I'm reading the book "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and as a vegetarian, I think its great! It reinforces why I became a vegetarian in the first place: 1) To stop eating the majority of animal products for the environment and health b) To cut back on processed foods 3) To be healthy and fill my body with natural vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals to protect against disease. I highly reccommend it if you have yet to read it, its full of great information that all veggies should be aware of, especially in the face of such a non-veggie society...
I've been vegetarian for a long time and I've recently gained back some weight, and this book helped me realize it was because I was relying too much on cheese and processed vegetarian foods and grains as well as oils (FAT), even though I considered me diet to be quite healthy (which it is in comparison to the avergae American Diet).
This book really answers the question of why Americans are such a wealthy country economically, but so poor in regard to health as shown by our terribly high rates of cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Has anyone else read it or tried the the "plan" at the end?
Thoughts?
Original Post by jb723:I'm reading the book "Eat to Live" by Dr. Joel Fuhrman, and as a vegetarian, I think its great! It reinforces why I became a vegetarian in the first place: 1) To stop eating the majority of animal products for the environment and health b) To cut back on processed foods 3) To be healthy and fill my body with natural vitamins, minerals, and phytochemicals to protect against disease. I highly reccommend it if you have yet to read it, its full of great information that all veggies should be aware of, especially in the face of such a non-veggie society...
I've been vegetarian for a long time and I've recently gained back some weight, and this book helped me realize it was because I was relying too much on cheese and processed vegetarian foods and grains as well as oils (FAT), even though I considered me diet to be quite healthy (which it is in comparison to the avergae American Diet).
This book really answers the question of why Americans are such a wealthy country economically, but so poor in regard to health as shown by our terribly high rates of cancer, heart disease, and osteoporosis.
Has anyone else read it or tried the the "plan" at the end?
Thoughts?
Eat to Live is fantastic. I'm all about it and I know lots of people who are too. When I started following it (just in general, not the specific weekly menu) my cholesterol dropped at least 50 points in 2.5 weeks. My weight went down from a high of 238 to my current 204 (and dropping) and I feel great.
You may want to also check out the books The China Study, The Omnivore's Dilemma, and Healthy at 100 as well.
Cool to run into a reader that makes suggestions. Thanks.
Anyway, LOVE the readers!!!
Original Post by sharonclaire:
mikelane, I ran into your book reading suggestions at another chat and next time I'm at the library I'm going to look into some of these titles. Hoping they are not too vegan-slanted. Don't get me wrong...totally into saving the whole of the animal kingdom AND have trimmed back my meat consumption to include beans and tofu regularly but, never could be vegan.
Cool to run into a reader that makes suggestions. Thanks.
Hey, yeah check them out. You'll find they suggest that the majority of your calories do not come from animal products. The China Study shows some compelling evidence that consumption of any amount of animal protein is linked with increased risks of things like heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune diseases; however, the risks don't really start shooting up until you consume greater than 10% of your calories from animal protein. Eat to Live has a food guide pyramid of its own which you can find here. As you can see, fish, fat-free dairy, and poultry all have a space on there. So no, neither book pushes a strictly vegan diet. And neither one has anything to do with not eating meat for ethical or environmental reasons, strictly health reasons.
Well, I finished the book and i've been on the diet for a few days and I LOVE IT!! I've already lost some weight, but I've been going to Bikram Yoga too (Yoga where it is 115 degrees in the room 
) . Thanks for the book advice Mike, I'm just starting The China Study, and The Omnivore's Dilemma is next on my list. I really wish everyone would read the book just for all the wonderful nutritional info it provides. I'm actually studying to be a dietician and am frustrated with the recommendations from the USDA, and this book really shatters them. The book is simple enough for everyone to read and just incorporating some of the adicve will improve your health!
I didn't think I could go vegan either, even though I'm already a veggie, but now I can't even imagine putting animal products back into to my diet in more than miniscule quantities, in the interest of health.
Garden Burgers are OK, I was referring more to processed starchy foods like crackers, bread, etc. (even whole wheat).
Have you tried Dr. Pregger's veggie patties? They are AMAZING, and you can see the veggies! The less processed the better! I really recommend the book!
Appreciate that he touches on the politics of our food pyramid.
I also put holds on China and Omnivore!
JB, I do gaiam yoga at home irregularly but it's the hiking I love...@ outdoors, 5 miles/day through the woods. I guess that's how I connect spiritually to the world/Mother Earth/Nature.
You folks take care. Thanks so much for the recommended reading. You are people to keep tabs on! Cool!!!
Eat to Live is so awesome! I easily lost 10 pounds after reading it and following the advice to eat lots of vegetables and fruits with some whole grains and legumes, etc. At the time, I was buying big blocks of cheese and snacking on big hunks of it, but I cut that out after reading the book. I also took up cycling and felt really great. I totally recommend that book. Eating whole foods makes you feel better and look better and will probably help prevent disease in the long run. I agree with Sharonclaire about the decrease in cravings, too. Although, I really think I started craving vegetables once I started eating so many of them! I'm trying to get my mother to read the book, because her cholesterol is high and the doctor said her heart is getting weak.
I'm going to check out the China Study and the Omnivore's Dilemma. Ironically, I used to be a book buyer for a bookstore and stocked the Omnivore's Dilemma, but never actually got around to reading it.
I really liked the Omnivore's Dilemma, it was a great cross between foodie culture and dietary politics. It has really helped me to look more at where my food is coming from, which unfortunately is a whole lot more difficult than I thought.
- 12% fat
- 18% protein
- 70% carbs (mostly due to all the fruit i'm eating)
I assume the eat to live just promotes a diet I already have: vegan, whole foods, mostly raw, no processed foods. True?
Original Post by willin1310:
i recently finished reading "eat to live" and am trying to roughly follow his mealplan, however i've noticed my daily analysis is around:does this sound correct? does anyone know what your breakdown should look like if you follow dr. fuhrman's diet plan? i'm a little nervous about the high % of carbs
- 12% fat
- 18% protein
- 70% carbs (mostly due to all the fruit i'm eating)
Hello,
The relative percentages of the macro-nutrients (protein, carbs, and fats) can actually vary quite a bit from person to person among those who follow Dr. Fuhrman's dietary recommendations. In my case, last time I checked, I think my carbs were around 65%, protein around 13%, and fat around 22%, but I don't remember exactly.
Anyway, it is quite common among vegetarians and vegans, and others who eat a predominantly plant based whole foods diet for the carbs to be significantly higher than the proteins and fats. The amount of protein and fat that human beings need isn't all that tremendous, and carbs are a primary fuel, particularly important to our brain function.
Original Post by floataway:
I am reading The China Study right now and I LOVE it. As someone who studied biology I really appreciate the awesome science in it. I was planning on reading the Omnivores Dillema as well, are they very similar?
I assume the eat to live just promotes a diet I already have: vegan, whole foods, mostly raw, no processed foods. True?
If you appreciate the science behind the China Study, then you will really love 'Eat to Live'. This book basically tries to present what the optimal health promoting diet would be based on a distillation of Dr. Fuhrman's exhaustive review of the medical and scientific literature. This book has literally thousands of references to articles published in well respected peer-reviewed publications, and presents the information in terms that a layman can understand.
The optimal diet that Dr. Fuhrman arrives at is indeed a plant based one with plenty of raw food, and no processed foods. He also has a food pyramid based on the concept of nutrient density, which looks a heck of a lot different than the U.S. government's food pyramid ever did. Dr. Fuhrman's equation for measuring the health of a food is H=N/C, or Health = Nutrients / Calories. That is, we want to pack the most nutrition we can into the smallest number of calories. The nutrients referred to are the 'micro-nutrients' such as vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, and phytonutrients, which make up the non-caloric portion of our foods.
Dr. Fuhrman's diet is not necessarily typical of what most whole foods vegans normally eat, for several reasons. Many whole foods vegans eat a grain-based, very low fat diet, which is also higher in sodium than what Dr. Fuhrman would consider healthy. Dr. Fuhrman's diet places a lot of emphasis on Greens as being a super food, and puts fruits and vegetables at the bottom of the food pyramid rather than grains. This is because the grains are not as nutrient dense as other foods, and are not even a necessary part of the diet at all. Since traditional diets have been grain-based (like in China), what Dr. Fuhrman is proposing isn't based so much on tradition, as on what would be optimal given the scientific knowledge, resources and possibilities that we have available to us in our modern time. In other words, he thinks that we have the potential to be healthier now than ever before in our history, and that many of us are really blowing it, by falling victim to the toxic, fake food environment that we live in.
As far as processed foods goes, one of the things I learned from reading Eat to Live is that there are some processed foods out there that I hadn't really even thought of as being processed foods, but they really are, like fruit juices, and extracted oils. So, now that I've read the book I have a greater awareness about these things.
Original Post by busy91:
I have recently read it. I started out doing it, I lasted about 3 weeks. I had to add complex carbs into my diet, the whole 6 weeks of veggies was not working for me. I was in the process of trying to lose weight. Everyone is different, but I need complex carbs in order for my weight to move. I need to excersise and lift weights. So having just veggies/fruit for 6 weeks does not work with someone who has to lift weights as you need carbs to prevent from getting tired. But I think his advice is sound and good for those who need to change their diets. I belong to the 'Eat to Live' board and visit there sometimes. But I can't say I am following it anymore.
Actually fruits and vegetables would be considered complex carbs, so I'm not sure what you mean. Perhaps you are saying that you wanted more starchy vegetables and grains in your diet? As far as weight lifting goes, here is an amazing link to a utube video about a 72-year old vegan body builder. When asked about his diet, he said he eats beans, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. There wasn't even any mention of grains at all. Check it out:
here's a little preview of the "live to eat" book. found it online
http://books.google.com/books?id=CX8huSU0n8AC &dq=eat+to+live&pg=PP1&ots=ucY0kY Ne0P&sig=-jCnDbPf-SaU6IZbtrq9XvKfsDY& hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=eat+to+live &btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print &ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail #PPA28,M1
Original Post by kristpin:here's a little preview of the "live to eat" book. found it online
http://books.google.com/books?id=CX8huSU0n8AC &dq=eat+to+live&pg=PP1&ots=ucY0kY Ne0P&sig=-jCnDbPf-SaU6IZbtrq9XvKfsDY& hl=en&prev=http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=eat+to+live &btnG=Google+Search&sa=X&oi=print &ct=title&cad=one-book-with-thumbnail #PPA28,M1
FYI: The book is actually getting a bit old now. There is a new 2-book set thats supposed to be out by March 1st, called 'Eat for Health'. I think one of the 2 books is supposed to be recipes.
Original Post by cbullock:Actually fruits and vegetables would be considered complex carbs, so I'm not sure what you mean. Perhaps you are saying that you wanted more starchy vegetables and grains in your diet? As far as weight lifting goes, here is an amazing link to a utube video about a 72-year old vegan body builder. When asked about his diet, he said he eats beans, nuts, fruits, and vegetables. There wasn't even any mention of grains at all. Check it out:
Yes I should have said grains, things like brown rice.
But I know everyone is different. I have done it with and without the grains, and with the grains works better for me. Of course I don't over do it.
Thanks for the vid, I'll check it out when I get home.
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