I have long been familiar with your work, which should not surprise you. Given your longstanding presence in bodybuilding magazines, I imagine that few avid readers of such publications are unaware of you and your books. Your ads were running for years before I became a published author; I admire the longevity of Ripped Enterprises and your seemingly ageless ripped physique.

A short anecdote will explain what prompted me to visit your website and to have a copy of my book shipped to you. A few months ago, a gentleman wrote me asking how you could have become so cut while employing a diet that departs sharply from the dietary prescription advanced in my book. (In my reply, I explained that just as there is more than one way to get to a geographic destination, so there is more than one way to attain a given physique objective.) What impressed me more than his query was his observation that the two best sources of health information are guys with law degrees. This correspondence induced me to visit your website. After doing so, I decided to send you a copy of my book, but I wanted to wait until we received the revised and updated version from the printer. With the new printing of NHE now completed, I asked my publisher to ship you a copy forthwith.

I would be honored if you would review Natural Hormonal Enhancement. Should you wish to reciprocate by sending me one of your books, I would be grateful and most pleased. And if I may burden you with a final request, please drop me a line to confirm receipt of my book. Thanks very much for your time and notable contribution to the world of health and fitness.

Cordially and sincerely yours, 

Rob

CLARENCE'S REPLY:

Dear Rob:

Thanks for your very kind and gracious email. I have not received the book from your publisher, but I have had a copy of what I suppose is the previous edition on my desk for sometime. Frankly, I've been dragging my feet a bit on reading it, because as you observe, your dietary prescription appears to be substantially different from mine.

I have found from long experience that complicated dietary manipulations are unnecessary and make healthy eating onerous, difficult, and destroy motivation. I've found that eating whole natural foods, with nothing added or subtracted, keeps my blood sugar -- and my mood -- on an even keel. It has also kept me lean and healthy for decades on end. (I explained in my first book Ripped, published in 1980, why I tried and abandoned carbohydrate manipulation.)

A number of your readers have taken me to task for not commenting on your book -- favorably, of course -- on our Website. I've told them much the same thing as I just told you. Plus, for the most part I prefer to comment favorably or not at all. This prodding from your readers and your very diplomatic and well phrased letter will make me take a hard look at your work.

It always annoys me when people ask me questions without reading my books, but I would appreciate it if you would address my concern about pursuing or recommending hard-to-follow dietary methods. It would give me something to include in my commentary and increase my motivation to dig into your book.

I would be delighted to send you copies of Ripped and my last book, Challenge Yourself. Where should I send them?

Thanks again for your kind letter.

Best regards,

Clarence 

ROB'S REPLY:

Dear Clarence,

Thank you for your letter. I am pleased that you will review Natural Hormonal Enhancement, though I lament the role played by the self-styled "Faigin zealots" in hounding you into this decision. I should hope that this roving band of quixotic health enthusiasts will temper their actions in the future.

Foremost, I want you to understand that NHE is not a diet book. It is a three-pronged comprehensive program comprised of diet, exercise, and lifestyle. Therefore, even were you to conclude, after reading the book, that the Eating Plan is abhorrent to your sensibilities, you might still have positive things to say about the NHE program. This is especially so given that there is probably a good deal of common ground between us on the subjects of lifestyle and exercise, which together comprise two-thirds of NHE.

In addition to being a practical fitness program, NHE is both a textbook on how the hormonal system works (as an inquisitive student of the human body, you'll surely appreciate this aspect of NHE) and a critical commentary on the medical/pharmaceutical and fitness industries. Given that you are both a leading proponent of natural living and an honest fitness vendor, you will likely be sympathetic to NHE's scathing critique of those elements of the health and fitness industry whose motives and principles clash with your own. You will find that, in a broad sense, NHE champions your cause and you champion its cause.

When we narrow our focus to diet, differences between us emerge. I will address the question you posed in your letter, but first I wish to pose a question to you. You wrote, with refreshing and admirable candor, "I've been dragging my feet a bit on reading [NHE], because. . .your dietary prescription appears to be substantially different from mine." I'm surprised to learn that the differences between our dietary programs inhibited you from reading my book, given that you have read and currently endorse and sell Pavel Tsatsouline's books. If I'm not mistaken, Pavel's views on exercise are radically and irreconcilably at odds with yours. Why is Pavel, but not NHE, entitled to such liberality?

With respect to your question, once you read NHE you may find that the Eating Plan is less complicated and hard-to-follow than you presently surmise. In any event, the NHE Eating Plan is not so complicated and hard-to-follow that legions of people less intelligent and health-zealous than you, have been unable to understand and successfully apply it. Further, you wrote, "I have found from long experience that complicated dietary manipulations are unnecessary and make healthy eating onerous, difficult, and destroy motivation." If, however, "variation" is substituted for its sinister-sounding synonym, "manipulation," it might appear that the NHE Eating Plan is less difficult, onerous, and destructive of motivation than a diet that imposes a more static regimen and a narrower selection of permissible foods.

My own experience contrasts sharply with yours insofar as I have found a low-fat diet to be onerous, difficult, and corrosive of motivation. Given a choice of inconveniences, I would opt for carbohydrate intake variation over perpetual fat restriction. Having said that, it is clear that your diet has worked for you and I'm sure for many others as well. It does seem to me, however, that successful implementation of your diet necessitates a higher degree of willpower and a stronger commitment to health than does the NHE Eating Plan. To the extent that you have inspired such willpower and commitment in others, I salute you.

In addition to the hardship that a high-carbohydrate diet/low-fat diet represents for many people, I am opposed to it on the hormonal grounds detailed in my book. Nevertheless, I believe that your particular version of the high-carbohydrate/low-fat diet is not without merit. In particular, to the extent that you advocate consumption of whole natural foods, your advice is unquestionably sound. Beyond diet, you endorse a healthy lifestyle including an exercise program consisting of both aerobic and resistance exercise. This advice is right on the mark and a service to all those wise enough to heed it.

CLARENCE'S REPLY:

Dear Rob:

Thanks for your interesting and thought provoking response. I'm making my way through your book now. When I finish, I'll let you know whether I'm going to comment.

You'll probably receive Ripped and Challenge Yourself today; they went out on Tuesday. You'll find that we do cover a lot of the same ground. My dietary recommendations are a little different than the description in your letter, however.

I visited your Website -- very impressive. You obviously have big plans.

Sincerely,

Clarence

CLARENCE WRITES:

Dear Rob:

Congratulations on a monumental effort. Your book is brilliantly written. Certainly Ph.D. level work. I don't know where you found the time and energy to find, much less read, analyze and integrate 1700 references.

I am in agreement with you on many points. One small example is the section at the end of the book on the proper performance of the squat. I've been doing full squats for 50 years and my knees are fine. I had never seen it expressed exactly that way, but I believe your analysis and conclusion are correct. Unfortunately, we disagree on some crucial issues, such as the advisability of carbohydrate restriction generally, and before and after workouts.

Carbohydrate restriction is one of the core recommendations of your book; many other key points flow that from that idea. I don't believe anything would be gained from writing a review which would be substantially negative. As I told you earlier, I prefer to comment favorably or not at all. My stand on carbohydrate intake is well-known; I've written about it in my books and several articles on our website. For me to comment favorably on your book at this time would cause nothing but confusion. Many people are already confused. I don't want to add to the confusion.

I respect your writing ability and obvious intelligence, but I cannot in good conscience recommend your book.

Let's simply agree to disagree. Like you, I hope we can establish and maintain cordial relations.

Best regards,

Clarence

ROB'S REPLY:

Dear Clarence,

Your response does not surprise me.

I wish you continued health and success,

Rob

POSTSCRIPT

Rob says:

I am grateful to Clarence Bass for allowing me to post our exchange. I believe that the public benefits from seeing how fitness authorities relate to each other and reconcile or contest each other's views. I'm disappointed that Mr. Bass has declined to recommend my book, but I stand by the positive things I said about him in my letters. I knew when I contacted Mr. Bass that it was improbable that he would endorse NHE, because it hits so hard at what he has been preaching for thirty years.

I dispute Mr. Bass's contention that carbohydrate restriction is "the core" of the NHE Eating Plan. "Restriction" is a relative term. Compared with the standard American diet or with Clarence Bass's diet, both of which I consider to be carbohydrate-excessive, the NHE Eating Plan is indeed carbohydrate-restrictive. But is the NHE Eating Plan carbohydrate-restrictive in comparison with the diet for which human beings were genetically selected to consume? No, based on the evidence presented in Chapter 5 of Natural Hormonal Enhancement. Moreover, when compared with other popular diets, like Atkins or Protein Power, the NHE Eating Plan is carbohydrate-excessive. We must be careful to scrutinize our reference point when characterizing something as "restrictive." We must remember that everything is relative; the same building that appears massive when viewed from the ground appears tiny when viewed from the window of a high-flying aircraft.

By way of clarification, in my first letter to Mr. Bass I wrote: "just as there is more than one way to get to a geographic destination, so there is more than one way to attain a given physique objective." Taking this analogy further, a rugged individual could probably make it across the country on horseback. But his chances of reaching his destination and his efficiency in getting there would be much greater if he traveled on a Concord jet. Mr. Bass's latest book is titled Challenge Yourself; I've tried his diet and I've certainly found it to be challenging.

In closing, there is no doubt that Mr. Bass's fitness program (diet plus resistance and cardiovascular training religiously executed) has worked for him. Regardless of one's diet, it is hard not to be lean when you regularly lift weights at a high level of intensity, engage in heavy aerobic exercise, and lead a healthy lifestyle. If, in addition, you avoid "junk food" (refined carbohydrates/sugar and unhealthy fats), like Mr. Bass does, leanness is virtually guaranteed. In other words, Clarence Bass's overall fitness program is a good one. The average sedentary, junk-eating American would do himself/herself a favor by adopting Mr. Bass's program. But is Mr. Bass's program optimal? - that's a different story. Stated differently: 1) how much more muscle mass might the average person have, 2) how much better might his/her hormonal status be, 3) and how much easier might it be to achieve and maintain a lean, healthy body by following NHE than by following Clarence Bass's program? I believe the answers to these questions are: 1) a lot 2) a lot 3) a lot.