True History of Tae Kwon Do and the Karate Connection.

 

                So, this is how to start a fight with me……start off making a assertion you CAN NOT BACK UP and then push it till I research it and throw it in your face…if you read this……you know who you are!  Okay, background time.  I have this amazing friend who put her son in Tae Kwon Do…...I know right! Well regardless he loves it and one of the reasons he is in that and not Karate is I live like thousands of KM away (Bite it Americans) from her and a friend of his was already taking TKD so he joined in. To be honest I’m very proud of him and happy he is enjoying his martial arts experience. However, it led to this awkward exchange with a different friend about the Tae Kwon Do.

                So the conversation went something like this…and I will be brief.  Friend: Well he went with a totally different system of marital arts (I’m of course paraphrasing).  Me: Nope he went with a more sporty version of what I do. Friend: well it comes from ancient Korean systems of fighting not Japanese ones. Me: Nope, TKD is the child of Shotokan Karate actually.  Friend: BS its from an ancient system. Me: well….let me write a Blog on it. (Again, maybe not exactly as I said it…or at all, but you get the point). 

                Its important to note that my “Friend” in this case studied TKD as a kid and got his Red belt before he left training. But the owner of the club indoctrinated them into believing that the style came from some ancient systems of fighting that only were around Korea….which is total BS. To show that Tae Kwon do is not some ancient martial art I will just go back to the history and the words of the founder.

                Tae Kwon do was actually “Officially” formed in the 1940/50s when Choi Hong-hi and several of his students/contemporaries opened up the original 9 Kwons (Schools). The first Kwon was actually opened by Song Moo Kwan, who studied….I am not kidding….under Gichin Funakoshi in Japan….um, that’s Shotokan people.  The second was Chung Do Kwans Kwon (say that five times fast) in 1944…and Chung…studied Shotokan in Japan as well.

The Third Kwon was opened by Hwang Kee whom people say studied his system in China and it had nothing to do with Karate….till you study him and find out his system of Hwang do actually came to being after he settled in Japan and studied…wait for it….Shotokan! Ji Do Kwan then opened his Kwoon after traveling to Japan to study judo at the Kodokan…and bugger it…he took Shotokan from Funakoshi too. Wait we have one more chance to go totally Korean with the ancient stuff…..Chang Moo Kwan opened his Kwoon in the YMCA in Kwon Bop in 1946. He studied martial arts…in Japan…at the Nihon university.  He is said to be a student of Kanken Toyama…but Nihon University was a big Shotokan club as well…ergo….both.

                The 9 Kwoon’s represent the 9 first schools of Tae Kwon Do….None of which came from some ancient system of Korean fighting. The first organization set up was the KTA or Korean Tae Kwon Do association in 1959, so no ancient TKD associations. Now the “Ancient school of Korean Fighting” that everyone likes to quote is called Taekyeon, and as far as I can see the is much like Japans Ninjitsu in that its an ancient martial art…that was lost or not practiced for the better part of a century or more. The facts do not lend themselves to the idea that TKD came from an ancient system of Korean fighting and PROVE that the history of TKD starts as an offshoot of Shotokan Karate.

In 1952, the South Korean president watched a demonstration by Choi Hong-hi and Nam Tae-hi of the 29^th infantry division. The Demonstration was of Japanese Karate, but the president was told it was called Tang Soo Do, the Korean name for Karate essentially. And the president himself said it looked like the painted pictures he had seen of Taekkyeon, which is as it is believed to be how the “Korean Karate” system was misidentified as an ancient martial art…but it gets even more interesting from here.

Choi Hong Hi was not only the first person to officially demonstrate the art, but he was the first to have his ideas rejected. See he came out with a very very Shotokan style of training and was told NO! The Koreans did not want a photocopy of the original…they wanted something original…So, back to the drawing board before it was shown to the president. Choi worked on the system and infused more jumps, lots of kicking but the original system was still somewhat practical and grounded….this changed later. What Choi showed the president was not modern Tae Kwon do, but it was also not Taekkyeon or Shotokan.

So, where did all this confusion come from. Well when General Choi introduced his style to the Koreans government and it finally got the stamp of approval it was very important for the country (in their minds) to attach this new Tweaked version of the art form to an ancient source. Keeping in mind that the original intent was for the art to be rolled out in two different forms, the first being a military art taught to soldiers and the second to civilians as a form of exercises and self defense….what we got in the end was the civilian form only. Well, the nation came out with propaganda that assigned the root of Chois training to Han II Dong, a famous calligrapher and they then stated that he was also “A master of Taekkyeon”…..which in the end it turns out he was not AND Choi finally stated that he di dnot study any fighting arts under Dong, and Choi said that the ancient style “had nothing to contribute to Taekwondo”.  In fact Choi stated he had traveled to Kyoto to study English, Math and….Karate. He met up with a Korean named Kim and was introduced to Funakoshi Gichin with whom he studied.

Choi studied Shotokan and received his Second dan in the art before going home and going into the military where he moved up the ranks quickly. Choi had taught several of his contemporaries the new art form calling it Oh Do Kwan for a while till he changed the name Tae Kwon Do. Strangely the idea of TKD being one art was not his intent. The idea instead was to form a association of Korean arts and promote the arts under one umbrella, that did not last however as the government felt it easier to have everyone train the same and train the same in each Kwoon. As a way of enforcing this the government only recognized the style they preferred and Choi’s dream of having many different styles fell to the wayside.

In 1966 Choi broke with his KTA and created the ITF and emigrated to Canada. The ITF was a separate body devoted to creating a standard system of TKD with the goal of completing its transformation into a viable martial sport and possibly a Olympic event. Choi standardised the forms and rules for competition and then moved to promote it as a sport. Choi died in 2002 of cancer in Pyongyang North Korea and received a state funeral. He is listed in the TKD hall of fame and is listed as the Father of TKD”. Choi passed away having seen his art become a demonstration sport in the Olympics in 1988 and an official medal event at the 2000 Olympics in Sydney.

Okay, so after all that “Deworming the marketing machine” and throwing some truth down what does a Karate guy think of Tae Kwon Do…well the same thing I think about all styles of martial arts…they can be good…and they can be bad. The Tae Kwon Do that I have seen first hand has run the gambit from sloppy and horrible to sharp and impressive, From a glorified kids daycare program to a very serious sport training club.  Now, let me be clear here!  I do believe that ALL TKD is a sport or martial sport, but I also feel some Karate clubs are martial sport focused as well and its up to the individual if that’s what they want. In the end TKD is a hereditary descendent of the style of Karate I love, live and teach….so it cant be that far from good right!

Systems and styles of Karate- a not so brief run down.

 

                The world of Karate sees so many casms and splits in systems and clubs that sometimes its hard to keep up with the changing club status….is a club ISKF?  JKA? ITKF?  Sometimes it all depends on the chief instructor of the club and who they are not fighting with currently.  Well, that’s just on a Shotokan level!  By definition (mine) a system or style of Karate exists on its own when it makes major changes to the syllabus and adds or removes training protocols, Kata or other major aspects, not just when it shifts from one organization to another in a style of Karate…as I suggested above.

                In a brief look at the Karate systems online you can find at first, quick and dirty glance at least five styles of Karate….but that does NOT tell the whole story of the number of systems that exist in Karate. I counted 80 plus school/systems/styles in less than an hour…and that does not include the off shoot schools like the ISKF and ITKF that exist and just keep training in the root system while naming a new leadership group.

                To be frank the founding roots, as you can see in my book “a honest history of Shotokan Karate” are those of some Kung fu systems like White Crane Kung fu from Fujian and other Quanfa systems, some better known than others.  However, the Okinawan Roots, if you will, come from three kinds of village systems that were developed by different groups of “elder” practitioner. Shuri Te was a “Castle” or noble system created by masters like Kanga Sakugawa and Sokon Matsumura, both of which were Castle guards or military diplomats. The focus of the system was quick defensive movements followed by rapid counter attacks. They trained in weapons (Kobudo) and it was known for its rapid attacks to vital points as the system was meant to defend nobility and be deadly to attackers. It by no means was the only system or even, at the time, the most popular.

                Naha Te or Naafa Dii in Okinawan, was a system that grew out of the fishing village area of Naha in Okinawa. A much Harder and more focused system it used stable stances and solid body conditioning to improve the ability of its students to take strikes and also provide circular blocks and very powerful counters. The system came out of the Chinese Chunfa systems of Southern China and holds its corner stone of training in the Kata Sanchin, a kata used to develop a strong body and focused breathing. Much more circular than the shuri system its was more about tempering the body than quick defense and counters. Naha te however was very popular with the commercial rich in Okinawa and was very influential in development of many more modern systems of Karate.

                The Third system, Tumai-dii or Tomari Te was much less visible and yet still influenced many of the modern systems as well. Tomari was very much like Shuri Te, with the exception of some of the Kata being different and it being distilled down by different masters, obviously leading to both important differences and lots of similarities. The massive difference however is that the Tomari system seemes to have incorporated into the systems that came from its roots or influenced a system then evaporated in name, while both Shuri and Naha tend to stay front and center after new sub systems were formed.

 

                More modern systems were formed out of these three, and some Quanfa (kung fu) systems to form what I will call second generation systems that eventually split, were changed and became new third and even fourth generation systems.  I will try and break these down as much as I can and give brief reasons for splits but mostly I will just describe the root system and then point out the next generations as well. Im not going to be digging deep on the vast number of instructors in each system, im just going to focus on the systems themselves, but will mention founders when appropriate.

 

                Most of us are familiar with the Shotokan/Shotokai split so I wont go over it again in-depth. But even with in our own system we have major shifts in style.  The JKA system is the traditional stylised system created and codified by Nakayama Sensei, but after he passed you saw Asai Ryu systems pop up as well as the Fudokan system, both of which created Kata to work on different aspects of training and at least the Asai Ryu system created Kata to show a more Chinese influence in some cases. Granted that’s very underexplained but essentially, we have several off shoot schools and systems from Shotokan, but our two main “next Gen” Schools pale in comparison to the vast expanse of splits other systems have had.  We tend to split and just create new organizations that all teach what Nakayama taught….mostly to a tee and no new Kata ext. One exception would be Chidokan Karate.  Chidokan was formed by two of Funakoshi Sensei’s original students, both of whom are named Sasaki.

                Shotokan itself influenced many different systems of Karate, like Wado ryu, Chito Ryu, Shindo Jinen ryu, Kyokushin, Yoseikan and even other systems of martial arts like Soo Bahk Do and Tae Kwon do. The influence of Shotokan and its instructors can be found far and wide really. But with this also comes many splits and internal issues that cause Chasms that show in the organizations formed out of them. Other styles also came out of Shotokan like Tenshinkan, which was formed by Mamoru Miwa with a focus on Shotokan and mixing in Aikido techniques or Budokan was formed by Chew Choo Soot a Malaysian martial artist who merged Shotokan with Goju ryu, quanfa, judo, jujitsu and wrestling. Of all the systems that Shotokan has influenced, Kyokushin has grown the most however and while Shotokan has been used by more systems to create sub systems, its again, perhaps not the one you think of when you think of school splitting into new sub groups….at least not as much as Shito or Goju has. Other than Shotokan off shoots there are a myriad of different root systems that have grown into new styles.

 

                I am going to start with Goju Ryu Karate. Goju ryu was formed when Chojun Miyagi systematically created a syllabus from his teacher, Kanryo Higaonna’s teachings. Higoanna himself taught a style that was based on Baeihe quan kung fu and some Shuri te that was later called Shorei ryu and often referred to simply as Naha te . Higoanna introduced Miyagi to several Kata, but Miyagi codified them and then created the remaining Kata that make up the 12 Goju Ryu root Kata. Goju ryu has gone on to influence and or split from many schools of Karate, all of whom added training Kata, removed or dropped Kata and codified their own systems.  Some of the systems proport to be the Traditional Goju ryu and stay as close to the original as possible, but others mearly say the core is Goju ryu, but their school has just tweaked or added to it.  Systems like Seiwakai Goju ryu, IOGF Goju, The Japanese Goju Kai, Jundokan, Meibukan, Shurei Goju Ryu and several other smaller systems of Goju based systems, including a few hybrids that I will get to eventually.

                While Goju flourished, split and continued to develop, most of its schools remained very small and some were only found in one or two countries outside of Japan and only a few main clubs inside Japan or Okinawa. At around the same time as Goju Ryu developing and codifying a small system called To’on Ryu was created by a student of  Higaonnas named Juhatsu Kyoda. Kyoda studied Naha te from his instructor and also trained under Shito ryu founder Kenwa Mabuni and Miyagi but opted to stay pure and keep the original system intact.  To’on Ryu is often mistaken for Goju and is a very small system unto itself, but its practitioners focus on keeping the training and teaching as traditional as possible, which means keeping the over all class size very intimate and small.

                Along with the Goju based systems come the Shorin Ryu systems. These systems come from the teachings of Choshin Chibana, an Okinawan who studied under Anko Itosu. Chibana was known as a tough teacher who codified his system, based on Shuri ryu purely and build a somewhat pure form of the Shuri system. From Chibanas Shorin ryu however came many schools of Shorin ryu; these include Jyoshinmon, Kyudokan, Matsubayashi ryu, Reihokan, Ryukyukan, Shiidokan, Shobayashi, Shorinkan, Yoshudokai and Kenkokan.  The sub system of Kenkokan itself split into Shorinjiryu Kenyukai Watanabi-Ha, Genbukan, Kenryukan, Kentokukan and Koshinkai. Most of the Shorin systems maintain the core Kata and some add Kihon kata and different training items into their syllabus, and honestly some are just split due to schools splitting over politics. If you focus on the root system of Shorin ryu however you will see a large influence from Shuri Te, but Itosu was also a student of a Tomari te teacher. Its also suggested that Chibana learned some of his martial arts skills from training with Chinese Quanfa masters as well.

                One of the more prolific systems of Karate is the Shito ryu system.  This style was created by Kenwa Mabuni, a student of Itosu, Higoana and Seisho Arakaki, Tawada Shimoku,and Wu Xiangui (Go-kenki) a Chinese quanfa specialist.  Mabuni formed the system in 1934 upon moving to Japan when he retired from being a police officer in Okinawa.  He taught his system with upwards of 45 Kata and each system that is attached to the Shito schools adds or removes Kata, similar to The Goju ryu system schools. The Shito system split into many different groups before and after the founders death, some for very very political and heated reasons and others for technical differences. The system ahs created Hyashi ha, bushido shito ryu, Itosu ryu, Jikishinkai Karate, Kenshukai Karate, Kuniba Ha, Korobayashi Ha, Kurokawa Ha, Myazato Ha, Mokoken, Nihon Shito ryu, Renshikan, Seito shito ryu, Seizen Budokai Renmei, Shitokai, Shukokai/Tani Ha, Yushikan and Zuxuki Ha shito ryu.

                Some systems were formed by charismatic leaders who studied under different base systems and went on to beget their own systemic prodginy.  Kyokushin or Kyokushinkai comes to mind.  Mas Oyama was a big, burly Korean student who was in Japan studying at the Imperial Japanese army’s Yamanashi Aviation school.  Changing his name from Choi Young-Eui to Masatoshi Oyama he found and trained in Shogokan Karate and Goju ryu Karate. He earned the rank of 1^st dan in Shotokan as well as a questionable 6^th Dan in Goju. He also studied with Kanken Toyama (Founder of the Kanbukan) as well as others. With 33 Kata the Kyokushin system takes a bit from the Shotokan root system and a bit from Goju ryu system.

                Kyokushins’ splits are very interesting. Most of the splits come from the core values that Kyokushin has put into play that don’t actually jive with the ideals that they expound to. The Kyokushin way is one of tough training, pounding the body and doing things like the 100 man Kumite challenge. The splits came when different groups did things like dropping doing Kata and focusing on Kumite and conditioning. Systems like Ashihara and Enshin came out of this system. So did Kanbukan (Bogutsuki Karate) Kudo, Seidokaikan, Shindenkai, Seido Juku and Shindokan.  Groups like Shidokan also claim the influence of styles like Judo and Thai boxing, but honestly Kyokushin is the main source of their system.

 

                Hybridized groups who take influence from other root systems seem to be the rule in Karate.  No pure systems really exist beyond a handful of notable exceptions. And some of the hybrids take from a very shallow training experience in root systems and then create their systems to meet their own goals.  By this, in plane English, I meant that the founders did not study very long in a system and then went on to fund their own system and pumped up their own ranks to look like founders.  Go Kan Ryu comes to mind when talking about “Hybrids” with lofty claims and little to nothing to back them up. Go Kan Ryu was formed when a low level Shotokan Karate instructor partnered up with a low level Goju instructor and created a marketing based martial arts system. Its weird, its different and honestly…its kinda scary how many people fall for this systems garbage.  But they are not alone. Shuri ryu was created by Robert Trais, a sailor prior to WWII and he supposedly picked up Quanfa systems and Karate systems…but lots of facts are missing from his story and holes that are very wide exist. The system is very different and houses Kata not seen in any of the traditional root systems. Most people who study traditional Karate history consider this one to be fodder for the McDojo pile.

                Now just because Go Kan Ryu and Shuri Ryu are fraudulent and really just made up systems or marketing based systems does NOT mean that Hybrids are bad or not legit.  In fact, as you can see…all of the Karate styles are hybrids really. But more notable ones include Chito Ryu amongst others. Chito was created by Dr. Tsuyoshi Chitose, a Japanese doctor who studied Shorei ryu (Goju ryu) and Shorin Ryu (or Shotokan) systems and created his own system, including Kata. The system itself kind of looks a lot like Shotokan and its roots are very Shotokan heavy.  From Chito ryu came Yoshukai Karate. This system was created when a senior student of Chitose broke away and created his own style.  A very famous Chito instructor in Canada used to teach both Shotokan and Chito kata and was once quoted as saying Chito Ryu is the little brother to Shotokan and should remember this.

                Another group of very traditional and established systems that come from a Hybrid root system would be Gosoku Ryu, Wado Ryu, Isshin Ryu and Shukokai.  Gosoku ryu is the least known of these groups and was formed when Takayuki Kubota merged his study of Shotokan and Goju ryu to build his own system. Kubota was very enigmatic and drew in a lot of famous students, but the system is still rather small compared to Wado ryu, which was formed when founder Hironori Otsuka merged his Shotokan training with his old Jujitsu training system. Like Chitose of Chito Ryu Otsuka was also a doctor.  Isshin Ryu was formed by merging Goju ryu and shorin ryu together and implemented a great deal of Kobudo (weapons) Training into its syllabus as well. The system was created by Tatsuo Shimabuku, older brother to Shobayashi Shorin ryu founder Eizo Shimabukuro.  Lots has been written about the mental state of senior Tatsuo and his seeing the deity over the ocean…lets just say that he was kind of eccentric and leave it at that.  And the last of the group is Shukokai, a merger of Shito ryu and Goju ryu created by Chojiro Tani in the 1940’s.  The system was actually not really created by Tani as he wanted to stay in the Shito ryu umbrella but several of his students ran with his system and made it a literal hybrid of the two systems.

                Shudokan was formed by Kanken Toyama after he merged Shuri-t and Taijiquan together to form his system. From his system came famous systems like Kong Soo Do, Hapkido and Tae Kwon Do. Shudokan means the hall of studying Karate, but its also developed its own flair for Kata and training that has been used to form new subsystems like KoeiKan, Doshinkan and Seishukan. One of the reasons for this is that Toyama never appointed a successor and his view was that his Shudokan was mearly a place to come and train.  The three roots that grew out of his system became distink only because of this. In 1954 Eizo Onishi took what his instructor taught him and formed the Koei-Kan with its own focus on different Kata and training systems. Isao Ichikawa formed the Doshinkan in Austria after his instructor passed away and made him a founder of his own system. Seishukan is also a product of a Toyama Sensei student and created for the same reasons, however Nishida sensei (founder) also studied with Toon ryu founder Kyoda Juhatsu and Kenwa Mabuni of Shito ryu lineage. 

                Some systems were formed by instructors who studied in single or duel root systems (shuri te/naha te/ Tomari ti), such as the rare and small system of Kishimoto Di.  Soke Kishimoto learned his style from Bushi Matsumura and taught his style to Higa Seitoku, the founder of the Bugeikan essentially changing the root of Kishimoto Di to bugeikan style. A family style, Motobu ryu was a merging of Tomari te and Shuri te and fomulated by Motobu Choki. This school influenced many of the modern systems such as Wado, Shindo Jinen, Matsubayashi and to’on ryu. The Motubu system is popular because of its founders influence.  Motobu ryu almost died out however as the founder kept his actual lineage small when it came to the number of students he taught.

                Some styles try and state that they have their roots ONLY in the original three root systems but they fail to mention that they were formed later and influenced or created by more modern systems. This is done because they want to appear to be older or more ancient traditional karate-ish than they are.  Shindo Jinen-ryu comes to mind. They often say they were created by merging Shurite/Naha te and Tomari te systems together, so all three original root systems. The truth is that it was created when founder Yashuhiro Konishi took what he learned from Shotokan, shito ryu and Motobu ryu and mixed it with his study of the sword and jujitsu and created his system that is run by the Japan Karate-do Ryobukai currently.

                Some systems are from single sources not from the original root system however.  Ryuei ryu was formed by wealthy Okinawan Norisato Nakaima who went to Fuchou China and brought back his heavily Chinese influenced system.  He did only teach this system to family members and for several generations this was the normal form of transmition. However it has, in the last few decades, come out of the shadows to be a more influential system and has even created descendant schools such as Ryuhoukai. And of course the last of the “Mainland Japanese/Okinawan” systems would be Uechi Ryu.  This style was created when Kanbun Uechi traveled to China and studied under famous Chinese masters in Pangai Noon and Huzunquan quanfa systems. He then moved to Japan and taught his system openly.

 

                So far we have dealt with systems and styles of Karate linked to Japan/Okinawa and linked directly to a root system. However, there are a series of systems created that don’t really have a direct link to the systems of Karate formed by root systems or their “children” systems. Im talking about the systems known as Kempo/Kenpo. Im not talking about systems that use the name Okinawan Kempo/Kenpo as those are more like replacement terms for Karate. Choki Motobu is known to have referred to his style as Okinawan Kempo/Kenpo as have others, but this was more a reference to the Chinese ancestry as, at the time, most instructors were trying to distance themselves from the Chinese lineage by changing the meaning of Karate from “Chinese hand” to “empty hand”, Motobu and several other rebels used the term Kempo to connect more to the Chinese lineage, however.

                Shorinji Kepo was formed by Doshin So sensei in 1947 and was  mix of Shaolin Kungfu and his study of Japanese Jujitsu. James (Masayoshi) Mitose was born in Hawaii to Japanese immigrants and at the age of four was sent back to Japan. It was in Japan that he was said to have studied a style of Karate he said was Shorinji Kenpo, he then  created his own style of Kosho Shori Ryu Kenpo. This translates as Old Pine tree school of the fist law”. Having said this, there are a lot of holes in his story, regardless his system grew into other styles as well. Mitose passed on his system to William Chow, who called his system Kara-ho Kempo. Chow taught many instructors who went on to create American Kenpo Karate and Kajukenbo. Kajukenbo then had off shoots as different instructors created twists or tweaks to the system. Styles like Tum Pai that was much more Chinese in its presentation or Chu’an Fa and Wun Hop Kuen Do which are also more Chinese in presentation from the original Kempo based system of Kajukenbo.

 

                The last two “Kenpo/Kempo”systems I want to go over are Shaolin and Nippon Kenpo systems. Nippon Kenpo was created by Muneomi Sawayama, a Judoka who had studied under Shito ryu instructor Kenwa Mabuni and brought in systems like Goju ryu and Jujitsu systems to round out his style. Now most of the Nippon system is sound and the hybrid form is focused on Bogu Renshu or armor fighting so you know the system is sound in the fighting but the fact that modern systems like Jietaikakutojutsu (which is just a mouthful) and….wait for it….Modern Taiho Jutsu, which is often peddled as “Ninja” fighting….makes it a system of question. And of course there is Shaolin Kempo……

                Shaolin Kempo is the system created by Fred Villari. Villari was one of the first to jump on the “Distance learning” bandwagon and much like other pyramid schemes he pushed the envelop of taking advantage of peoples lack of education about martial arts. From what I can see he had a 2^nd level black belt from Nick Cerio, a student of American kenpo founder Ed Parker. After this Good old Frank gave himself a bit of a boost in rank.  He first came out and said he was a 10dan in Kenpo and then…after a bit and just before his distance learning programs really rolled out…he crowned himself a 15^th Dan. Anyways I just added him to round out the numbers.

 

                Regardless of what style or organization you train in you will get some benefit out of training if you work hard, avoid bad instructors and push hard in your studies. The myriad of options are out their for you and while I would suggest avoiding some systems and instructors, most are good intended people who just want to pass on their traditional systems.

Diets

 

As a child of the 70’s I have been around a long time now, four plus decades and the one thing I can say about “modern science” is that its ever changing.  Now when you put that in the light of “Diets” and what is healthy…that is going to change up a lot!  When I was first introduced to the idea of dieting, I was more looking to tone up and increase my athletic performance. I was 16 and a Gymnast who did Karate and wanted to look like Bruce Lee while moving like a super athlete…the current state of diet information told me to load up on Carbs….pasta, rice, potatoes and avoid fats!  Later I saw the “High carb” diet swap out for a more “high protein” diet then the “High Fat diets” and all the time they all promised the same results that the last one promised.

Now to be clear there are diet “Trends”, “Fads” and “Nutritional science” that you have to watch out. For. A “Trend” would be something like an uptake in Protein heavy diets…each one being a slight variation of the previous but still the trend towards a specific area. The “Fad” is a specific diet like “Adkins” or “Vegan” diets, this is much more specific.  Nutritional science changes are made when things like a better understanding of how sugar or human made fats affect the body and a shift in mainstream dietary trends happen.  The last one being the slowest to change and the most accepted ideals that exist.

I’m not going to outline Belief based diets like Kosher eating in the Jewish culture or Buddhist eating intact culture but more diets that have come to affect us as Trends and Fads. I will however caution that some dietary trends and fads come with their own “cult-ish” feel to them. For instance, and this is a well worn trope….Vegans tend to be very cultish…however pure carnivores do as well. 

Im going to kind of explore some of the Trends and fads we have seen over the years and let you know quickly what they are and what I think of them. Now my experience with them comes with some actual personal practice or talking to those that have tried them, but I am not a nutritionist or doctor. I do have a background in athletic use of Diets and I have been trained on most mainstream diets in university as well as having a back ground in Anatomy and physiology…but again…buyer be ware right.

 

The first group of Fads/Trends I will look at I have done a lot of personal research and put into practice the Intermittent fasting diets. IF or Intermittent fasting diets have been around for a while and are very effective. We used to think if you don’t eat at least three meals a day you are doing horrible damage to your body…..but science says that this is not true. The 5:2 diet is a fasting cycle of eating good clean foods 5 days a week and then not eating at all for two days. This is just one of the many cycles you can use for IF diets. Some suggest a 16/8 hour or a 12/10 ext or even one meal a day or two meals a day. I have done OMAD or One meal a day and 2MAD or two meal a day and they work. Tones of health benefits to eating like this and if you pick clean foods that will help your fueling your body as well as keeping the gunk out you will see success in this long term eating strategy…..as long as your OMAD meal is not a whole pizza, cake and cookies.

This is a more recent dietary trend mind you as most people felt eating MORE times a day was better for you and now research is pointing to the benefits of fasting and eating right when you do eat….Problem is that HANGER is a real thing and you will end up fighting the hunger the first few days. I find that the first day is the hardest and the one I feel most “IM GOING TO KILL YOU” on, after that you feel great between meals.

 

So, along with the Diets that control WHEN you eat some diet Trends are the Low and super low calorie diets. The low calorie diets normally restrict calories to a lower range like 1200-2000 calories a day…and often just above 1000.  Diets like Body for life (which I tried) also incorporate supplements like meal replacements and restrict the types of foods you eat. Other popular ones includes the Hackers diet, Nutrisystem and weight watchers. I have tried the Nutrisystem diet which focuses on two shakes and a meal a day and actually my current “weight loss” diet is sort of based on this idea.  A Modified OMAD if you will. Very low calorie diets are sort of fancy terms for starvation diets. They include diets that are limiting your calories to less than 800 a day.  Things like the Breatharian diet, KE diet and the Military diet are all based on dropping your calories VERY low.  Now the Military diet is limited to three days a week for a good reason, ifyou drop your calories bellow 1200 a day you risk a lot of health issues.

Normally VERY Low calorie diets are done with the daily supervision of a medical doctor. The KE diet for instance uses a feeding tube and you simply can not do that one by yourself. Time for another confession. When I was in my late 20’s/early 30’s I did this supplement driven diet, it was not really based on the diet or what I ate but the supplements, the EAC stack and I naturally ate only a salad with a piece of chicken a day and when all was said and done I lost a HUGE amount of weight, but the supplement was addictive and I was not healthy, I was burned out and developed a lot of physical issues like sore muscles and joints, head aches, always Thursday and I am sure my kidneys were subject to a beating as was my heart from the high level of caffeine I took in.  I do NOT suggest this one at all nor do I suggest any super low calorie diets.

The science of weight loss is kind of basic, you have to burn more calories than you take in to drop weight…but food selection is super important as well, and I will explain that one at the end.

 

Along with low calorie diet came a trend in Low fat diets.  McDougall’s starch diet came out and in 2002 but it represents a very common low fat diet that was very popular in the 80’s. The low fat diet trend saw many weird inventions, like man made fats and additives to things that were supposed to be better for you than the fats we ate.  The results, other than the invention of the term “Anal leakage” was horrible.  The new fat replacements turned out to be worse for us than the good natural fats in our foods. If consumed in moderate quantities, the fats in foods are actually good for us and contain vitamins and other important pre-hormones we need.  Fat does not make you fat…eating to much fat does…just like eating to much protein is not good for you as well.

Low fat diets are still recommended for people with heart issues and obesity issues, however the obesity issues diets tend to now sway away from just not eating fats and towards eating cleaner foods, which I will get to in a minute, as well as habit controlling focus like over eating (calorie control) and better, healthier food choices.

Most of the low fat diets were high carb diets because most protein sources are high in fats, and the Low fat people fixated on the fats.  So diets like the F-Plan, Ornish diet, Pritkin diet, Rice diet and Good Carbohydrate Revolution diets all fixated on low protein, low fats and flourished on and off prior to the high protein revolution that occurred in the 2000’s for the most part.

 

After the low Fat diets came out a sway in the food/diet industry saw an uptake in High protein, low carb diets like the Atkins diet, that made a major impact in dieters views in the early 2000’s.  Essentially these diets focused on eating lots of meat and fats, some veggies, but NO sugars. Some of them, like the Stillman diet, predate Atkins, but it was his diet that really blew up the diet industry and made protein and fat okay to eat again.

A common component of these diets was a “Step” or “phase” type progression in the diet. The Dukan diet for instance essentially has two steps for short term weight loss and then two steps for continued weight loss. The south beach diet is more heart healthy, but it also has several steps you have to take to ensure you are following the plan to the details and seeing progress in your goals.

The High protein diets almost across the board included a high fat part of their instruction. The Bulletproof diet, Dukan diet, Pioppi Diet, protein power diet, Rosedale diet, Salisbury diet, Sugar busters, Zone , Scarsdal and 4 hour body all came out of the high fat, low carb diets or high protein diets. Some diets like the Carnivore diet took the high protein/fat diets to the extremes. You will note that I am not mentioning two of the more major diet trends/fads yet and I will get to them…..

 

                Some diet trends are created by the medical industry to deal with or help with specific medical issues people have.  For instance the Diabetic diet is super controversial as people are always arguing about what a diebetic should eat, but the DASH diet or dietary approach to stop hypertension is used to drop your blood pressure and its essentially low fat, low sugar and low salt. Well its much more complex than that but it focuses on people with hypertension. Gluten free diets, Healthy Kidney, and specific Liquid diets are all used to deal with specific things, from Gluten sensitivity, Kidney disease to severe obesity.

                Some medical based diets are much more dynamic such as the Elimination diet. This is a method that has you eliminate all foods but a few, then introduce them back to see how your body reacts to them. Speaking of body reaction, the Low FODMAP diet that tries to restrict fermentable carbs to keep your stomach from acting up. And of course, the ever so popular Ketogenic diet that focuses on high fat consumption. Originally this was a medical treatment for epilepsy.  However, the food industry and diet industry has now grabbed ahold of this trending medical diet to tell you how it will help you drop weight and get slim.  Problem is…its super hard to maintain…expensive and not very good for people who don’t actually have epilepsy. Super hard on your heart and kidneys this diet has gone nuts in the modern era as a “Magic Pill” diet. But much like the Atkins diet before it…. people don’t stay on it for life because its dangerous, costs to much or simply is far to limiting in your available food choices.

 

                After the PURE PROTEIN EXPLOSION came about in the mid 2000’s some of the more famous “Diet trends” like Vegetarian diets came rushing back to play counter weight to eating a whole cow for dinner.  Some of the diets however, most of which had been around for years, rebranded or simply shot up so we could see them again. Essentially a Vegetarian diet is super heavy in…well veggies and fruits. They exclude Meat, but some allow for some animal products and even poultry or fish lik ethe Pescatarian and Pollo-Pescatarian diets. Some times called Flexitarian or Reducetarion diets the idea of going MOSTLY vegetarian can bee a good way to help cut down on red meat in your diet or “help the planet”. Semi Vegetarianism however is often seen as NOT being Vegetarian by those that follow a more strict path. Even the very popular as of late Raw-food diet is seen as a Vegetarian diet, but because you can wear leather and have some fluidity in what is raw food…well the purists don’t call it vegetarian.

                Lacto/Ovo/ Ovo-Lacto vegetarianism allows people to include Dairy (Lacto), eggs (Ovo) or both (Ovo-Lacto) in the diet to make up for missing BCAA’s and hormones that people feel are missing in their diets, but strictly prohibit meat of any kind.  Again, the purists do not consider them to be vegetarians.  Pure Vegetarians include Frutarians who eat only fruit and Pure Vegetarins that eat fruits, veggies, and anything Not related to animals.  A small sect of the vegetarians, but VERY vocal include the Vegans, who not only don’t eat animal meat, they do not wear or use any animal products. They also avoid anything like Honey or Dairy that was produced by an animal. The vegan life style is very strict and goes beyond diet….and they are also the butt of many jokes because of their attitudes, they are seen as our modern version of hippies.  

 

                Medical Diets are set up to actually deal with medical issues however some diets are said to help you “Detox” your body. The Science, if presented at all…is simply not their! The idea of eating or drinking foods to help clean your liver or detox your body…well its hog wash. The body does not work this way and no doctor or medically trained person would suggest any of these “Flushing” diets at all….ever….well unless they are “SELLING” it to you.

                The Juice fast, Detox diet, Fat Flush, Lemon Detox, Activated Charcoal diet and wheatgrass diet all take back seat to one of the originals…the Master cleanse diet. All of the Cleanse diets have been found to be HIGHLY ineffective at doing what they say they do, detoxing the body…because your body is not normally TOXIC. However, they have been proven to be dangerous, damaging and for the most part a total rip off.

 

Let’s face it, most people diet to lose weight. Along this journey we all run into the trap of the “Crash diet” that promises quick weight loss and push the idea of “Fast” over “long term” they tend to be weird to like the Cabbage soup diet…I don’t think I have to explain that one. Nor do I have to explain the Grape fruit diet or the Baby food, Cookie, Egg and whine, Lamb Chop and Pineapple, or Rhubarb diets. 

Some like the Beverly hills diet however are more extreme but need a bit of explanation. The Beverly hills diet only allows you to eat fruit for up to six days. Other Monotropic diets, which only allow one food item to be taken in for a given time pop up from time to time. Most are the All you can eat Bannana or All you can eat Apple diet. Some are more complex and robust like the subway diet that allows you to eat subway sandwiches limited to leaner cuts of meat mind you.

In 2001 one of my seniors convinced me to do the ALL APPLE diet. Well I did it for a week and it was HORRIBLE. I was bitchy and honestly for a long time after it made me violently ill if I saw an apple….Golden delicious my ass! Anyways most of these High sugar, fiber diets have one thing in common…you end up in the bathroom a LOT and you tend to eat lower calories so you do lose weight…but dear god its not pleasant.

 

Crash Diets go hand in hand with “Fad diets” or those that are popular for a short period of time, like fashion fads, they come in and serve a purpose, have celebrities yelling about how successful they are on them…then they fall away and are replaced with the next big thing.  Most of the diets on here can be called fads, but some just fall so cleanly into this category that I have to separate them from the rest of the pack.

If you are looking for the best fad diet you have to look at the “Blood type diet” right off the hop. Its exactly what it sounds like. No medical/scientific basis for the diet, but the focus is on eating…things…your blood…likes. I am not kidding. Behind that one is the Alkaline diet, making sure you don’t eat anything to acidic, a Macrobiotic diet that breaks food down into its core values, a Combination based set of diets that want you to eat A with B and not C like the Gracie Diet and a fit for life diet that recommends not combining foods with each other! The Morning banana diet is kind of self explanatory and the Super food diet that tries to sell you on the idea of eating only foods that are high in specific nutrients.

Some Fad diets are sound but don’t last or are to restrictive to last, but would work…like the whole30 diet, or they are crazy and weird like the Cotton ball diet (yes you fill up on cotton balls before eating…that cant be safe right) or based on weird things like the lunar cycle….called the strangely named Werewolf diet. Or they are again short lived but maybe, if done right, may be helpful like the immune power diet.

 

For the last year or so I have been researching what I call “Ancestral diets”. These include those that are supposedly diets that our ancestors have been using (Duh) or those that have been modified from those that have they have been using. Generally, these are made up of “Clean foods” (which I will split off as a whole in a minute or two) like clean meats, clean veggies and starches, fruits and nuts/seeds and some even have dairy in them and some grains. The Paleo or Paleolithic diet is a diet that follows the idea of what ancient man ate, along with that is several other “Paleo” based diets. Most of them also fit into a near keto or keto like diet easily.  This can be dangerous if you rely heavily on meats and fats for the diet. A balance should be held.  Also the Primal diet is a diet and life style that uses a similar diet set up but also focuses on other health related ideals like getting sleep, playing not working out and relaxing when you can.

Some of the ancestral diets are more localized like the Okinawan diet that focuses on eating yams and seafood with lots of local available foods, the Mediterranean diet that focuses on good fats, veggies and sea food and even an Inuit diet that has people eating lots of fish, game meat and that’s about it…talk about Keto friendly!  And of course, the weirdly named Pegan diet that focuses on eating high fat foods and limiting carbs. There are of course way more Ancestral based diet plans from around the world, but honestly most of them are very similar and not many of them very from a Primal/paleo stance or a off shoot of it.  Essentially Sugar and simple carbs are bad and proteins and fiber is good.

 

Some of the programs fall under “Group/eating/lifestyle” or Support group eating programs. Those include classically Weight watchers and even Nutrisystem as well as Jenny Craig. These provide food and a system for eating but also encourage group meetings, counselling and other elements. Often you find that the counselors are not nutritionally trained and often only trained in the program they are selling you.

These programs are not run by “trained” people and much like the watered down educated “gym pros” that you get to train with at a gym…they are not really experts. Having said this, I know of a few people who swear by it…and use them for years…and years. If you can not meet your goals in a year…move along. If you don’t see major jumps in your goals then you are over paying for an under producing service. However, if you feel good about it and you are healthier for it…why not.

 

                I mentioned clean eating a while back here and its super important to note that I often separate out the clean eating or food combination clean eating from other catagenesis as they seem to strive to limit the amount of processed foods and combine clean foods together like the original eat clean diet. While the eat clean diet is focused on just eating non processed proteins and carbs the focus is on eating as healthy as possible. Perhaps to general or broad for some the variations of this include an “organivores” (organic foods only) and Locavore diet (Eating only local clean foods.

                More exotic sounding diets like the High Residue diet, Low Carbon Diet, Macrobiotic diet and the negative calorie diet that focuses on eating foods that are whole and low in calories. Some focus on eating whole clean foods that are only vegetarian like the Graham diet, which cold be put under the Vegetarian heading but puts a great deal of emphasis on the “Clean part of it” and having been created in the early 19^th century it may have been a bit ahead of its time. 

                William Hays created the Hay diet in the 1920’s to focus on food separation, he did not believe in eating the carbohydrates with the proteins, but he also felt that eating clean was essential. Other diets used broad “Clean eating focus” Like the Omnivore and Organic food diets as well as the Montignac diet and the Sonoma diet that worked on eating clean “power foods” and restricting portions.

 

 

Over the last few years of research I have put together, jerry rigged a working diet based on all of these diet ideas that I find may work. Keeping in mind I am no expert in this field just someone who buys a lot of books. And I am working on implementing a two phase diet program with a “Eat clean/paleo/IF” Focus.  The best things I can say about the amount of research I have done is that I know now that processed foods are horrible for you, eating clean natural foods are much better. Carbs/fats are not your enemy if you keep this in mind. And of course calorie/portion control for weight loss is super important.

Aside from this the rest is just fluf and smoke and mirrors. One meal a day or six, if you fill your fuel tank with junk your elite body wont work well. If you stuff it with foods high in fiber your wont get to over eat. Cut your fruits when you want to drop weight (Sugars) and stick to the starch, veggie, protein combo for each meal…and drink water over pop.  That’s pretty much all the diet wisdom I have.