Fit for Life

My review is split into the book, and my experience with what the books teaches: food combining.--> The bookThe 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 weeksI 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.

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!

Principles herein can't be more contrary to today's conventional meal but which, if adhered to, brings great rewards for those who suffer frequent indigestion.Spoken from personal experience as well as hvg witnessed a business associate get healthy over an 18mth project.The book theorises that the body undergoes 3 major phases of food processing through a 24hour day. Phase 1 - Eating & Digestion (12noon-8pm); Phase 2 - Absorption (8pm-4am); and Phase 3 - Excretion (4am-12noon).The author categorizes food into 3 categories: 1) carbohydate, 2) protein and 3) vegetables and advocates that food be consumed in compatible category combinations that would result in optimal digestion. For example, it maintains that proteins and carbohydrates should never be consumed together as the enzymes secreted to digest the respective classes tended to cancel out each other's digestive powers, neutralising the acidity/ alkalinity of the enzymes. As a result of which slows digestion, lengthening the time poorly digested food spends in the stomach. Nutrient absorption is impaired, and food would end up sitting in the digestive tract longer than it should, exposing it to a higher incidence of putrefication whenever it encounters sugary substances (desserts after a meal is a bad idea). This contributes to rapid putrefication - imagine foul odious sludge & gas sitting in one's intestines, going no where and the resulting emissions!. Rather - the aim is to maximise digestion and absorption and waste material expelled in the shortest possible time.RATHER than carbs as the common food staple, theory advocates treating vegetables as the staple (common food) to be taken together with proteins and then separately in a different meal with carbs. Importantly, Diamond advocates that fruits be consumed on an empty stomach, best for breakfast in any amount till satisfied up till noon. The rationale here is to avoid diverting fresh energy from the previous night's good sleep to digesting a heavy meal, preferring rather to channel the available energy to the day's morning pursuits. Simple carbs from fruits are in absorbable form and provides the required energy for the cleansing (waste mgmt) cycle in the morning - when excretion best take place. A logical deduction from here then is for carbs & vegetables to be eaten at lunch - hence allowing the energy it generates to be used through the afternoon (rather than stored overnight). Proteins & vegetables otoh, is best consumed at night to resource muscle repair & recovery after the day's pursuits.This overall eating formula aims to promote digestive health as well as aid effective weight loss - and it works! Caution though that what works for one may not work or be redundant for another. Hence listen to your own body. It's a gem for me.