Customer Reviews

Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss

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So, six weeks later and I'm done the first stage of Dr. Fuhrman's "Eat to Live" diet. I'm really excited about this diet and thought I'd spread the word. This looks a bit like some sort of infomercial but I promise you I'm not getting paid for this, and these questions are a big summary of the ones I've been getting for the past 6 weeks.

What is this diet?
In short, it is six weeks of vegan food with no booze, caffeine, salt, or fat. That means no olive oil, nuts, or fatty things that are still good for you like avocados. After 6 weeks you transition to a diet that can include meat and alcohol plus days where you can eat whatever the heck you want. That's where I'm going now.

Why did you go on it?
My cholesterol was too high. I was slowly putting on weight and not liking the way I looked. I was sick of pretending that doing nothing was going to work.

Does it work?
In short, yes. I lost a total of 24 pounds in 6 weeks. It kind of blows my mind that I still don't look the way I want and I had 24 pounds on TOP of that. That's what years of gradual weight gain will do to someone I guess.

Do you get hungry?
Actually, no. This one surprised me the most. The basic premise is that you should eat 1 pound of raw vegetables, 1 pound of cooked vegetables, and 1 cup of beans a day. Think about that, it is a lot of food (you can also add more to that as long as it is healthy stuff). I often had trouble finishing the meals I was supposed to eat.

What do you eat?
Breakfast consisted of a bunch of fruit or some oatmeal a few times a week. Lunch was pretty much always an enormous salad. Dinner varied and I learned to cook a lot of different things and make extra for leftovers. I'd usually have a small(er) side salad, some sort of main entree (beans, mushrooms, some sort of fat free sauce), and some more veggies. You're allowed a little bit of bread now and then (as well as some starchy vegetables) so I never got massive carb cravings or anything.

Do you get enough nutrients?
Yes. This was a big eye opener for me, but I never realized how much protein is actually in vegetables. Calorie for calorie, vegetables have WAY more protein than meat. That is why you have to eat huge salads though, you need to eat more to get the same amount of protein in chicken or steak, for instance.

What would you change about the diet?
Some of the recipes in the book are rather ridiculous. I spent 4 hours cooking his "famous" anti-cancer soup and if I never have that crap again I'll be a happy man. Also, he kept wanting me to have simple green salads that I would soak in orange juice. Um...no thanks, I'll pass. So I bought the fat free balsamic vinagrette at Trader Joe's ate that with all of my salads (only 25 calories per serving). I probably had a pinch more salad and fat because of it but it was worth it to me to have food that tasted normal. I ended up getting a lot of my recipes online through google searches for "eat to live recipes".

Can you go out to eat?
Basically no. I did a few times and it was always depressing as the options were basically crappy salads with no dressing. I can get that at home. Some Ethiopian and Indian places had barely passable options but that was mainly with my eyes closed pretending that there was only a bit of oil in them. Stay home if you can manage. He mentions that some people live on this strict diet the rest of their life. Personally, that seems insane and I could NOT do that. I really miss going out to eat.

What was the hardest part?
Going out with friends. Life is based around food and alcohol. I figured I could plow through 6 weeks of it, and I did, but it was NOT easy. Not eating wasn't a big deal, and not eating most of the food was OK too, but not doing both was basically torture.

Now what?
Well, I move into the "rest of my life" diet. That means eating basically what I've been eating the last 6 weeks for the majority of my meals (especially easy for breakfast and lunch by myself at my desk at work). The rest of my meals I can eat a healthy non-vegan meal or splurge and get what I want. My weight should drop a little more, just more slowly, and then level off. You can also drink at this point. That will be a welcome relief. I'm also really glad I learned how to cook really healthy food. I actually learned to love to cook which was a lot of fun.

Why do you recommend this diet?
1) it works.
2) the books is really good and educational. I would recommend it even if you don't go on the diet. It really breaks down why it works and the science behind it. It also takes a really objective look at other diets which, in the end, made me not want to try them.
3) I was never hungry
4) It gave me a lot of tools I can use the rest of my life to make better and more informed decisions.

So, that's it. I know this whole things sounds ridiculous and corny, but I've really never felt so damn awesome and enthusiastic before. It was hard in some ways, as people really do want to find reasons to get you off a diet. The temptation to cheat can be intense, but I stuck to it, and feel great. Mind you, I'm dying for a martini, but in the end six weeks wasn't the worst thing in the world.

The reviewer from Philadelphia below misrepresents Eat To Live. As a physician myself, I am concerned that this misinformation may harm other people by preventing them from reading Dr. Fuhrman's important book - I am especially concerned about our American epidemic of obesity and diet-related diseases like diabetes and cardiovascular disease. Dr. Fuhrman presents the cure in his well-researched book. The reviewer (did this person read the book?) from Philadelphia states that Dr Fuhrman's recommendations allow no animal products when in fact Eat To Live is a diet-style, not a diet. It has no such rigid requirements. In his menu plans he gives 7 days of menu plans for those on a vegetarian version of the plan and 7 days on a non-vegetarian plan. Dr. Fuhrman also makes it clear that a diet rich in vegetables does not have to be all raw or exclude animal foods completely; it is flexible. As a physician, I have observed him in action with patients and he can modify recipes and menu plans to accommodate various tastes and food preferences. It is not an all or nothing plan. However, without reading Eat To Live, your future diet-style will be based on misinformation, not science. It takes experience, creativity and knowledge to make the healthiest way to eat taste favorable for many people. Some people will reject the idea of eating for health based on incomplete information and what they want to eat based on short term thinking (those french fries sound good), rather than enjoying truly more delicious foods that are actually healthful too. Just remember taste is learned and takes a few months to adjust and you can also learn to make healthy food taste great. I have observed that most people over time actually like the taste of this diet-style better then their prior one and love the fact they can eat as much as they want. You get to eat lots of food, not be hungry and get great results too. Get the book and see for yourself. I believe every person in America must read this information; it puts all controversy about diet to rest and may save your life.

This book has changed my life. What he says about eating is what I have been looking for as far as doctors are concerned. I knew some one had the truth. I am so tired of our health being controlled by industry and people are dying while most doctors are saying "genetics". This book expells that myth. I have lost seventy-five pounds 280 to 205. I feel dam good. This is now the way I eat.
Harry

To lose weight, keep it off, and live a long and healthy life, we must consume fewer calories. The big question always is then, how to do that and still feel satisfied? You'll learn in Dr. Fuhrman's book that the answer is filling your diet with the most nutrient dense foods such as fruits, vegetables, and beans, which tend to be very low in calories vs. their physical bulk. With these foods, your body's nutrient requirements are met very quickly, therefore controlling hunger. Also, you can eat large volumes of food, feel very satisfied, and still not consume too many calories. Along with losing weight, a host of other benefits come along with this way of eating, such as seeing diseases like diabetes, heart disease, and many cancer risks melt away.

As people continue to look for easy answers and get suckered into gimmicky diets like Atkins and South Beach, it's refreshing to read a book which reinforces repeatedly proven dietary advice we've all heard for years. That eating large quantities of fruits, vegetables, beans, and nuts promote health and longevity. Dr. Fuhrman takes it much further and masterfully shows you how that principle can be optimized to live a long and healthy life.

This is 100% pure evidence based science. Read the book and cross reference the information to medical journals and medical search engines. Unlike Atkins and South Beach, there is no disputing the information Dr. Fuhrman presents. Don't gamble with your health! Although the low-carb diets out there are correct about eliminating unhealthy carbohydrates, many other parts of those diets have mounds of evidence against them. Why take the risk? I don't understand why people impulsively follow such gimmicky diets and potentially put their health at risk. Losing weight is one thing; losing weight and being healthy is another.

Dr. Fuhrman doesn't try to sell books by telling you what you want to hear, he tells you what you NEED to hear. I won't kid you, it is not easy to make these changes if you have been following the standard American diet for many years. Poor food choices surround you and you must learn to prepare and eat foods in a way that is unfamiliar to most Americans. You have to be patient and be persistent. I love eating this way now and the rewards are great. Personally, I have lost just over 30lbs following the advice in Eat to Live. I have also reversed my diabetes and no longer require any medication.

I bought this book when I was looking at reviews of raw cashews. Someone had mentioned this book in their review. I ordered the book sample to check it out. After reading that, I had to finish the book. I'm not a big reader and have a hard time completing any book I start because I lose interest. I had this book fully read in two days. I just found the information so compelling. I am not terribly overweight, but have packed on more pounds than I should have(about 30 pounds too much). I started following many of the principles cited in the book a week ago and have lost three pounds so far. Again, I don't follow the diet to a "T" but have tried to follow many of the food suggestions. I am amazed how full I am from a large salad. I don't miss the fat/oils and have switched from a piece of chocolate for something sweet to a piece of fruit. I like the results I am achieving, but wish someone would have prepared me for the gas!!! I hope my body adjusts to the new food plan. Can someone please tell me if the gas subsides over time or should I just adjust to being stinky?

Update #1
Well it has now been just about 5 weeks since I started this diet. I have lost 12 pounds and feel great. It is amazing how the fat has melted off. I have not done one bit of excercise yet, but plan to as soon as the weather improves. I will likely get a physical at the doctor's office in about a month and have him run blood work. I will update with results.

Update #2
I have completed the nine week program I set out on. I lost a total of 22 pounds in the nine weeks. I was bad and didn't really do much excercise. I went to the doctor right after my nine weeks were done to have my blood work done. I was amazed at the improvement in my cholesterol numbers. My last blood tests were done in 05/2010. The difference between the two results are great. My total cholesterol dropped from 192 to 143. My LDL(bad cholesterol) dropped from 143 to 91. I feel so much better and have received many comments from my neighbors that they didn't recognize me from afar. I will still follow this diet about 50% of the time and eat sensibly the other half of the time. That should help me to maintain this healthy weight. I can also look good in a bathing suit for our family cruise this summer.

When I first started reading Eat To Live I had doubts about my ability to follow its advice. By the time I finished the book I knew I had no other choice but to follow Dr. Fuhrman's advice. I have been eating to live for 10 months now and have read the book three times. It has changed my life, I have lost 40 pounds, reduced my blood pressure so I no longer take medication, increased my energy, and I am generally a happier person than I was before Eat To Live. If you care about your long-term health you will read this book and follow its advice.

I HAVE BEEN A CANCER SURGEON FOR THE PAST 15 YEARS AND LEGIONS OF PATIENTS UNDER MY CARE HAVE ASKED: "DOCTOR, WHAT DO I EAT NOW THAT I HAVE BEEN DIAGNOSED WITH CANCER?" THE REAL QUESTION THEY WERE ASKING WAS THE FOLLOWING:"DOCTOR, HOW DO I USE FOOD TO HELP REGAIN MY HEALTH.?" INTUITIVELY, I KNEW THAT FOOD WAS MEDICINE BUT WANTED SUPPORTIVE INFORMATION THAT HAD UNDERGONE RIGOROUS SCIENTIFIC DOCUMENTATION AND WAS "NEW AGE" IN ITS PERSPECTIVE AND PASSION. MY READINGS SPANNED THE GAMUT FROM THE DOGMATIC ANECDOTAL ACCOUNTS OF SELF-HEALED EVANGELISTS AND RAW FOODISTS TO THE WRITINGS OF INFLEXIBLE, PEDANTIC LABORATORY SCIENTISTS. STILL I WAS UNFULFILLED. FINALLY, I FOUND DR. JOEL FUHRMAN'S BOOK, 'EAT TO LIVE', AND IMMEDIATELY KNEW I WAS IN A SACRED AVANTE GARDE STREAM OF INFORMATION REGARDING FOOD AND CHRONIC DEGENERATIVE DISEASES. SIMPLY AN AWESOME PIECE OF WORK, WHICH FILLS THE GAP BETWEEN IVORY TOWER-BASED NUTRITION RESEARCH, WHICH IS DIFFICULT FOR THE AVERAGE PERSON TO UNDERSTAND, AND THE UNSUBSTANTIATED CLAIMS OF "NEW AGE" PROPONENTS OF NUTRITION. FOR ME, THIS IS A BOOK THAT DROPPED OUT OF HEAVEN.

GROESBECK PARHAM, M.D.
PROFESSOR, DIVISION OF GYNECOLOGIC ONCOLOGY AND PREVENTIVE MEDICINE
AVON SCHOLAR FOR CANCER CONTROL
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA SCHOOL OF MEDICINE
UNIVERSITY OF ALABAMA COMPREHENSIVE CANCER CENTER

Starting October 26 and ending December 7:

Total cholesterol from 263 to 189
Triglycerides from 152 to 82
HDL from 47 to 45
LDL from 186 to 128
weight(lbs) from 201 to 189

I just finished the 6 week plan health plan that is outlined in Dr. Fuhrman's book, and I've lost 22 pounds (started at 182lbs). I'm more alert during the day, and sleep better at night. I have SO much energy I went out and joined a few cardio classes. I have to be honest, though -- the first two weeks on the plan were a living hell. It took me a long time to get used to the diet (because my habits were so awful), but after a few weeks it evened out and I started to see and feel the results. I have bought this book for three other people so far, and I totally recommend this book for anyone who wants to improve thier health, weight, and body image.

Although I wasn't "living to eat" before starting this diet, I certainly was while I was on it. You have basically two choices: (a) keep it simple, eating fruit for breakfast, salad and beans for lunch, and salad and two cooked vegetables for dinner; and (b) extremely complicated meal plans, where you often end up using and cleaning a blender *twice* for each meal. I was shocked to see one dinner included both homemade soup and chili. Yikes. Option a left me starving and falling off the diet (even though I was already a vegetarian), as well as too disgusted to put one more piece of lettuce in my mouth. Option b was close to impossible. I'm a freelancer, so I have time on my hands to cook, and I couldn't come close to re-creating that meal plan. The idea that this diet takes no willpower is laughable. Any diet that focuses 90% of calories on one food group takes an iron will. I doubt most Americans could even manage that with grains.

Anyway, food tastiness (or lack thereof) aside, I had some problems with the huge leaps of logic in the book. On the subject of fiber, Dr. Fuhrman cites observational studies instead of hard science. On oils, he admits the research is inconclusive, then claims oils don't have any benefits. On age of maturation, he says that the age of menarche (female puberty) has dropped significantly from age 17 to 12, but his chart shows that in the U.S., the average age has dropped from only 14 to 12 1/2 since 1870, when I presume we weren't eating too badly. He also doesn't give any support to his idea that earlier maturation causes early death. There's probably a good reason for that - as we've matured earlier and earlier, we've lived longer and longer. If I were Dr. Fuhrman, I'd probably commit a fallacy now and claim that correlation proves those two are related. I'm not suggesting they are, but I certainly don't see where he's getting the opposite opinion.

One point that bothered me in particular was his claim that it's not important to eat organic to get nutrients. That completely ignores many recent studies that have shown that non-organic produce, and even meats and cheeses, have 20-90% less nutrients than their organic counterparts and the same items 60 years ago. Did the author never hear about these studies? Did he consider that having low-nutrient food may be what's causing people to overeat (his own hypothesis, though he doesn't blame non-organics)? Or did he just presume if you're eating a head of lettuce a day, it doesn't matter much?

Several times he says that his opinions on certain issues (which he writes about as fact) aren't proven because the benefits would show up only after the course of a lifetime. Then later he claims it's never too late to start. Which is it?

I'm willing to say, hey, maybe he is right about the ideal human diet. But if he is, it's from a whole lot of guessing and cherry-picking information from different studies (e.g., looking at low cancer rates in plant-focused societies that don't live past age 55 - they aren't old enough for much of a cancer rate!).

In addition to the logic of the book, I was also disturbed by the commercialism: (1) Pushing the (very expensive) Vitamix mixer and setting up a way to get kickbacks from its purchase. (2) The use of hard to find ingredients, with no substitution listed. For example, Vegebase instant soup mix is listed as an ingredient in several major recipes in the book. I live in Cambridge, Massachusetts, one of the veggie capitals of the U.S., and I couldn't find it in three stores (finally found it at Whole Foods).

Finally, I don't think this is necessarily the doctor's fault, but he appears to have an almost cultish following. On my visits to his website, everything discussed is "Dr. Fuhrman said" like it's gospel. Followers even seem to search constantly for negative reviews in order to refute them. The author admits he doesn't know the answers to everything. I agree with him on that.