Fit for Life Paperback – August 16, 2010

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.

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.

I have read throughout this book and will re read it again because it taught me so much. I have bought this book 3 other times as a gift for friend and family.

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.

An old edition of a healthy way to eat.I ordered 5 copies. One for each of my children. Great "how to" and "why".