The Fit For Life program was designed as a way to permanently lose weight. Fit For Life is not a weight loss program but a “way of eating” designed to last you a lifetime. The Fit for Life program does not involve diet drugs or diet pills. It is not focused on measuring the intake of fat vs. carbohydrates. It really is not even a diet in the way we know diets today. Most diets are short-term fixes that temporarily remedy an overweight problem or obesity. They typically favor calorie counting, deprivation, portion restrictions and perhaps even behavior modification.
The Fit for Life program is a way of life, a way of eating that incorporates all foods as long as they are eaten within specific time-frames and in specific combinations. The creators of Fit for Life like to say that you can lose weight and lose it permanently, while eating. Fit For Life is programmed but not regimented. It also focuses a lot on fruits and vegetables. If you are allergic to the aforementioned foods, it is best to consult a physician or nutritionist or seek food alternatives.
I began the Fit for Life program 8 years ago after reading the Fit For Life Book, lost 22 pounds in about 3 – 4 months (from 182 lbs. to 160 lbs) and continue, eight years later, to reap its benefits. I feel healthier, lighter and no longer experience any sort of indigestion.
The Premise Of The Fit For Life Program
The Fit For Life Program is a safe and balanced system predicated on the human body’s natural physiological laws and cycles. Proper weight loss, as promoted in the Fit For Life Program, stipulates that we must live within those laws and cycles. That is, safe and permanent weight loss is directly related to the vital energy the body has at its disposal and to the efficient use of this energy to eliminate waste or excess weight from the body. Not only is vital energy freed to assist the body in losing weight but excess energy also gives us a better sense of well-being and allows us to focus more efficiently and productively on our life’s goals.
Fit For Life Program is Natural Hygiene
The Fit For Life Program is rooted in the concept of Natural Hygiene. Natural Hygiene was formed in the 1850’s by four medical doctors wishing to promote weight loss and diet as the all-important factors in acquiring and maintaining high levels of health. What is natural hygiene? The word “hygiene” refers to cleanliness and “natural” refers to something unhindered by artificial forces. So, natural hygiene is the body’s internal mechanisms naturally and continuously striving for good health by continuously cleansing itself of deleterious waste material. Further, it is the understanding of food and body and the effect food has on the length and quality of a body’s life. Living The Fit For Life Program and preparing foods according to Fit For Life Recipes is living Natural Hygiene and allows the body to do what is and has been mandated by the Universe to do: to self-cleanse, self-heal and self-maintain.
The Fit For Life Program – The Natural Body Cycles
The Fit for Life Diet Plan is predicated on Natural Hygiene. Natural Hygiene can be divided into natural bodily cycles as put forth by the American College of Health Science. Scientists and researchers in their studies of the circadian rhythms suggest that the body’s ability to effectively function with food intake depends on the effective functioning of three regular daily cycles: appropriation, assimilation and elimination. Although all of these cycles function to some regular degree throughout the day, they are more active during specific eight hour periods of each day:
- appropriation – eating and digestion, is more active from 12 noon – 8pm and demands the most amount of energy comparatively
- assimilation – absorption and use, is more active from 8pm – 4am
- elimination – discarding of waste and debris, is more active from 4am – 12 noon and is essential to have at its side sufficient energy to discard toxic waste from ingested food and natural weight loss and metabolism. Metabolism in this regard is responsible for regenerating the body; thus, old cells must be eliminated.
Fit For Life Diet Plan
The Fit For Life Diet Plan agrees that the most essential component of your body is water. It is important, no, it is vital to your health that you ingest foods high in water content. Our bodies are made up of 70% water and 30% mass (the earth also maintains the same proportions) and the thinking follows that the Fit For Life Diet Plan should reflect the same proportions. Only two foods are high in water content: fruits and vegetables and should be a major (70%?) portion of our daily diet. The remaining 30% of the Fit For Life Diet Plan will consist of concentrated foods (foods lacking water) such as legumes, breads, meat, grains, dairy products, etc.
Water in fruits and vegetables transports food nutrients (vitamins, minerals, fats, carbohydrates, amino acids, proteins, enzymes) to body cells and is responsible for removing toxic waste. All of these nutrients are carried by water to our small intestine where they are promptly absorbed. The thinking follows that if we are eating food high in water content, we are meeting all of the requirements of the body. In the end, water is essential to nourishing then removing waste and cleansing the body of toxins, an essential action if a long productive life is the goal.
The Fit For Life Diet Plan is at its core the study of proper food combining which was first promoted by Ivan Pavlov in the early 1900’s. Others have substantiated his claim that proper food combining is a science and if violated results is a myriad of physical problems and becomes a hindrance to weight loss.
The body is not intended to digest more than one concentrated food at a time. Moreover, food should not remain in the stomach for no more than 4 hours. Remember, the more we have to digest the less energy we have for other pursuits. Introducing more than one concentrated food to the stomach translates to more time and energy needed for digestion.
Proper Food Combining
By following the Fit For Life Diet Plan, you enjoy the foods you eat because they are the foods you’ve eaten forever. The only change now is that you eat those foods in proper combinations that optimize the extraction and utilization of food nutrients which, in turn, eliminate all putrefaction and fermentation of those foods in your stomach. By adhering to the Fit For Life Diet Plan, you will no longer experience indigestion or bloated feelings. You can expect to feel lighter and full of energy which will also result in weight loss..
To maximize energy, food should be in the stomach no more than 3-4 hours without putrefaction or fermentation (no longer will you experience gas, heartburn, flatulence, or acid indigestion that requires medication to ease the pain.) Therefore, food should be eaten one concentrated food at a time. Eating more than one concentrated food will cause that food to rot and rotten food cannot be assimilated into the body. If you want to eat steak, chicken or fish tonight then that is your concentrated food. Therefore, all else on your plate must be unconcentrated.
The Fit For Life Diet Plan stipulates that you cannot also include potatoes, rice, noodles, cheese or bread. Instead, add high water content food (unconcentrated) in the form of vegetables or a salad (without croutons). Vegetables do not require digestive juices. They will break down in acid or alkaline environments. Cook your vegetables as you wish but remember that the more “prepared” or cooked a vegetable is, the more nutrients that are lost. By following the Fit For Life Diet Plan, you will not starve. If it is a potato and steak you desire, wait 4 hours and eat that potato. Just don’t incorporate it into the same meal as the steak. It may take a few days to grow accustomed to this new Diet Plan but, it works. It worked for me and is still working 8 years later.
Fit For Life Diet Plan – Results of Proper Food Combining
Violation of proper food combining through the Fit For Life Diet Plan results in many negative consequences as we’ve mentioned but there are also many benefits to adhering to its principles.
You may also be asking what the Fit For Life Diet Plan has to say about foods that are naturally composed of proteins and starches such as beans. If eaten alone, beans are digested efficiently and without negative ramifications because the body modifies its digestives juices and times their secretions in a way that digestion progresses without a hitch and yet still efficiently. However, introducing separate protein and starch combinations concurrently (within the same 4 hour timespan) is not optimum according to the Fit For Life Diet Plan because the body is not able to adapt and modify the timing of secretions. As a result, the food “sits” in the stomach and ferments. Of course, the fermented food ends up passing through the small intestine to the large intestine but we have not received the proper nutrition from the food nor have we optimized our energy output. We feel sluggish, need to rest, need to unbuckle our belts, feel gassy, want to sleep, etc. Food is fuel and needs to assist us in achieving our life’s goals. I’m sure most people do not aspire to sleeping in digestive pain after meals.
Starches are not as difficult for the stomach to break down as proteins. You could combine some starches in the same meal, such as croutons on a salad along with a potato, and still see your digestive processes humming efficiently and without the resulting fermentation. You could eat rice and beans together; you could also have corn ships with your avocado. But, the best way to proceed according to the Fit For Life Book, especially if your goal is weight loss, is to eat only one concentrated food at a time. That is optimum. Energy is stored and used for weight loss instead of digestion, the one process in the body that requires the most amount of energy to function properly. If you need help preparing meals, reference Fit For Life Recipes below. The recipes are fun, imaginative and non-restrictive.
Recipes
For Breakfast, Fit For Life Recipes encourage you to eat nothing but fruit or fruit juice. Believe me, once you get used to this routine in about 2-3 days, you will enjoy yourself and will no longer pine for old eating habits. Fruits come in a pre-digested state. Therefore, no digestive action is needed. They are in and out of the stomach in minutes. As a result, the body can concentrate on elimination during the morning and not digestion. Notice the abundance of energy at your disposal. Fit For Life Recipes during this period of elimination do not vary. Eat as much fruit or fruit juice as desired and eat it until you are satisfied. Do not overeat and do not undereat.
Fit For Life Recipes will not encourage you to eat dates or dried fruit, especially if you are concentrating on weight loss. Date and dried fruit are high in sugar.
Breakfast Guidelines
- Start your day with 8-14 ounces of fresh fruit juice if you desire
- Eat pieces of fruit throughout the morning especially if you begin to feel hungry.
- Eat a minimum of two servings of fruit in any 3 hour period.
- Do not be concerned about the amount of fruit you ingest in the morning. Just don’t overeat. Just let your ingestion of fruit be governed by what your body tells you. Eat as much as you want, within reason.|
- Eat melons before other fruit.
- Eat bananas when you really are hungry and are craving heavier foods. Bananas remain in your stomach for about 45 minutes, longer than the 15 minutes citrus remains there. Be careful to plan your lunch or dinner accordingly. If fruit is in the stomach while you eat your next meal, you are in jeopardy of ruining that meal for your body. Fermentation and putrefaction will occur. Wait until the fruit is out of your stomach until you begin your next meal.
The Fit For Life Book contains hundreds of tasty, exciting and tested Fit For Life Recipes that will assist anyone in following the guidelines of proper food combining and energy optimization. If you can eat any food with this program, then you can imagine how colorful and enticing the recipes are. Where the recipes help is that they give us a sense of how to apply what we’ve learned. As an example, what follows is a Fit For Life Recipe of foods suggested for one day:
Breakfast
- fresh-squeezed juice
- fresh fruit
- bananas when hungry and desirous of heavier foods
Lunch
- Energy salad with raw vegetables and light dressing or the properly combined sandwich with cucumber or celery spears. Both are creative recipes inspired by Fit For Life. An Energy Salad contains lettuce, spinach, cucumber, tomato, sprouts, avocado or olives, beans and any additional vegetable you like particularly well such as carrots, celery, mushrooms, cabbage, jicama, beets, radishes, zucchini, cauliflower, broccoli and artichokes. The properly combined sandwich includes whole grain bread, tomato, cucumber, avocado, lettuce or sprouts, mayonnaise or mustard or butter
Dinner
- fresh vegetable juice cocktail
- creamy cauliflower soup
- potato boats or roast chicken
- garlic string beans
- French green salad
Last word: I tried this way of living 8 years ago. It was difficult in the first 2 –3 days. I was used to my own regimen of foods and my body was probably wondering what I was doing to it. However, my body responded quickly and I have kept my natural weight all of this time. From time to time, I have allowed myself to stray from the Diet. I knew I was doing it but I knew how to get myself right back into my healthy way of living. I once lived in South America and it seems that most foods then were not processed. I remember feeling so alive and healthy day after day in South America. I also had the same feeling in Italy. I owe my good health to not only proper food combining but also to the fact that my foods were not tainted with preservatives.
