Purposefully Primitive Dieting: Nutrition, Insulin, and Body Fat

This essay from Marty Gallagher is a nutrition reflection for lifters, athletes and serious trainees: a blunt look at dieting, insulin, sugar, starch, protein, fat, and the pursuit of a metabolism better suited for burning body fat. For strength athletes trying to become leaner without abandoning performance, the lesson still holds: food choices, disciplined eating, and hard training with dependable strength training equipment all have to line up.

Purposefully Primitive Dieting

Want to lose body fat? Learn how to control insulin.

“Body fat cannot be burned as long as insulin is present in the bloodstream. Sugar and starch stimulate insulin. The hormone glucagon is required for the mobilization of fat stores. Glucagon enables the burning of body fat for energy. Glucagon cannot operate in the presence of insulin.”

Nora Gedgaudas, Primal Body, Primal Mind

Nutrition note: This article reflects Marty Gallagher’s training-and-diet perspective for strength athletes. Anyone managing diabetes, metabolic disease, medication, pregnancy, or a medical nutrition plan should consult a qualified healthcare professional before making major carbohydrate, calorie, or dietary changes.

The Book on the Lower Shelf

I have a huge library of books. All kinds on all subjects. So many that sometimes one gets lost in the shuffle. This happens quite a bit because when I purchase books typically I will get three or more at a time. Often a good book gets overshadowed by another book purchased at the same time and does not get the attention it deserves.

A few weeks back I wanted to find my copy of an old Bill Starr book, The Strongest Shall Survive. I found my old copy on a lower book shelf that I rarely look through. Next to Bill’s book was a copy of Primal Body – Primal Mind by Nora Gedgaudas. I had zero memory of purchasing this book. I plucked it off the shelf and could not for the life of me remember where or when I bought the book. As I perused the book, I could not believe I had purchased it and not read it: it was chockfull of insights.

The premise of the book, as I read it, is twofold:

1. We need to shift our metabolism from sugar-burning mode into fat-burning mode.
2. To accomplish this, we need to eliminate starch and sugar.

Nothing more, nothing less. The argument is blunt: modern man is obese and unhealthy because modern man has a carb-burning metabolism and lives on sugar. Primal man was lean and healthy because primal man had a fat-burning metabolism and lived on protein and fat.

Protein, Fat, Carbohydrates, and the Primal Argument

From the beginning of the human species up until the widespread introduction of agriculture, usually pegged at 10,000 years ago, the argument goes that humans relied heavily on protein and fat from animals they hunted and killed. They would augment animal meat with whatever fruits, vegetables, insects, nuts, berries, or wild honey they would happen across — but these foods were accidental and incidental and always occurred in proximity to game.

Primal men would migrate with animal herds, parasitic vampires that clung to the herd’s periphery. Primal men were as nomadic as the animals they followed to survive. Until the advent of formalized agriculture, an eye-blink, carbohydrates played a small part in the human diet. Man evolved and became fully formed hunting and eating animals.

Primal man might on occasion come across some wild fruit or vegetables, perhaps some honey, but this represented an insignificant and irregular part of the ancient’s diet. Protein and fat, derived from wild animals, was the primary source of calories. The hunter-gatherer societies existed for hundreds of thousands of years as mankind fully evolved, eating protein and fat, augmented with a small amount of natural carbohydrates and natural sugars. This high-octane, nutrient-dense diet became, in this line of thinking, the optimal food-fuel for the human body.

Agriculture, Starch, and Sugar

Agriculture changed everything. Humans no longer had to hunt to eat. They no longer had to migrate in synchronization with animal herds. They could settle in one place and grow crops. They could survive on what they planted and harvested. The advent of agriculture created all kinds of foodstuff possibilities. With grains, man created baked goods, beer, wine and liquor. Humans began existing on cheap, low-grade carbohydrate as a primary food-fuel.

In Gallagher’s interpretation of the primal diet argument, many modern health and body composition problems accelerated when the food-fuel of choice shifted from protein and fat to starch and sugar. It was akin to trying to run a 600-horsepower Ferrari 488 on kerosene.

There was a widespread shift in nutrition, a replacement of protein and fat with much cheaper and easier to obtain carbohydrates. Carbs created geographic stability. It was the end of the nomadic lifestyle of hunter-gatherer. Primal societies were replaced with villages, towns and cities.

The Insulin Lesson

The core contention, the most profound thing Gedgaudas says, is that other than protein, fat and fibrous carbohydrates, anything you eat or drink is undigested sugar and once consumed is converted into sugar.

This simple Simon, Forest Gump-like profundity, this irreducible Zen factoid, resonated with me. Eat a bagel and it is turned into sugar, by the body. Drink a beer and it is turned into sugar. Eat pasta, a muffin, any starch carb, drink any kind of booze or soda and it becomes sugar when digested. When food or drink is digested and emulsified it is turned into glucose. Excess glucose spikes insulin. In this dietary model, body fat mobilization becomes harder when insulin is chronically elevated.

The solution is easy to state and hard to master: stop eating anything that isn’t a protein, fat or fiber.

Any nutrients consumed other than protein, fiber and fat are, in this argument, converted to sugar. Sugar spikes insulin. When insulin lingers in the bloodstream, fat burning is impaired. If the system is never clear of insulin, no matter how hard you train, no matter how much cardio equipment you use, body fat can become stubborn. Simple as that.

Shifting From Sugar-Burning to Fat-Burning

This nugget of knowledge made everything related to diet and leanness emerge from the fog of opinion into the crystal-clear clarity of usable knowledge. The first order of business for anyone serious about leaning out is to stop eating sugar and starch and give the body a chance to shift away from constant glucose dependence. This isn’t rocket science: how do we reduce the insulin stimulus? Stop eating anything other than protein, fat or fiber carbs. Stop eating anything that gets converted into sugar.

The goal is to shift the metabolism from a sugar-burning glucose metabolism into a fat-burning metabolism. How is this accomplished? Deprive the body of sugar.

The clarity of Gedgaudas’ message resonated with me. It clarified reality. Sugar and starch, along with trans-fats, are my enemy. The bad news is that it could take 4-6 weeks of strict dietary adherence to shift a metabolism from sugar-burning to fat-burning. That’s a long time. Still, it intrigues me and clarified so many dietary questions. I really feel I now know everything I need to know about dieting.

They have a saying about the card game Texas Hold ‘em, “It takes five minutes to learn and a lifetime to master.” I feel like I just got taught the dietary equivalent of Texas Hold ‘em.

What Strength Athletes Can Take From This

For powerlifters, bodybuilders, weightlifters, athletes, first responders and military trainees, the practical takeaway is not that nutrition replaces training. The takeaway is that nutrition and training must agree with one another. If the goal is to burn body fat, retain muscle and keep performance alive, the diet cannot be a random stream of sugar, starch and convenience food.

Hard training still matters. A lifter leaning out will still need progressive resistance, quality free weights, and enough intelligent conditioning to keep the engine hot. A well-equipped training space built around a Body-Solid commercial power rack, adjustable PowerBlock Elite USA 90 dumbbells, or premium powder coated kettlebells gives the athlete tools to keep muscle while nutrition drives the body-fat reduction effort.

Equipment Pairings for Dieting, Fat Loss and Conditioning

Dieting is done in the kitchen, but the training room helps determine whether the weight lost is paired with strength, muscle and performance. Lifters who want structured conditioning can use exercise bikes, the AssaultBike Pro X, the commercial slat belt sled treadmill, the Jacobs Ladder 2 home cardio trainer, or the Assault Fitness AirRower Elite to create repeatable cardio sessions while nutrition controls the fuel supply.

For home gyms, commercial gyms, school weight rooms, tactical fitness rooms and first responder training areas, supporting the diet with a durable training environment matters. Quality rubber gym flooring, heavy-duty strength stations, and practical accessories can help make the daily process easier to repeat. The food plan supplies the metabolic discipline. The training space supplies the physical outlet.

FAQ

What is Purposefully Primitive Dieting about?

Purposefully Primitive Dieting is Marty Gallagher’s reflection on Nora Gedgaudas’ primal nutrition argument: reduce sugar and starch, emphasize protein, fat and fiber, and shift the body away from constant sugar-burning toward a more fat-adapted approach.

How does the article connect insulin and body fat?

The article argues that sugar and starch stimulate insulin and that chronically elevated insulin can interfere with body fat mobilization. Gallagher presents insulin control as central to dieting, leanness, and long-term body composition change.

What foods does the article emphasize?

The article emphasizes protein, fat and fiber-based carbohydrates while discouraging sugar, starch, soda, alcohol and refined carbohydrates that are quickly converted into glucose.

Should every athlete eliminate all carbohydrates?

Not necessarily. This article presents a strict primal-style approach through Gallagher’s perspective. Athletes with high training loads, medical conditions, or specific performance goals should individualize carbohydrate intake and seek qualified guidance before making major nutrition changes.

What equipment supports a fat-loss-focused training plan?

A fat-loss-focused plan can be supported by free weights, dumbbells, kettlebells, cardio equipment, exercise bikes, sled treadmills, rowing machines, and durable gym flooring. The equipment supports the training; nutrition drives the calorie and fuel-control side of the equation.

About the Author

As an athlete Marty Gallagher is a national and world champion in Olympic lifting and powerlifting. He was a world champion team coach in 1991 and coached Black's Gym to five national team titles. He's also coached some of the strongest men on the planet including Kirk Karwoski when he completed his world record 1,003 lb. squat. Today he teaches the US Secret Service and Tier 1 Spec Ops on how to maximize their strength in minimal time. As a writer since 1978 he’s written for Powerlifting USA, Milo, Flex Magazine, Muscle & Fitness, Prime Fitness, Washington Post, Dragon Door and now IRON COMPANY. He’s also the author of numerous books including Purposeful Primitive, Strong Medicine, Ed Coan’s book “Coan, The Man, the Myth, the Method" and numerous others. Read the Marty Gallagher biography here.