The End of Dieting: How to Live for Life (2 page)

In the United States alone, about two-thirds of Americans are overweight, according to the National Institutes of Health (NIH). But this doesn’t tell the whole story. Both the NIH and the World Health Organization define an “overweight” person to have a body mass index (BMI) of 25. This means that a woman who is 5 feet 5 inches tall is considered a normal weight at 150 pounds, and a man who is 5 feet 10 inches tall is considered normal at 175 pounds. This man and woman may carry between 20 and 30 pounds of disease-causing fat around their waists, but they would still be considered healthy and fit by today’s standards. This is simply not accurate to consider a person with that much fatty tissue normal or healthy. If you look at societies or groups of people who live longer than average, you’ll find average BMIs between 18 and 22—nowhere near the American standard of 25. For example, the Okinawa Centenarian Study—which examined more than six hundred centenarians from Okinawa, Japan, over twenty-five years from the mid-1970s to 2001—found that the average BMI of the studied adults was 20.4. The Adventist Health Study—which studied Seventh-Day Adventists, who follow a largely vegan diet—found a similar result. This twelve-year prospective examination of thirty-four thousand middle-aged and elderly Adventists with no preexisting illnesses and no history of smoking, coronary heart disease, cancer, or stroke revealed a direct positive relation between a lower BMI and longevity. An Adventist with a BMI higher than 23 had a higher risk of premature death.

So what can we learn from these studies? According to the data, the
maximum
acceptable weight produces a BMI of around 22.5, not 25. This means that the recommended healthy weight for a 5-foot-10-inch
adult male is between 130 and 160 pounds and for a 5-foot-5-inch adult female is 108 to 135 pounds. This is a big difference from the acceptable (not overweight) American BMI of 25, which allows 150 pounds for a woman and 175 pounds for a man.

On the basis of the Okinawan and Adventist standard BMI, about 85 percent of Americans are overweight, not the 66 percent according to the NIH. The average American is heavier and sicker than he or she even realizes. All because of the standard American diet. Hardly anyone can escape its destructive effects. Why else would 90 percent of everyone over the age of sixty-five be taking drugs to lower his or her blood pressure and/or cholesterol? The bottom line is this: If you eat American food, you will inevitably develop the diseases common in America, you will become overweight, and you will eventually develop high blood pressure and high cholesterol (the signs of blood vessel and heart disease), just like everybody else.

We now consider it normal to lose youthful vigor in our thirties, carry an extra 30 to 40 pounds, live with chronic illness in our late forties and fifties, and endure our final decades completely dependent on others. But this is
not
normal. This is the result of a lifelong pattern of unhealthy living and misguided information. Rather than dreading deterioration and a growing number of ailments and drugs as we approach old age, we should look forward to enjoying an active life well into our nineties. This may seem like an outrageous expectation because most of us spend a lifetime consuming an unhealthy diet. Even today, too many of us continue to miss the connection between what we eat and how we feel emotionally and physically. Nor can we figure out why it seems so difficult to stay at our young adult weight.

But it’s not too late.

A high-nutrient diet will reduce your desire for high-calorie, low-nutrient foods. Within weeks, your taste buds will change, and you’ll
lose interest in the unhealthy foods you once thought you could never live without. You’ll feel more satisfied eating fewer calories than you were eating before. The result is lasting health and permanent weight loss. So many of my readers have lost 100 pounds or more following my recommendations; they have lost that much within one year; and they have kept that weight off for years.

The End of Dieting
goes a step beyond
Eat to Live
. Not only does it answer why eating healthfully often seems so difficult, it empowers you with the desire and ability to do so. In the following pages, I share the science and the solutions behind how to rid yourself for good of the food addictions sabotaging your health. I lay out an easy-to-follow eating program beginning with a ten-day series of easy-to-make, delicious meals that will gradually transform your food preferences, while simultaneously recalibrating your palate. I guide your food choices through the first part of the program, so you don’t have to think or worry about what you’re eating—you can simply eat tasty dishes made of fantastic health-supporting foods. In the second part of the program, I flood your body with nutrients to heal and detoxify it, using superfoods as a way to promote wellness and longevity. By completing and sticking to the program, your BMI will fall below 22.5 and stay there for the rest of your life.

A diet can only be considered successful if the food you eat supports longevity and protects you against heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer. This nutritarian diet style is the only dietary and nutritional program that guarantees dramatic weight loss without calorie counting. It is also the only dietary and nutritional program that teaches you how to protect against disease while simultaneously dramatically increasing your lifespan. Your risk of a heart attack and/or stroke will almost disappear, and your risk of cancer can plummet by more than 90 percent, while your life expectancy can increase by twenty years. Incredible claims, yes, but this is a reality with considerable
scientific support. I have observed such results for more than twenty-five years.

Forget calories. The secret of living well is all about micronutrients. Eating healthfully and consuming the right assortment and amount of nutrients results in consistent, long-term health benefits. Getting healthy and maintaining a stable, healthy weight are achieved only by focusing on the nutritional quality of your food. Contrary to conventional thinking, it isn’t
how much
you eat that determines your weight; it’s what you eat.

Nutritional quality determines your mental, physical, and emotional health—from brain function and a heightened immune system to happiness and physical well-being. The main criterion you should consider when choosing what to eat is which foods are most favorable to your long-term survival. A diet style incorporating longevity-promoting foods allows you to try out all types of delicious recipes, which in turn allows you to keep up this new way of eating throughout the rest of your life. Any diet you adopt temporarily only results in temporary benefits, because eventually your body and your weight adjust back to the diet you will remain on long term.

Let me repeat that again: Anything you adopt temporarily only begets temporary results, and fluctuating your weight up and down is not lifespan favorable.

People often view diets as a belief system, picking the one that is most closely aligned with their dietary philosophy or food preferences. Then they often criticize any program that conflicts with these preferences. Real science, however, has no philosophy or predetermined agenda; it just flows inexorably from the preponderance of the evidence. Are you a scientific thinker? Are you willing to view the facts and let the chips fall with the evidence? Remember: Food preferences are learned and can be changed.

I have cared for more than ten thousand patients, most of whom set foot in my office unhappy, sick, and overweight. They had tried every dietary craze without success. After following my program, they discovered the superior health they always wanted and dropped the weight they always dreamed of losing. Even better, they kept it off. For the first time in their lives, they had an eating style that didn’t leave them hungry or unsatisfied. Most importantly, they were able to stop taking their medications, which had become unnecessary.

Over the past three decades, I have reviewed more than twenty thousand scientific studies on human nutrition. This is why I can say with certainty that this is the place and now is the time to begin your health revival. I have seen the effects of this plan in action on thousands of patients with a wide range of diseases and health concerns, from migraines and allergies to heart disease and diabetes. The bottom line is, it works. Nutritional excellence is the most powerful way to discover permanent healthy weight loss, prevent and reverse disease, and put an end to some of today’s most chronic degenerative illnesses.

The body is a self-healing machine when you supply it with an optimal nutritional environment, and the information presented in this book is the fastest and most effective way to create that environment. If you have high blood pressure, high cholesterol, diabetes, heart disease, indigestion, headache, asthma, fatigue, body aches, or pain—or if you want to prevent yourself from developing these chronic conditions—this is the plan for you. This new diet style can enable you to avoid angioplasty, bypass surgery, and other invasive procedures. If you aren’t yet ill, it can make sure you never have heart attacks, strokes, or dementia in your later years. It can reduce and eventually eliminate your need for prescription drugs. In short, it can enable you to optimize your health and potentially save your life. And it can do all of this while increasing the pleasure you get from food.

Many of you have this book because you want to lose weight. I want to assure you that you
will
lose all the weight that you want, even if diets have failed you in the past. This is the most effective weight-loss plan ever, and the results are permanent, not temporary. Equally important is the protection from serious diseases in your future that this plan offers. The most effective healthcare is self-care. Drugs and doctors can’t grant you excellent health and protect you from disease and suffering. Almost every doctor knows this. The nutritional excellence I describe in the following pages can prevent and even reverse most medical problems within three to six months. This is a bold claim, but the facts—backed up by scientific research—show that many of the tragedies we face in the modern world are the result of nutritional folly.

While weight loss is important, it is not our main goal. It is a pleasant and normal by-product on the road to the primary goal: great health. Superior health is marked by an exceptionally long and relatively disease-free lifespan, and countless studies reveal that people with superior health are slim. By teaching you how to achieve superior health, your ideal weight will naturally follow. You will understand the physical cravings that cause overeating, as well as the psychological factors that can help you change this pattern of consumption. Applying the information in this book to your life will help you create new, healthy behaviors that will eventually become effortless. You will finally be in control of your own health destiny.

This plan does not include counting calories, measuring portion sizes, or weighing. It doesn’t rely on gimmicks or fads. You can stop looking for that magic solution, because there is no magic solution. No red berry ketones. No green coffee beans. No purple tulip nectar or black salt from the white cliffs of Dover. In fact, we almost always later discover that the product that gave us hope was merely hype and that looking for a quick fix causes harm. When a supplement or medication doesn’t meet your nutritive needs, it is typically toxic and can enhance the damage caused by a toxic diet.

I
N
T
HEIR
O
WN
W
ORDS

Cassie and Dave, alarmed by increasing symptoms associated with poor health and aging, made a decision to Eat to Live. Hoping for many positive changes for themselves, they were pleasantly surprised by the added benefits for the rest of the family
.

BEFORE:
162 pounds (Cassie) and 250 pounds (Dave)

AFTER:
111 pounds (Cassie) and 145 pounds (Dave)

My husband, Dave, and I have been happily married for twenty-five years. We have four children, all in their twenties, and a young grandson. We were only in our late forties, yet we felt very old, unhealthy, tired, and frustrated. We experienced brain fog and lack of energy daily, constant sinus infections, migraines, back pain, indigestion, eczema, severe mood swings, and agonizing cravings and food addictions. Our toxic diet and sedentary lifestyle were taking their toll.

One transformative day we discovered Dr. Fuhrman’s teachings. We immediately threw out all our processed foods and eliminated meat, dairy, oil, salt, and sweeteners from our diet.
Eat to Live
became our daily manual. It provided us with the knowledge that we needed to succeed. Our motivation wasn’t weight driven; rather, it was driven by a deep passion to get healthy and change our lives for the better.

Our physical and mental transformations have been amazing! After thirty-five years, Dave even finally quit coffee and cigarettes. He and I now walk, run, or hike at least twenty to twenty-five miles a week and incorporate cardio and calorie-burning exercises into our daily routine. We both feel great.

Our transformation and passionate commitment to our new nutritarian diet style have allowed our new lifestyle to positively affect our children as well. They have also incorporated our food choices into their diets and, as a result, have experienced significant weight loss and overall health improvements.

The one truth that we have learned with our nutritarian lifestyle is that we all have the power to take control of our own health destiny—it’s in each one of us!

Nor do you have to become a vegan or vegetarian to prevent a heart attack and reduce the risk of cancer. You just have to incorporate life-enhancing, delicious, and natural plant foods and significantly cut back on animal products. Eat as much food as you want, and, over a short time, you’ll be more than satisfied with the fewer number of calories you’re consuming.