Eat to Live weight loss stories

Eat to Live weight loss stories

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I have been on a personal journey to figure out my health and wellness. Experiencing serious random mood swings, feeling unmotivated, exhausted all the time, wanting to get pregnant, etc. A friend recommended this book to me and I thought it sounded interesting. Right away I went to my local library and borrowed it. Half way through the book I decided I just had to own this so I purchased it on amazon. I have LOVED this book. I underlined a lot of points I felt were important for me.

Appearance:

I find that the cover isn't very appealing to me. The colors aren't quite my taste and the target audience is geared to those trying to lose a LOT of weight (I wouldn't have picked this book out on my own just by its appearance). I was interested in losing about 20 lbs but that was not my reason for wanting to read this.

Reading:

The information is really detailed. It starts out by explaining the why behind eating, why we should avoid certain foods, why we should eat more of others, why our bodies react the way they do, etc., from there it progresses into how to implement what is being taught, and then a few example meal plans and recipes are included. I found that this book changed my way of thinking. I didn't realize I hadn't understood quite a bit about nutrition.

My husband has started reading this book and he says he is enjoying it and learning a lot but it feels a little repetitive at times. I would have to agree that it does overlap on information a little. I felt it was on purpose though, to make sure the concepts were understood. He isn't as enthusiastic about this book as I am, but he is learning a lot.

Infomercials:

This book is laced with other peoples stories and experiences implementing this information into their lives. Some may find this inspiring while others may find it annoying.

Implementing:

Right after reading this book I decided I wanted to adopt many of the taught principles into my life: Eat more vegetables, fruits, grains, and eat less or no meats, fats, and dairy products. I chose to go cold turkey and I cut out all meats and dairy products right away. I was not a big vegetable person to begin with, and I LOVED the taste of meat. I went through a little mourning period, but eventually I got over it. I found making a gallon of green smoothie every morning and sipping on it throughout the day was a saving grace as I have learned to implement this books teachings. I would make meals like normal but the new way of cooking was hit or miss (to be quite honest, I haven't tried any of his recipes because there are no pictures, but I have tried 'vegan' cookbooks) so having the green smoothie ready as back up to a failed lunch or dinner attempt was more encouraging. I challenged my husband to eat this way with me for 6 weeks (Then he started reading the book. He agreed hesitantly so he could understand my new passion for healthy eating and so he could convince me to eat meat again.) In 3 weeks we both lost 15 pounds (we were consuming a TON of food too, and this was not our goal but definitely welcomed!), I had LOTS more energy, and I felt great. My husband says he hasn't really felt much of a difference, but to me he seems to be more motivated and since eating this way he wrestles more with our boys, gets even more excited about food that is healthy AND tastes good haha, and his attitude seems a lot more positive as well. Also, we were struggling to get pregnant, having tried for 8 months, and after that first month of eating this way I got pregnant! (Not to say it was because of this, but I had tried many different things and it really doesn't seem like a coincidence. I am not saying those that choose this way of living will get pregnant when they are having trouble conceiving, but it's worth trying! If nothing more, you'll at least be healthy.) KIDS-- My children are very young and they are eating this way right along with us, I had no clue they would like vegetables so much. Out of anyone in our family I am the one that is struggling the most with eating this way haha, mainly because I am not a fan of the taste of nutritional yeast and that has been in quite a few of the recipes I have tried. I find when I keep to simple ingredients I enjoy it sooo much more. Stir fry's, Thai vegetable curries/Pad Thai's, salads, grilled vegetables, beans/rice burritos/tacos, etc. Lots of vegetables and good seasoning go hand in hand for me.

Recommendation:

I definitely recommend this book! The movie, Forks Over Knives talks about a lot of the information found in it and is a great crash course to watch on Netflix or Prime(if it is available) to see if you are interested in learning more and a bit deeper. My father's Dr's found a lump on his prostate and I immediately recommended this book to him (cancer is discussed in this book quite a bit) His Dr's recommended a vegetarian diet to fight against any cancer that might be there as well as watching Forks Over Knives. It goes hand in hand with the teachings of this book (especially because it was based off of this and The China Study.

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Tori

5.0 out of 5 stars Wow!!

Reviewed in the United States on July 15, 2012

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There is one main thing that makes me a little annoyed with this book: Dr. Furhman's insistence that everything can be solved with eating. This might be true, but I don't know, and I encourage people that are on medicine's to thoroughly discuss this with their doctor before going off of them (which he does say, but just adding). The other problem I can see is this is probably not a great family plan, unlesss you can get kids eating healthy. However couples, and definitely single people can do this without complaint. If your Significant Other wont eat this way? Have separate meals.

Other than that... Wow.

I'm on day 6 of the "Strict" part of the plan, and five pounds down. Some of it is probably water weight, but I'm skeptical that all of it is. I know that in the next week or two this weightloss will slow, but if I'm still knocking off 1-2 pounds per week I'll be happy. The reason why I started this is because some random fellow at the local pool heard me talking about "forks over knives" and told me to check this plan out. He said he had lost 38 pounds! I hope I see him again so I can thank him, and in case he reads these reviews ever - thank you random fellow at the pool! I knew if it worked for him, it would work for me.

Now time for some tough love:

You can give up all that junk you're putting into your body. Even coffee (he says make it six weeks, then you can go back to one cup a day if you want). I don't care what you say - if you're not willing to give something up you're not willing to do whatever it takes to make yourself healthy. I was already a vegetarian (which I also went cold turkey into), so that wasn't the issue, but I was definitely a carb, sugar, and cheese addict! Seriously, cheese went on everything to give it a little zap of deliciousness. We're talking I could live off of cheese and sweets. It might be hard the first few days, the first week, maybe even the first two, but you can do it for just six weeks. If you want to go back to the way you were eating before do it, but give it six weeks. That's what I promised myself, but I'm already thinking I won't be going back.

Eating healthy takes work. There's no shortcut. You may have to make time for a minor inconvenience. I don't know what else to tell you there. Again, that's why this plan might be harder for parents who also have kids to factor into the equation.

I've only eaten out once so far this past week, but I didn't really have any problems. I got a Southwest salad with no chicken or tortilla chips, and no dressing. Instead I asked for a thing of salsa. Arguably the salsa probably had more salt than Dr. Furhman would have liked, but you can't win every meal all the time. I also got a side of steamed broccoli. I ate it ALL. For a second I felt guilty - I just stuffed my face with so much food, but then I realized I didn't have to feel guilty. Everything i ate was HEALTHY. Eating a full salad and a side of steamed broccoli was not eating a hamburger (or veggie burger) and a side of french fries.

I realized how much my life had already changed when my mother bought Ben and Jerry's ice cream yesterday. Before I would have binged on it. Yesterday? I didn't touch the stuff, though I KIND OF wanted to. I knew though, that one bite would throw me off the wagon. I realized while laying in bed that night that for the first time in my life... I beat a craving. I actually beat a craving for my favorite food on the planet. I seriously used to go through Ben and Jerrys in 1-2 days. (I tried not to buy it, but I caved way more than I liked).

If you are willing to put in the effort your life will start changing.

I will attempt to update this review later on into the program with my results.

5 WEEK IN EDIT:

I've been operating on the 90/10 rule he advocates for about the past 3 weeks (I lost a ton of weight following the strict plan, but I was not able to eat enough calories doing it! So I had to add in some more good carbs, and I let myself have a small serving of sweets every once in awhile). I am down 7 pounds, 10.25 inches, and down a pants size. SERIOUSLY GUYS. This book is what has changed my life.

6 WEEK IN EDIT:

I have lost 10 pounds, and a pants size! And it's all second nature now. People are stopping me going "Have you lose 20 pounds?!" (No, but it's okay if I Look like I've lost 20!!)

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CancerResearcher

4.0 out of 5 stars From a cancer researcher and a life long vegetarian

Reviewed in the United States on August 16, 2011

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I have been buying stuff on amazon forever and this is my first review till date!

I am from India and moved to the US for graduate school 8 years back. I have been brought up vegetarian my entire life and continued to be vegetarian upon moving to the US. I have had issues with my weight from the time I realized it as a teenager. At the highest point in my life following my MS, i weighed 176 pounds. It was really hard for me to step on the scale and admit that i weighed that much. I decided that I will do something about it when I started my PhD. I started eating healthier and exercising regularly and lost 40 lbs bringing me to 137 lbs. I was so proud of my accomplishments until thesis time rolled around and for the past 1.5 years, i have been inhabiting a couch finding ways to cure cancer. I gained 20 of those 40 pounds lost back! Alarm in my head and I wanted to so badly do something about it. But i felt powerless against food, i had very little time, i checked my weight every day, i saw it creep up ever so slowly to the dreaded 155 lbs. I had previously read 'The China Study'- An extremely powerful book. If you are a cancer researcher, you dont want anybody to read this book, because you may lose your job! The cure to cancer is known and known well to all of us! We just need to minimize animal protein in our diet and you are good to go (make it less than 10%).

However, it confounded me following reading 'The china study' and my vegetarianism all my life as to why I had such a tendency to obesity. i felt so powerless with food and felt that it controlled me. I had constant creamy dessert cravings. I had been on weight watchers for the last 6 months with no decrease in my weight. I felt irritated, deprived and with no energy.

One such day, Amazon happened to recommend me this book and in the midst of all the dissertation writing, i read it right away. I realized the golden rule that i have NOT been following all my life even with the healthy Indian diet. I started with carbs with sides of vegetables and proteins (dal). A big no no.

Now, i start with a salad with beans as first course, eat boiled vegetables as my second course and finish it with dessert (fruit shavings or frozen banana 'ice'cream). I dont even want the 1 cup of carbs as allowed in this book. I dont feel 'controlled' by food. What Dr. Campbell puts forth in theory in the China study, Dr. Fuhrman shows you how to do it and do it right. I am not scared by food, i feel energetic like i have never before. I have been on this diet for only 3 days and unlike every other diet in the world i have tried, i dont feel deprived or scared that i cant keep up with this. i feel a zest for life that i havent felt before and i know i am changing my life in a good way! How can you be when you are always FULL! My focus on dissertation has also improved!

Having been a vegetarian and a good cook my entire life, i can whip up some amazing recipes (post 6 week period) following Dr. Fuhrman's guidelines. Given my schedule right now, i cant and i am happy throwing a bag of frozen veggies or a quick salad together for meals. Who said eating healthy has to be tough. Moreover, my spending has gone down due to healthy eating. And the white chocolate bread pudding that i usually crave when i start on a diet DOES NOT call out to me anymore!

The one star off is just because Dr. Fuhrman needs to limit fruits for diabetics, which can be potentially dangerous for them. They cant be eating too much mangoes like i do!

Live your life to the fullest!! Will keep everyone posted on the 6 week update! No doubt, i will be back with my 20 lbs gone along with my PhD! If I can do it in the most stressful time of my dissertation, so can you! It is probably the most important book you will have read and the biggest present you can give yourself and your family!

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Jenn

5.0 out of 5 stars This diet works and is easier than it seems

Reviewed in the United States on December 30, 2012

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First a little about me: I am a female 38 and have 3 children I had gained around 25 pounds over the years and could only ever manage to lose around 5 to 10 pounds no matter what diet I tried. I counted calories, I did all kinds of low carb diets. They all left me feeling like I was missing something and after a few weeks I would start to fall off the wagon. In the last couple years I started to gain weight even quicker, even though I exercised 5 times a week for about an hour and a half each day and ran marathons. I started to get frustrated and depressed. I even started to try taking diet supplements nothing seemed to work. I stumbled across this book and was really doubtful at first. It all looked really time consuming, restrictive and overall really complicated. But after reading the book (you must read it all the way through) I decided I was at least going to commit myself to 6 weeks. After about a week I figured out my own little recipes and found things that I didn't just tolerate but enjoyed and looked forward to. I also had tons of energy and was able to run faster and have more stamina despite dieting. I have been on the diet for 6 months now I have lost 20 pounds and managed to keep it off despite cheating here and there over the holidays.

The reason I say it is easier than it seems is that once you find some recipes you like it really isn't much harder what I normally cooked for dinner. Breakfast I always have a smoothie, lunch is some sort of salad and for dinner I enjoy, spaghetti loaded with veggies, stir fry, veggi pizza, Burritos, pitas filled with all kinds of yummy vegetable combinations. I usually try to coordinate what I am eating with what I fix for my kids for dinner but I sort of tone down the veggies a bit for them.

Some say it is just a vegan diet with a new name but only the first six weeks are vegan. I now enjoy small portions of meat daily and have a day off usually once every week or two where eat what I want. The thing of it is I really don't crave sugary and fatty treats very much anymore, and when I do eat them I feel much more in control.

I still continue to lose weight, now that I include meat and take a day off every once and awhile it is a bit slower. But I don't have a lot left to lose and I figure losing weight slowly is much better than gaining it slowly :)

I have recommended this diet to many friends trying to lose that baby weight or more. If you can commit yourself to trying it for 6 weeks no excuses you will be hooked!

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cabin-pal

5.0 out of 5 stars A Life-Saving Education in One Volume: Easy to Read and Apply for Optimum Health

Reviewed in the United States on December 16, 2018

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Maintaining a healthy weight can be a roller-coaster ride, especially as we age. The problem with most diets is that they are not sustainable, long-term. Sooner or later, most folks fall off them, gaining back the lost pounds, then adding more. I have been through this cycle and feel for all those struggling with weight issues. From my teen years through my late-20's, I weighed 145 lbs. on a 6'-0" frame. Many said I was underweight, and that may have been true. Moving through my 30's and 40's, the pounds gradually tacked-on. Now in my early-60's, I'm 25-30 lbs. overweight. A couple years ago, concerned for my overall health, I picked up a copy of the book, Eat to Live, by Joel Fuhrman, M.D. After reading just a few chapters, I got inspired and decided to try out the book's suggestions, going to a mostly plant-based, high-nutrient diet. I couldn't believe the results, losing 16 pounds in three weeks, without any feeling of undue hunger or deprivation. Then, life happened, I got distracted, or lazy, and I slid back to the traditional American diet (which is slowly killing us all). I'm reading Dr. Fuhrman's book, once again; this time, all the way through. It's unique, in that it clearly explains nutrition, identifying what is good to eat, what's not, and why. With such knowledge comes the awareness and motivation to stay the course of healthy living - pursuing a genuinely nutritious diet, combined with beneficial exercise. I'm heading back, now, to my body's natural, healthy weight, which I suspect is in the range of 155-160 lbs. I highly recommend to anyone struggling with weight or health issues to pick up a copy of Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live, to gain the crucial understanding of how nutrient-packed, more natural foods restore and sustain health. Even if you are now pursuing some other diet plan and are experiencing success, I still recommend the book for the overall understanding of nutrition it provides, and for a back-up plan for your present diet, in case it fails, as most, in time, do. Fuhrman's diet is different. It is not a fad. Its success, in thousands of cases, is knowledge-based. And it comes highly recommended by many physicians, including Dr. Mehmet Oz, M.D., who writes: "A medical breakthrough.... There is no question in my mind that it will work for you."

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Judith J. Sykes

4.0 out of 5 stars Audio book NOT narrated by Joel Fuhrman

Reviewed in the United States on July 5, 2021

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Joel Fuhrman is awesome and this book is transforming our lives. The audio CD set, however, I have a quibble with; although it was great for listening to in the car and is SO inspiring! The listing says it is narrated by Joel Fuhrman but he only narrated the first and last chapters. The rest is narrated by some GUY who is obviously not a physician and stumbles over so many words it’s kind of laughable. I feel like writing Dr Fuhrman and telling him, if he would narrate the whole book I would buy it over again. He is such a good speaker and I was very disappointed that he wasn’t the main narrator.

That being said, the book is amazing and I wish my friends and family would listen to it. My husband and I have been following this plan (whole food plant based sos (sugar, oil, and salt)-free. We’ve both lost around 20 pounds and I have been able to stop my blood pressure pill. We both feel that this is a sustainable life style, not just a diet.

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Dot in Ga.

4.0 out of 5 stars Get ready to eat a LOT of food to be healthier!

Reviewed in the United States on October 7, 2013

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Read MOST of the book before jumping in and starting my six-week behavioral change (I REFUSE to call this adventure a "diet".) I was a vegetarian in my 20s so eating fruits and veggies every day is not too big of a deal; however, eating a pound of raw and cooked veggies a day is an adjustment. I started the program a week ago and only lost 1/2 a pound. When I reviewed what I ate during the week, I realized that I was still using oil when cooking my veggies - I was spraying PAM in the skillet before stir-frying. DUH! I also HAD to have an ice cream bar on the second day. Even though I fell off the wagon almost immediately, I got back on the next day and didn't feel guilty about a darned thing. I don't like to cook so I haven't made many of the recipes featured in the book, but I am keeping it very simple - fruit or smoothies for breakfast; salad, beans and cooked veggies for lunch and dinner, and fruit for dessert. I cooked a huge pot of black beans, which lasted for days (I don't mind leftovers). I have started exercising again (walking mostly) and plan on swimming 1-2 times a week. I had a physical exam last week and have higher-than-normal cholesterol levels so I will get another blood test in a few months to see if this diet change is really working. I'll check back in after a month to share how I'm doing. Good luck to those of you who read the book and begin making the changes in your diet that will help you get and stay healthier.

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Ben Rodriguez

5.0 out of 5 stars We should learn this nutrition info as children

Reviewed in the United States on October 22, 2012

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I found the information to be extremely helpful and logical. I have been educating myself and following a modified version of Dr. Fuhrman's program over the last 6 weeks. I am 38 yrs old and have made the following changes in my nutrition intake:

** Cut my daily diet soda intake from about 1 liter per day to about 1 liter per week (pushing to cut off 100%)

** Cut my beef/chicken/turkey intake of 2-3 meals per day to about 5-6 meals per week

** Cut out pretty much all creams, milk and cheese

** Avoiding the food from outside restaurants and this has helped to save me $$

** Eating lots of beans and lentils

** I found that by having my Monster Green Juice in the mornings when I wake up and at night instead of breakfast/dinner, I feel leaner.

** I bought a Ninja Blender and now have green smoothies that I blend in the mornings and at nights. By blending the fruit and veggies, I am able to use them as meal replacements instead of just juicing.

Morning Green Monster Smoothie:

- Big bunch of Kale

- 1 whole cucumber

- 1 Sambazon Acai "unsweetened" packet

- 1 apple

- big bunch of spinach

- big bunch of mustard leaves

- 1-2 tbsp of ground flax seed

- strawberries

- 1 banana

- 2-3 oranges (fresh juice)

- crushed ice

- water to liquify

- Makes about 64-70 oz of juice which will last me for 1-2 meals........super powerful.

I have lost 20 pounds and most importantly, my Blood Pressure has gone down from 140/100 to 123/85..........My goal is to get down to 115/75........

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Lydia Prentiss

4.0 out of 5 stars That's pretty great, considering I haven't followed *all* of the ...

Reviewed in the United States on February 18, 2018

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I only skimmed the the book and skipped to the diet part. I've been on this diet for about six weeks and I've lost 20 pounds. That's pretty great, considering I haven't followed *all* of the strict requirements all the time. For example, I still drink my morning coffee with flax milk, and I eat yogurt for breakfast about once a week. Still- giving up cheese, meat, oils and sweets and most carbs, eating mostly veggies and fruits, has been transformational. I've lived for long periods of my life as a vegetarian and really enjoy vegetarian cooking, so I think that makes this easier diet easier. I have some meat and potatoes loving friends who would probably be unhappy on a diet like this. And yes- when following the diet fairly strictly, I'm hungry ALL THE TIME... but the pounds come off, and you can fall into a rhythm of meals (fruit smoothie or oatmeal and fruit for breakfast, salad and soup or fresh veggies for lunch, salad and soup for dinner) so it's easy to follow. I hope to keep it up and lose at least another twenty to thirty pounds.

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