Fruit plays an important role in Fit for Life. Everyone needs fruit for the vitamins and high water content. Some dieters shy away from fruit because of the high sugar content. The sugar in fruit is natural and unrefined. It is a good thing. Fit for Life and Natural Hygiene that fruit should be eaten upon waking and for the first four hours of the day. According to Harvey Diamond, the author of Fit for Life, the body performs the final step of elimination in the morning hours. Therefore it does not have the energy to digest heavy foods. The typical cereal and milk breakfast will sit in the stomach like a lead weight until energy becomes available. Fruit when eaten alone passes through in twenty minutes plus the body uses the sugar right away. The plan encourages fruit to always be eaten alone so that always passes through easily. This was hard to get used to at first, but it became second nature. Now I feel funny if I don't have my morning banana or Naked Drink. I mostly drink my breakfast for convenience and I don't feel that hungry plus I have a lot of energy in the morning.
Fruit can also be eaten at the end of the day on an empty stomach(three hours since the last meal) to stave off late night cravings.
Showing posts with label Fit for Life. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fit for Life. Show all posts
Monday, January 19, 2009
Saturday, January 17, 2009
Ancient Grains
Disclaimer: What follows is my opinion. I am in no way trying to dissuade people from the low-carb movement.
I was reading my blogs this morning and I've come to realize that the low-carb movement is quite active. Being a vegetarian, you may have guessed that I am not a practitioner of this diet. I tried it a few times when I was young. My father took me to Dr's Quick Weight Loss Center. I believe he paid 400 dollars; I have such a good daddy. I'm sure they encouraged vegetables with pounds of fatty meats, but I was so excited to hear that I could lose weight eating burgers and cheese that I didn't hear it. I did lose 17 pounds the first two weeks. Excitement and smaller sizes followed then boredom and cravings. I never was a big pasta eater but I loved bread. As you might except the 'diet' stopped and the weight came on. People need carbs.
Success didn't happen until I found Fit for Life which encourages eating every food group(even meat) so long as it is unrefined. So when I talk about whole grains and how much of them I eat I am referring to something specific: Ancient Grains.
Ancient Grains are completely unrefined grains. Many have heard of Spelt and Quinoa(Keen-wa) plus they can be found in many mainstream grocery stores. Amaranth, Millet, and Kamut are known to the cruncy granola tree-huggers since they have not yet escape from the health food label. All these grains have large amounts of protein and require more energy from the body to digest. Hence you burn calories when you eat them. You wont melt fat just by eating these foods. Like anything, if they are overeaten they can be stored as lipids. I found them helpful before and after workouts. My L.A. doctor told me that you continue to burn fat after exercise.
I buy Spelt bread. It's so dense and filling one slice is enough. Ezekiel Bread or Bible bread is well known and can be found in grocery stores. The website does not include nutritional info but I recall the protein to be about 7-9grams and the calories 70 or 80 per slice.
Quinoa can be made like rice: 1 part grain to 2 parts water bring to boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. I put mine in mushroom broth which gives it a nice moist fluffy texture.
When I started my journey The Whole Foods Bible served me well;it's like an encyclopedia of unrefined foods.
And I just found this book on Amazon for cooking the grains. I wish I had it back then, it would have saved me some trial and error.
I was reading my blogs this morning and I've come to realize that the low-carb movement is quite active. Being a vegetarian, you may have guessed that I am not a practitioner of this diet. I tried it a few times when I was young. My father took me to Dr's Quick Weight Loss Center. I believe he paid 400 dollars; I have such a good daddy. I'm sure they encouraged vegetables with pounds of fatty meats, but I was so excited to hear that I could lose weight eating burgers and cheese that I didn't hear it. I did lose 17 pounds the first two weeks. Excitement and smaller sizes followed then boredom and cravings. I never was a big pasta eater but I loved bread. As you might except the 'diet' stopped and the weight came on. People need carbs.
Success didn't happen until I found Fit for Life which encourages eating every food group(even meat) so long as it is unrefined. So when I talk about whole grains and how much of them I eat I am referring to something specific: Ancient Grains.
Ancient Grains are completely unrefined grains. Many have heard of Spelt and Quinoa(Keen-wa) plus they can be found in many mainstream grocery stores. Amaranth, Millet, and Kamut are known to the cruncy granola tree-huggers since they have not yet escape from the health food label. All these grains have large amounts of protein and require more energy from the body to digest. Hence you burn calories when you eat them. You wont melt fat just by eating these foods. Like anything, if they are overeaten they can be stored as lipids. I found them helpful before and after workouts. My L.A. doctor told me that you continue to burn fat after exercise.
I buy Spelt bread. It's so dense and filling one slice is enough. Ezekiel Bread or Bible bread is well known and can be found in grocery stores. The website does not include nutritional info but I recall the protein to be about 7-9grams and the calories 70 or 80 per slice.
Quinoa can be made like rice: 1 part grain to 2 parts water bring to boil and let simmer for 20 minutes. I put mine in mushroom broth which gives it a nice moist fluffy texture.
When I started my journey The Whole Foods Bible served me well;it's like an encyclopedia of unrefined foods.
And I just found this book on Amazon for cooking the grains. I wish I had it back then, it would have saved me some trial and error.
Wednesday, January 14, 2009
Fit for Life
For a while I've been wanting to write about Fit for Life, the lifestyle plan that helped me alter my world. Fit for Life finds it's roots in Natural Hygiene. And Natural Hygiene is based on the principles of eating as nature intended the human animal to. (This short essay and I assume that humans are animals and the product of evolution.) These are my personal beliefs and why I this method work so well for me. It made sense. 
The plan encourages Veganism, however it does give alternatives to those who want to consume meat. The authors reason that human were not meant to eat the flesh. Why? We simply can't; we are the only animal that uses tools to catch, kill, and prepare meat. The plan also discourages dairy. Have you ever witnessed a human sucking on a cow teat. I think not, although this is a hard one for me because I love cheese.
Food combining is one of the basic tenets of the program. Basically, protein and carbohydrates are not eaten within three hours of each other. When eaten together these foods digest over a long period of time leaving the eater feeling sluggish. Think of how you felt after your a recent meat and potatoes meal. When I first started I noticed a surge in energy after a properly combined meal. Calorie counting is thrown away-if you eat the right foods in the right way there is no need to.
I credit Fit for Life for changing my life by teaching me how to eat better and for giving me a way of eating , pardon the redundancy, for Life. I became healthy, happy, and had loads of energy. My periods got lighter and less painful. I'm starting to sound like an infomercial now, but I do love this life. Sure I alter it, have uncombined meals, and eat cheese. But I have the framework which is always there for me.
The plan encourages Veganism, however it does give alternatives to those who want to consume meat. The authors reason that human were not meant to eat the flesh. Why? We simply can't; we are the only animal that uses tools to catch, kill, and prepare meat. The plan also discourages dairy. Have you ever witnessed a human sucking on a cow teat. I think not, although this is a hard one for me because I love cheese.
Food combining is one of the basic tenets of the program. Basically, protein and carbohydrates are not eaten within three hours of each other. When eaten together these foods digest over a long period of time leaving the eater feeling sluggish. Think of how you felt after your a recent meat and potatoes meal. When I first started I noticed a surge in energy after a properly combined meal. Calorie counting is thrown away-if you eat the right foods in the right way there is no need to.
I credit Fit for Life for changing my life by teaching me how to eat better and for giving me a way of eating , pardon the redundancy, for Life. I became healthy, happy, and had loads of energy. My periods got lighter and less painful. I'm starting to sound like an infomercial now, but I do love this life. Sure I alter it, have uncombined meals, and eat cheese. But I have the framework which is always there for me.
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