and weak as a nation that we may soon be incapable of defending ourselves.

Most people don't know this, but ancient Sparta faced a comparable crisis.

In Ancient Greece, wars were fought mainly by aristocrats -- wealthy land-owners who could afford helmets, shields, spears and swords and the leisure time to train. Because of Sparta's many geographical advantages, Spartan aristocrats grew very rich and the country was very hard to invade. The fighting class grew soft, so soft that Sparta faced what we would call a national security crisis.

A series of events lost to history resulted in the total transformation of Spartan society into the awesome war machine we remember even today. History credits a reformer named Lycurgus, who sparked a revolution of Spartan government, society and culture.

Plutarch wrote:

Lycurgus’s laws meant wealthy Spartans "could no longer spend their lives at home, lying on their couches and stuffing themselves with unwholesome delicacies, like pigs being fattened for slaughter. No longer could they ruin not only their minds but also their bodies, becoming so weak by lazy overindulgence that they needed long sleep, warm baths, and about as much care as if they were constantly sick."

As part of the Lycurgan reforms, land was taken from the rich, and re-distributed equally among citizens. Each male child was given a huge farm at birth (although women could own and inherit property, too).

In traditional ancient societies, the wealthy became unhealthy because they ate too much fatty foods and didn't get enough exercise, while the poor became unhealthy because they often suffered from nutritional deficiencies caused by a lack of variety in the diet. (Only in the industrial age do we have both: People get too many calories and also suffer nutritional deficits.) Sparta completely ended both extremes. The rich were no longer able to eat delicacies. The poor were fed the same foods as the rich -- plain, varietal, fresh, whole foods in very measured quantities. In fact, the richest Spartans (with the biggest and best farms) were required by law to feed the rest their best foods.

At the age of 7, boys entered the famous Spartan agoge for 23 years of military training, which involved hours of daily outdoor exercise, among other things. The "herd," as they called the boys, were hardened against heat, cold, hunger, pain and fatigue.

Less is known about the education of girls, but we do know they trained hard also, even in Olympic events like wrestling, javelin, discuss, running and so on. Spartan women scandalized Greece for centuries. Disparaged as "thigh flashers," because they wore short skirts (unlike the head-to-toe garb required of proper Athenian women), Spartan girls and women were famous for singing, dancing and for an exercise that involved jumping straight up and kicking one's own butt with the heels. (The picture top right is of a statue of an amazingly fit Spartan teenage girl from about 550 B.C.)

Unlike aristocratic women from other wealthy Greek city-states, who were invariably soft, white and a little sick from wearing toxic make-up, Spartan women were famous for being ripped, tan, muscular and beautiful even though they didn't wear any makeup.

It's likely that obesity was non-existent in post-Lycurgus Sparta. Among men and boys, even minor chubbiness probably didn't exist. The combination of constant exercise, incredibly healthy food and a conspicuous "frugality of the diet" prevented that.

Ancient Sparta faced a similar crisis to our own. And they solved it so completely that 2,600 years later they're still famous for physical fitness.

What can we learn from them about raising healthy children?

Clearly dragging 7-year-olds out of their homes and into boot camp is out of the question. Our society is based on individuals and families, rather than on Spartan-style, state-sponsored collectivism. And we like it that way. Still, Ancient Sparta has much to teach us about lifelong fitness.

We don't know much about the daily lives of Spartan families. But we do know that Spartan parents didn't pamper their kids. Plutarch tells us that Spartan children "grew up free and active, and without any sort of cry-baby ways. Spartan children were not afraid of the dark, or finicky about their food."

It's also worth pointing out that Spartan children slept all night (boys mostly slept outdoors under the stars), and didn't even have torches, let alone Xbox, to keep them up late. Of course, Spartan kids never ate processed food, junk food, white sugar, preservatives, artificial flavors, soda, candy bars or any of the other junk foods that wouldn't be invented for more than 2,000 years. Instead, they ate fruit, vegetables, whole grains, wild fish, seeds, goat cheese, and meat and poultry in very small quantities (all "free range").

This is the opposite of how American children typically grow up -- un-free, inactive and being crybabies about everything. They're afraid of the dark and finicky about their food. Worse, they live in a world of media, with a lot of their interaction with the world taking place through TV, computer, video-game and cell phone screens.

Instead of indoctrination in martial virtues and devotion to the nation, American kids watch hours of TV every day and are indoctrinated in the "virtues" of consumer culture and personal gratification. The most heavily advertised children's products are incredibly unhealthy foods. The average child is bombarded by thousands of ads per year designed to imprint on them a strong desire to eat packaged breakfast cereals (some of which are more than 40 percent sugar), snacks, candy, soda, and fast food laden with ingredients proved to promote cancer, heart disease, hyperactivity, obesity and a long list of other maladies.

We can and we must fix the problem. We have to dismantle the industrial junk-food complex, and replace public school cafeteria junk food with real food. But most of all, we have to change the culture of parenting in America.

Ancient Spartans achieved incredible physical fitness by obeying laws written by Lycurgus and enforced by the state. But you can achieve the same thing for your children by following and enforcing some common-sense rules that will make your kids a little more Spartan:

1. Never ask children what they want to eat.

The best way to engender bad food habits is to invite kids into the decision-making process. That gets them thinking of the world of junk foods they'd rather be having, and focuses on personal immediate gratification. Instead, get them used to the idea that parents decide what they eat, and kids eat what they're given.

2. Limit screen time.

Kids keep spending more and more time sitting and watching TV and movies, playing video games, using the PC or using a cell phone. This passive "activity" has displaced sports, exercise, personal social interaction and outdoor time. Take 24 hours in a day, and subtract 9 hours for sleep, the time they're in school and doing homework, the time they should be doing physical activities, meal times and other activities, and arrive at a number, which is probably one or two hours. Enforce that number as the maximum amount of time each day they can sit there watching a screen.

When schedules get tight, screen time should be the first to go.

3. Maximize outdoor time.

My cousin goes running with his kids almost every day. Why not? Build solid outdoor family time into your daily life. Kids need sunshine, exercise and interaction with trees and plants in order to be healthy. Make them go outside.

For kids younger than, say, 10, just turning them loose outside guarantees that they'll exercise. That's what kids do: They run, climb, wrestle, goof around. Kids are naturally physical when they go outside.

4. Make meals from scratch, and get kids to help.

We've experimented on kids to find out what happens if they eat a lot of processed, industrial junk food. What we learned is that they get fat, sick and weak. It's time to learn from that failure and embrace what we know: Real food, made at home from scratch is the healthiest kind.

Sure, we've forgotten all the knowledge our great-grandmothers knew about food. But you can learn anything on the Internet. Re-embrace home-cooked meals and make your kids help fix it. That way, when they go out on their own they won't rely on packaged junk food.

5. Teach kids to be cynical about advertising.

Food companies are programming our children for failure and suffering. The least we can do is constantly remind kids what's going on with advertising. Nearly all ads aimed at kids are for junk foods known to cause heart disease, diabetes, cancer and other conditions. Constantly tell them what you know about what certain advertised foods do to the body, and why they even show ads in the first place. Make your kid media-savvy.

6. Don't let kids eat foods "designed" for kids.

Any food that's aimed at children -- Happy Meals, Froot Loops, SpaghettiOs and all the rest -- is bound to be incredibly bad for health. If it's targeted at kids, don't let your kids eat it.

7. Never let kids snack on "products," only produce.

The corporations have trained us through advertising to believe that snacks come in the form of packaged products. Instead, all between-meal eating for both kids and adults should be produce, not products.

If you're going to let kids snack, let them snack on fruit, raw nuts, seeds and other whole foods. Never let them eat snacks that have been manufactured.

8. No screens in bedrooms.

Kids stay up too late because of TVs, computers and cell phones in bedrooms. They don't get enough sleep, which causes them to be too tired for physical activity. They copy adults, and use caffeine as a pick-me-up. The whole cycle that results in fat, weak and sick kids starts with bad sleep.

Recent research has shown that looking at the illuminated screen of a TV, PC, cell phone or iPad just before going to bed triggers insomnia, because it confuses the brain about whether it's daytime or nighttime.

Simply ban anything with a screen from being brought into kids' bedrooms. When you make them go to bed at night, they'll have nothing to do but read -- or sleep.

9. No cell phones in bedrooms at night.

If your child carries a cell phone, their friends may be calling or texting at random hours in the night. When this happens, kids tend to wake up and respond. All this interrupted sleep causes all kinds of health problems. Don't allow it.

Give your child or teen a cell phone only on the condition that they hand it over every night.

10. Ban all soda.

Americans now get hundreds of calories per day in beverages, often sodas. It's not the calories per se -- diet soda is bad, too. Get your kids in the habit of drinking filtered water when they're thirsty.

These simple, common-sense rules will make your child far healthier, smarter, happier and more successful in life than allowing them to become just another depressing statistic.

You probably wouldn't want your child to grow up in Ancient Sparta. But we can all learn a thing or to about raising healthy children from a culture that produced so many incredibly healthy citizens.

How high heat turns good food bad

A new study found that foods cooked at high temperatures may harm your metabolism, increasing the likelihood of type-2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.

Researchers, who published their results in a recent issue of the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, fed two groups the same foods cooked differently -- one with low temperatures and another at high heats. Researchers found that "one month of consuming the high-heat-treated diet induced significantly lower insulin sensitivity and plasma concentrations of long-chain omega-3 fatty acids and vitamins C and E."

In other words, foods cooked at high temperatures are probably bad for your health.

Another recent study by researchers at the University of Texas found that well-done meat and fried, grilled and barbecued meat can increase your likelihood of bladder cancer. University of Minnesota School of Public Health scientists found last year that charred meat can increase the risk of pancreatic cancer.

Another phenomenon related to cooking method and temperature is that different oils contain different "smoke points" -- the temperatures at which specific oils turn toxic at the molecular level. For example, canola oil becomes unhealthy at 440 degrees, while safflower oil goes bad at 318 degrees.

Unfortunately, the healthiest oil has the lowest smoke point. Extra-virgin olive oil -- the only kind on the Spartan Diet -- goes from superfood to carcinogen at tempuratures as low as 280 degrees (olive oil smoke points vary by type and brand). That's not very hot. (It's also one reason why boiling or steaming foods that contain olive oil is so safe -- the boiling point of water is 212 degrees.)

You should know that almost all restaurants cook foods at extremely high temperatures, oblivious to research about frying, grilling and barbecuing, as well as cooking-oil smoke points. That's one of the reasons cooked restaurant food is likely to be bad for your health. Pizza restaurants, for example, make pies with olive oil, then bake it at over 500 degrees -- some even as hot as 800 degrees! It tastes great, but if you walk out of a pizza place feeling like you've been hit by a truck, that overheated olive oil is probably one of the reasons.

Scientists have identified specific risks involved with cooking specific kinds of foods at high temperatures. Their findings are limited because that's how good science works. But as someone who eats food, you should understand that, in addition to specific risk of type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and bladder and pancreas cancer, it's likely food cooked too hot is generally and broadly bad for your health, even if you never get the specific ailments scientists narrowly identified.

The Spartan Diet takes all this research into account. Spartan Diet foods are never fried, grilled or barbecued, only baked, poached, steamed, boiled or lightly sauteed using the lowest heat setting. And when olive oil is involved, the temperature of Spartan Diet foods never exceeds about 270 degrees.

It takes longer, but the result is healthier food that also tastes better.

Recent discoveries prove grains in paleolithic diet

The healthy diet community is split between the majority who believe whole grains are healthy and a minority who believe they are best avoided. The anti-grain camp is lead by followers of the Paleo diet.

Paleo diet advocates believe that grains were introduced into the human diet after the domestication of wild grains. Because human populations before the advant of "civilization" didn't eat grains, they argue, we shouldn't either.

Recent archeology, however, has disproved this idea. It turns out that Paleolithic man, in fact, ate grains.

The oldest evidence we have for the domestication of grains is about 10,500 years ago. But the direct evidence for the processing of wild grains for food goes back much earlier than domestication.

Unfortunately, archeological evidence is skewed toward materials that survive the centuries, such as stone, bone and other hard objects. Soft materials (such as grains) don't survive unless hard objects were used to process them. Even then, actual food residues are unlikely to be detectable millenia later.

When Loren Cordain published The Paleo Diet in 2002, there was little material evidence for paleolithic grain consumption. But since then, the evidence has started to emerge.

The earliest known mortar and pestil with actual grains embedded in the pores was found in Israel dating back 23,000 years, according to a 2004 Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences paper.

Note that the grains processed were wild barley and possibly wild wheat. This is direct, unambiguous evidence that humans were eating grains 13,000 years before the end of the Paleolithic era and the beginning of domesticated grains, agriculture and civilization.

Even more recently, archeologists published a paper in the December, 2009, issue of Science unveiling their discovery in Mozambique of stone tools with thousands of wild grain residues on them dated to 105,000 years ago. The grain was sorghum, and an ancestor of modern sorghum used even today in breads and beer.

This evidence doesn't prove that all humans everywhere have been eating grains for at least 105,000 years, nor does the absense of evidence at any time during the paleolithic era prove the absense of grain consumption. We don't know. What we do know is that the notion that paleolithic man never ate grains has been proved unambiguously false.

Major-label apple juice can contain arsenic

A newspaper called the St. Petersburg Times commissioned testing of apple juice from major brands, and found arsenic in more than one-quarter of the samples that surpasses the Food and Drug Administration's "level of concern" for toxic heavy metals in juice.

The most likely culprit is arsenic-based pesticides used to grow the apples. According to an article in the paper, more than 60 percent of the apple juice from concentrate sold in U.S. stores comes from China, and most of the rest is grown in Chile, Argentina, Turkey and other countries.

A recent University of Arizona study found similar results with both apple juice and grape juice, according to the story. Two years ago, the FDA discovered high levels of arsenic in pear juice from fruit grown in China.

The consumption of arsenic over time has been linked to cancer, diabetes, organ damage, hormonal problems and brain development issues. That it's found in juice is particularly troubling because many children drink it every day.

The Spartan Diet has zero juice, avoids non-organic produce and a bans concentrated or similiary processed foods.

Why you should never eat movie theater popcorn

Have you ever noticed that eating too much movie theater popcorn can make you feel a little sick? That's because it probably is making you a little sick.

Popcorn may seem like the one snack available in a movie theater that's potentially healthy enough to make the Spartan Diet cut. After all, popcorn is just corn, a whole grain. If you ask for it without butter, it's healthy Spartan Diet-worthy, right?

Well, no. Not even close.

As you probably know, some theaters buy pre-popped popcorn, which is warmed up using lights in the theater. Pre-popped popcorn is cooked in unhealthy trans fat oils, and flavored and colored with artificial ingredients, often including MSG. And because this kind of popcorn is popped first, then stored for an unknown amount of time, it has added preservatives.

A bag of popcorn popped in the theater typically contains four individual concession stand supply products, including the popping corn, cooking oil, "butter" and seasoning salt. (Go here to see a nice collection of movie theater popcorn supply products.)

The corn itself is grown using insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, fumigants and other chemicals used to "treat" the corn. Go here to see the complete list.

Most movie theater popcorn is cooked in an oil product that is mostly hydrogenated coconut oil, a highly toxic trans fat. (The National Academy of Sciences has stated publicly that there is no safe level of trans fat consumption, and that it should be totally eliminated from the human diet.) The oil used for popping theater popcorn also contains artificial butter flavoring. That's why when you ask for no butter, the popcorn still tastes like fake butter, and still has a weird yellow color.

Some theaters boast of popcorn cooked in canola oil, which is supposed to be a health benefit. In fact, they're popping the corn in partially hydrogenated canola shortening, which is also a trans fat.

So if you order movie theater popcorn with no butter and no salt, that's what you're getting: corn that has been compromised by insecticides, herbicides, fungicides, fumigants and other chemicals, as well as trans fats, artificial flavors and probably preservatives as well.

But what if you do go for the butter and salt?

The artificial-butter-flavored topping is typically made mainly from hydrogenated soybean oil (another trans fat), artificial flavoring, beta carotene for color, and preservatives. Different theaters use different brands or supply sources, but this roster of toxic ingredients is typical.

One "flavoring agent" used in popcorn "butter" is called diacetyl, and it has been associated with lung disease among workers in the factories where it's made.

Popcorn supply companies don't have to disclose the use of diacetyl, or specific exactly what their flavoring agents are made of.

In addition, even the salt theaters use is something of a science project. The list of ingredients for one movie theater concession stand salt (which is typical), includes: "salt, artificial flavors, artificial sweetener (Acesulfame K), Yellow #5 Lake and Yellow #6 Lake." Some products also contain MSG.

Last year, the Center for Science in the Public Interest conducted a study on some nutritional aspects of movie theater popcorn, especially calories, fat and salt content, as well as other theater concession stand fare. Even by that shallow analysis, movie popcorn comes out as an assault on health. From the report: "A combo at [one theater chain] (medium popcorn plus medium soda) has 1,610 calories. That’s like eating six scrambled eggs with cheddar cheese, four bacon strips, and four sausage links before the lights come up."

If you enjoy eating popcorn at the movies, why not pop and bring your own? Buy organic popping corn from the bin section of your grocery or health-food store. Pop it in an air popper, and add a little extra virgin olive oil and a little quality sea salt, then smuggle it into the theater.

The whole thing will cost less than one-tenth of what you'll pay at the megaplex. It will taste a whole lot better. And best of all, it will actually be very healthy, instead of a massive toxic hit to your body.

What you need to know about seafood and mercury

Mercury is a toxic metal. Very small quantities are harmless, and it's eliminated in about a year. However, if too much mercury enters your bloodstream before previously ingested mercury is eliminated, your health can be affected.

Coal-fired power plants emit mercury into the air, which settles to the ground. Rain washes the mercury into creeks and rivers and eventually into oceans. Once in water, the mercury is transformed into methylmercury.

Tiny sea creatures ingest the methylmercury. Then larger fish eat those animals, and ever larger ones eat those, right up the food chain. Nearly all seafood contains methylmercury. However, some accumulate very high quantities, and others do not, depending on their diets.

You should never eat the high-methylmercury fish like king mackerel, shark, swordfish or tilefish. Always choose low- methylmercury seafoods, which include catfish, salmon and shrimp.

The best commonly available fish to eat is fresh, wild salmon, because it is low in methylmercury and high in protein, Omega-3 fatty acids, and vitamin D.

Also: Avoid eating more than two servings of any kind of seafood per week. And, of course, never eat farmed fish or seafood of any kind. Make sure it's prepared according to Spartan Diet principles, and cooked by poaching, boiled in soups, baked or raw. Don't fry or barbecue.

Not beer, but sprouted grain, boosts bones

A new study reports that some types of beer contain a lot of silicon, which may counter some age-related bone degeneration.

The study, carried out by the Department of Food Science & Technology at the University of California, resulted in the kind of simplistic "beer is good for you" headlines and lazy reporting we've all come to expect. The truth is more complex -- and interesting.

Beer is an ancient beverage, dating back at least 9,000 years. By definition, beer is a drink made primarily from water and grass seeds (otherwise known as grains).

Alcoholic beverages always need a source of sugar. In the case of beer, that sugar is normally supplied by the grain, which has starch that's converted into sugar during the brewing process.

Most beers are made with malted barley. The malting process is little more than taking whole barley grains, and sprouting them -- starting the growing process, called germination -- then drying the grains in an oven once the sprouts have emerged from the grains. (The picture accompanying this post shows malted barley.) The purpose of the malting process is to convert the starches in the grain into fermentable sugar.

Some beers are made from sprouted wheat, rather than sprouted barley. But it turns out that beer made with barley is higher in the silicon that benefits bone health.

So let's be clear about what the researchers are reporting. It was already well known that sprouted barley and other sprouted grains offer dietary silicon, which is good for bones. Its role is to boost the bone-building power of dietary calcium and also vitamin D, which is a hormone produced by the skin when exposed to sunshine. It's also worth noting that the sprouting process improves the nutritional quality of grains in other ways, including boosting its protein quantity and improving the relative quantities of various amino acids.

The University of California research has found that much of the silicon in sprouted barley and other grains survives the brewing, bottling and storage processes of beer, and is still present in the final product. They also discovered some detailed facts about which types of beers and which brewing processes best convey the greatest amount of silicon to the final product.

So just to recap: Sprouted grains contain silicon, and silicon is good for your bones. Beer is made from sprouted grains, and so it also contains silicon. The bottom line is not that "beer is good for you." Beer is a nutritional mixed bag. Most commercial, industrial beer is junk food. Some higher-quality beers are much better for you. But alcohol is hard on your body, and is best consumed only occasionally, if at all. Don't look to beer as a substitute for healthy food.

The ancient Spartans didn't drink beer. But they did eat sprouted-grains all the time -- mostly barley, but also wheat. In fact, as some classical-era Greeks (generally the wealthier ones) increasingly ate more wheat and less barley, the Spartans -- rich and poor alike -- stuck with barley as their primary grain.

Our modern Spartan Diet also calls for the near-daily consumption of sprouted barley or wheat.

In the meantime, look to food, not beer, for nutrition. Embrace the Spartan Diet, and you'll get all the sprouted barley and wheat you need.

Why normal-weight people can be obese

A new, nine-year study by the Mayo Clinic found that even relatively thin people can suffer the ill effects of obesity.

They even came up with a name for it: "normal weight obesity." Researchers believe as many as 30 million Americans may fall into that category.

The problem stems from a body-mass index out of whack. When people have low muscle mass, and some fat, their muscle-to-fat ratio can mirror someone with much more muscle mass and a lot more body fat. And the health effects can be similar, including increased risk of metabolic syndrome, which is a collection of familiar lifestyle diseases including high blood pressure, elevated blood sugar and so on, as well as an increased risk of heart disease.

The Mayo researchers pointed out that dieting to lose weight can make you lose both fat and muscle, and leave your muscle-to-fat ratio largely unchanged.

That's why the Spartan Diet is so perfect for anyone who wants total health. It's not a fad weight loss diet. Instead, it's a total transformation of the diet that normalizes weight, and boosts strength and muscle.

Spartan Diet Foods Now Available In Santa Barbara

Amira Elgan, the main creator of the Spartan Diet and co-author of the upcoming Spartan Diet book has been working with the owners of an innovative eatery to introduce menu items that adhere to Spartan Diet principles.

The restaurant is called Backyard Bowls, and its one location is in Santa Barbara, California.

Backyard Bowls has introduced Spartan Muesli, and will soon roll out other Spartan Diet foods. (We'll keep you posted as new items are added to the menu.)

Backyard Bowls itself is a wonderful place to eat. If you live in, visit or even find yourself passing through Santa Barbara, you must experience Backyard Bowls. If you can imagine an entire menu where just about every item and even every ingredient is a fresh, whole superfood, then you can imagine Backyard Bowls.

Most items on the Backyard Bowls menu are cold, blended fruits and/or other ingredients in a bowl, topped by fresh fruit, nuts, fresh-ground flax seeds, bee pollen, and other ingredients. They also have smoothies and other items. What's amazing about Backyard Bowls is that they don't compromise on ingredients. For example, the honey they use isn't the standard junk most restaurants use, but whole, raw local honey (Spartan Diet approved!). The menu also conspicuously emphasizes the use of acai, one of the most healthful foods in the world.

If you ever find yourself anywhere near Santa Barbara, do yourself a favor and check out Backyard Bowls. Try Spartan Muesli. And if you get a frozen bowl, ask them to add Spartan Muesli as a topping. We just had one yesterday, and it was a mind-blowingly healthy and delicious treat.

Consumer Reports finds canned food contains BPA

Consumer Reports will publish a ground-breaking study in the December issue showing that many canned foods, and other packaged foods, contain a synthetic estrogen called Bisphenol A (BPA).

BPA, which was invented in the 1930s as a synthetic estrogen, is used to make the plastic and epoxy resins used in all kinds of food containers, including the lining of food cans. Consumer Reports found the substance in canned foods of all kinds, including those labeled "BPA Free" and "Organic."

The human body responds to BPA as if it were estrogen, which feminizes men and increases the risk of breast cancers in women. It disrupts the body's hormonal system in other, less predictable ways as well.

Some studies have linked BPA to obesity, heart disease, early puberty in girls, aggression in toddlers and other problems.

Another study found an association between the presence of BPA in the bloodstream and the both the quantity of sperm production and the amount of DNA damage to sperm cells.

The industry produces some 6 billion pounds per year of BPA, most of which touches food or beverages, human skin or is exposed to household air at some point. We eat it, drink it, touch it and breathe it.

Based on its findings, Consumer Reports recommends the following:

* Choose fresh food whenever possible.
* Consider alternatives to canned food, beverages, juices, and infant formula.
* Use glass containers when heating food in microwave ovens.

For people on the Spartan Diet, this doesn't go far enough. Never eat canned foods. Store foods and drinks only in glass containers. Nearly all your food should be fresh.

Why chocolate isn't on the Spartan Diet

Recent science has discovered healthful properties in cocoa, which has lead media organizations that cover health, fitness and diet to proclaim chocolate as a health food. One of the better articles summarizing the health benefit of chocolate was published on the Huffington Post: "7 Healthy Reasons To Enjoy Chocolate--Without the Guilt!" Those seven reasons are:

1. High in antioxidants

2. Helps with cholesterol

3. Reduces inflammation

4. Lowers blood pressure

5. Helps with mood

6. Improves blood flow

7. It's delicious!

Sounds great! Here's the problem. Nearly all these reasons benefit only those who eat poor diets, or who don't get enough exercise or both.

Conventional medical and health reporting assumes that you're overweight, undernourished and suffer from some level of cardiovascular disease. In fairness, those are pretty safe assumptions when writing for the general American public. Given those assumptions, chocolate can help make up in some small way for your shortfall in antioxidants, and help alleviate your industrial-diet caused high blood pressure, poor circulation, high cholesterol and high inflammation.

However, if you're on the Spartan Diet, you're not going to have any of these problems. The diet gives you all the antioxidants you need with fresh, organic fruits, vegetables, legumes, nuts and other plant foods. Because small amounts of extra-virgin olive oil is the only concentrated fat, and because the diet is generally as healthful as a diet can be, you won't need chocolate to help you cope with non-existent cardiovascular problems and the like.

Meanwhile, chocolate has some problems advocates gloss over. First, it's very unlikely that anyone will eat chocolate without sugar. So to recommend chocolate is usually to recommend white table sugar.

Second, chocolate as most people will eat it is a highly refined, highly processed food with many of the touted antioxidants and other nutrients compromised by heat and age. It's not usually a fresh food, but a processed, stored food that's been sitting around for weeks or months.

Third, chocolate is a spectacularly complex food, loaded with mild drugs. It's both an upper and a downer at the same time. One of the most appealing things about chocolate for some enthusiasts is improves mood. Chocolate contains bioactive chemicals, such as tryptophan, and is thought to increase the production of dopamine. Although pleasurable, chocolate can also be addictive.

The healthiest way to eat chocolate is to buy fresh, raw, organic cocoa, and make a chocolate drink with it based on cashew milk sweetened with a small amount of honey. Such a drink is just about as healthy as chocolate gets. But what's the liklihood that you'll take your chocolate like this? Most will grab a chocolate bar, or make hot chocolate with roasted cocoa and milk.

Because all the health benefits of chocolate are already fully present in the Spartan Diet, and because those benefits come in the form of a processed food with addictive bioactive chemicals, sugar and other bad stuff, chocolate does Spartan Dieters more harm than good.

The Spartan Diet is based on a solid list of core principles, including maximum (rather than adequate) health, zero addiction and the avoidance of processed foods and sugar. And that's why chocolate doesn't make the cut.

The Spartan Diet optimizes mind as much as body

A new study published in the FASEB Journal found that rats fed higher-fat content diets took longer to finish a maze, and made more mistakes in memory than rats on a lower-fat diet. The study suggests what we already know intuitively: High-fat diets can make us mentally slower. We believe this is especially true with lower quality fats, including trans fats.

Another recently published study has found that a Mediterranean diet, low in meat, dairy, processed foods and high in nuts, fish, whole grains and fresh fruits and vegetables, is associated with lower rates of mental illness and depression.

And a recent study at Tufts University looked at low-carb diets, such as Atkins, and their effect on cognition and memory. They found that performance on memory tests started declining measurably compared with subjects on a moderate-carb, low-fat diet.

We have found in our own experiences, and in the experiences of others on the Spartan Diet, that all this is very true. The Spartan Diet is both relatively low in fats, has plenty of complex carbs, and also is an extremely Mediterranean diet.

People on the Spartan Diet report feeling mentally sharper, more upbeat and generally good all the time. That makes it easier to sleep better, exercise more and generally do all the other things that, combined with diet, lead to a more fulfilling and successful life.

How (and why) to make delicious Quinoa

Quinoa is a grain-like seed that originates in the South American Andes. It's not an actual grain because it doesn't come from a species of grass. Quinoa has been cultivated and eaten by the Incas in what is now Peru and Bolivia for 6,000 years.

Quinoa is fantastic because it's so flexible -- it goes with just about everything -- can be made in just a few minutes, and it has quite a lot of complete protein.

It's a great idea to always keep prepared quinoa in the fridge. You can quickly and easily create a wonderful meal with it thanks to its nutty and delicious flavor. Add it to just about any cold or hot meal including soups and salads. It also goes well with any type of cuisine including Mexican, Italian, French and Indian. Quinoa is a powerhouse food that provides complete protein with all nine essential amino acids.


INGREDIENTS

2 cups dried quinoa (red, white or black, rinsed)

4 cups water or vegetable stock (or 1 cup water, 1 cup stock)

1 tablespoon olive oil

Sea salt to taste

Freshly ground pepper


INSTRUCTIONS

1. Rinse quinoa in fine mesh sieve or strainer. In a medium deep pan, combine quinoa and water or broth, cover with lid and simmer over low heat for 20 to 25 minutes or until all the water has been absorbed.

2. Remove from heat and let it rest for 5 minutes covered. Add olive oil, salt and pepper and fluff with fork. Use in any recipe or let it cool and refrigerate to use in later meals.

Whole grains lower risk of high blood pressure

Both men and women who eat the greatest amounts of whole grains have the lowest likelihood of high blood pressure, according to a study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition. Men in a grouping that averages 52 grams of whole grains every day were 19 percent less likely than the men who ate an average of about 3 grams per day to develop hypertension, after other factors like activity level were factored out.

The Spartan Diet calls for all dietary grains to be whole grains, and for the total elimination of flour and compromised grains.

Research shows health effects are cumulative, long-term

We're living in a golden age of scientific discovery about the many links between diet, behavior and environment on the one hand and human health on the other.

Scientists often try to and succeed in matching specific individual causes with specific individual effects. But rational minds can detect trends, and deduce best actions to take to protect the health of our families and ourselves.

One of the trends we've noticed lately is that scientists are discovering links between events or behaviors that take place in childhood, affecting health in adulthood. These include:

Children who eat candy every day in childhood are more prone to violence as adults.

Rare, often fatal adult brain cancer may be linked to inactivity in teen years.

Childhood anxiety increases the likelihood of adult obesity.

Childhood social status predicts adult health.

High blood pressure in childhood is associated with hypertension in adulthood.

Childhood lead exposure associated with criminal behavior in adulthood.

We could go on and on with this. It would be trivial to cite hundreds of links between causes in childhood that create effects in adulthood.

These trends shatter several rarely-vocalized myths about health. The first is that you're either sick, or you're "fine." A typical scenario might go like this: A man visits the doctor for annual checkups. Every year, his heart and blood pressure are below some threshold. But one year, blood pressure or cholesterol or both appear in the danger zone. The doctor pronounces an official diagnosis, and prescribes a remedy, which might be a prescription combined with minimal advice about eating less fat and exercising more.

The problem with this scenario is that the conditions leading up to cardiovascular disease have been present for decades -- probably unhealthy diet and inadequate exercise.

The second myth is that if something causes no harm in the short term, that means it's "not bad for you." People say things like, "a burger and fries once in a while isn't going to kill you." Or "pesticides on produce won't hurt you."

What's actually happening is that our time horizon for cause and effect is growing longer. A century ago, you could take sip of something, and if you didn't drop dead on the spot, the liquid would be pronounced "safe." This short-term view of toxicity and ill health lead to the universe of food additives and processed foods that cause our overwhelming health crisis.

Very slowly and gradually, we're widening that time horizon. Now we're realizing that the junk food kids eat causes obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease and a world of problems, even if no symptoms show up until adulthood.

Broadly speaking, it appears that bad health can result from decades of unhealthy foods and behaviors in totally unpredictable combinations. In fact, it's reasonable to assume that a lifelong combination of environmental pollution; toxic household materials and cleaners; chemicals from plastic beverage containers; domesticated animal meat treated with hormones and drugs; processed foods; produce pesticides; excess fat, sugar and salt; and many other factors conspire to compromise our immune systems and expose us to a wide range of unpredictable health problems.

That's what the Spartan Diet is: Avoiding all of it for maximum health, total fitness, strength, vitality, energy and longevity.