Although in Italy it has had little hype, many have heard of the Eades method to lose weight, and their book, ” Losing weight well, lose weight by eating ” which in its original title sums up very well its main topic: proteins. In fact, the original title of the work is “Protein Rower” or the power of proteins.

Doctors Michael and Mary Eades (husband and wife, he a doctor, she a biologist: not the first case of a couple proposing a slimming method) wrote this ” Lose weight well, lose weight by eating ” in the late nineties, when there was still “the fear of fat ”and the most famous diets recommended high amounts of carbohydrates and low amounts of fat. There was Atkins, true, and a few years later Dukan appeared, but basically people were still thinking in terms of low-calorie and low-fat diets, with many light products that had by now conquered the market.

The position of the Eades doctors therefore caused quite a stir : calories are not counted, what is important are carbohydrates, blood sugar and insulin. If we consume too much carbohydrates, insulin will convert them into fat, but if we eat more proteins and fats, the body will tend to attack body fat and not store it. In short: things that now seem to us said and said, and that we already know to be partial and attackable, at the time contributed to creating an editorial case.

Their method is based on the theory of metabolic advantage that would be created when instead of considering calories, we choose to eat different foods to promote weight loss: in particular, the diet is essentially ketogenic , with a Dukan-like attack phase that lasts two weeks, and an increase in carbohydrate quota that is somewhat reminiscent of the reverse diet, but is actually a forerunner of the paleodiet. The Eades dwell on arguments that later took hold among the Paleo gurus: that cereals are bad, they are rich in antinutrients and demineralize the body (in particular by depriving it of magnesium); that industrial fats are harmful to humans; that men’s health has fallen apart since agriculture. So even after the two weeks of the ketogenic diet, the Eades diet still offers a plan similar to paleo: fruit yes, cereals no, at least some tubers.