Eat to Live: The Amazing Nutrient-Rich Program for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss, Revised Edition Paperback – Box set, January 5, 2011

My original review was scattershot, though I've placed it in the comments section because I believe it makes several points in defense of Atkins. Let me first say that I absolutely love the diet in this book. I have had my sister put my niece on this diet, and she has already lost 15 pounds, and her blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol are already becoming normal and it's been only 3 weeks. What I don't like about this book is the rabid attack on meat, fish, saturated fats, and the poor science he uses to back it up. I've decided to go through each of the researches that he put in his notes--incredibly difficult to track down mind you, because his notes weren't the best.My friend read the original review, and suggested I go back and reread the book, so I could see some of the major contradictions on meat. The thing is that for the most part, I am a vegetarian. My reason for defending meat is simply a distaste for bias science. I am not a fan of a person who says in Chapter 4: The science is as conclusive between meat and cancer as cigarettes and cancer. And then on Chapter 6 pg. 161 bottom paragraph, says, "Although it would be wrong to say that animal foods are the sole cause of cancer, it is now clear the increased consumption of animal products COMBINED with decreased consumption of fresh products has the most powerful effect of INCREASING one's risk for various kinds of cancer."The science on smoking causing cancer is not correlative it is causal, which is to say, if you smoke your chance of cancer increases exponentially, whether or not you exercise, eat vegetables, or take vitamin supplements--smoking has carcinogenic qualities that will effect your health. The science on high protein diets that have found causal cancer links--the studies he himself quotes--have always been in the absence of other nutrient based foods, which makes the studies correlative, which is to say, a person must increase animal protein, while decreasing nutrients. Now, you might be saying, well they're of course going to decrease nutrients because, if they were eating 1500 calories of vegetables, and their adding meat but keeping 1500 calories, they would have to cut vegetables. But this is not what the studies did. The studies that he quotes that studies cultures were between cultures who ate a majority of vegetables, and societies who ate high starch foods and meats--in each case, the meat group ate more carbohydrates than the vegetable group. Such as note 41 in chapter 4, page 334, the study of china women and breast cancer. The breast cancer in women came, yes, at a decrease of vegetables, increase of meat, but, also, an increase of rice, and other starches. He also tries to link meat consumption with early puberty for females. This is untrue, as any biologist and physiologist will tell you--the original scare of hormones in meat causing early puberty, was just that, a scare. It is weight that determines a girls entrance into puberty--specifically weight distribution, it's why anorexic's stop having periods, why gymnast never start until they stop training--and why again the enemy is processed carbohydrates which show constantly to be the cause of weight gain. He also says that the average age of puberty was once 17. Given that the average age of individuals until the mid 1800's was 30, and most young women were married off by 14 and having children, the science and history shows 13 to 14 were the average age.He makes statements that have now been disproven by the sheer number of people who have succeeded at weight loss on Atkins, South Beach, and the Core Diet. Fat--especially saturated fat--does not make you fat, and, at least in the first year (almost universally agreed and seen by doctors), they lower cholesterol, increase HDL, increase good LDL, and lower bad LDL, also, it lowers blood sugar, and high blood pressure. His constant repetition of the Lipid Hypothesis--a study that has remained a hypothesis for fifty years--is sad for a man who truly does seem to want to help people.I believe Dr. Fuhrman is a militant vegan, who also wants to help his patients, so, he tries to scare people away from eating meat, because he doesn't believe people should eat meat, not because the science is conclusive on meats causing problems--conclusive enough for him, as long as he ignores the other science out there. Dr. Oz wrote the forward and Dr. Oz raves about the health benefits of salmon on his show every week, so they're at a disagreement. The fact is that birth defects through fish consumption has been seen only through heavy eating of heavy metal fish, and the link is scarce at best--since these birth defects could've existed without the food, and often do.The greatest travesty in this book, in my opinion, is that he holds that weight gain comes from overeating. I was a vegetarian, eating whole wheat bread, pasta, vegetables, and fruit, exercising two miles a day, and consuming no more than 2500 calories a day (I was doing weight watchers at the time) weighing 280 pounds, eating only when I was hungry, which meant, some days, I'd have 600 calories, somedays I'd have 2500 calories. I gained weight weekly. Did I mention I was drinking only water? When I cut down all refined carbohydrates, limited my fruit intake to no more than 2 servings a day (snacks), and ate vegetables four times a day, whether or not I was hungry, I lost 80 pounds--of course, without proper plant or animal fat and protein, a lot of that weight loss was in my muscles.I've read over a 1,000 documents (over a hundred of those documents being books) on health, nutrition, diets, physiology, and psychology. I've looked at my own body. I've looked at family. My cousin's children, both fed the same diet, both eat roughly the same amount of food, one is morbidly obese, the other is skinny as a rail. It's why portion control and low fat diets don't work. Though he believes it's toxicity of the food, it's because the food triggers insulin. Insulin Sensitivity is the cause of weight gain, people with high insulin sensitivity cannot gain weight even when they try--which doesn't mean they can't be unhealthy--while people with low insulin sensitivity gain weight even while their making a conscious effor to lose it. Fat people do not become fat because they overeat, they overeat because their fat, which is to say, their fat cells refuse to feed the body, so they're hungry, and need to eat more.The number 1 driver of insulin is carbohydrates and sugar. However, and his the kicker, though eating vast amounts of plant vegetables will keep you from going into ketosis, complex carbohydrates will not and do not have the same effect on the body as pasta. Fruits and vegetables are the best sort of carbs to eat for an insulin sensitive body, and the necessary carbs to eat because they can balance the insulin sensitivity. Of course, one should keep fruit down to a minimum, two to five servings in my opinion, while vegetables should be 10 to 15 servings.None of what I wrote above disproves his diet, in fact, everything I wrote about insulin holds his diet high. That's what makes Dr. Joel Fuhrman's arguments and poor science saddening. His diet is one of the best diets a person can go on, you'll feel wonderful, energized, the weight comes off so easily, you feel full all the time, and you never worry about counting calories, or measuring food, or any of that stuff. Dr. Fuhrman created one of the best diets I've seen and that I've tried out, he balances ones need for protein with hefty amounts of plant protein, ones need for fat, with natural plant fats from seeds and nuts. He hates meat, and that's fine. He quotes actual science that shows the correlative link to meat consumption and cancer. But, he also says in Chapter 8 that food should be your medicine. If we were to agree that meat causes cancer as a scientific fact, is there something that would be done that would allow you to eat meat and not have any negative effects... yes. Eating lots of fresh food the majority of the time counteracts any and all negative effects of meat. Meat is not like smoking, if you smoke, you do damage to your body each and every time, there is nothing that can counteract the damage of smoking except the cessation of it. WHen you eat meat, there are nutrients and vitamins that can't be found in anything else, and any and all damage that meat can cause is cessated by eating more greens as well. So instead of meat and potatoes, eat meat and broccoli with a side salad.Buy this book, whether or not he uses bias science to disparage something he doesn't like, Dr. Fuhrman has created a diet that will not only promote your good health, but could and should save your life. I am impressed with this book, I read it in one day each time that I read it. It is absolutely brilliant. You'll feel wonderful, you'll glow, and in weeks friends will notice the difference... and the opposite sex--or same sex if that's how you play it--will notice as well because your skin will get healthier, your body will get healthier, and you'll feel and exude health.

I used to stay at a Buddhist temple as a Haengja (monk-in-training in Korean), and this book was recommended by our master and the head Nun. We followed the diet and I can tell you, it does wonders. One thing though - there is a period where you may feel sick. That was my experience. It felt like all the toxins in my body were swirling around my body before I could expel them, and ended up very nauseous. It is similar to the "keto flu" or how one feels on ketosis while they're fasting. I was told that it is normal to go through a sick phase of a couple to a few days as the toxins are being flushed out. I bought a copy for a friend of mine who was diagnosed with cancer - and sent him the recipe for the famous "anti-cancer soup". The diet that is discussed in this book is a diet in which you actually eat to satisfaction - it's just you fill your body up with lower calorie foods, but you don't go hungry. I would recommend this book to anyone - it's a must have! Especially to those suffering from cancer or other illnesses. This book doesn't come with empty promises, it helps guide you to a new you and a new way of looking at the food you consume. It's amazing how good some of the recipes are.

Dr. Fuhrman's book is an excellent read for anyone wanting information that is accurate and based on not just one, but thousands of peer reviewed studies. Before reading this book I had read several other books on nutrition and thought I had a pretty good understanding of how things worked, but this book definitely added to my knowledge and depth of understanding. Some of the new things I learned are that vegetables have protein. I never knew this before, which sounds kind of silly now. It's kind of a duh moment when Dr. Fuhrman points out that cows eat grass yet they pack on plenty of muscle. Another thing I learned is that when refined oils are consumed, the body has no processing to do and the fat is stored directly in your adipose tissue. When I read this, it made sense; our cell's need glucose to function and when you eat a combination of carbohydrates, protein and refined oil (fat), your body immediately starts using the glucose for energy. The body can and does break down fat to use for energy, but its first choice is glucose, so when your body has a choice, it will always choose glucose--so the oil is immediately stored in your fatty tissue.I do have a couple criticisms and concerns however. Dr. Fuhrman suggests that we eat 100% plant based meals with copious amounts of leafy greens, a variety of fruits, and daily consumption of 1 Tbs flaxseed meal, 1 cup minimum legumes, and optional whole grains in moderation. Fuhrman says we should only be eating 3 times a day (the between meal times allow our cells to focus on detox) and that when we eat, we should eat as much as we want but stop when we get full. Additionally, he talks about toxic hunger v.s. real hunger. He says real hunger is felt in the throat and mouth and that toxic hunger is felt in the stomach. He writes that when we feel toxic hunger we can feel week, fog headed, and that after being on his plan for four to six weeks this will clear. Here is my problem with this: My plant based meals consist of copious amounts of large dark leafy greens, or green salads topped with vegetables and lemon juice for dressing. I get full quickly because of the fiber and nutrient content, however, the calories of my meals range from 200 to 300 cal. The bulk of the fiber really fills me up so it's hard to eat more calories than this in one sitting. If I were to only eat three of these meals a day, my daily caloric intake would be between 600 and 900, pretty low if you ask me. Additionally, I like to exercise, something that Fuhrman never addresses in his eating plan. I can do the plant based thing, but really I need to be eating every two to three hours, especially when I am exercising. I tried to only eat three meals per day, but the hunger I felt in between was all consuming... was it toxic hunger? I am not convinced. I think I either need to have a little piece of lean mean with each meal, or I need to eat more often. Another critique is that he does not stress enough the importance of consuming omega 3. So omega 3 comes in three forms, ALA, EPA, DHA. The ALA form comes from plants and the EPA and DHA come from animal sources such as salmon or krill. Your body needs DHA, it is vitally important in many bodily functions such as myleination of your neurons and anti-inflammatory processes. The ALA form of omega 3 is fine, but it must be converted by the body into DHA, and the amount of ALA converted has been estimated at 50% or less. DHA is ready to go for your body to use, so you don't run the risk of becoming deficient in this very important and vital fat. There is SO much research on the importance and benefits of fish oil that I am dismayed that Furhman does not give credit here where it's due. His arguments about potential pollutants in fish oil are not persuasive enough to me, especially when there is such high quality, nearly pharmaceutical grade oils out there. I take Carlson's Finest Fish Oil, it is tested by a third reputable party and the results are published online. There are other fine brands out there as well. Do your homework and take fish oil!I have one final major criticism: Our bodies' need protein. Our immune cells are made directly from protein therefore protein plays a vital role in immune function and is especially important when we are sick or our immune system is compromised (such as in chemo treatment). The amount of protein obtained from plant sources is minimal compared to lean, skinless animal protein. I don't mean the calorie to protein ratio, I mean a huge plate of lettuce, broccoli, and other veggies compared to a four ounce piece of lean chicken breast. If you don't eat numerous platefuls of veggies each and every day, then you are very likely deficient in protein if you are not concurrently consuming lean animal meat. When we get sick and become febrile, our metabolism revs up and caloric needs increase dramatically. Our immune cells are produced directly from protein, so if you are not getting adequate protein in your food, your body will start to tear down lean muscle to make white blood cells. If you are sick, are you really going to eat a huge plateful of veggies, or are you going to eat a 4oz piece of lean chicken? My point is that whether you eat 100% plant based meals or not, it is vitally important that you make sure to get enough protein (I'm not suggesting that high protein is good... I'm just saying low protein is definitely not good).In conclusion, I would say what impressed me the most was the data on cancer, heart disease, diabetes, and the positive effects having a diet rich in fruits and vegetables can have on these things. This is my take away from this book. Eating plenty of unrefined, unprocessed vegetation daily is a requirement for optimal health. If you want to take it to the next level, cut out all processed food and oils from your diet (note that avocados, raw unsalted nuts and high quality fish oil are not only okay, but should be consumed in moderation) and do not add salt to anything. Even better, cut out all grain and eat legumes in moderation. I believe lean protein, in moderation, is not only healthy but will add to overall satisfaction and sustainability on this diet (Fuhrman does give two options, meatless, and meat in modoration... I strongly lean toward the latter).