Because I am focusing a bit more intently on my health this summer (taking advantage of the Farmers Market with it’s fresh produce & biking, hiking and trail running in the mountains) I thought I would write about my current “eating plan” that many have asked about on Facebook this week.

A little background first on why I choose Fit for Life.  Well because about 15 years ago, my husband Scott & I were introduced to this unique “lifestyle” and decided to give it a try.  Within the first 30-60 days we were both at our ideal weight and were able to stay there easily.  We found it to be the most sensible and satisfying “diet” that we had ever been on.  It made sense, we felt fantastic, and most importantly….the food we ate was YUMMY!!!

Fit for Life is a “lifestyle” that takes a unique approach towards healthy eating.  Written by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond it was released in 1985.  The premise of Fit for Life is that digesting food requires a lot of energy and if you make it “easy” for your digestive system to get the job done quickly and efficiently, it will have more time and energy to work on burning excess fat.  The recommendations in the book are slightly unusual and although wildly popular on the talk show circuit back in the 80’s caused quite a stir among dieticans and health care professionals.  But in the past 20 years many of the Fit for Life’s recommendations are being backed up by science and are in vogue.

The basic principles of Fit for Life are as follows:

1)  Eating nothing but fruit or fresh fruit juice before noon.  The key here is that they MUST be fresh.  Nothing pastuerized or cooked. Fruits are alkaline and do not have to undergo digestion in the stomach, passing immediately through the small intestines, thus enabling the body’s digestive organs to have their well-deserved rest.

Second point with fruit:   Don’t eat fruit at other meals (or snacks)  because it will rot and ferment in your stomach….becoming a starch and not have the “cleansing” power it does on an empty stomach.

2)  Food combining:  not combining proteins with complex carbohydrates.  A large part of the Fit for Life mantra is that it isn’t always what we eat but how we eat it.  So in other words, don’t combine fried chicken with bread because your body secretes acid to digest the meat, but since bread is alkaline, the two juices counteract each other.  The result:  indigestion and a clogged colon.

So if you must have your fried chicken or steak, great!  Just have it with a salad and veggies (cooked or raw).  If you’re craving the baked potato, then just forgo the meat and again have it with salad and veggies.

3)  Since your body is made up of 70% water, it’s good to focus on 70% of your diet being “high water content food”.  In other words, 2/3 of your food should be fruits or veggies.  The remaining 1/3 would be the “concentrate” food such as meat, carbs, nuts etc.

All I can tell you is that these principles work.  I have been faithfully doing Fit for Life  for the last 5 days and have lost 7 lbs.  Tony Robbins is a big fan of this lifestyle and shares that he lost 38 lbs the first month he applied the principles.  I have found the fruit in the morning to be the easiest part of the eating plan.  Sometimes the food combing principles can be a challenge if you’re eating out, go to a party, or just aren’t in the mindset to skip the rolls and pasta (ya know what I mean??)

The Diamonds suggest that you apply the principles as often as you can, but not to feel guilty if you occasionally give in on a meal or two.  I just know that once I eat this way for a few weeks, if I do eat meat with carbs, I get a bad stomachache.  My current plan is to eat this way for at least the entire summer (if not for the rest of my life).  It’s a natural diet and I rarely eat anything out of a box.  Food preparation is taking me an extra 20-30 minutes a day, but it’s worth it!

All I can say is that I’m a BIG fan!  (no pun intended

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