Fit for Life

I bought this book in the late 80's as a weight-loss book, and it does definitely work that way if you follow its directions. The most lasting and valuable difference it made in my life however was to make me really enjoy vegetables and salads for the first time in my life. Growing up in the 1960's, vegetables and salads were sad dutiful little side dishes. But if you follow the meal plans in Fit for Life, you will be, well, full of vegetables. Your body will then begin to crave them, crave that feeling of well-being that comes from eating a lot of them. But the reason this works for so many people is, the vegetables as prepared in this book taste incredibly good. Marilyn Diamond was already a skilled and enthusiastic cook before meeting Harry, and she brought her culinary talents to the challenge of making vegetables yummy. She succeeded magnificently. My only problem with the recipes is the same one I have with most recipes: I can't prepare them nearly as quickly as the time estimates provided for doing so. It's a lot of cooking time and I don't even like to cook. I'm willing to do it though because I'm convinced I feel better eating this way and it does taste so good. When 15 years after discovering this book I decided to give up meat, it was completely painless because I already knew how delicious and satisfying vegetarian cooking can be. Most although not all of the recipes in the book are indeed vegetarian, although some aren't so you can kind of phase in. Strongly recommended, for healtys and thoroughly enjoyable eating!

This is debatably the best book you will ever read. Certainly the best diet related book!

Had this book and lost it, so I ordered a new one. Love the recipes. I been making the homemade salad dressing in this book for many years.

This is going to be a long review as I want my review to help someone understand food and health better. I read this book, made me feel comfortable as I am a vegetarian since birth. I have however read many other books and felt it was necessary to take all the good points and incorporate in my routine. Following Fit for life (food combining) lead to me eat fruits a lot than i did earlier (seldom). I am grateful for that. I made sure to use the most beneficial foods from the Blood group based food list (D'adamo). However when i continued for a couple of weeks with fruits and salads, soups , i was constantly thinking of my next meal, something like deprivation and couldnt focus on anything else. Also to mention I had dizziness the entire time. Took out my glucose monitor, my levels were either prediabetic or too low to faint. During this time, I was in a quest to make things work, I looked into my book collection and took the book Insulin resistant diet (not a diet per say) which hails about food linking and balancing. I was flabbergasted because Fit for life and Insulin resistant diet tell extremely opposite ways of seeing things. The problem was I was convinced with both the sciences. I thought I would experiment on me a bit - right from the time I wake up till noon, I eat just red apples (3 medium) and soaked toasted walnuts (not exceeding 1.5oz per day)). Since this is allowed in food combining it works fantastic for me. Adding the protein and fat from the nut made an astronomical difference in how i felt (did i mention i got to do shred 30 which i in my best sense cannot even imagine getting past 5 minutes! thats the energy im taking about). I got this Apple-walnut combination from Dr Lu's Dragon' way (highly recommended) which made fullest sense of all the wellbeing books I have read so far. Started doing Qigong recently will post review for Dr lu's book after a month. When I do this morning regimen, I have no craving at all, but i make sure to eat at definite intervals - you see, at 38, I have got plethora of inflammation and hormonal issues - one of the major being adrenal insufficiency (for this we need to take food not deprive). For one thing Vegetarianism or paleo for that matter doesnt guarantee disease free living, we need to listen to our bodies to understand if something is working for or against us. One man's food can be other man's poison, right? For lunch and dinner, I do the link and balance for every 14g carb 7 g protein is required and a little good fat (eat butter, thanks Paula Dean!!!). While Fit for life suggests to take protein alone or carb alone, for me this combination has worked great and best i dont have digestive distress. I have done this ever since i combined the expert advices of all the classic diet books, and i tell you what - it works fantastic. no more craving, no more snacking, have a lot of energy to workout and read and focus and work, no mood swings, no gas, no digestive distress AND most importantly, i have been monitoring my sugar levels and its been a steady 86-90 all the time. Because my blood sugar is normal throughout which is a key for losing weight, I am losing the flabby fat whatever I have acquired for past 10 years. I started with 195.5 lb (5ft 5 in))...today after exactly 45 days I am 184.5 lb. My weight loss has been steady inspite of my confused approach for first few weeks. Slow loss is better, i do not want to lose muscle. I have lost inches and i can see myself toning well with 30 min exercises (so muscle is not wasted during weight loss). While body image is not a big deal am focussing on, this part of the review will make people realise there is no one success formula; I took 14 prescription medications and i have happily cut 4 on doctor's advice and in the process of seeing alternatives to other ones. For me thats an acheivement. So worried about future and health costs, this whole transformation has made my thinking in terms of investment in health that healthcare. And the time and food science research and implementation is a great investment for me. Let food be my medicine is my mantra..i have a lot more respect for whatever i put in my mouth, not just mindless eating. Every time I eat or "feel" like having something, I have trained my mind to ask "is it going to break me or enhance me". Fit for life is one way of showing food science, there are many ways out there (take all advices with a grain of salt). Always listen to what you body says and how you can work it out. It is you who has to decide whats working for you, finally. Thanks for so much patience to read my review, i hope it will help someone out there.

This was so the right choice for me to make. My digestive system, and how food can either make or break my skin, mood and energy levels throughout the day, has always been a mystery to me. That is, until I found this book. Did you know your digestive system goes through three main cycles a day? I didn't! It turns out I was eating too late in the day, and starting off with foods that were too heavy for that cycle, which meant I was stressing my system out and making it do things at a time when it should have been doing something else. Now that I'm following the natural cycle of my system I'm seeing a big improvement in my PMSD (hormones - yuck!), my skin, weight, vitality, and energy. I feel more positive and in control of food, and when I eat. Thanks to this book, I know to begin my day with melon, then lots of fruit and veggies up until noon when my system begins the next cycle. When I do this, my body enjoys a natural cycle and I never suffer with constipation! If I don't follow it (and I didn't for a few days because of an extended family celebration), it hits me like a ton of bricks - I feel sluggish, constipated, moody, and tearful. Life is too short for that! If you want to understand how food and eating times can enhance your body's cycle, buy this book. You can get a used copy for next to nothing.

Love this read

Todo muy bien

Leitura muito interessante para quem gosta de alternar dietas

Too good and just amazing. It is actually about common sense which is not common. For example : Having fruits in empty stomach makes so much sense since they are easily digestible by the body and certainly should not be mixed with other kinds of food like carbs. and proteins.. But all this while we used to prefer having it after food and when the stomach would bloat, feel acidic, have gas, etc. we would complain that the fruit does not "suit" me. A simple tip of having the fruit in an empty stomach and then after about half an hour having other foods makes me feel so energetic and certainly, there is no acidity even if I have citrus fruits like oranges. Its a great read.