Very interesting. Beans have links to autoimmune problems and are probably a less than ideal food due to the lack of nutrients, presence of antinutrients and other weird stuff.
Also, a meat + greens diet is pretty much the recommended Paleo diet. You might be interested in Robb Wolf's 'The Paleo Solution.'
I would have to say from my experience using them, and all that I've read about them, that intermittent fasting diets are marvelous.
In regards to the post above, when I IF I don't skip meals a vast majority of the time and I am never hungry/unsatisfied. Check out the introductory/about articles at leangains.com for some very great info on intermittent fasting protocols. I very much like his recommended 8 hour feeding protocol. Haven't heard complaints about it.
Also, from an evolutionary standpoint food would have been in constantly varying quantities, ...
Starting Strength is an amazing book for reference. I think the main take away from the book is Rippetoe's analysis of proper lifting technique--although I believe his comments on progression and exercise programming are VERY insightful. The entire book is amazing.
He talks about proper hand placement on the bar, body position, and mentions various methods to observe yourself and know if you're doing the lifts correctly or not. He also mentions useful and useless equipment; as well as useful and useless lifts. This is something a beginner needs, but a...
I believe I read all of the nutrition recommendations in the 4 hour body--as human nutrition is very interesting to me. I've done a lot of self-experimenting on the topic of nutrition. Timothy and I both share a deep interest wellness and looking like a BAMF, but I was still surprised that Timothy Ferris came to many of the same conclusions as I have.
Comments on some things I recall from his book:
The goal is to get lean (6-10% for males) and put on a few pounds of muscle.
The goal is NOT to get 1) super strong, 2) become a well-rounded athlete, or 3) he...
I think in this context he's talking about the 'beginner response' where strength gains are largely due to increased neuromuscular efficiency in UNTRAINED athletes.
I believe he says, without reading my own copy to make sure:
1) 5-10 lbs per 3-4 weeks in the presses is the normal rate of progression for novices for the first several months of training--until they have an intermediate level of strength.
2) weights will then increase in smaller increments, such as 1lb
3) then more complex programming is used
If you've been training for two years you have probably already used up your super-fast awesome beginner strength gains.