Becoming Wildly Fit

In a billion-dollar industry built on the myth of dieting, Eric Edmeades, founder of WildFit, has dared to challenge the system. What began as his personal health recovery has grown into a global movement rooted in ancestral wisdom and sharpened by modern behavioural science. When I met Eric in Dubai, our conversation moved from instinct and food psychology to the deeper consciousness required to thrive in a fast-paced world, with timely insight into how fasting during the Holy Month can become a powerful reset for both body and mind.

Delna Mistry Anand: What was your journey that led to creating WildFit, and what makes it different from a typical diet?

Eric Edmeades: WildFit came out of necessity. I was sick, overweight and frustrated, and doctors were not helping, so I had to take responsibility for my own healing. And once I got healthy, people wanted to know how I did it. But even with all the information, they would slip back. That is when I realised the real issue. People do not fail diets because they lack knowledge, they fail because modern life has conditioned their instincts.

Human beings evolved through feast and famine, but today we live in constant abundance, far from the environment our bodies evolved in. We have lost our connection to ancestral rhythms, and we pay the price for that in our health and in our food choices. While a diet tells you what to eat, WildFit shows you why you eat the way you do. It reconnects you to the biology and instincts your body has been trying to follow all along. You cannot fix your relationship with food by following rules. You have to use consciousness.

Can you elaborate on what you mean by using our consciousness.

It means updating how we think. Our ancestors moved every day, ate seasonally and lived with natural challenges, but we have built comfort into everything. Elevators, screens, climate control, and our biology has not caught up. Consciousness means noticing that mismatch and living with intention. So, take those stairs, eat real food, get sunlight!  When the focus is only on restriction, people fight their own nature. WildFit focuses on remembering that your body knows what to do.

So are you saying that most of our struggles with dieting come from being disconnected from our own biology?

Absolutely, our instincts evolved for survival, not for supermarkets. The food industry knows how to hijack these instincts. Then there is cultural conditioning - birthday cake, festive sweets, and social pressure to have that “one bite”. And these choices are easy to justify; “I was out for brunch with friends”, “today is my birthday.” People justify unhealthy choices because they want comfort or connection. WildFit helps people see those patterns and shift them.

That really resonates. I’ve noticed how food is tied to relationships and identity.

Food is deeply emotional. People struggle because they think saying no to a food means saying no to a memory or a feeling. I had a client who could not stop craving chocolate cake, and we discovered it was strongly linked to baking with her mother as a child. The icing, the laughter, the comfort; those memory became the craving. And she ate that cake, she was really trying to recreate that feeling. Once she understood and healed that emotional link, the craving disappeared.

Many of our readers are fasting for Ramadan. Apart from asking how to stay fit during the Holy Month, I’d love your take on something deeper: how can Ramadan become a true reset rather than a cycle of restriction and indulgence?

When you look at Ramadan through the lens of human biology and ancestral rhythm, it makes perfect sense. A full daylight fast followed by intentional nourishment mirrors how humans evolved. The daylight hours are about consciousness and restraint - the body shifts into repair mode, digestion rests and energy stabilizes.

Traditionally, Ramadan would have meant a small Suhoor before dawn, a full day of fasting and a light Iftar at sunset. That pattern allows the body to detoxify, repair and reset while the mind becomes clearer. What causes problems today is not the fast, but what happens after sunset. When the fast is broken with sugar, refined carbohydrates and heavy late-night meals, the body goes from deprivation to overload. That creates inflammation, poor sleep and metabolic stress. A more aligned Ramadan is simple. You fast fully during the day. You break the fast gently with hydration, protein, and light whole foods. Then you prioritize rest. If you wake for Suhoor, you choose foods that digest slowly and keep blood sugar stable. Clean proteins, healthy fats and minerals.

When Ramadan is practiced this way, it becomes both a spiritual and biological reset. Fasting done well is one of the most powerful healing tools we have. When it is paired with intention and simplicity, it supports deep restoration rather than exhaustion.

So it becomes less about endurance and more about alignment.

Absolutely! When the body feels safe and supported, it stops fighting you, and you begin to experience fasting not as deprivation, but as clarity. And this is what WildFit is about:  restoring your relationship with your instincts, because when you honour your biology, everything else becomes easier.