Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Devin on April 18, 2009 at 12:48am

Seems fairly straight forward and delicious. I strive for a basic, whole grain, fresh ingredient diet. The Spartan Gruel reminded me of this video on Chow: How to Cook and Top Oatmeal

Permalink Reply by Mike Elgan on April 19, 2009 at 3:44pm

Hi, guys. My name is Mike Elgan, and I'm co-author The Spartan Diet. The diet itself is complete, and the book (called "The Spartan Diet," oddly enough), is more than half done.

We believe this diet is not only the "healthiest diet in history," but also the manliest diet in history. The diet was conceived originally as an answer to the question about why US Marines, who are often called "American Spartans," are so Spartan about everything except diet. It evolved into something much more encompassing. So why Spartan? Here's part of our explanation from the book:

When it comes to health and fitness, the ancient Spartans are uniquely qualified to teach us the lessons we need most of all. Unlike us, they figured out how to keep their bodies strong when everything in their environment promoted weakness. In the midst of great wealth, the Spartans rejected over-consumption. In an age of rising and unprecedented civilization, the Spartans never lost touch with their animal nature. In an environment of plenty, the Spartans stayed lean. When mighty Sparta’s power, influence and wealth eclipsed even the glory of Athens, every Spartan citizen lived simply, with frugality, self-discipline and awesome physical health.

How did they do it? How can we?

We've got some information on the site and the blog, but I'd love to answer any questions anyone has about it.

Mike Elgan

Permalink Reply by Tyler Wainright on April 27, 2009 at 4:52pm

Mike Elgan said:

Hi, guys. My name is Mike Elgan, and I'm co-author The Spartan Diet. The diet itself is complete, and the book (called "The Spartan Diet," oddly enough), is more than half done.

We believe this diet is not only the "healthiest diet in history," but also the manliest diet in history. The diet was conceived originally as an answer to the question about why US Marines, who are often called "American Spartans," are so Spartan about everything except diet. It evolved into something much more encompassing. So why Spartan? Here's part of our explanation from the book:

When it comes to health and fitness, the ancient Spartans are uniquely qualified to teach us the lessons we need most of all. Unlike us, they figured out how to keep their bodies strong when everything in their environment promoted weakness. In the midst of great wealth, the Spartans rejected over-consumption. In an age of rising and unprecedented civilization, the Spartans never lost touch with their animal nature. In an environment of plenty, the Spartans stayed lean. When mighty Sparta’s power, influence and wealth eclipsed even the glory of Athens, every Spartan citizen lived simply, with frugality, self-discipline and awesome physical health.

How did they do it? How can we?

We've got some information on the site and the blog, but I'd love to answer any questions anyone has about it.

Mike Elgan

Mike - thanks for the reply. I look forward to reading more on your site. My big question, whenever it comes to wanting to make diet changes, is how to approach the wife about it without sounding like a nutcase.

My wife is real hesitant to anything (advice/diets/tips/etc) found online plus she always does the grocery shopping. "Hey honey, pick up a bunch of cashews...I want to make our own milk" would draw all sorts of weird questions.

Also, what are some better grocery store alternatives to juice and milk. We have two kids and making our own juice and milk just isn't feasible because of time...is there anything in the middle that would be better for us?

Permalink Reply by Mike Elgan on May 25, 2009 at 10:53am

Hi, Tyler. Sorry it took me so long to reply.

I think the best way to approach big changes is to start with outcomes. Look where people on "normal" diets go. They get fat (3/4 of all adult Americans are overweight), get cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and suffer from a gazilliion problems, from erectile disfunction to osteoporosis. Ask her: Do we want this in our future? Do we want to be in much better shape now? Why not enjoy maximum health? (I mean, really. Why not?)

I'm sorry the Spartan Diet book isn't out yet. It'd be a big help to you, I suspect. But once you've resolved to get healthy and stay that way, embrace the Spartan Diet (or some other system, if it makes better sense to you) and see how it works for you.

Regarding alternatives to making your own juice and cashew milk. You might expect me to reply with, "yes, here's a product or a line of beverages you can just pick up at the store." My reply, however, is this: Cut out a half-hour or an hour of TV or some other activity each day and devote it to your health, which includes making food from scratch. There is literally no alternative to freshly made food. Get your kids involved in making food. Nothing will improve your lives more than awesome health.

Our book will show you how to minimize the time you spend on food. Embracing small bits and pieces of the Spartan Diet is a little time consuming and a little more expensive. But embracing it in totality is less time consuming and a lot cheaper.

Also: the Spartan Diet approach to all this is drink only water, and water-based beverages. There is no juice on the Spartan Diet. Cashew milk is something to be consumed very rarely as a food, not a beverage (usually for muesli http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Muesli ) There are no cold cereals in boxes healthy enough for the Spartan Diet that I am aware of. They all have sugar or processed grain or preservatives or some other combination of unheathly incredients.

Also: We usually buy our cashews from ... drum roll, please... Amazon.com! http://bit.ly/eNeFI

And finally: I'd like to challenge you and your wife to something. Eat Spartan gruel for three days in a row and just see how you feel: http://thespartandiet.blogspot.com/2009/04/how-to-make-spartan-grue...

Everyone who has tried this reports incredible energy, mental clarity and improved strength right away. (The degree of this improved condition usually depends on how unhealthy their normal breaksfasts are, so your mileage may vary.)

Mike

Permalink Reply by Andrew Plyler on September 22, 2010 at 6:59pm

Is the best time to eat this in the morning for breakfast? Or does it matter?

Permalink Reply by Sam Paris on May 26, 2009 at 8:13pm

Dear Mike Elgan,
I was actually wondering if you had an idea of when the book might be available. I'm really looking forward to reading it.

Permalink Reply by Charles Long on June 6, 2009 at 8:41pm

When will the book be out? That's what I want to know also. I don't have the money for this 6 month coaching program listed on the site. Actually I didn't see the cost listed but I'm sure it's expensive. But I would be interested in the book when it's out.

Permalink Reply by Mike Elgan on June 23, 2009 at 4:56pm

The Spartan Diet book will be out this year, toward the end of the year -- I hope!! We're 3/4 of the way done with the book. However, I am dribbling out bits and pieces of it on our blog: http://thespartandiet.blogspot.com/

Thank you all for your interest! This book will be unlike anything you've seen before. You're going to love it.

Mike Elgan

Permalink Reply by Tyler Wainright on June 23, 2009 at 5:09pm

Aw man, I was all into the Spartan Diet until I read, in one of your latest blog posts, that it doesn't contain cheese...damn. Call me a southern boy but I like my cheese. I guess you're also going to tell me that I can't have a cold beer :-)

In all seriousness, I'm still looking forward to the book. If I don't switch over 100% I at least plan on picking up some good breakfast and lunch ideas.

Permalink Reply by Charles Long on June 23, 2009 at 5:47pm

Yeah. Cheese and dairy will be hard to give up.

Permalink Reply by Pamela Harmon on November 30, 2009 at 3:59pm

LOVE the blog. Can't wait for the book!!! I'm a reader, so that's the way I would prefer to follow this life/ mindset. It's December tomorrow. Book coming out soon?????? Please?
Also, I have to comment on the part about the Marines. I was once an American Spartan woman, and I always thought the SAME thing! They claimed to have "dietary experts" running the chow hall, and SOME foods made sense, but I think what they really had were economists - BEAN counters - working there. It never made sense to me that they wouldn't at least invest in our dietary health, when we were expected to be the world's fiercest fighting force, ready at a moment's notice. I think they started releying on their modern weaponry too much! Since the chow was both unhealthy AND tasteless, this led many Marines to spend their money on even unhealthier choices. I wouldn't have minded stricter rules on what we could eat if they had thought more about what they were giving us. Don't even get me started on MRE's (talk about science gone bad)! The PX did not offer better alternatives either - at least not overseas. I ended up turning Japanese and eating mostly sushi, spending every extra cent I earned. Better food and better boots (with orthotics, please). That's all I wanted.
Book for Christmas? What an awesome present that would be to give to myslef and my husband (who was also an American Spartan).

Permalink Reply by Lance Schwarz on July 1, 2009 at 9:55am

I know a lot about dieting programs as I want to shed some pounds and have already informed myself online. I've read an article on the Spartan diet on a diet tips blog before, but I couldn't remember exactly what it was about until I looked at the blog you posted.
It seems really good and I guess you can be successful with it, but I guess it is pretty strict and requires you to change a lot concerning eating habits and I am not sure if I am ready to do that just yet.
However, I would be really interested in the progress of any of you starting the diet. Let us know! :-)

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