Fit for Life Diet Review

Fit for Life - Overview

Fit for Life was a book written in the early 80's by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. The authors are believers in a type of "food combining" whose theory states that when foods are combined inappropriately, they become "rotten" and cannot be absorbed from the intestinal tract. This toxifies the body and makes people fat.

Basically, fruit should be eaten from the time you get up until noon because it helps to cleanse the system and move things along. Fruit should never be eaten with anything else. For lunch and dinner you can either have a carbs based meal which would be grains, beans and veggies or a protein meal, which would be protein and veggies. You should never combine a carb and a protein as they "fight" in the stomach and then become toxic. Dairy foods and refined sugar is banned and although fruit is good, it must not be consumed at the end of a meal.

Fit for Life asserts that people gain weight not because of overeating and too little exercise, but because they wrongly combine protein rich foods with starchy foods. Fit for Life says our digestive tracts cannot assimilate more than one of these "concentrated foods" at a time, since the enzymes that digest protein nullify the enzymes that digest carbohydrate, and vice versa.

Fit for Life - Claims

Better digestion, so less stomach upset.
Significant weight loss.
Better overall health.
Good food choices.

Fit for Life - Drawbacks

The Fit for Life theories are insufficiently supported by scientific or clinical evidence, and seem to contradict our knowledge of physiology and nutrition. The theories of "food combining" originated at the turn of the century, when people knew little about basic physiology and nutrition.
Fit for Life does not look like a balanced diet program. Food combining may create deficiencies in zinc, vitamin D, vitamin B12, and possibly protein, since the diet limits animal protein and bans dairy products. The ban on dairy foods certainly jeopardizes calcium intake, as dairy products account for over 70 percent of the calcium in the American diet. So it's not a healthy diet for life.
A difficult diet to follow. Hard to incorporate with a family or friends.
The diet plan is confusing about what foods can/cannot be combined.

Fit for Life - Summary

Not recommended. Yes, there are good foods in this diet, but as a whole it's not a healthy diet plan.
It's just not a practical diet plan for the average person. Let's face it, we wouldn't have a weight problem if we had this kind of control over our daily diet.
One other interesting note. Harvey and Marilyn have since BOTH written "new and improved" versions of Fit for Life - which included supplements in the form of vitamins, herbs and enzymes.

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