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!

I've read this book several times since it came out in the 80s.,! It's very easy to read and inspiring . , This book should be taught in every Elementary school classroom., it could be called. The Owner's Manual of the human bodies digestive system,, a whole different light and perspective on how to optimally consume nutrition

To assist me with recipe to eat well. It worked in helping me choose the right things to eat and not over eat. 23lbs lighter for reading and using recipes.

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.

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.

I read this book back when it first came out, years ago in the late eighties, when I was an adolescent. Recently, I found myself reciting some of the things I had learned in this book that have "stuck" with me. I was thrilled when I found it available on Amazon in an updated fashion. One of the many items that "stuck" with me since originally reading this book was regarding milk. They stated something to the fact that if humans were made to ingest milk then why don't we see humans on their hands and knees drinking from cows? Made me pause to realize that there is so much truth to that as milk produced by cows is made for calfs! That day I stopped drinking milk and have not ever since. This book catapulted me onto my journey of learning everything I could (still learning) about nutrition and health. Since then I have had several nutrition classes which has further cemented much of the same philosophies as the Diamonds. Just like many other books or things you hear, some information is challenging to follow. This is especially true for those that are eating the standard American diet. (including myself sometimes) However, the Diamonds were/are pioneers into the whole food / healthy eating lifestyle that so many others are now condoning. (Fuhrman, Campbell, Polan, etc) I would recommend this book to anyone that wants to learn more about how and what foods are good for us and how our bodies process or should process nutrients. Best part of what the Diamonds are all about is that "Diets don't work" and we all know how true that is. This is a lifestyle.

Outdated information, it's okay, if you are eating fast food and processed foods, this book will definitely help you improve your life no doubt but if you already know that whole foods are best etc, this is not going to bring you anything new or substantial.

My review is split into the book, and my experience with what the books teaches: food combining. --> The book The body of the book is 189 pages long. I think they could have fit it into 5, maybe 10 pages. I felt most of the book is Harvey and Marilyn Diamond trying to convince the reader why they should do this diet and get them hyped up on it. As for me, I was already committed to giving it a solid try, so I could have done without the 179 pages of hype. You can Google 'food combining' and find the basic rules espoused in this book, without having to read the book. You can find a helpful 'food combining chart' for free this as well. That said, reading the book did help give me a little more context which helped me feel comfortable implementing the diet. And if you like to cook, the Diamonds do provide 94 pages of recipes in this book! Cooking is not my thing so this hasn't been of value to me yet. --> My experience following this diet over the last 6 weeks I was introduced to the concept of food combining and an alkaline diet through Tony Robbins. Tony pushes this pretty hard and so I decided to get it a try. 'Fit for Life' seemed to be the authoritative book on the matter, so I decided to read it to augment what I'd already learned from the Tony Robbins group. My intention with changing my diet was to increase energy levels. I'd been finding myself consistently tired at my desk in the afternoons. Trying to get work done when I really felt like taking a nap was torture! Tony Robbin's group promised a huge boost in energy following their guidelines so I figured it was worth a shot. I went cold turkey about 6 weeks ago. Cut out dairy products, minimized meat, cut out microwave meals, and started to eat fruit only until lunch each day. Then lunch and dinner are usually big salads (or at least have salads with them) w/ bread, fruit, and protein (meat, tofu, etc.) all eaten at separate sittings. The first few days were difficult as my body adjusted to the new diet, and as I learned what meals I could eat on this diet. Learning all the rules and coming up with new meals was the hardest part. Within 3 days of following the guidelines espoused in "Fit for Life" and Tony Robbins group I noticed a big shift in energy. I was almost restless at times with so much! Over the past 6 weeks there has only been one day that I was tired in the afternoon at my desk, and that was a day in which I didn't follow the food combining rules. As a very nice side effect of these diet changes, I noticed my ab section was starting to look harder than ever...and my workouts hadn't changed at all! I had my body fat measured and was shocked to see it had gone from 13% down to 8%!! Overall, I'm very excited about the changes I've seen in my body and will be continuing to experiment and learn more about this diet going forward.

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.