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

• #4 in Best Weight Loss Books

365 Reviews

Sort by: Most Helpful ▲ Date Rating

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.

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.

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.

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.

People in America are very gullible. Just about anyone with a medical degree can spout off any kind of crap about diet and nutrition and people will believe it if they promise quick weight loss and improved health.

Joel Fuhrman's book, Eat to Live, is a prime example of this phenomenon. He sometimes makes statements that a blatantly unsubstantiated and at other times cites statistics that are only partially true or don't look at the whole picture. For example, he states that people who live in countries where the bulk of their calories come from unrefined plant sources are less likely to die of cancer or cardiovascular disease than those in countries where very few of their calories come from unrefined plant sources (pg. 51). However, when one looks at the expected longevity of people born in the countries on his chart, one finds that the life expectancy of people in the countries that get the bulk of their calories from meats and refined foods is as much as 23 years greater than the countries that get the bulk of their calories from unrefined plant sources. Why consider average life expectancy when you're just trying to prove that one group is less likely to die of cancer and cardiovascular disease than the other? It has to be considered because most deaths from these diseases occur in people over 50. If your life expectancy as a Laotian (the country cited with the greatest number of calories coming from unrefined plant sources) is only 53, your odds of getting cancer or heart disease would be practically nil because you won't live long enough. Oddly enough, if you look at the country that has the highest life expectancy (and isn't on Fuhrman's chart), Andorra, you'll see that they eat a diet that's very high in meat as well as vegetables.

Other facts are also questionable. Since when is romaine lettuce a good source of protein and essential fatty acids? (pg. 52) Fuhrman does cite many scientific journal articles, but most people will not be able to access those articles to see if they truly support his statements. He also doesn't provide any research results that show that his diet is going to be the cure-all he claims it will be. He does provide ample anecdotal "proof" of his claims and includes testimonials too. The irony is that this is exactly the kind of thing he rebukes in his diatribe against the authors of high-protein diet books.

The use of hyperbole is particularly troublesome. Fuhrman's diet is not only going to make you lose weight and prevent cancer and heart disease, it's also going to cure every disease one might already have. Just to get his point across, he uses exclamation points quite liberally. He's so excited about the miraculous properties of his diet that he's just got to throw in those exclamation points to get the reader excited too.

I completely agree with him that most of use would be healthier if we ate a lot more fruits, vegetables and legumes. However, I don't agree with his complete disdain for meat and dairy. We probably do eat too much of these foods, but I remain unconvinced that we need to eliminate them altogether. Of course, you will lose weight if you follow Fuhrman's diet. You'll probably lose weight very quickly. Anytime you eliminate entire food groups, you will lose weight. But, as with most diets, once you return to eating normally, you'll gain it back. Of course, Fuhrman believes people should follow his diet for life. I just don't think that is a realistic expectation for most Americans.

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 cannot thank Dr. Fuhrman enough! A year ago ( at 27 years old)I was in bad shape. I have not only lost 50 pounds this last year, going from a size 16 to a 8, but have brought my high cholestrol/ high blood pressure down way down. I no longer have chest pains, acne, severe menstrual cycles, headaches, fatique.. the list goes on. I had tried so many of the diets out there, only to fail or not lose any weight. I cannot believe the transformation in me since a year ago, it is simply amazing!..This will work for you if you commit to it! Dr. Fuhrman is very kind, I have consulted with him through email and on the telephone, he has gone over and above the call of duty in helping me to get well again..Thank you Dr. Fuhrman!

But not at Dr. Fuhrman. I'm angry because, after years of working out and eating whole grains and giving up on red meat -- yet still staying overweight -- I've discovered the doctor's very simple secret about eating to live. NUTRIENT DENSITY!! It's quite amazing, and I've already dropped 17 pounds that I'll never see again.

Every day I go through a quart-sized bag of raw vegetables, along with an ounce of raw nuts so their fat can help me absorb the nutrients from the veggies, four servings of fruit, a couple of cans of beans (one with two tablespoons of ground flax seed), and a bowl of whole grain cereal with soy milk. I'm not only losing weight, but my skin's looking better and a long-standing shoulder and hip problem has cleared up. I'm also not suffering one bit despite the fact that I eat under 1900 calories a day. Once I reach my target weight I'm actually going to be jacking that up another 300 to 2200, and I'll start eating a little meat again. But even then I won't be having more than a couple of servings a week. I've never seen a strict vegetarian that looked that strong and healthy.

(Though I'd be happy to be wrong!!)

Use this book if you want to live.

I bought this book after reading about it in "Self" magazine almost 2 years ago. After my second child, I needed to lose those last 10 lbs. The first few weeks on the plan were challenging, but I was commited. I lost seven pounds in the first two weeks, and a total of 20 lbs over the next few months. I have completely changed the way I eat and have remained at the same weight for 1.5 years. Yes, my friends think I eat "rabbit food" and my husband makes jokes the I make a salad out of the lawn clippings (not true), but this diet has changed my life. For the first time in my life I don't look in the mirror with angst thinking "I wish I could lose just 10 lbs"...Dr. Fuhrman talks about a 90/10 plan. 90% of the time I eat the "Eat to Live" way, and 10% of the time (out to dinner, special occasions) I eat whatever I want. It is not without effort. I cook seperate dinners for my husband and children, but any extra effort is paid off by how great I feel and look.

If you commit yourself to being healthy, you will be amazed by the results!

I am a medical doctor and I must say this book has soundly convinced me to throw my textbooks on conventional nutritional wisdom and the national dietary guidelines out of the window!

Dr Fuhrman has compiled a comprehensive and near-to-exhaustive review of existing and past research on nutritional science and presented an unbiased, evidence-based critique of the Modern American Diet (MAD), popular weight-loss programs and even the recommendations from professional bodies such as the AHA.

His dietary axiom of Health= Nutrition/Calories are sound and safe. We certainly hope to read published articles of the fantastic results that his patients have achieved with his nutrition excellence program soon.

However, the information can be rather heavy-going and the technical medical lexicon may faze the uninitiated. If you're into nutrition science and don't mind the jargon, this book is a real treasure to keep.

Although I didn't need to lose any weight, I decided to try out some of his recommendations. I put about 1 pound of vegetables into my daily diet and about 5 servings of fruits. Salad was the main course and fish was minimal. I still had polished rice but no dairy, preserved foods, meat, etc. The diet is terrifically tasty and visually stimulating and not as ascetic as one would think. Even the salad tasted great without any dressing at all. After just 5 days of following his guidelines, I could really feel my tastebuds come alive again. I lost about 1-2 kg of weight and could feel my body toning up with my existing daily exercises. Side-effects? Some flatulence and more frequent bowel movements but these resolved quickly in a week. None of the weakness or headaches that Dr Fuhrman reported in some patients.

One idea that truly impressed me was the fact that Dr Fuhrman does not presuppose that masses of the population will adhere to his recommendation. This program requires the individual to have self-awareness about his current disease-causing diet, the commitment and resolve to radically change his dietary habits, motivation and support from a coach or family and accessibility to the healthy food choices. Everyone CAN definitely benefit greatly from ETL but not everyone WILL.

Eat to Live!

The dose is the poison. Suggesting eliminating olive oil on a weight reduction plan is a tip off. Calories are calories. A half a teaspoon of olive oil (20 calories) with your lentils along with balsamic vinagrette won't put your weight on. There isn't a clear reason why a tablespoon of flaxseed (55 calories) has an edge over 1/2 a teaspoon of olive oil (20 calories). Yeah, the flax seed has fiber, ALA, lignans. But the olive oil has squalene (extra virgin olive oil), polyphenolics and other phytochemicals that are health supporting. Both will support lycopene absorption. Why is fat limited to whole nuts and seeds? If you are getting plenty of fiber from vegetables, fruits and legumes, his recommendation for avoiding oils probably is overly restrictive. Again, the dose is poison. Oil is calorie rich, there is no denying it. But in small amounts, it's as health supporting as nuts and seeds, in my opinion. I recommend a modified Fuhrman. Give yourself 1 tablespoon of flaxseed (50 calories), and 2 teaspoons of olive or canola oil (80 calories). It won't break the bank. But it will improve the taste of the salad or bean dish you eat. No oil? No way.

Ok, rant off. Dr. Fuhrman's basic idea is sound, apart from a lack of a fruit limit. Unlimited fruit selection is as unwise as unlimited grain selection notwithstanding that fruits are more nutrient dense than grains. You need a limit on any non-vegetable to make your diet work, in my view. There was a guy on the boards (vegsource) who complained about not losing weight because he ate too many bananas. Well hello!! Bananas are 110 calories a piece. 1 or 2, ok. But no carte blanche. Say ok to fruits while limiting grains maybe great for nutrient density, but frankly it's a big loser for weight loss. Just my opinion.

Keep it simple. You need 50 to 60 grams of protein a day. If you don't like beans (16 to 18 grams a cupful), will you really eat 2 lbs of green vegetables per day? Hmmm, not me. Looking at lean non-mercury fish (wild flounder at my wholesale club) and lentils. Don't misunderstand, I like Dr. F, and Eat to Live if 4 stars, but not 5. Olive oil and butter or margarine aren't in same league.

For what's it's worth, I'm not a Fuhrman basher and apologize if that' the impression. I take Gentle Care myself, and use Dr. Fs DHA for my entire family. I just don't understand his aversion to oils and lack of a fruit limit. To me, it's weight of evidence and risk to benefit, nothing else counts.

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

Just purchased and read this book. It was an enjoyable and educational read, although a few warning flags did come up as I read. We'll discuss those in a moment; first, some background comments.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman's name was vaguely familiar to me before reading his book, but I didn't remember much except he was connected with sports somehow. After looking up his bio, I learned why the name rang a bell; he is a former world-class figure-skater-turned-family-medicine-physician. OK, figure skating is not my strong point in the sports world, I'll freely admit :-). At any rate, Dr. Fuhrman went on to educate himself to become something of a nutrition expert as well as a practicing MD, and has been preaching a largely vegan-type diet (read: anti-animal protein) for years, so let's take a look.

Regarding Dr. Furhman's own preferences, the first thing we should note is that- while not necessarily advocating a 100% vegetarian diet- he certainly believes animal protein is mostly an evil thing. With chapters like "the dark side of animal protein" in the book, we learn where he stands on animal protein very quickly :-). This should really be no surprise to anyone looking further into Furhman's own background (always a good thing to do when looking at any nutrition advice), since Dr. Fuhrman is a spokesman for the controversial organization "Physicians Committee For Responsible Medicine" (hereafter referred to as "PCRM" for short). Alas, warning flag #1 should be coming up at this point, if anyone is familar with the antics of this quasi-cultish organization.

What's so suspicious about the PCRM? Readers interested in true objectivity in nutrition information should do some background reading on this organization, which seems to have some troubling history. For those who are unaware, PCRM is a fanatical animal-rights group that seeks to remove eggs, milk, meat, and seafood from the American diet, and to eliminate the use of animals in scientific research. The American Medical Association (AMA) has issued several strong public rebukes of PCRM, including a 1991 statement in Newsweek by the AMA's senior vice president for science and medical education, who said: "They are neither responsible nor are they physicians." Fact is, only a very small percentage of this organization are physicians, estimated to be only around 4-5 percent! (This is hardly the publicity image you are fed from this group). It's an important point for the public to realize, when attempting to evaluate nutrition advice from someone in this group- despite their title, PCRM has very few physicians advocating their spiel; they certainly do NOT represent the medical establishment in any way. In fact, PCRM has had continual battles with establishment medicine for many years, and the AMA (which actually represents the medical profession) has called PCRM a "fringe organization" that uses "unethical tactics" and is "interested in perverting medical science." Alas, it gets much worse when one really starts delving into the activities of the PCRM; they have been linked with several violent animal-rights groups which the FBI has labeled "domestic terrorists". I don't have space to say more here about their ethics and tactics. To his credit, Dr. Fuhrman seems to keep his discussion fair and completely avoids any animal-rights rants, but it certainly isn't clear to me why he would want to lend his support to a fringe group like this one.

The important question for most readers, however, is not primarily Dr. Fuhrman's link to a fringe group, but rather- does his diet really work? We'll get to that in a moment, let me just say first that in light of Fuhrman's association with the PCRM, his recommendations against meat and dairy products need to be viewed with healthy detachment, and readers should realize the possibility of getting a slightly skewed agenda from square one. Dr. Fuhrman generally does a good job presenting the clinical basis for his program, but there are areas where his comments can be selective. For instance, he slams the meat and dairy lobbies, and rightly so. But how about the soy lobby? Because soy is a plant-based food, he doesn't even mention politics in connection with this huge lobby, and any discussion of food politics should certainly include the soy crowd. So, readers might do well to be a little suspicious of possible selective bias coming from Fuhrman, or ANY of the vocal members of the PCRM (some of whom have given Fuhrman's book glowing reviews), such as T. Colin Campbell, John McDougall, Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., Neal Barnard, etc.)

Be that what it may, the real issue to most regular folks is, what's REALLY the best dietary advice, and whom can we trust out there with all these competing claims? In other words, what does the best current scientific evidence really suggest?
Since Fuhrman and Co. heavily lean toward a vegan diet (although to his credit, Fuhrman allows minimal amounts of animal protein if dieters can't hack his totally vegetarian protein advice), what are the strong points of an anti-animal-protein diet? For one thing, Fuhrman seems scientifically credible - his association with the PCRM aside- observing that our current obsession with animal protein in many cases could actually be contributing toward our modern ailments, such as cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease. Why? One factor, using his own model of "nutrient density", is that the more animal protein one consumes, the less one will be consuming healthy foods loaded with phyto-nutrients and polyphenols- i.e., mainly veggies and fruits. This - the "food density" argument- is a strong argument, make no mistake. Most Americans are not getting nearly enough vegetables into their diets, and probably not enough fruits either. And worse, even if folks try to get in the "five-a-day" veggies-and-fruits advice from standard guidelines, this is not NEARLY enough. One should be shooting for, according to Dr. Fuhrman (and we should probably agree with him), the equivalent of a head of lettuce PER DAY in just salad greens (not iceberg lettuce, but real greens), and that's just the salad-type portion of his recommendations; one should be including large portions of other raw veggies and fruits. Clearly, Americans are way off-track here. If cutting down on processed meats helps folks consume vastly more portions of greens, raw vegetables and fruits, then one has certainly moved closer to an optimal diet.

But that's not all. Many meat proteins, specifically hormone-pumped meats from typical grocery-chain stores, tend to increase inflammation in the body, while plant proteins tend to reduce it. Studies have shown that processed meat can contribute toward increased inflammation, and the effect is made worse when grilled (this comes as a hard admission to a confirmed steak lover like myself, but that's the facts). So everyone should be toning down consumption of commercially-processed meats, and grilled meats in general...we'll talk about replacing them with healthier versions later. Regardless of how one stands on meat-vs.-vegan issues, the take-home point is that one should carefully look at how various dietary items decrease or increase low-grade systemic inflammation. Note here that most of our modern ailments have inflammation as a root cause...cancer, diabetes, and cardiovascular disease as well. Foods that DECREASE inflammation should be the focus of any healthy diet, so in principle a plant-protein-based diet is acceptable. Whether it is ESSENTIAL or not is a complex issue, and turns out to be a rather debatable premise.

Let's look at this further. In view of all of the benefits of consuming plant proteins, why would eliminating animal protein completely be a controversy at all? Well, things aren't that simple, alas. Mankind's evolutionary history shows that humans are OMNIVORES, NOT VEGANS. This is an important point, since any dietary advice that flies in the face of human evolutionary history must be looked at with some suspicion. Please take a good look at your canine teeth, vegans, and ask yourselves what these are for...and ask yourselves why humans evolved with these meat choppers still present in our evolutionary development... The answer is simple, and won't go away simply because some vegan advocates hate meat. Fact is, human beings were designed by Nature to eat meat, as well as plant-based foods. That is what the anthropological designation "hunter-gatherer" means- early humans basically ate anything they could find, whether bringing down a woolly mammoth or scavenging for raw greens and fruits. Any dietary viewpoint that suggests early humans were mostly vegetarians is playing fast and loose with well-known anthropological data, and thus it is completely dishonest (a better word is "unscientific") for non-meat advocates to push vegetarian diets as our supposed "paleo" history... Folks who choose a vegetarian diet do so for other reasons -religious, philosophical, ethical, or just to improve their health- but NOT because our human history evolved that way. Let's quit trying to make pseudo-scientific claims for vegetarian diets based on erroneous "paleo" models of nutrition.
The main problem with modern-day meats has less to do with eating meat in principle, and more to do with the unhealthy forms we typically consume today- i.e., pumped full of antibiotics, steroids and hormones, artificially grain-fed rather than naturally grass-fed, etc.) Evidence that animal protein in principle is NOT a dietary "evil" can be seen in the observation of any pre-modern cultures, who DID consume animal protein, but nonetheless managed to evade many of our modern nutrition-related health conditions: diabetes, cardiovascular disease, various cancers, etc.. Everyone offering nutrition advice (including Fuhrman) realizes the above-mentioned health conditions are largely a modern phenomenon, and the fact is, DESPITE earlier cultures eating meat, the occurance of these modern ills was much rarer before the 1900s and the advent of modern methods of processing. If we're going to pick a target to blame for modern illnesses, then, the blame should be aimed at the increased availability of PROCESSED CONVENIENCE-FOODS (including modern meat processing), not animal protein in itself. Yes, before the 1900s people ate animal protein, but their meat came from farm-raised poultry, eggs and livestock direct to the dinner table; it wasn't pumped up with antibiotics, hormones, and special grain-fattening diets like grocery-store meat is today. The point of all this? Vocal vegan devotees should consider they may be targeting the wrong villian...
At the least, if vegans want to push an anti-meat agenda, they need some clinical studies (done for extended periods of time) using NATURAL MEATS (grass-fed beef, free-range poultry, wild Alaskan fish, etc). We would want to show increased inflammation, endothelial disturbances, etc...after consumption. To my knowledge, these studies for beef and poultry do not exist, and certainly for fish, at least, the OPPOSITE results are the case- inflammation simply goes down markedly in clinical studies done with fish consumption or Omega-3 oils. Speaking of clinical studies, folks should realize that the design, methodology, and conclusions of published studies can leave much to be desired. Sometimes researchers don't do a good job isolating the relevant variables, hence reach conclusions that can be extremely flakey. A case in point is numerous studies involving animal protein where researchers reach questionable conclusions about meat consumption but did a very poor job controlling other variables, such as the inclusion of very high amounts of carbohydrates in the same studies. In other words, it's difficult to come to accurate conclusions when the initial study design is faulty and the variables were poorly controlled. Unfortunately, however, the public reads snippets of such studies in the popular media, usually accompanied by sensational attention-getting headlines from health reporters, and the end result is misguided information. This kind of thing occurs frequently on the internet, especially noteworthy with topics such as nutrition or exercise, and the public ends up swallowing a lot of "advice" that they should be questioning more. [***NOTE: see new addendum at end of review]***

That aside, the question then becomes, can a diet with all veggie-proteins nonetheless help with various conditions that people face, such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, etc.? I believe they can, and do. Folks having various conditions would probably do well to adopt these types of diets, at least in the short term, and watch as their inflammation levels drop and their conditions improve. At the least, folks with health conditions should reduce their consumption of meats and vastly increase their veggies and fruits and legumes, which contain most of your important anti-disease nutrients (many still unknown to science). The clinical studies are pretty strong on the benefits here.

Fuhrman's dietary advice, then, is generally pretty solid. No wonder many of the reviews on Amazon are glowing with praise; people with various health conditions will always do much better adopting this type of diet, which undoubtedly is a vast improvement over their usual eating habits.
One of Fuhrman's strong points, particularly, is his stance against large amounts of grains and refined carbs, which some of his vegan-promoting friends have wrongly advocated in their own diet advice. No quarrels here, Fuhrman's emphasis on veggies and fruits instead of high-starch grains is solid advice and goes "against the grain" (pun intended). This alone makes his dietary advice superior to the advice of his PCRM peers, or that of standard medical organizations such as the AMA and ADA, for that matter...

So what's not to like? I have some qualms about his low-fat advice, which seems to be a bit old-fashioned this day and age, as consumption of "good" fats is more healthful than he wants to admit. Because Fuhrman is a low-fat advocate, he takes a rather dim view of items like olive oil (ignoring recent research finding benefits in extra-virgin polyphenols and so on) and even fish oil. Fuhrman's downplaying of fish in general is a weak point in his diet - because he is strongly committed to a mostly-vegan lifestyle, he again gets selective in his comments about fish. In fact, the part in the book where he evaluates fish (chap. 6, I believe) could serve as a model in how to selectively present the data. Yes, there are concerns about increasing contamination of both wild and farm-raised species of fish, but the same could be said concerning unnatural pesticides in non-organic produce. Nobody is saying "let's eliminate produce because of pesticide problems"- isn't the point simply to look for healthier versions? And the same holds true for fish (and grass-fed beef, range-free poultry and so on). Fact is, small low-food-chain fish (sardines, etc.) are one of the healthiest foods one can choose. Fuhrman surely knows this but obviously has trouble fitting fish into his own paradigm. He begrudgingly admits a possible case for extra DHA (an essential fatty acid), which he naively believes can be easily supplied from plant-based foods (such as walnuts). Fact here is, however, experts on omega-3 oils tell us that humans need to convert plant-based omega-3s (ALA, or alpha linolenic acid) further, into a more usable form- i.e., the long-chain omega-3s of EPA and DHA, found in fish and fish oil. The truth is, clinical studies showing many benefical effects from omega-3s almost inevitably used fish oil sources, but Fuhrman won't tell you that because it's not in the interest of his paradigm. The body prefers these long-chain omega-3s from seafood sources (although humans can get some EPA/DHA from algae sources, just like fish do). Reading through Fuhrman's remarkably subdued comments on the benefits of fish and fish oils (while being quick to dominate the discussion with issues like contamination) should give the reader some pause... Hey, anything to keep animal (or fish) nutrients out of the limelight, eh?
Readers confused on the issue of omega-3s should consider this next quote: "The good news is that omega-3s from fish oil can reduce the risk of heart attack, and the research is building on other health benefits," said Center for Science in the Public Interest senior nutritionist David Schardt. "But get your omega-3s from fatty fish like salmon, or take fish oil or algal oil capsules. Many foods with omega-3 claims have only or mostly ALA, which may not prevent anything." Schardt recommends eating fatty fish like salmon twice a week to average 500 to 1,000 mg a day of DHA plus EPA. (The American Heart Association recommends 1,000 mg a day of DHA plus EPA omega-3s for people with heart disease.) A six-ounce serving of Atlantic salmon has more than 3,000 mg of DHA and EPA, over 100 times what you'd get in a serving of DHA-fortified yogurt, milk, or soy milk. "If your omega-3s are not from fish, algae, or fish oil, you're likely paying extra for snake oil," said Schardt.
And let's face it, even if the human body converted ALA from plants better, one would find it impossible to achieve optimal levels based on Fuhrman's recommendations of only 1 oz. of nuts or seeds daily, plus maybe a small piece of avocado. This is a blatant case of Fuhrman's low-fat recommendations coming back to haunt him. And let's also mention that omega-3s found in fish and other seafood have a huge anti-inflammatory effect...and since Dr. Fuhrman is so keen on anti-inflammatory foods, he should at least mention fish in any discussion of foods that fight inflammation. But, of course, that would run counter to his plant-based paradigm... Hmmm, do we see instances of nutrition bias here or not? I'll let you decide.

Let's talk about low-fat issues, briefly. One can't argue with Fuhrman that over-consumption of oils and fats can derail a weight-loss plan, so if the issue is mainly about losing weight, if people are consuming too much of ANY macro-nutrient, they will have problems losing weight. And, of course, fats and oils rank very poorly on Fuhrman's density-scale. But they were never meant to compete on a "density" scale...(we'll talk about that later). The problem with low-fat advice in general is that clinical studies have proved over and over that providing ample amounts of "good" fats (monounsaturated and fish oils) have very positive benefits to health- probably most importantly, they help keep HDL ("good") cholesterol levels high and keep triglycerides low. Because much of the population has problems with this ratio (which goes south as more and more carbs replace the mono fats), they don't need more low-fat advice. What they DO need is education on choosing healthy forms of oils. What you WON'T see mentioned in a low-fat book like Fuhrman's is the numerous clinical studies showing that mono-fat-enriched diets routinely kicked the butts of the AHA's standard low-fat recommendations in head-to-head comparisons, using insulin-resistant or diabetic subjects. In fact, the AHA (grudgingly) has revised their general fat recommendations (up to 30%), as long as it comes from mostly unsaturated sources. And it could even be higher for those who do badly on higher-carb, lower-fat protocols.

One more point before I sum up, sorry this is long but important nutritional issues need to be clarified here. Fuhrman's main eating plan, as we know, is based on the "density" factor of foods, which we already agreed is a strong point. But it is also crucial to realize that density isn't everything. One cannot just posit a density equation, as Fuhrman does, as the last word on what foods to pick...the logic is flawed. Fish, for instance, cannot be expected to provide the phyto-nutrients that an equivalent amount of veggies and fruits would give- that is a no-brainer. Yet, to Fuhrman, because fish cannot do so, it is an inferior food to veggie/fruit produce. In fact, fish rates rather low on his hierarchy of foods to choose from. But wait a minute- do you see the flawed logic here? He has deliberately stacked the deck in setting up density as the only criteria. We could easily turn his argument around by selecting a different criteria where veggies don't look as good- in fact, I just did earlier with fish and omega-3s :-). Meat isn't supposed to win any "density" contest- that's not a relevant criteria for it at all.
Fuhrman would have presented a better argument, I believe, if he had completely left out meat in a discussion of "density" ratings and focused his remarks squarely to items for which density is a relevant criteria.

To sum up, in spite of some flaws the book really SHOULD be purchased and practiced (even if a modified version) by everyone. The dietary advice is generally strong. Fuhrman's observations on the superiority of nutrient-dense, raw foods making up the vast majority of your diet is well-founded, and should help ease or even reverse much of our modern health conditions. Everyone should make an effort to increase their veggies and fruits, cut down on (or eliminate, if desired) unhealthy versions of animal protein, and increase consumption of plant proteins. Doing so is unquestionably good for your health.

So why not 5 stars here? Well, for several reasons mentioned already- I have some qualms about his low-fat advice, plus his near dismissal of healthy proteins such as fish, and a possible agenda coming from an animal-rights group like the PCRM. Other than that, his book is generally a winner. Buy it and apply it. Just don't turn into violent animal-rights domestic terrorists, people :-). LOL

*****
I have read literally hundreds of nutrition books. I have been confused recently by many of the popular diet books like Atkins, South Beach Diet, and No-Grain Diet, as they made sense to me yet when I tried to eat this way I felt horrible. I had previously lost a great deal of weight eating raw food at a raw food retreat, but could not keep up this way of eating in the real world. I really didn't know what to do, except to keep searching and trying new things.

Then, over the last three days, I read Eat to Live. This book answered all of the questions I had about the popular diet programs. It showed me a practical way that I could integrate my belief in and my success with raw foods into a healthy eating plan that I could follow for the rest of my life (although Eat to Live incorporates all types of healthy foods, not just raw foods). It explained why so many studies on nutrition seemingly contradict one another. Everything the author says is backed up with research from peer-reviewed journals. It is the solution I have been waiting for, not just to my weight problem (I still have about 50 pounds to lose) but to my health problems, and for my lifestyle in general.

I hope to follow this way of eating for the rest of my life. I am very excited because the author has extremely simple recipes (the book is mostly informative, though, not mostly recipes like some diet books). He also explains how this can be followed with a harried and hectic lifestyle or while traveling.

The author promotes nothing that has not been studied extensively in the medical literature, making this book very appealing to physicians and others in the medical field. It is technical, so it is good for people familiar with scientific study and medical terminology; however, someone wanting the basic message of the book can skip over these parts and figure out how to do the eating plan very easily. I am just the type of person who wants to understand WHY everything is done and WHY I should modify parts of my diet, so for me this book was a breath of fresh air moving through my life, showing me what I needed to know and what I need to do.

For those who choose to follow the diet and want extensive support, the author provides this, too, via his website---from low-cost ways to more costly one-on-one support. However, unlike many other diet books, the author does not set himself up as a diet guru, nor does he bad-mouth other diet book authors when he critiques their programs. One gets the feeling that he wrote the book truly to help people improve their health.

This book was an answer to prayer for me, and I thank God that the author wrote it.

Dear Dr. Fuhrman,

I wrote to you last month inquiring about your LDL Protect supplement. I mentioned that in the early part of 2004, I was briefly on Lipitor which caused me to break out in yeast infections so I stopped taking it after two months. On my previous "American" diet my cholesterol was at a very undesirable 275. I also wanted to lose weight. I knew there had to be a better way.

And, thank God, I found it in your books, which a friend told me about.

I started the "Eat To Live" diet in the beginning of November, 2004. I just got my new blood work back. Through diet alone, my cholesterol dropped to 214;
Trigylcerides - 137
HDL - 65
LDL - 122

I did purchase your LDL Protect last month, but I wanted to see what the blood results were from the diet alone before I took the supplements (which I just started today). I do have further to go, but between the LDL Protect and continuing on the diet, I believe that I will continue to see my cholesterol levels decline.

I want to thank you so very much for being a beacon shining through the dark abyss of the
traditional medical establishment.

If I hadn't found out about "Eat To Live" - and the awareness that comes along with it - I would be another increasingly rotund, animal fat-laden American, chugging down Lipitor, Prilosec (I used to have chronic heartburn and acid reflux) antihistamines (for my allergies) and who knows what else as the years roll by, slowly becoming resigned to the fact that this is how the body ages.

Now I know better. Thanks to your books and invaluable information.

I easily dropped 22 pounds and continue to lose weight. I ran into a friend on the street who I hadn't seen in four months. He didn't even recognize me at first, because of the weight loss. I am no longer bloated because I have virtually cut salt out of my diet. I weaned myself off Prilosec a month ago (I was on it for years) and have no heartburn. I don't need antihistamines anymore.
I used to get debilitating migraine headaches every few weeks. Since being on "Eat To Live," I not only haven't had one migraine, I haven't had any headaches period.

I continue to be amazed at how radically changing my diet is radically changing my life.
It's wonderful.


Yours truly,
Paul
Los Angeles, CA

I can summarize this weight loss plan simply: become a vegan. Not a vegetarian, mind you, but a no dairy, no eggs, no kiddin' vegan. To be fair, the author does offer a "Seven Day Plan" for non-vegetarians but that is little more than a concession on his part. The narrative of the book says that the only way to really live an optimally healthy life is to become a vegan.

I have no problem with people who are or want to become vegans. Furthermore, I have no doubt that I would lose weight like a conventioneer loses money at Caesar's Palace on this diet. I, myself, just don't want to eat a pound of kale every day for the rest of my life. Or bok choy. Or rapini. I wish I did. I just don't. If you do, this is the diet book for you.

I read this book 2 years ago and held off on writing a review until I was certain I had thoroughly lived it. What I didn't expect was for my wife, my four grown children and their four spouses to join me -- and even feed their children this way as well.

Even more surprising, over 200 of my friends and co-workers have joined us and compare blood tests, weight loss results, and recipes online. This will sound like a complete exaggeration but it's true: all of us have lost between 15 and 105 pounds. All but one has seen their total cholesterol drop to 170 or below (the one went from 235 to 182), and all who had high blood pressure or diabetes have either reduced or eliminated their meds and had their bp and blood sugar drop to the normal range.

I have to be honest and say the why, the book that got us going, was more often The China Study: The Most Comprehensive Study of Nutrition Ever Conducted and the Startling Implications for Diet, Weight Loss and Long-term Health , but Eat to Live was the how.

I have probably ordered about 40 Eat to Lives as gifts for friends and family. I'm not aware of any of us who have gained our weight back and the longer we stick with it the better our numbers seem to get. At family gatherings we compare notes and wonder where we would be without eating this way; we'd probably be on Lipitor and other meds, like we were before.

I personally believe this and The China Study are the two most important books I've read in a decade, and I've read a lot of great books.

I got the book yesterday and read it cover-to-cover in a few hours - it is an easy and fast read. The instructions are straightforward, and he explains the reasons behind his instructions well enough to satisfy. For those that are sticklers for sources, he provides plenty of them as well, though I doubt I will check up on them myself.

Good Points of the Book: Easy to read, simple instructions, clear explanations. A good list of the (new) staples you will need, some diet plans, some recipes (though if you undertake this diet, you will want some decent vegan recipe books with nutrition information!)

Bad points of the book: A lot of repitition, a lot of lecturing, and some strongly worded passages (especially about the other diets, borderline rants in my opinion - justified, but rants nonetheless!)

Now for the Diet ....

What is the skinny (pun intended) of the diet? Well, you probably should buy the book if you are interested, but the gist of it as I see it is the following: High bulk, high nutrition vegetables in copious quantities, small amount of fat, small amount of animal products eventually (he allows for it but clearly thinks it is not required). Think, lots of salads ("Salads are the main part of the meal") with vingegar or just a tiny amount of oil, think vegetarian cuisine. For example: He has a 1 pound - 1 pound rule: Goal of 1 pound of raw vegetables and 1 pound cooked vegetables per day. Whew. Won't be hungry - and may not be able to finish all of that, either...

The 6 week plan he has you go on to start-up his regime is about as strict a vegan diet as I have ever seen. If you get through the 6 weeks, you re-introduce some fats, some animal products (fish mostly, but all of that is occasional - like 3 oz. of fish, 1-2 times a week).

The good news: You aren't measuring portions for most of your diet, certainly not strictly, and you won't be hungry at all. And you will lose weight - possibly quite a lot of it. If his book is to believed, you will also be in excellent health at a new lower weight.

The bad news: The 6 weeks could be difficult if you aren't inclined to 'eat your vegetables.'

In conclusion: This is a new take on diets in general. It blows away the notion that you have to reduce the amount of food you eat to get thin. The problem of people feeling like they are starving as they diet will go away. This is a real Lateral thinking approach to the problem of hunger AND reducing calories.

Notes and personal editorial:

I am skpetical that this diet will be stuck to by most Americans for cultural reasons - since it will be difficult to eat at many restaurants, and most people are not comfirtable enough in the kitchen to make tasty enough dishes to hold interest (I think that the vast majority of dieters will be eating the same iceberg-lettuce-tomato-and-vinegar salad in general 6-8 weeks later as on the first day, even though most healthy meals are easy and not bland!)

Overall, this is a diet I will give a try - I will do the 6 weeks, and if I feel better, lose weight, and attain my health goals through it, will be worth the change in diet and lifestyle for me. For the prospective reader and participant - you will have to decide for yourself - since this is on the cutting edge of the vegetarian diet becoming mainstream. Now for some good vegan cookbooks .....

My family and I have been on this diet for months even before the book came out. We have found rejuvenated health and energy. I personally have lost 25 lbs while on this diet and am only 5 lbs away from my ideal weight. It is great to wear the same size pants as I did in college and have the same energy to go along with it. I read one review where the writer said the diet is dangerous. That person must be nuts. Since when does eating healthy kill you, give me a break! I had a sister who passed away of colon cancer at the age of 28, one thing she said months before she died was that she wished she had taken better care of her body and had eaten more healthfully. Dr. Fuhrman's book gives you the blue print to live a longer healthier life.

The top five reasons:

5) It is a low-calorie diet:
It may be too low calorie for some. As a 195 lb male, I can truly say I became sicker and less healthy on his six week meal plan.

4) It is very restrictive:
For example, Dr. Fuhrman recommends no salt and at most only 12 ounces of meat per week, but it is questionable whether these recommendations are based on sound research.

3) It is healthy to eat diverse food choices:
Though it is healthy to eat mostly the foods Fuhrman recommends (natural plant vegetation), is it **healthier** to completely cut out or limit food choices to the degrees that Fuhrman suggests?

2) Questionable interpretation of research:
For example, Dr. Fuhrman often cites the China Study to prove a case for the near-vegetarian or vegan life style.

However:
-No significant correlation was found between meat and Cancer. (In fact, other foods, such as refined wheat had a much higher correlation with Cancer.)
-The Chinese ate high calorie diets (3,000+) with almost twice the calorie content of Eat to Live.
-The China study suggests that eating fat has a negative correlation with Cancer. Fuhrman, however, severely restricts fat.

To read more about the China Study, visit the forum on the book "The China Study" here at amazon.com for a good critique and interpretation of the actual research behind the study.

And the number 1 reason is:

1) This is a nutrient deficient diet.
Dr. Fuhrman presents the case that his diet is "nutrient dense" (meaning a lot of nutrients per calorie as he defines it); however, it is also nutrient deficient.

Did you know that protein, carbs and fats (which make up Calories) are Macronutrients? By limiting calories to the degree that Fuhrman does, he limits the intake of certain macro-nutrients, particularly protein and fat.

According to Fuhrman, on average, this diet contains fifty grams of protein a day and 28 grams of fat a day. These low levels of the macro-nutrients protein and fat may not be ideal for some people to reach optimum health.

Also, this diet is deficient in certain micronutrients (vitamins and minerals) for some people: Examples are Vitamins A, B, D and iron.

-----------------------------

This is a great diet if Followed Loosely:

I don't want to be too harsh on "Eat to Live". If you are healthy on "Eat to Live", then that's great.

I personally found it too restrictive to reach optimal health.

Now I eat more calories and fish (though I still severely limit flesh meat), still eat a lot of plant vegetation and I'm not so strict. I make sure to eat a certain amount of healthy food in a day but do not sweat a few unhealthy choices.

I can honestly say I'm healthier for it. (Though it's not ideal, it is still healthier than following "Eat to Live" exactly.)
---------------------------------------------------------------

Other authors:

The author Clarence Bass is great for people who play sports and exercise.

Also "The Omega Diet" has been receiving good reviews on amazon.com. Though I haven't read it yet (I ordered it), it stresses the role in eating the right balances of healthy fat for optimum health.

It is also praised by Jean Carper, author of "Your Miracle Brain", which I did read. That book is an excellent resource on the foods to eat to boost intelligence.

After three weeks on this diet, here is what I have noticed: I FEEL GREAT! I have more energy. I have lost 16 lbs in three weeks eating as much (allowed) food as I can tuck in me, and have never been hungry. Food cravings left in a few days. I see my salt addiction abating nicely, but it's not disappeared. I think that eating less salt, lots of fiber and lots of raw food is really pleasant now. I am glad it didn't take long to really get myself on board with this.

It's work, though. It takes time and space. It's worth it to be able to lose so much so fast but safely, but it is work. I do not miss meat at all. I am beginning to appreciate the taste of food. My digestive system is not complaining to me and the overall process from start to finish is aestetically much less unpleasant in every way (ya get my drift?).

I don't bother with things if they don't work and work well. I am staying on this because I want to. Suggestion: just pretend that no meat is not a big deal and go for it. You'll be surprised how much of that "I need meat" is just programmed into you and it doesn't really matter as much as you think it will.

The hardest part was the first day. After the third day it was very easy. I found that I can cheat once a week or so and it doesn't matter, but I don't like the effect it has on me. You can see for yourself how this is for you.

I recommend this book and lifestyle to anyone who wants to see results and that includes the hope that it is a lifestyle that can be maintained.

I don't want to become a wierdo though -- people who are obsessed with their diets are annoying to me. If I start talking about this incessantly, somebody stick a cream puff in my mouth to shut me up.

But I am impressed with how well my body has responded to it.

Rather than repeat many of the reviewers of this book, I simply want to add this book has the potential change one's life. I read that in one of the reviews before I bought this book, and I though that's rather silly, it's almost sad that a diet book can change someone's life.

Six months later, I now wholeheartedly agree. My girlfriend is now completely vegetarian and I eat meat only one or twice a week. Prior to this I would eat meat once or twice a day. If you told me six months ago that in half a year I would be for all intent and purpose be a vegetarian, I would have laughed and said that's impossible. I like to workout a lot, where will I get my protein from.

Well, I still workout a lot and I get most of my protein from soy products. I've managed to maintain my muscle and still loose 30 pounds, most of it coming off in the first couple months. My girlfriend has lost a similar amount.

It's worth mentioning that Dr. Fuhrman's diet is pretty strict, and it's a very dramatic change coming over from the typical American diet. He talks about making the commitment, and that's very important, but I think it's also important to be realistic and realize that it may take a while to fully adopt all of the eating habits he proposes. Even now, while others probably think all I eat is rabbit-food, I realize that we still not following his diet perfectly. We'll have buns with our black bean burgers, but just try to make sure they're not refined. And I'm not too concerned about it. The weight is staying off and we feel great.

So do yourself a favor and buy this book. While you're at it, buy your loved ones all a copy too, as I've recently started doing. If the thought of being a vegetarian scares you, don't let it. Dr. Fuhrman offers plenty of recipes with meat in them, so you'll have plenty to eat, and you might be surprised to see that it's possible to really go without meat in your diet. You'll also sleep better at night (and probably live longer) knowing that the stuff you're putting in your body is a lot better than all of your friends who are on Atkins or the South Beach diet.

I was disappointed to find that this book is simply a promotion for vegetarianism. If you're a vegetarian or vegan, you'll love it. If you believe in a more diverse, well-rounded diet, you'll hate it.

From the Economoist-SUPPOSE you are a fat New Yorker. Suppose, furthermore, that you are increasingly susceptible to heart disease and you have to get the pounds off. Time is not on your side, and there are more than 25,000 diet books in print. Where do you go to find dependable counsel? The man you need, many cardiac specialists will tell you, is a New Jersey doctor named Joel Fuhrman who specialises in nutrition.

Dr Fuhrman dislikes what he regards as faddish regimes: Barry Sears's "zone diet", Dr Atkins's low-carb solution and James D'Adamo's controversial advice for people with different blood groups. Nor is he a fan of the USDA diet recommendations that, he says, have created the paradox of a population that is overfed but undernourished.

The pitfall of most diets, Dr Fuhrman argues, is that they tend to regulate macronutrients-proteins, fats and carbohydrates. The focus of "Eat to Live" is on micronutrients-vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and phytochemicals that promote health. The goal of a healthy diet, he says, is to get the most micronutrients from the fewest calories.

Dr Fuhrman suggests almost eliminating fats and starches in favour of greens, beans and fruit. His regime even works if you don't do a lot of exercise. This reviewer, who has become something of an expert on diets over the years, lost ten pounds (4.5 kilos) in one month; the norm, Dr Fuhrman claims, is 15. Empty calories from soft drinks, dairy products, meat and starches or processed foods with little to no micronutrition are easily converted to fat and extra poundage. So-called "2 percent" milk claims to be a diet food, but 35% of its calories come from fat. On the other hand, green vegetables are an excellent source of protein as well as antioxidants that reduce risk of cancer and heart disease. By weight, the amount of protein they contain is insignificant, but in terms of calories broccoli is 45% protein, while a cheeseburger contains only 21%.

Sit up, George Bush senior, scourge of broccoli. Without the protein in greens, how else could your Texan cattle develop all that tasty muscle?

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.

If you think Dr. Mcdougall has a strict vegetarian plan, wait till you read this one! Dr. Fuhrman only allows one starch a day, and all you can eat of raw and steamed vegetables and fruit. (He'd rather you eat more raw everything) You can have one ounce of nuts or seeds daily. That is the plan. Nothing else. If someone cannot lose weight doing this, they have a big problem.

I did enjoy his commentaries on the many studies that were done, and as a result I'm leery of vitamin A in the form of beta carotene now in my vitamins. He did have alot of good vegetarian information, and some good recipes. I can't wait to try his cancer preventing soup. You need a Vita-Mix though to make it and I ordered one so I have to wait. I would recommend the book but adapt the plan to your diet individually. It might be very tough to follow for meat lovers.

I got this book on the recommendation of my doctor who believes that food is medicine.

Though I am still skeptical because of a life of successes and then weight gains after a year or so, I am very pleased with the beginning results. After I read the book I handed it to my husband and said I was going to eat this way and see if it works like it says it works and I would appreciate his support. He read the book in two days and is doing the diet with me. He has also lost 10 pounds in the first four weeks. And we were only 25 lbs over weight to start out! We plan on eating this way for life.

What I liked most about the book was all the research in it. I am not the least afraid that I am not eating right based on all the current research out there. I was doubtful on the high-protein "Body for Life" plan (where I gained muscle and weight and didn't feel better or sleep better). I had thinning bones and the high protein diet made that worse.

Another great thing is I am not hungry and my cravings for chocolate and french fries have disappeared. I thought that was impossible!

The hardest part is watching people I love not eat this way. I have a hard time keeping my mouth shut!

Everyone should definitely read Eat to Live. It's got to be the best diet & health book ever written! It's an eye-opener that will forever change the way you look at the food you put into your mouth.

Dr. Fuhrman includes numerous scientific studies which explain the relationship of certain foods to diseases and illnesses. Eat to Live is not about a short term "fad" diet, but is about a permanent, healthy diet. In reading it you'll find out why Dr. Fuhrman's equation of "health=nutrients/calories" promotes weight loss and, at the same time, brings about excellent health.

I know that the information in this book is true because my husband & I have experienced it first hand. We went to Dr. Fuhrman four years ago and started on his eating plan. My husband lost 25 lbs, his cholesterol came down within normal limits, his blood pressure is better than it ever was, and he's never felt better. I didn't need to lose weight, but I can truthfully say that, at the age of 57, I feel better now than when I was in my 20's! Following Dr. Fuhrman's plan, we eat plenty of food and enjoy it much more than the food we ate before. We are experiencing more energy, stamina and NO MORE "brain fog"! Why wouldn't everyone want to feel the best they possibly can?

Eat to Live is a well written book which is easy to read & understand. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is concerned with weight loss and/or obtaining optimal health. You will be forever grateful to Dr. Fuhrman for writing this fantastic book!

The main point of this book -- eating vegetables, beans, and fruits is healthy and slimming -- is an important one, and the book is full of detailed examples that will make you hunger for lettuce, broccoli, blueberries, tomatoes, and the rest of the produce section.
The organizing metaphor here is that high-nutrient, low-calorie foods are healthy, and their opposites aren't. So refined carbs are out, as are most fats. Unfortunately, the discussion of fat is seriously flawed.
Furhman's views on fat are contradictory and confusing, but basically he advocates eating no more than 1 teaspoon of oil a day (and zero to very little animal products, cheese, etc.). Yet he says that he doesn't advocate a low-fat diet. In one chapter, he says vegetables cooked in oil are unhealthy, yet in another he says tomatoes cooked in oil are good for you. He says fat causes cancer, yet he cites a study in which women who ate very low-fat diets had slightly higher rates of cancer than women who didn't. Etc.
For a more balanced discussion of fat that draws on the same studies, see "Eat, Drink, and Be Healthy," by Walter Willett, the head of Harvard's department of nutrition. He says the link between fat and cancer is weak and unproven, and that vegetable fats (in reasonable quantity) are good for you.
Yet there is a level of detail in this book I have not seen elsewhere. For instance, the discussion of calcium is eye-opening. Also excellent are the sections on fiber and the difference between a healthy vegetarian diet and an unhealthy one.
But the flawed discussion of fat makes me wonder if other parts of the book can be trusted.

It's really too bad that the authors do not get
the opportunity to set the record straight by
responding to some of these customer reviews
directly. It is frustrating for me to read some
of the comments below that demonstrate that the
reviewer does not fully comprehend Dr. Fuhrman's
message, but yet is compelled to write a review
that is horribly misleading to those who have not
yet read Eat To Live.

One reviewer (below) states that Dr. Fuhrman
expects people to live on salad, with no dressing
for the rest of their lives. How ridiculous, in
fact, Eat To Live has an entire section on
delicious salad dressings and a page in the book
where he recommends (lower-calorie) commercial
dressings that one can purchase in food stores.
I have been following Dr. Fuhrman's advice for
more than a year and find his salad dressings in
the book and on his website absolutely delicious.


Even though Dr. Fuhrman does want people to eat a
large salad everyday, he also offers many other
types of recipes spanning a variety of cuisines
to satisfy different backgrounds and food
preferences with hundreds of more recipes and
menu ideas on his website (drfuhrman.com) and in
his newsletters.

For those who really care about results,
maintaining excellent health and youthful vigor
and intelligence into later years, Eat To Live
has no equal. But can you stick with it and
enjoy it as much or more than your present diet?
My personal experience this last year (in which I
lost 53 pounds) and my observation conversing
with hundreds of others on the member center at
DrFuhrman.com who follow his program
says-absolutely. It just takes a little time and
some effort to learn it and to allow your taste
preference to adjust.

I have studied nutrition for about 29 years so far. My formal education includes graduate school courses (such as biochemistry) with medical students. I consider myself to have a deep understanding of nutrition. And of course, I have read a lot of nutrition books too. I rate this book as one of the best I have *ever* read. I highly recommend it.

I read this book and tried it and lasted 2 days. I just couldn't stand eating so many vegetables, whole grains and fruits. It became nauseating. That's the problem with most diets...they have you eating A LOT of a certain food group and you become repulsed by the food after awhile.

I do think this diet can be really effective if you can stand to follow it. I just think it's very difficult to follow.

Don't let the title fool you - this is not just a weight loss diet, it is a healthy eating plan for life that has the pleasant side effect of causing you shed excess weight. If you are worried that you can't choke down all those greens or that you can't live without a hamburger and french fries, etc, the author proposes that you make a full 6 week commitment to the program - your taste buds have an amazing capability of adapting to different foods. I stumbled across this plan after I was diagnosed with large uterine fibroids - I had been dieting and exercising to lose weight but desperately wanted the weight to come off faster. Well, within the 9 weeks or so I've been on this plan, some of my health issues related to the fibroids have resolved, my sinuses from allergy problems have amazingly gotten healthier, and I've dropped weight at a rate nearly 3 times faster than before ETL. Prior to "full commitment" 9 weeks ago, it took me a few weeks to work up to eating the amount of greens the author proposes. Stick with it and don't give up - it works!

I've read this book, cover to cover, and you CAN eat meat and follow the advice. Dr. Fuhrman wants people to REDUCE their meat consumption, and eliminating it is just another possiblity.

I'll never understand why some people get so defensive when you tell them to cut down on their meat consumption. I guess some folks want to live their lives the way they always have and won't change for any reason. If that is you, this book is not going to help you. If you have an open mind and really want to improve your health, check this book out. It really is sustainable and easier than you think.

i have a used copy of this book.. my pcp, my ob/gyn, and my father's cardiologist could NOT agree with the fast weight loss that he suggests as being healthy... all of them said, anything that causes fast weight loss, will not stay off in the long term nor is healthy...

I was very disappointed with this book. I found that it did not offer anything new and seems more dated than the other new diet books around. Of course you'll lose some weight if you spent 6 weeks eating largely vegetables. The best diets are those you can stick with. Not many will find this a realistic diet to help them lose weight AND keep it off.

A theme of the work is that Health= Nutrients/ Calories (Energy).
A person is healthier if the proportion increases for nutrients
in relation to carbs, fats and protein. This diet will increase
life span because it is nutrient rich devoid of too many fats and
too much processed sugar. This is a high fiber diet. The fiber
assists in flushing toxins from the body amongst other things.
Plants, particularly green ones, are nutritional powerhouses of
phytochemicals which detoxify and repair cells, as well as damaged DNA. These chemicals also have an inhibitive effect on cancer cells.

The book contains comparative data on the nutrient value of different foods in the pyramid. For instance, a steak has 5 gm.
of protein ; whereas, broccoli has 11 gms. Omega 3 is a classic
anti-inflammatory beneficial for a host of disease processes.
A typical diet consists of raw veggies, beans, fresh fruit, nuts, seeds and flaxseed, although there are a plethora of other
combinations. This book will help with weight loss, metabolism
and the identification of nutrient-rich foods for the daily diet.
It is researched carefully. The author's ideas compare favorably
with other authors on the same subject. In addition, articles
written in the Journal of the Lancet support a number of themes
in this work. i.e. the role of phytochemicals in cellular repair

The book is a worthy investment for any personal health library.
From personal experience, the book makes sense. I would supplement it with a modest exercise program to tone muscles and
develop optimal breathing and increased stamina. Finally, the older you get- the more you will need this book and others like it.

The commercial blurb on this book represents it as a weight loss book, but that's only because overweight is one of the most widespread symptoms of overall ill health in America today. Restoring health through a proper diet automatically results in fat loss, both through improved body function and the fact that a good diet doesn't contain foods that inevitably pack weight on you.

This is a book based on years of research and medical practice by a physician who has had enormous success in restoring health to diabetics, heart patients, and other people with the usual chronic diseases that our American eating habits are setting us up for.

People who write reviews objecting to the book because you have to eat a lot of vegetables are only objecting to the fact that they have human bodies instead of cat ones. Cats would probably do fairly well on the Atkins diet. This book is the most optimum human diet that Fuhrman was able to design, based on research and results, not opinion or some vegetarian agenda. The China Project by T. Colin Campbell has shown conclusively that humans are healthiest on a plant-based diet and that the more meat they eat, the worse off they are. It's just a biological fact.

Nobody says you have to eat an optimum diet, but if you want to know what it is, read this book. The results of following it can be felt very quickly - in my case, after one day I felt noticeably better, and continued to improve thereafter. How hard the transition is depends on what you were eating previously, and your state of health. But if you follow it for six weeks, as Fuhrman recommends, your skin, energy, and weight will all show the results. And if you continue to follow this diet, you'll have a lot less to worry about as you get older.

I read Eat to Live at the end of April, 2003 and started the diet around the 1st of May, 2003. Since that time I've lost 40 pounds and feel the best I have ever felt in my life. I no longer get those stomach rumblings and grumblings and actually feel what true hunger really feels like, a very nice sensation in my mouth and throat. I would recommend this book to anyone who wants to improve their eating and live longer as the book is for everyone and not just for those who want to lose weight.

No gimmicks and no short-cuts. Dr. Fuhrman gives the reader solid knowledge about good nutrition and the ramifications of a poor diet. His opinions are based on his years of experience as a practicing physician as well as numerous nutritional studies. He presents a convincing case.

Weight loss diets aside, most people know that fruits and vegetables are good for you and that fast food and sugary foods are bad for you. In all honesty, the problem is one of addiction, at least at some level. To break an addiction you need solid knowledge and strong motivation. Dr. Fuhrman gives the reader the knowlege and motivation to change.

The biggest motivation, however, is results. If you read his book in earnest, reflect on it, and give it a try for even three weeks, you will see results that will inspire you to continue. His guide to eating is not a diet; it is a way of life.

I bought Dr. Joel Fuhrman's book "Eat to Live" on advice of my personal trainer and have been following his diet for the last three weeks.

My blood pressure, high before I started his diet, has stabilized enough that my doctor has taken me off my medication. Unlike other diets which encourage short term deprivation to lose weight, Dr. Fuhrman's methods have changed my relationship to food and my body. After just a few days my desire for sweets is almost completely gone. I enjoy making my meals, taking time to take care of myself and having more energy for me and my family.

Thank you Dr. Fuhrman for writing an easy to read, no nonsense, informative, life altering book.

I really wanted to like this book but I just found it too impractical. There's a lot of good info here but ultimately its not sustainable, at least for me. Your mileage may vary.

There may be people who can go 6 weeks eating only fruits and vegetables but I'm not of them. I find it hard to believe anyone can eat a big salad for lunch, and then have a salad with two sides of steamed veggies for dinner. And then repeat this for six weeks. Good luck.

A much better book for me was Burn The Fat, Feed the Muscle. Its a more balanced approach and recommends eating to fuel muscle growth instead of eating to starve your fat off. The book recommends eating lean proteins, complex carbs and healthy fats in 6 small meals a day, and then burning your fat off by at least 30 min/day of intense cardio. This works for me - I've lost 20 lbs in 2 months, with about 10 more to go. I'm never hungry, have waay more energy and have given up red meat completely. I wanted to splurge and celebrate my 20 lb weight loss the day the scale read 169, but the funny thing is, the last thing I wanted was some food that was bad for me. I went for a run instead. Burn the Fat, Feed the Muscle. It works.

Bottom line, the more processed food and animal products that you eat, the more your health will suffer over time. Now you don't have to read the book. No, seriously, Dr Fuhrman dispels some of our long held beliefs in what our bodies need and crave. This is only a diet book in the sense that our diets should consist of a high concentration of certain types of foods....period. Not for a month or two and then back to the way we were eating before, but for the rest of our lives. Even if you incorporated some of the principles found in this book you would benefit. You will have to find a source of good quality fruits and veggies so you will enjoy eating them. I have been easing into this way of eating simply because I have a lot of things in my cupboards that I refuse to throw out and I have still lost 10 pounds in two weeks! And I'm only 20 pounds overweight. I'm not feeling starved either.
If you struggle with weight this book is for you. And especially if you have any other health issues, you should try this and see if it doesn't help with them.

This is the best diet book every written for the layperson. Fuhrman is the only one who gets it right, every single time. There is no other way than to emphasize nutrient-dense vegetables and fruits--these should form the core of the healthy diet and there are no acceptable shortcuts.

Unlike almost any other diet book author, Fuhrman provides peer-reviewed citations for every important statement. His book is based on the soundest and latest nutritional advice. He pulls no punches, he does not infantalize the reader, and he provides only good, solid information. Nothing else even comes close.

The only flaw in the otherwise perfect presentation is the salesman-like tone, which is totally unecessary. The material speaks for itself.

I have read the book twice now and am still getting more from it. My switch to veggies, fruits, beans and nuts wasn't difficult - all foods I love and generally eat anyway.. But getting away from foods I seem sensitve to... grains, dairy, alcohol, salt, caffeine, most fats has helped so much. The book gives great support to making the changes seem so necessary.

I am a 20-year type 1 diabetic with decent blood sugar control (HA1c in the mid 6's) I use an insulin pump and exercise regularly. Following Dr. Fuhrman's food recommendations, I am amazed that my blood sugars are now usually close to the normal range with not much fluctuation. My daily insulin dose is half what it was before, my weight has dropped some, I sleep better and have much more consistent energy. Blood vaues - LDL, triglycerides have improved also.

I thought I ate well before, but found that cravings were nudging my weight up. I strongly support the radical diet change approach Dr. Fuhrman uses. Getting back to basics and eliminating the foods that seem to put me on the craving merry-go-round, really helps me. It takes a day or two for me to get used to but once I'm back on nutrient-dense foods, I settle down quickly, satisfied with what I am eating.

My one concern about the diet-plan is the one-size-fits-all quantities. Maybe he does that for simplicity, using the recommended quantities as a general goal. But I am a 125 lb woman and cannot eat that much, in fact eat about half the bulk that he recommends, heavy on the salads and beans and fruits, but cooked greens are a minor part of my diet. I guess it is just comforting to know the plan allows that much.

I tried this eating plan in Feb, and stayed with it for about a month, finally moved back into some of my old food habits because I was bored with the diet. But I still stayed with more greens and beans. Then I started it again in July. It seems so much more enjoyable this time of year with all the fresh fruits and the heat of summer. Also, I have become more creative in my selections, found the yahoo Eat2live group was a great source of ideas. I have become a blender afficianado, daily adding to the planet's noise polllution making fruit and veggie smoothies. Ready for a VitaMix, I think. Food boredom doesn't seem to be a problem for me now.

I will keep Dr. Fuhrman's Eat to Live handy, for review and inspiration. I hope other type 1 diabetics read his book and give his eating plan a try.

Some people see what they want to see, for whatever reason, and misrepresent information to others; that misinformation may harm another person by preventing them FROM reaping the health benefits of, in this case, Dr Fuhrman's important book EAT TO LIVE.

One reviewer from Philadelphia below misrepresents EAT TO LIVE. It states that Dr Fuhrman's recommendations allows no animal products when in fact Eat To Live is a diet-style, not a diet, it has no such rigid requirements. In fact, in the menu plans, he gives 7 days of menu plans for those who like vegetarian and 7 days for those who've decided to eat non-vegetarian; although EAT TO LIVE, is not about being vegetarian or not.

Dr. Fuhrman also makes it clear that a health promoting diet rich in vegetables, fruits, legumes (beans) raw nut and seeds, whole grains, dried fruits does not have to be all-raw or exclude animal foods completely, (albeit very little).

When you see a comment like this made, "no dairy or animal products of any kind are permitted, even fish is discouraged" you know your listening to someone who does not how to live healthy, simply someone who is "on" this program or that to lose weight.

I have observed Dr Fuhrman in action with patients and he recommends modifying recipes and menu plans to accommodate various tastes and food preferences. It is not an all or nothing plan; hence a diet style, which will set you up for success.

It takes experience; creativity and knowledge to make the healthiest way to eat, taste favorable for many people, particularly since most people currently consume an artificial, super stimulating, disease-causing diet comprised predominantly of animal products and processed junk foods; and they are unaware of the relationship between diet and disease.
Without reading Eat To Live, your future diet-style will be based on misinformation, not principle or science.

Just remember taste is learned and takes a few months to adjust and you can also learn to make healthy food taste even better, in many ways. I have observed that most people over time actually like the taste of whole natural foods better then their former junk foods, once they get used them again and learn the fact they can eat as much as they want. You get to eat lots of food, not be hungry and experience great results consistently and sustainably. 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.

I heard Dr. Fuhrman on the radio first. While he seems to be knowledgeable, I found this book pretty useless. His Diet is essentially a vegan diet. It is much better than Atkin's diet of course. But like Atkins, Dr. Fuhrman's diet would be a difficult diet to maintain for a long period of time.

On a related note, his website is too commercial. In general, my opinion is that if a physician or anyone for that matter truly care and passionate about the well being of fellow human beings, why can't they make that information free on his/her website. Publishing book is fine but many leading diet specialists make it a commercial..too commercial.

While I've pored over, studied, and largely implemented Dr. Fuhrman's excellent EAT TO LIVE, I'd like to warn the reader of a seemingly overlooked gap: the role of soluble fiber. So, before you go chowing down on those salads with umpteen veggies, be sure to supplement this huge quantity of insoluble fiber with the soluble kind. Otherwise your salad and veggies just wash through you; you'll find it very uncomfortable and it will impede your daily life.

So be sure to supplement your healthy new diet with enough soluble fiber, including apples (peeled), applesauce, soy/tofu, oats, dried beans and peas, carrots, and, of course, psyllium. Rice, barley, and bread also seem to help.

I have read Eat To Live very carefully, underlining and even reading the footnotes. I have also read other weight loss books in the past and this is the best. This lifestyle and way of eating makes a lot of sense. The book is scientifically referenced with over 1500 medical references. Dr. Fuhrman makes it clear he designed this eating style to be the most effective method for people who have a tendency to be overweight and have difficulty losing weight. This book is not his plan for competitive athletes (he was one, and probably could write that book as well). It is written for people who want to get control of their lives. If anyone wants his general recommendations for family eating, his book, Disease-Proof Your Child, which I have just finished reading, is excellent.

I am posting this today because it is so annoying that a few recent reviews seem to intentionally distort what was written in the book. One post below suggests Fuhrman's diet is mostly raw vegetables. Untrue; though Dr. Fuhrman recognizes raw fruits and vegetables to be needed for excellent health. His dietary plan is about half cooked and half raw, but with enough variation to make it more one way or the other. The post suggested Fuhrman insists on a pound of lettuce a day. Certainly, Fuhrman wants to encourage the consumption of raw vegetables such as tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers and other healthy foods, but there is a big difference from encouraging to insisting!

Another post below suggests it is very low in fat - untrue. The books makes it clear that fatty intake from nuts and seeds is important for excellent health and the amount of these healthy high-fat foods should be adjusted for individual fat needs; a higher need for people who are not overweight and lower for those with lots of fat on their body. Fuhrman's recommendations are logical and scientific.

My point is since Dr. Fuhrman himself has no opportunity to respond to these distorted attacks, any nut can soapbox their views. Read the book yourself and see if the documented successes for both weight loss and disease reversal impress you.

IF you want Dr. Fuhrman to respond to anything go to his blog site diseaseproof.com and ask him. Eat To Live is not an all or nothing plan, but without reading it you may be letting myths guide your nutritional knowledge-base.

Dr. Fuhrman states that he doesn't think most of America will see the light and change their diet.
I work with a guy who is overweight and drinks Coke all day and eats really nothing but animal based foods full of fat. He went to the doctor and found his cholesterol to be 320. He is 34!!! The Doctor never once mentioned a thing about his diet just put him on crestor which of course now is considered a dangerous drug. If his Doctor had decided to enter the treacherous waters and suggest some changes in his diet he probably would have been met with anger and disgust.
The American love affair with food is killing them and no one wants to hear that they are the reason for their diseases. I do believe there is hope in getting some of America to leave the animals and their products out of the picture and stick to vegetables and fruit that were put here for a reason.

On April 15 I was 206 pounds. I have worked out at the gym (typically swimming) five days a week for years. Yet, I have put on about 20 pounds over the last 8 or 9 years. I thought I ate healthly. I focused on lean animal proteins, pasta, rice, and some vegetables and fruit. I was very frustrated. I didn't understand why I didn't lose weight. I read Dr. Fuhrman's book and it was like a light going off in my head. It really made sense.

I have been following his recommendations since about April 15th. I weighed 190 pounds this morning (16 pounds in six weeks). I feel great. I no longer "battle" with food. I don't worry about how much I eat. I don't deprive myself of food. I just mainly eat fresh vegetables, fruits, beans and tofu. I feel really healthy. My performance swimming has increased and my muscle tone is better.

I don't see a problem at all following this eating plan forever. Try it. It is life changing. It is not a fad. It makes sense and feels right when you do it (unlike Atkins - which I never tried - it seems unnatural to eat just meat and cheese).

Dr. Fuhrman's book on nutrition and eating is an excellent resource. He explains as a potential reason for our being overweight, that we do not eat enough nutrient dense foods, and therefore are always hungry which helps cause the obesity problems in this country.

The good: In a clear way, he encourages the reader to embrace his eating lifestyle, which is his case, is a vegan diet. However, he openly states that one can approximate this diet by his 90% rule. That is, eat 90% of one's foods from nutrient dense foods such as vegetables, fruits and legumes. Nuts also contribute a small portion to the "diet." I put that in quotes, because it really is an adaptation of a lifestyle rather than merely a diet. The other 10% can be from other foods not within his realm of appropriate foods.

He uses anecdotal patient information about improvements in their diets,lifestyles and medical histories to back up his views.

He is a positive cheerleader about his eating regimen and encourages the reader to embrace this healthy lifestyle.

He appropriately debunks the high protein diets that have been the rage for the last decade and caused many more problems than it cured.

He explains metabolic processes for the lay person in an easily read, relatively short book. He includes some of his favorite recipes that can be adapted to personal taste. He also makes a case for the importance of fruits and vegetables which are sadly lacking in the American diet. He cautions about the high cancer and heart disease rates in this country and proposes alternative eating to help us live longer and healthier.

Where it falls short: He uses "leaps of faith" to draw conclusions. For instance, he states that if one improves his diet by 60%, he should see a 60% improvement in overall health. Second, he presumes that most diseases can be cured by dietary improvements alone. This advice might encourage people to stop taking drugs that are helping them survive and this should only be done under appropriate medical supervision - not a book alone. There are other areas where medical information can be misused by a lay person as he is trying to improve his health.

All of this said, I think moving toward a plant based diet is essential to health improvement. Most people overeat for a variety of reasons, not just that there is a nutrient deficiency in the diet. There are many emotional reasons for overeating and eating the wrong foods.

I am a personal trainer and have bought 4 copies of this book to give to clients. I do not expect them to completely embrace the diet, but I hope that Eat to Live encourages them to eat more healthfully and thoughtfully.

I read this book over a weekend, my husband and another couple decided to give it a try. We collectively lost 27 lbs the first week! My blood sugars dropped, my blood pressure dropped and I stopped feeling achy in my bones after just sitting at my work desk for 45 minutes. I went off the plan for a week and most of my symptoms returned as my proceseed sugar and flour intake went up. I think there's great merit to this food plan and while it's quite a struggle at times for me to stick to it, I'm feeling that this is the food plan that will extend my life despite diabetes, high blood pressure and an extra 100 lbs on my frame. I think if you truly give him 6 weeks as he asks, you will be pleasantly surprised by the results you get.

I am a 56 -year-old male who is in generally good health, decent blood pressure, "normal" cholesterol and until six weeks ago about 30 pounds above my ideal weight. I am 5'11" and weighed about 150 pounds in college. At 30 when I got married I was about 160. Over the past 10 years I have slowly crept up to over 195. I had a moderate gut and couldn't fit into my 34 waist pants any more. I felt sluggish and not very motivated to exercise much. My diet was pretty good (I thought), but I knew I needed to lose weight. I just couldn't cut back and had cravings for sweets, fatty foods and pasta. My doctor wanted me to cut back on intake and increase my activity but I knew I couldn't make that work.

Searching on Amazon for some books that could give me another approach, I found this book and read the amazing reviews. I ordered the book (for my Kindle) and read it on a cross-country flight to California. I had some serious doubts whether I could really give up meat, milk, yogurt, pasta, bread, desserts, etc. for even six weeks, much less forever. But I also felt at a crossroads that might determine how long I lived and how the quality of my life would be for maybe another 30 years.

Six weeks ago tomorrow I went on the Eat to Live diet. I am now down to 181 pounds, have lost about 2 inches on my waist and feel much more energetic and positive than before. I no longer have occasional heartburn and I wake up hungry, not bloated and full-feeling like before. I walk farther and faster and am starting strength training and tai chi. I continue to lose about 3 pounds a week and I plan to continue eating this way indefinitely.

Eating on this diet is more work and takes more time than before, but I love eating this way. I make huge salads for lunch, homemade hummous and soups and steamed vegetables with tofu for dinner. I alternate fruit smoothies with oatmeal and fruit for breakfast and keep apples, nuts and dates in my office for snacks. Shopping is weird because even at Whole Foods I avoid 80% of the store and sometimes it is hard to find low fat and wheat-free foods. Eating out is challenging too, but I can usually get a large salad or salad bar. Indian restaurants are good and even Italian restaurants can serve vegetables, eggplant with marinara sauce, etc.

As for the book, Dr. Fuhrman lays out the science behind this style of eating with relentless detail. The implications of the research he quotes is pretty scary with regard to the normal American diet, and this was tremendously motivating for me. He makes so much sense and boils down the recommendations so it is easy to follow. I've used some of his recipes and they are good, but there are a lot of vegan recipes online and once you get the idea of what to eat, it isn't hard to come up with a lot of variety in meals.

Bottom line, I strongly recommend this book to anyone who wants to lose weight for good, get healthier, live longer and feel better.

Six-month update: I have continued to follow this lifestyle for the most part. Even with occassional lapses (it's hard to spend two weeks in France and not occassionally eat bread, cheese, ice cream, etc.) I have continued to lose weight and am now down to 166 pounds and my total cholesterol dropped from 213 to 166. I almost fit in size 32 pants, down from 36. Buying this book and following it was the best decision in the last 20 years!

This book literally changed my life. Dr. Fuhrman presents a means of eating that makes sooo much sense. Vegetables, fruits, nut, beans, seeds, and a little bit of whole grains are the focus of the diet, with large amounts of vegetable consumption. Note: This book does not suggest that you become a vegetarian/vegan if you do not choose to. I think some reviewers are getting the wrong idea. Dr. Fuhrman says that you can consume some animal products, just a very limited amount (i.e. two to three servings per week). The fabulous thing about this book is that everything is based on research and scientific studies. The amount of scientific study sitings in this book is tremendous. What most people aren't aware of is how this diet can be soo delicious. I absolutely love eating this way and do not feel deprived in the slightest bit. There are delicious recipies in the book and Dr. Fuhrman has even more recipies on his website. Dr. Fuhrman is also known for having patients recover from serious conditions such as lupus, diabetes, high blood pressure, and more. He has even had success helping people get rid of severe migraines. If you buy Eat to Live and choose to follow it, be warned that you will no longer consume soda, white bagels, or candy anymore. No processed sugars or high amounts of salt. However, if you do follow the diet, your body will thank you in so many ways. You will lose weight and feel much healthier in general. If you have allergies or a runny nose, expect them to go away. Mine did. The reviewer below me suggests that the diet is too strict and that he will never give up his candy, meat, cheese, butter, etc. Well, I feel sorry for him. He is really missing out on a tremendous opportunity to turn his health around for the better, possibly adding years onto his life.
If you buy this book and follow the advice, be prepared to becoming a slimmer and healthier you.

Pros: Easy to read, engaging format, interesting information. He does not appear to be selling anything or pushing supplements. I could not follow this diet as strictly as he recommends, but I can see how someone who did would lose a lot of weight and feel better. The take-away message: More fresh fruits and veggies (preferably raw) are good for you. More fiber is good.

Cons: Heavily criticizes other diets (Atkins et al.) which seemed very negative and unnecessary. Advocates veganism as the ideal, followed by vegetarianism. Anti-dairy. Advocates very little fat. Thus, very nutritionally sound but possibly impractical to follow (depends on the reader). Admits very small amount of white meat could be OK but only after stating that any amount/type of meat consumption is linked to cancer. I would like to have seen a more complete discussion of whole grains and any discussion at all of unrefined sugars.

Summary: Great information; recommended for anyone interested in nutrition; up to you if you can follow the plan.

The diet is very easy to follow, fruit for breakfast, soup and salad for lunch, salad, cooked veggies and fruit for dinner. It can be extremely boring depending on the variety of fresh fruit and veggies available to you if you are not an adventurous eater.
The book also fails to discuss the topic how drinking alcohol, beer and/or wine affects this diet. My husband and I have been on it for a week. This is summer so the variety of fruits and vegetables is great, however my husband is tired of eating salad, salad and more salad already. I don't think we will make it through the six weeks.

My old philosophy was if it took longer to cook the food than it did to eat it, I wouldn't bother. Of course that meant I ate all kinds of junk food and highly processed and prepared foods. Read this book to find out why after the Six-Week Plan I dropped 25 pounds and cholesterol numbers went from 220 to 162! I have been eating on the Life Plan for 6 months, now when I feel hungry it's true hunger and I feel like eating a big salad! Dr. Fuhrman backs up all his information with studies and references. I feel healthier than ever. It Works!

One reviewer stated that Dr Fuhrman's Eat to Live Plan allows no animal products; Eat to Live has no such rigid requirement. Eat to Live describes 7 days of menu plans for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians. Dr. Fuhrman makes clear that a diet rich in vegetables does not have to exclude animal foods completely (although they should be limited). As a physician, I have observed Dr. Fuhrman in action with his patients. He regularly modifies recipes and menu plans to accommodate various tastes and food preferences. It is not an all or nothing plan. Eat To Live gives you the knowledge to make healthy food choices based on the concept of Nutrient Density (which he explains in the book).

After a lifetime of eating 'junk' it may take practice and creativity for some, to make the healthiest way to eat, taste favorable. Taste and food preferences are learned. While it may take a few months, an investment in retraining your palate to enjoy the healthiest foods on the planet will produce dividends of lifelong good health. It is unfortunate that the reviewer from Philadelphia is ready to cash in all of the benefits of a healthy diet after only one day. The fact is, most actually enjoy the taste of whole and natural foods better especially once they have rid themselves of the toxins and chronic ailments associated with the Standard American Diet. This does not happen overnight!

Eat To Live is far more then just a manifesto on weight loss. Eating the healthiest foods will not only help you to reverse many chronic diseases; it will help you to live YOUNGER longer. A healthy weight is a direct result of a healthy lifestyle. There are a million unhealthy ways to lose weight. Eat To Live makes you healthy which results in you achieving your ideal weight.

Get the book and see for yourself. I believe every person in America must read this information; it puts all controversy about diets and losing weight to rest and may save your life.

Eat to Live, the book, identifies the most principally correct, scientifically substantiated, and practical way to eat. You'll not only to lose the excess weight but also take your health to very high levels and really enjoy food... while you're eating it, and after.

We're all eating to live right now; Eat to Live, the book, shows us how to eat the best we can and what happens when we do.

You don't read of studies anywhere condemning a plant centric diet comprised predominantly of and derived directly from unrefined Vegetables, Legumes, Fruits, Whole Grains, Nuts, Seeds, Dried fruit etc, or leading anywhere other than... superior health. In a non-idealistic fashion, Dr Fuhrman marries ideal eating, with a really enjoyable cuisine and he provides full and un-compromised scientific substantiation so you can eat to live with confidence.

`Eat to Live' is really the healthiest approach to eating. It's not just another diet. No doubt it contests the rigid belief systems behind a number of weight loss diets and styles of eating that have vested interests in the status quo. For example, the standard American diet - or several popular diets that are based on faulty or nutritional science gone awry, that take a small fact in a broader science and magnify it to create a new diet laden with false promises. And no doubt there will be people who say unsubstantial things about `Eat to Live' the book, because they want to protect their current mode of eating which may or may not be compromising their health.

Why not know how far you can really take things, so you can strive to improve and get even better results, rather than settle with the status quo or silly weight loss diets that get you nowhere. Eat to Live!

I wholeheartedly recommend this book and this diet. It is the most effective and healthiest diet I have ever seen and the only one I have ever lost a substantial amount of weight on. I speak from direct experience and not heresay. I have lost 70 pounds on this diet over the last year as well as an exceptional improvement in health. I have not had a headache in a year, not one cold this winter and my skin cleared up from a longstanding problem.
The book is extremely well researched and documented as well as being very readable. Everyone I have ever spoke to who has ever followed this diet, even those who didn't stick with it, said that it worked well when they followed it.
Read the book, try it, it did me a world of good! S.Goldberg-Burton, Whitehouse Station, NJ
As a co-worker I can attest to the fact the Sara has lost 70 lbs and looks great - she has gone done at least 8 dress sizes and is never sick. mcalifano, ny,ny

Here's the miracle advice to lose weight, overcome all of your medical problems, and begin a new life: eat a pound of greens plus some fruit and beans, every single day, for six weeks. No animal protein; no dairy products. Well, no kidding. Who wouldn't lose weight with this regimen?

I read this book almost in one sitting. It is that interesting. The program Dr. Fuhrman discusses is not for those who are not ready to change their lives to live healthier. Following this program, I saw results almost immediatly. I lost 3 pounds in the first week and I have more energy than ever before. This program is about changing your life to live healthy and live a long life. Weight loss is a side-effect of this program, not the focus. I wish I could give this book to everyone I know. I cannot think of a single person who could not see some benifit from "exceptional nutrition". Even those who are not necessarly looking to lose weight, this book can still improve your life. Please, for your benifit, read this book!!!

Fuhrman presents a slam dunk case for why nutritional density is the key to healthy eating. After reading this book, it would be impossible to ever look at eating the same way again. Fuhrman summarizes countless medical studies, sifts through the evidence, and presents the broadest picture possible of what makes us healthy, what hurts us, and why. That said, one important caveat: his hardcore diet plan was too restrictive for me, and I'm not alone. He recommends ungodly amounts of green vegetables every day with very few grains and no meat. I have found that, to keep my energy levels up during exercise, I must eat more whole grains and a small portion of fish to round out this diet. I still have the monster salads and tons of fresh fruit, but I have modified the diet to fit my own tastes and needs. And you know what? It stil works. This is sensible stuff. Buy it, read it, and learn from it. Better health is available to all of us.

My husband and I started this diet four months ago after failing to be able to follow many other diets. He is a Type 2 diabetic, and his out-of-control blood sugar normalized immediately, his doctor had him drop his anti-cholesterol medication, and his high liver enzymes dropped to normal. He has lost 40 lbs, I have lost 30. We are never hungry; we have a hard time eating all that the daily guidelines allow us to eat. We will never go back to eating the "normal" American diet--it would be tantamount to committing suicide. For the first time in many years, we feel we will be able to be thin and healthy. I wonder why none of our health care providers ever told us we could improve our health so radically this way?

This is book does not clearly identify the suggested diet as being a vegetarian lifestyle. It should be noted UP FRONT that it advocates a strict fruits and vegetables only diet. By the time I realized it, I was so sick that I couldn't leave the house for 3 days. A total waste of my money!

If you can sustain a fundamentally vegetarian diet based primarily on produce (fresh & frozen fruits and vegetables) supplemented with nuts and seeds for at least 90% of your diet then this dietary lifestyle is worth looking into.

I've read the book, embraced the message and been on the initial 60 day dietary plan for 7 days. So far I've lost 11 lbs and my total cholesterol has dropped dramatically (currently at 164). Every morning since the third day I have awoken feeling thinner than the day before and the bathroom scale has revealed the feeling to be fact. Some days I've dropped a full 2 lbs.

The best part of the initial 60 day plan is that I never really get hungry because I can eat as much as I want, yet the weight is dropping off more quickly than ever before.

The diet is heavy in green vegetables, which I have to admit were not at the top of my favorite foods list. With some help from those who embraced this dietary lifestyle before me I've collected essential information about greens preparation and enough recipes to actually enjoy greens from the E2L Yahoo Group. If you decide to embrace the E2L lifestyle be sure to visit the group. Participating will ease your transition, smooth out your journey and it won't cost you anything extra.

The diet is also very low in sodium which has been my major challenge. At first nothing tasted really good but that changed in a few days. Now I don't miss salt *as much*.

I've been down this road before (weight loss) and I have to say the results so far have exceeded my expectations in every way. I really think this is the one dietary lifestyle I can embrace. This time I'm in it for the long-haul.

The E2L book is chock full of dietary health facts and is truly inspirational. It is always with me and it's already getting a bit ragged from constant reference.

Thanks Dr. Fuhrman!

I've been an ovo-lacto-pesco (I ate cheese, eggs, and very occasionally fish) vegetarian for years, but my diet was NOT healthy. I was nearly 60 pounds overweight. Dr Fuhrman does push a vegetarian/vegan diet, but he is very clear that there are healthy omniverous diets, and unhealthy ones, healthy vegetarian diets, and unhealthy ones. The difference? The amount of whole plants, fruits, and vegetables you eat. A little meat but LOTS of fruits, vegetables, beans and nuts is a FAR more healthy diet than what I had been eating - lots of processed food, and vegetarian junk food. So now, I'm eating lots of fresh fruit, raw and cooked vegetables, beans, and a little whole grains and nuts. I also do include the occasional egg, and tiny amounts of cheese. I eat almost no sweets or dairy, and cook with very little added fat. I've lost 15 pounds so far with little effort, and have WAY more energy. I don't have to count calories, and I eat until I'm full, and I have few sugar cravings. The drawback? you have to learn a new way of cooking. The lack of "convenience" forces you to be more creative. You can't just run to macdonalds.

The only reason I gave this 4 stars instead of 5, is that Dr Fuhrman, *is* a little repetitious.

I am a Joel Fuhrman follower after failing at just about every other weight loss plan there is. This book is not just about weight loss, it is about a healthy lifestyle change. I can't believe how good I feel, better sleep, increased energy, no more afternoon lethargy, glowing skin and losing weight is another bonus. Joel Fuhrman's food plan is exactly what our maker gave us -- whole, wholesome, nourishing foods that aren't prepackaged, pulvarized, and preserved with harmful additives. We have all been so programmed for the Standard American Diet (SAD). Something has to change. So many Americans are dying of heart disease and cancer. There no question that lifestyle, including what we eat, is a very big factor. I have never felt better or been healthier. I hope that more people will learn about Joel Fuhrman and stop digging their graves with their forks.

A few months ago, I picked Eat To Live back up and started on the 6-wk plan. Over the past several months beforehand, I had had IBS symptoms and had gained 15#. I had had it, I had to admit that I wasn't able to kick this food problem by myself. So I did it--I committed to the 6-wk plan, and I did it.

Six weeks later, I had lost 16 pounds, lost the IBS symptoms, my skin is so clear, and I don't feel drawn to addictive foods anymore. I'm still getting in the groove of things, and planning is important, but I fell *so* much better. A weekend going off plan, the acne, IBS symptoms, and overall fatigue came back. It really strengthened my commitment to truly nourishing my body. A base of greens and following your true hunger signals makes you feel *so* much better. I applaud Dr. Fuhrman for being courageous enough to base his nutrition book on true science, and not politics. This is a plan I need and *want* to follow for life--I can't imagine ever going back, I've got too much to do! I'm so glad I found this while I'm young and can prevent so many diseases--added bonus!

Dr. Fuhrman follows in the footsteps of such dietary and healthy life style giants as Drs' Paul Bragg, Bernard Jensen and even Jack La Lanne (now 92!) without mentioning a one. A tireless self promoter his plant based nutrient dense diet is well researched and cited and would do a world of good for most amercians. However he uses selective citations to almost completely reject the use of animal based proteins and nutrients. This flies in the face of a great deal of research that shows that the judicial use of organic, free range, grass fed animal proteins and products (especially bone broth) can have significant health benefits. He also promotes the liberal use of soy products in his recipes while later in the book admonishing the reader not to eat a soy based diet. Contrary to popular opinion individual soy consumption in Asia is low and there is a great deal of research showing the dangers of soy. Finally he recommends taking a good quality multivitamin and directs people to look at his web site for references. When you do this you will find his own brand of multivitamins and metagenics nutriceutical products for sale. As a practitioner in the complimentary and alternative medicine field for 8 years (acupuncturist, Chinese herbalist) it is my opinion that metagenics products have medicore quality controll. I can't attest to Dr. Fuhrman's products since he does not disclose anything about their production. These criticisms aside, Dr. Fuhrmans book can be extreemly helpful for people just venturing out of the fast food american diet. Just don't stop there, good health and happiness is a lifetime pursuit.

I LOVED the book and even passed it on to my neighbor as I started the plan. I was able to follow the diet plan - but not for long. As a mother of 2 small children (ages 5 & 3) I was making my food, then theirs 3 times a day in most instances. My daughter (3) could have followed the plan as she is a fruit/veggie person naturally but the others in the family couldn't stand it. I tried being creative with meals mixing stuff in - but it was very hard.

However, since I read the book, we started placing salads and fruits on the must have FIRST before anything else is eaten - for everyone. And most snacks are now fruits. The information in the book is really well written and I did love it and would recommend it for the knowledge it presents.

Essentially this book is an enormous integration of data from scientific and medical journals. Dr. Fuhrman (...) shows that the same diet that helps you maintain a healthy weight is the same diet that reverses heart disease and diabetes, and helps prevent many types of diet-related cancers.

Dr. Furhman also solves many riddles that you hear about in the media that create confusion which cause people to yo-yo between contradictory diets. As a practicing doctor, Dr. Fuhrman has used this program to restore thousands of very sick people to health. He also includes lots of information to tailor his program to individual needs.

The essence of Dr. Furhman is to make the focus of your diet foods which have a high nutrient density. Such foods are high in nutrients that support your health, and are relatively low in substances that undermine your health.

The book is not an all or nothing program--the more you do the more it works for you. It is simply knowledge--it still remains up to you to apply it.

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.

I've read and tried many diets for health purposes and let my body decide which one is right for me. This is the one that's right for me. A former Zone fan, I still suffered from allergies and intestinal problems and never felt 'lean and clean' like I do now. I have a big sweet tooth and once in a while I try my old cookies and (soy) ice cream but they don't taste as fantastic as they used to. I now actually prefer fruit and salads (and some fish once in a while) which is something I never thought could be true for me. Its not the diet that's so powerful; its the information transfer (that's backed up by my body's agreement) that makes this so easy to follow. I've never been a 'live to eat' person and always thought I was eating to live; but now I'm very happy that at age 41 I've found something that my mind, body and spirit all agree with.

As a nurse I had to take care of lots of clients that thought that their health was not their responsability. That is why they would end up in the hospital. This book brings back the word that most people don?t like to hear: responsability. You are responsable for your body, for your health, for your life and for your death. Don't think that lots of money will pay someone to do that for you. Every act brings a consequence. The wrong food that you put in your mouth today will be the pain you feel in your body in the future. The obesity hight rates in America just confirms that no food production factory, company or technology in this World is wiser than Nature about offering the best Nutrition.
This is the best book about Nutrition that I have ever read!

Bad diet and nutrition books fall into one of two categories - either they repackage some interesting pieces of research without tying them together with a unifying thread or they harp on some one piece of information and ignore counter points of view. Diets like Atkins fall into the latter category - eat fat, skip carbs, cause ketosis and lose weight.

I picked up Dr.Fuhrman's book because it bases all its conclusions upon sound science. I read his other book - Fasting and Eating for health, which is a treatise on the subject and have come to expect no-nonsense fact-based writing from him ever since. This book lives up to every bit of Dr.Fuhrman's reputation and does NOT disappoint.

I have about 20 pounds to shed and have adopted Dr.Fuhrman's ideas, although I havent embraced it as strongly as he suggests. I probably consume a little more fat and protein than Dr.Fuhrman allows but I have already begun to see results. The pounds are coming off.

The science that Dr.Fuhrman bases his diet on is as sound as it gets and similar opinions can be found in the writings of other authors of unquestionable academic and intellectual standing such as Ray Kurzweil and Roy Walford. I am reading these other books only to increase my conviction to stick with this plan and to reiterate the badness of fat until it gets into my head completely. I agree completely with the previous reviewer that Dr.Fuhrman's book is perhaps the only nutrition book you ever need.

The concept of nutritional density is gaining strength in the scientific community and it is being understood that its not just about the number of calories but also about the nutritional quality of your calories. This diet can not only make you shed pounds, it can also protect you against a host of diseases. Throw away your pasta and meatballs and go get a salad. Dr.Fuhrman allows 10% of your calories to come through fat and unless you are obese, minor infractions are pardoned. This is not an all or nothing plan. The closer you get to the ideal, the greater the gains, or should I say losses! This book is not to be missed.

After reading a positive article about this book in the Economist, I bought it and (perhaps somewhat delusionally) expected it to corroborate all of my presumed healthy eating habits. I have always been very fit, with excellent endurance and cardio values, low cholesterol levels, no serious health problems whatsoever. But I had tried in vain for years to drop the paunch around my middle -- no amount of running, weight-lifting or tummy crunches could do the trick. As it turned out, my eating habits were not SO healthy after all: lots of empty calories in various forms going straight to my mid-section. So I gave the Fuhrmann program a very informal try. After only three weeks, I dropped ten pounds, and all in the right places. After six weeks, I seem to have leveled off at 12 pounds below my starting weight, which I suppose is a sign that the gratuitous fat is now gone.

The secret to this diet is simple: maximize nutrition per calorie. For me, this has meant the elimination of butter, margarine, cheeses, cooking oils, salad oils, fried foods and the like from my diet. The first three days on this diet were tough; but then that drained, hungry feeling disappeared; and I felt even more energetic than before. My running times have come down, and I feel a lot better overall. And it doesn't feel like a sacrifice in any way. That's why it's really not a diet, but simply a new way of eating.

I have read many books on the subject of healthy and nutricious eating and this one seems to stand out and make a lot of sense to me. You will probably get a little of the "duh" factor while reading the book, because he says to eat a lot of fruits and vegetables and to avoid most foods with labels (eg. processed junk) which we all should know already. But Fuhrman's scientific explanations and daily living tips really make the book for me. Fuhrman explains HOW to eat to live (eg. when to shop, how to prepare, helpful starter recipes, etc.) He backs up everything he claims and I can assure you that if you "eat to live" you will feel good. I also recommend checking out his website for some very good recipes I found that make his plan fun and easy to follow such as homemade caesar salad dressing, delicious smoothies, stews and blended salads. My skin is clearer. I don't have outrageous food cravings or toxic hunger pangs.
This is the only book I have ever given to family and friends, and they have been thankful I have.

This book gives you the history of why Americans eat the way they do and explains how we should be eating. I'm not a health nut. I had purchased the book for my wife who is into "eating healthy". That's not me, I eat what I want. We read a book together every month, it was her month to pick the book, I thought I would be bored out of my mind. I was wrong! It is highly persuasive and is the best book my wife has read on nutrition. As an accountant I liked numbers and research which Dr. Fuhrman used in his augments. Highly Recommended.

I am all for eating fruits and vegetables and this book has some great information. My only complaint was that the menus and weekly meal plans did not contain any food I would eat. Give up dairy? I need it for my osteoporis....I know I can get calcium from other foods...but got to have milk.
I found the advice of the book to restrictive.

This is an excellent book which ,I ordered as a suggestion of Amazon. Otherwise ,I would have missed it.I ordered it when I went to the site to order The China Study and I read it after reading The China Study which was perfect. Following Dr. Fuhrman's suggestion, I started his new way of eating and in less than 1 month have lost 20 pounds. I hope that I make this my way of eating for life. There is no Question in my mind that everyone should.

I am a retired Neurosurgeon and Airline Transport Pilot and a guy that has tried all the diets.

Sincerely,

Eugene B Elam,MD

I work in a retail pharmacy and see many people who take medication for diabetes, high blood pressure, etc. Medication is not cheap. So I definitly recommend buying this book, because it is easy to read, and the author explains why we should eat certain foods and why we shouldn't eat others. So if you want to avoid diseases that he believes are preventable buy this book, and follow the plan!

I have tried every diet known to man, and have not had good results. I even went to get my thyroid tested because I just couldn't seem to lose weight. I bought this book hoping it would help me, and it did. I am currently starting week number 4 of the 6 week plan and I have lost 10 pounds! My husband has lost 17! This is truly amazing. If you follow Dr. Furhman's plan, you will lose weight.

This has become the book that I give to all of my friends and acquaintances. Having gone through a bout with cancer, I've done lots and lots of reading on diet, health, the immune system, etc. Not only has Joel Fuhrman written a book that anyone can easily understand, but it's simply how we should all be eating anyway! There is a reason why 1 out of 2 people in the USA are getting cancer, and it has to do with what we're eating. If you currently have a health issue (fatigue, M.S., fibromyalgia, cancer, anything) please do not pass this book up. I've become completely convinced that all degenerative disease is reversable. Joel Fuhrman will help you to do what your doctors cannot.

This book changed my life! Joel Fuhrman reviewed more than 2000 scientific studies about diet and health and he summarizes them in this book. There IS an overall message, and it is not one you can get from reading the newspaper. This book gave us the incentive to change our diet and our tastebuds have changed to enjoy truly HEALTHY eating. A year ago, I was a sugar and chocolate addict. Now I can pass those things up easily and ENJOY what I am eating instead. Chronic health issues have cleared up gradually. I am so excited about this book that I have purchased 5 copies for friends with health problems (We should NOT have all these health problems in our 40s!)and will purchase 5 more copies to distribute at a meeting where I will give a book review of Eat to Live. I think this book needs to be a textbook for high school health classes. America MUST change the way it eats! The people perish for lack of knowledge.

As a fitness professional, I am constantly being asked: "How come I'm not losing weight when I exercise all the time?" They don't want to hear the reason -- because they eat the food they love. This book will explain in layman's language why we must change our eating habits. Don't waste your money on any other diet book like Atkins or Zone, BUY THIS ONE AND READ IT!! It's the best!

I can honestly say Dr. Fuhrman's book has saved my life. I am 41 years old and I recently suffred a heart attack. The diet outlined in Dr. Fuhrman's book has helped me not only in my recovery, but has put me in the best health and shape in my life. I lift weights and run five miles a day and am looking forward to living a very long life-G-d willing.

Dr. Fuhrman's book is thoroughly researched and is not a gimmick diet. He shows that there are no shortcuts to good health, but yet achieving excellent health is fairly simple and easy.

What has impressed me most about the results of being on this program is people tell me how youthful I look and how my skintone is so much better. People often ask me if I've been out in the sun somewhere because my skin seems to have a tan or glow to it.

The most important messege I get from the book is consume the most healthy foods, as outlined in the book, and you will look and feel your best ever. Oh yea, you'll loose a lot of weight too.

If you buy one book on losing weight and health make sure this is it. Fuhrman explains how to lose weight without feeling hungry or deprived through the use of nutrient density. Imagine feeling full on just 1500 calories a day and feeling more energetic and healthy at the same time while also preventing many debilitating diseases such as diabetes or heart disease. Eat to Live explains what's wrong with the American diet and how you can get back on track and reclaim your health and body. Chapter 8 gives his recipie for weight loss and it works. Highly recommend!

Incredible book, I bought 20 and gave them to family and friends. The author is dead on in so many ways. I feel it has changed my life (although I was on the way there after THE 20 DAY REJUVINATION DIET). And it's a nice reading book as well. It's not the weight loss that is so exciting, but the health aspect that really gets me. Although I bought it more for it's health information as opposed to weight loss I went from 180 to 155 (the weight I was from 18-44) in a month, and feel terrific, never really hungry. Real truth there.

Dr. Fuhrman's book is the 7th or 8th diet book that I have read...And I know it will be my last because finally someone got it right! Fuhrman cuts through all the media bull@&#* and "diet dogma" and lays out a diet that's healthy for everyone. A lot of diets are temporary interventions that are not healthy to stay on for a long time (ATKINS, etc.) and this leads to short term success and long term falure. The FUHRMAN method is a logical lifestyle that burns up existing fat and makes it impossible to regain it back...ever! I can't say who I am here but the next time you see me on stage or on your television you'll be seeing the new me...the 'body by Fuhrman' me!

I bought this book and began following Fuhrman's dietary guidelines at the end of April, committing to 30 days to see if there would be any results. I had previously been an ovo-lacto vegetarian for four months, but had only succeeded in putting on weight (cheese probably being the culprit). Following Fuhrman's ideas for a vegan plan, along with regular moderate exercise, not only did I stick to it past the initial 30-day period, but I lost over 30 pounds in about three months. I'm now at 158, down from 190 pounds at my heaviest, and close to the weight I was throughout my twenties. I'm back to the same size pants as I wore in college and my mid-twenties (I'm now mid-thirties), lost nearly all of that dangerous belly fat. I have more energy and feel great. My formerly high total cholesterol is down to about 150, LDL about 100. All other blood parameters look great, although my blood pressure is still high.
My wife and I eat lots of leafy greens, beans, fruit, whole grains, and virtually no added cooking oil. We have been taking B12 supplements and some vegetarian Omega-3 DHA since we're not eating fish.
After four months of Eat to Live, I would highly recommend this book. I never knew that weight loss could be this easy, nor that I had the capacity to positively affect my health so quickly. My caveat would be that, especially if you want to do the vegan plan, you need to spend some time borrowing or investing in some good cookbooks (most veg/vegan recipes can be easily modified by cutting oil). I don't find it hard at all to stick to this diet, but I think it is in part because my wife and I are fairly adventurous and like to try different things. We eat lots of delicious Indian, Mexican, and Chinese-style dishes. Also, there is a short transitional phase, after which your taste-buds will definitely adjust. After staying away from typical American foods drenched in oil and fat, even vegan dishes in mainstream restaurants can taste too rich. On the other hand, we haven't felt it too difficult to find appropriate dishes when eating out in the Twin Cities area.
Finally, we think it costs us about the same as before on this diet. We buy lots of veggies at our local Farmer's market, plus whole grain bread, pasta etc. at Trader Joe's. We have never been extravagant, but we've never shopped purely on price either.
Try it for at least 30 days and see what happens.

A friend suggested I read Dr. Furhman's book to help lower my cholesterol. My doctor has wanted me to go on medication for years. I gave it a try and followed his advise. My cholesterol dropped 62 points and I lost 20 pounds in 7 weeks. I am a true believer!!

It is very easy to read. He really explains and educates the reader. I thought this would be very difficult for me to change my eating habits. It wasn't after I understood what I was putting into my body was harmful. I'm not hungary all the time, I feel great--this is not another diet, but a new lease on life for me and my family.

If you want to avoid or get off current medication--read this book!!!(His other book Disease Proof Your Child is another excellent read)

This book is good for someone just starting out on a their health quest but for people who've been at it awhile it's old news. Processed food bad, natural foods good. It's common sense.

Doctor Fuhrman tells it like it is. Low fat, whole foods including beans, fruits and vegetables as well as limited amounts of starches. That the base of the maintenance plan and all of the 6 week plan he presents to jump start your weight loss. He tells you plainly that you have to make a committment. Without that, you won't succeed. Give it a try.

One unnamed reviewer from Atlanta, Georgia USA, wrote, "The author cites studies to back up his position but totally ignores information from those same studies that undermine his no saturated fat and animal protein hypothesis."

This is nonsense.

If the reviewer had actually read Fuhrman's book, one will observe that Dr. Fuhrman includes recipes with animal foods such as fish and chicken.

So how can Dr. Furhman forbid animal protein on his program, if he includes recipes with animal foods? The answer is that the the "reviewer" did not read the book.

One does not need to become a strict vegetarian--i.e., avoid all animal protein--to gain the benefits the EAT TO LIVE program. But to know that one would have to actually read the book.

This is a book where personal accounts matter to the "would be" reader. Dr. Fuhrman's EAT TO LIVE program is a winner from beginning to end. It simply works! For anyone who is discouraged but serious about losing weight and becoming healthy, this life-style change is truly transforming. I seriously applied what Dr. Fuhrman teaches, about six years ago, and lost seventy pounds as well as a number of medical problems, asthma included.

I needed this book to remind me of how important it is to fine tune any sloppiness that would cause me to return to my previous toxic lifestyle. Revisiting his program has been like a breath of fresh air.

I've read numerous books on health and diet and thought that I pretty much knew all there was to know. WRONG! Dr. Fuhrman taught me all the things that I never knew I never knew! My family and friends are buying their own copies now. I highly recommend this book if you want you and your family to be healthier, greatly reduce the chance of cancer and disease, and/or to lose weight FAST!

I found this book through the Hallelujah Diet web site. Although I certainly don't need to lose weight (105 lbs.), I'm always interested in learning anything about healthy eating. Since beating melanoma with a drastic diet change (no surgery or chemo), I certainly know the benefits and highly recommend this way of eating, FOREVER. I say it's not a DIET; it's simply HEALTHY eating. You can eat all you want but it has to be really healthy. And most people simply don't understand that most of what we eat in this country is NOT healthy, even though it may be delicious.
I think the book is an excellent additon to my library on healthy eating.

Dr. Fuhrman is preaching a satisfyingly logical regimen--maximize nutrition in a minimum number of calories, and health will follow. Dr. Roy Wolford, the gerontologist, in his_120 Year Diet_ said it with more elan, and more research to back it up, but Fuhrman's program is simpler and easier to follow.

While I thought I'd have trouble adjusting to this way of eating, after only a couple of initial hungry days, I now feel quite satisfied, and have already lost 11 lbs. in two weeks.

The book itself is an easy, snappy read, although many of the snippets of nutrition research favoring veganism seem to be from the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine info sheets!

My Family and I have followed the diet that Dr Fuhrman has outlined in is book "Eat To Live". I personally have lost 25 lbs while on the diet and have noticed a significant increase in my energy. It feels great to wear the same pants size as I did in college. Dr. Fuhrman's diet offers the human body all the tools it needs to recover health and loose weight naturally. Dr Fuhrman's diet is not dangerous it is just plain and simple healthy eating. My sister passed away of colon cancer. She said months before she died that she wished she had taken better care of her body and had eaten more healthfully during her life. Dr Fuhrman's book provides you with the blue print to live a longer healthier life.

This is a wonderful, exciting book. It describes true health and tells how to achieve it.

In the ten years we have followed Dr Fuhrman's diet advice we have enjoyed definite and sustained health benefits: loss of excess weight, substantially reduced cholesterol levels (from 300 and 200 to about 160), far fewer colds and flu, freedom from frequent troublesome infections, generally improved vitality. In our early seventies now, we haven't felt so good in fifty years.

Now in this book Dr Fuhrman has condensed the advice that has been so helpful to us into a simple, easy-to-understand form that is still rigorously based on scientific evidence about human nutrition.

Most importantly, we think, he has couched his diet recommendations in a positive form--namely, to eat foods yielding the greatest nutritional value per calorie. So simple--and at least in our experience, easy to put into practice.

I am buying Dr. Fuhrman's book for everyone I love. As a patient of Dr. Joel Fuhrman, I am living proof that making a six week commitment to his program yields incredible results! With this knowledgeable coach and cheerleader, I reversed diabetes, improved cholesterol levels and triglicerides; I am now a slim size 6 once again; and I have more energy than ever. You owe it to yourself to read Dr. Fuhrman's book if you want to live a healthy life and learn how to eat properly.

I'll join the chorus of authorities that guarantee that you will lose weight if you follow Dr. Fuhrman's advice in this utterly convincing book. The only problem is that most people can't follow his advice. This is mainly because they have been so indoctrinated by special interests (big agriculture, the fast food industry, the processed food industry, and unfortunately the United States Department of Agriculture that is headed by people from or going to those industries) that they are unable to even believe the stark truth expressed herein.

Bok choy has more calcium per 100 calories than milk? In fact it has more than five times the calcium. See the chart on page 90. Broccoli has more protein per calorie than steak? You have got to be kidding. See page 59 and elsewhere to learn that broccoli has twice as much. The most nutrient dense foods are raw leafy green vegetables? Easily. See pages 120-121.

What is going on here? And why have we been so deluded for so long?

First note that bok choy has a whole lot of water and fiber, and therefore by the time you get to 100 calories you have eaten a whole lot of bok choy. This is less true for broccoli or for the green leafy veggies, but the point is the same. But note this: Fuhrman is reckoning nutrition this way because one of his main points is that the mind detects satiety in the stomach by volume not weight. In other words, stuff your tummy with steak and brie and you will feel full only after many hundreds or even thousands of calories have been consumed. Stuff your belly with beans, apples, squash and spinach and you'll feel full after perhaps a few hundred calories. Pesto! You will lose weight.

But that is only part of Fuhrman's program. The more salient point is expressed in his formula, "health = nutrients/calories." This means that "Your health is predicted by your nutrient intake divided by your intake of calories." (p. 7) Eat a lot of fruits and vegetables so that you get enough calories to run the engine of mind and body and you will automatically get all the nutrients you need and stay slim. Eat refined foods, highly processed foods, foods with lots of fats and animal proteins and you will either get fat from too many calories consumed, or you will eat little and be starved nutritionally. In fact, your body will cry out for the nutrients and persuade you to eat more and more of the relatively nutrient-poor foods causing you to gain weight, probably massive amounts of it, and thereby join the obesity epidemic that is sweeping America.

All of this is well known by nutritionists and the informed populace, but is like knowledge from Mars for most Americans and is a point of rigid denial by others, especially those in the various food industries mentioned above.

One might reasonably ask: can the normal, average, everyday Joe Six-Pack or Soccer Mom actually follow such a diet as Dr. Fuhrman recommends? Well, let me equivocate: not easily.

First you have to give up eating out, except maybe selected places like the local vegetarian restaurant. Forget every other place. Their foods are loaded with fats and refined foods often super-sized. Second, you have to shop more often than you usually do because you have to buy lots of fresh fruits and vegetables (the heart and soul of Fuhrman's diet), and you have to buy organic since if you eat a lot of non-organic fruits and vegetables you will go crazy trying to wash off all the pesticide residue, and you will not get it all. Third, you will have to have an open mind about foods and consume a wide variety of beans, lentils, greens, roots, nuts, fruits, etc. so that you won't be bored. People who try to eat carrot sticks and celery and raw broccoli soon give it up out of boredom, even if they dip it in sour cream. Fourth, you will have to acquire some skill in preparing attractive meals with spices from these nutrient-rich ingredients.

In other words, this will require time and effort until it becomes second nature. Alas, most Americans are too busy (with infinitely less important things) or too lazy to do what is required. There is no such thing as a free lunch.

The most striking insight in the book, to me, is not anything to do with the efficacy of Fuhrman's diet, but this from pages 64 and 65: "Over fifty years ago, the USDA began promoting the so-called four basic food groups, with meat and dairy products in the number one and two spots on the list. Financed by the meat and dairy industry and backed by nutritional scientists on the payroll of the meat and dairy industry, this promotion ignored science." He adds, "It was taught in every classroom in America, with posters advocating a diet loaded with animal protein, fat, and cholesterol...The campaign sparked the beginning of the fastest-growing cancer epidemic in history and heart attack rates soared to previously unheard of levels!...Some foreign enemy out to destroy America could not have devised a more effective and insidious plot."

Fuhrman warns that "a vegetarian diet is no guarantee of good health" since people may fill up on pasta, bread, rice cakes, crackers and other nutrient deficient foods. He writes, "Following a strict vegetarian diet is not as important as eating a diet rich in fruits and vegetables." (p. 75)

For those sophisticated readers who are aware that human beings did not grow their big brains until they started eating meat and cracking open the bones of animals for the marrow, let me say that those beings did not live long enough for the bad effects of such an exclusive diet to kick in. Furthermore, chasing lions and hyenas away from the kill was a sometime thing; and raw, unprocessed plant foods dominated their caloric intake.

About 2 years ago I read Fit for Life. It was a breakthrough in my personal diet, the encouragement to eat lots of fruits and vegetables was a completely non-standard nutritional thinking, and i started to feel much better and lossing some weight. But it was missing something. I was not able to attain optimal results in terms of weight.

Then I started to search for similar books at Amazon and found Eat to Live. After reading it I have been much impressed that almost 20 years ago the authors of Fit for Life almost get it right but for one thing: they didn't have the scientific data that Dr. Fuhrman explains in his book to back his terrific plan.

The missing link is that Dr. Fuhrman reveal the type of foods that make us fat, and why. I was eating fruits and vegetables, but also eating refined products like cookies, white breath, and products with sugar, offsetting the positive efect of the raw plant-based diet.

This book also educates the reader how to prevent a lot of modern-age deseases like diabetes type II, heart strokes, cancer, hypertension, etc.

Thank God I found this book. Definitely a MUST for all of us, including parents, teachers, doctors, nurses, pastors, etc. Not only for those trying to loose weight, but for anyone who is willing to improve his/her health.

I hope that you find my review useful. Blessings to all!

This is one of the finest "diet" books I have ever read, and I've sampled quite a few. Joel Fuhrman spits out the facts but writes in such an interesting way. You can not read this book without absorbing so much knowledge that you simply want to eat healthier food. My husband started eating according to Fuhrman's plan and besides losing weight, he was able to stop his Rx - Previcid without any more acid reflux. We both look forward to the other positive changes this book will have on our total health.

This is overall a pretty good book, with the appropriate emphasis on nutritional density, i.e., the recommendation to consume the most mutrient dense foods with the fewest calories. And it is great to see that he takes the old food pyramid to task for too much emphasis on starches, especially grains. He puts vegetables and fruits at the bottom of the pyramid, where they belong. And it is good to see him recommend so much fruit, because so many other health writers would have us eating very little fruit because of the high sugar content, in spight of the high nutritional value. But I was disappointed to see him recommending so much soy, even though he does seem, correctly, a bit cautious about its safety. Lots of his recipes call for soy milk or tofu, which I'm convinced are not really health foods. The other issue I have with him is the extremely low fat allowance, and no saturated fats. I've read much about the health benefits of consuming a moderate amount of coconut oil, and believe there may be some merit to this. I wonder if much of the problem with animal saturated fat, especially beef, is due to the hormones and antibiotics both the fat and the flesh contain. He doesn't even recommend grass-fed organic beef or free-range chicken. However, this is not a strictly vegetarian plan, as some claim who seem to have not actually read the book, but he does recommend that meats be very limited or even totally eliminated, expecially during the first 6 weeks, because of their high calorie content. Still I recommend this book overall, and he does indeed allow for some leeway in his plan. And many of the recipes are good.

I have struggled with weight issues my whole life, and added to a diagnosis of type 2 diabetes and taking both oral meds and insulin, life was frustrating. Like many people, I've tried several types of diets with only short term success. I missed fruit, now restricted because of my diabetes. Then I read Eat to Live by Dr. Furhman and it was a revelation. I've changed to a completely vegetable and fruit diet with ease. I'm eating lots of fruit again, and still maintaining perfect blood sugars. In less than two weeks I've cut my insulin dosage in half...and lost ten pounds! This book is no hype, just straight forward sobering facts and practical, simple advice. LOVE THIS BOOK! Thanks, Dr. Furhman!

Everything positive you read below is true... Fuhrman is not a genius, but he deserves great praise for collecting everything that is common sense, and compiling it into a no-nonsense book that addresses every question that you will have.

I cannot say enough good things about this book, and wish that everyone that I know would learn to eat to live.

Some consider this book extreme, but it really depends on what you consider extreme. Most people of the world would consider how North Americans eat to be "extreme" - as in extremely bad.

Don't be fooled into imitations, or fad diets like Atkins or South Beach. Buy this book and learn to Eat to Live!

The last thing I would ever have described myself was vegan. I loved meat. I loved barbecue, steak, prime rib, tuna, fried chicken, bacon and sausage. And it was killing me.

I have been a diabetic for 15 years, and have never had much success at getting it under control. With diabetes came the whole host of other stuff...neuropathy, high blood pressure, retinopathy, etc., that tends to shorten ones life. My triglycerides were out of control, and along with that, my cholesterol was actually unreadable!

About a year ago I outlived my father. I never though that was going to happen, and I was totally unprepared for it. However, since it looked like I was going to be around for a few more years, maybe it was time to start doing something about it. My endocrinologist suggested that I read Eat to Live and a couple of other books, and suggested that I consider what the book was trying to tell me. I read this book as well as the China Study and Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes, all of which I would recommend. I suggested that my wife read the books as well, and she did, and together we made the choice to change our way of eating and see where it took us.

We started on November 1, 2009. After three months, we both went to the doctor. We both had lost significant amounts of weight, but the numbers from the blood work was more revealing. My wife dropped 40 points off of her cholesterol. My Hba1c dropped from 8.2 to 6.8, the first time in 15 years that it was under 7.0. Further, I had been able to quit taking 180 units per day of insulin, and now only take a 30 unit shot every once in a while when I have a bit too much pasta for dinner. I was able to completely eliminate my statin, and that is a real joy as I have always had a lot of leg cramps and muscle issues associated with statins, and my cholesterol stayed about the same...without the statins.

My 90 year old mother in law stayed with us for the last couple of months, and she ate the way we were eating. She was having v-fib problems that left her weak and dizzy and had the doctors giving her cumidin, which messed her up even more. After a couple of weeks of eating vegan style (with some cream in her coffee for fun) she hasn't had an episode, and continues to change her style of eating to this day.

While the weight loss has slowed, all of us are feeling much better and have found that it is pretty easy to follow. The eating plan is simple, and the food suggestions and recipes are quite tasty. I travel a bunch for business, and have found it to be easy to maintain on the road. McDonald's and Hardee's (Thickburger with 1600 calories and 700mg of fat) is off the list, but I can usually find something to eat just about anywhere. If I get stuck, I go to a supermarket, buy some hummus, vegetables and a couple of pieces of fruit and I am good to go. I am even able to find things to eat in most airports! For instance, CPK does a great veggie pizza--I just ask them to hold the cheese and use extra sauce. It takes a few more minutes, but it is a wonderful meal. They also do a great vegan split pea soup that is wonderful. Other choices are veggie subs--Subway and Quisno's do the best ones.

We happen to live in the south, where 'cue is king--if it moves, slab it and burn it, and if it doesn't move, deep fat fry it--and it is relatively easy to find places to eat. Believe it or not, I had a great vegan meal at Ruth's Chris Steak House. Not my first choice of great vegan restaurants, but it worked!

Overall, I really believe that changing my style of eating will allow me to live a longer, healthier and more vital life, and I thank Dr. Fuhrman for that. I have found that making a dramatic, holistic change was much easier than cutting back or restricting portions. I still eat a lot, but I now just eat a lot of the right things. It makes all the difference.

This books contains all the information you need to implement healthy changes in your life. No one could adopt these dietary changes without seeing improvement, or complete resolution, of their chronic health conditions.

I am a practicing anesthesiologist, and as a physician I admit to some bias. I segregate books on health-related topics into two categories: those written by qualified professionals (M.D.'s & PhD's), and those that were not (which I fondly refer to as "groovy books"). I admit to reading the groovy ones, too, but I take their claims with a grain of salt. This book, so obviously based on the latest research as well as Dr Furhman's clinical experience, abundantly referenced, is a wake-up call. I fail to see how any intelligent reader could come away from this book without a new perspective on health, disease, and their deitary habits.

I deal daily with surgical patients who are in their poor state of health, and scheduled for operations, as a direct result of many years of dietary self-abuse. If I could but hand them a copy of this book and turn back the clock, I have no doubt that I would be out of a job.

I was a born meat eater, I ate meat and dairy and lots of things for many years. My weight ballooned to over 300 lbs. I started exercising and eating a whole foods diet and I lost over 100 lbs. My weight was stalled though and I was struggling. I ate lean meats, lowfat dairy, plenty of vegetables, limited fruits and grains and I wasn't losing weight.

I read "Eat to Live" and it gave me the motivation to cut out meat and dairy out of my diet and become healthier overall. The next day after I started reading the book, I started following the strict vegan plan. I looked at many websites and cookbooks for inspiration on what to eat and came up with a varied diet plan. I became full and the weight has started falling off. I lost 20 lbs in 3 weeks and this is after my weight hadn't moved for months on a higher protein diet. I am continuing to lose weight at a rate of 3-4 lbs per week. I love the foods I eat and I use various recipes to keep food interesting. I was amazed at what a variety a whole foods vegan diet could offer.

So my message to you is read the book, at least try the plan. If you don't want to try the strict vegan diet, then use some of his other modifications. When I first started reading the book, I didn't think I could last 6 weeks but 6 weeks is no problem. I plan to continue this diet for the rest of my life although once I reach my goal, I will add in more starchy foods such as grains and starchy veggies.

I was healthy before I started this diet, but I wanted to lose a couple pounds and get into top shape. I needed some motivation, so I browsed the book stores and settle on "Eat to Live" to help me obtain my goals. The author, a so-called "Doctor" Joel Fuhrman, made wild claims that his book "is all you need" to live a healthy lifestyle and achieve one's weight goals. His diet plan is largely vegan, and is based on foregoing nourishing foods like juicy steaks, farm fresh eggs, tasty cheeses and creams, and grilled sea food. I eagerly read the book and started practicing what Fuhrman preached. I was a very naive at the time and wasn't aware how certain diet advocates will cheat, lie, and deceive to further a particular egalitarian and self-centered agenda, based on dogmatic beliefs.

As I began the diet, I initially felt lighter on my feet, but slowly over time, some profound health issues started to kick in. Even though the scale said I was losing weight, I started to catch on that it wasn't belly fat I was losing, but instead, hard won muscle mass. My belly fat stubbornly remained, but my biceps shriveled, and my chest sank. I started having dizzy spells and began to feel lethargic, weak and depressed. I even started to lose body hair on my legs, and simply had no energy. While I had started out a young strapping man, I started to regress into a 90 lbs weakling and felt older beyond my years.

Since my sex drive had noticeably decreased while practicing Furhman's religious-like diet, my girlfriend begged me to go to the doctor. She got very concerned that I was not looking and feeling myself lately. I insisted to her that I must be healthier, because Dr. Fuhrman's diet has been "proven" to be healthier, but to squash my girlfriend's nagging, I decided to make an appointment with my GP. When my doctor took one look at me, he was startled how much my health had deteriorated. I told him I was on a special vegan diet, and my Doctor, who I would classify as "old school", just shook his head, and mumbled 'ridiculous fad diets, they do more harm than good'. My Doc immediately did all the particular blood work and when the results came in, he was floored by the results. I had low blood pressure and an iron deficiency, my testosterone levels had decreased and my estrogen levels and thyroid functions went haywire (doctor said this was caused from the chalky tasting/poisonous soy products). Most alarming though, I had become severely B 12 deficient.

My doctor profoundly emphasized that I return back to a diet rich in meats, fish, dairies, eggs and healthy fats and to reduce carbs and to give up toxic soy products. My doctor said soy products are known to reduce sperm count, and if I was interested in a future family, I should lay off that chalky juice. He said I could possibly kill myself on Dr. Fuhrman's fad diet, and if I didn't change, he would have me admitted into the hospital.

To make a long story short, I followed my doctors orders, and it took awhile to recover (about 8 weeks), but I'm finally feeling much better and healthier now that I have given up Dr. Fuhrman's health defeating diet.

I wouldn't recommend Dr. Fuhrman's book nor diet to anyone. It is dangerous and deceptive, and based on junk science and I'm surprised Dr. Fuhrman hasn't been sued for malpractice.

This book is mostly a lot of trying to convince you with statistics and scientific advice to eat basically Vegan. While I appreciate the fact that most of the evidence is true, there is not enough direction in the form of menus and recipes. The only way to get more information is to join in (not free of course) on Dr. Fuhrman's website.

Most people who pick up the book I feel already are ready to make a change and don't need the statistical convincing that he feels necessary to fill most of this book. If you are ready to make a change then save your money on this book and just buy a good vegan cookbook and lay off the processed foods(sugar etc). Not worth the money...

I previously read Mike Anderson's book, The RAVE Diet and Life Style, which pretty much encourages the same way of eating. However, it wasn't until reading Eat To Live that it all made even more sense. I particularly found the reference to nutrient density and calorie restriction to be a plus because I was already familiar with the evidence that only by reducing calories can one expect to increase their life span and how those calories you eat must come from nutrient dense foods. [...]

I had been on a vegetarian diet since Jan 15th and only lost about 12 pounds. I then started drinking mostly grapefruit juice and continued losing weight but found myself to be hungry most of the time. Now after using the principles in Eat To Live and eating mostly raw vegetables and fruits I have lost a total of 33 pounds and am still losing! I never dreamed I would lose this much weight in my lifetime. I was 205 pounds and set a goal of 185. After reaching that goal easily, I set a new goal of 175 pounds. I am now at 172 pounds and shooting for 165 pounds because I can still pinch an inch.

I intend on reading Eat For Health as well even though a lot of it may be repetitious. I think it could benefit persons who are not prepared to make the plunge to a vegetarian or vegan diet as I understand it offers alternate plans. It should be mentioned that Dr. Fuhrman does not prohibit animal foods but he does emphasize the importance of a plant-based diet. The salad IS the main dish.

Although recommended by a friend, this was a letdown. Bigger than most diet books.

I'll save you the money and reveal the plot:
1. Why all the other diets are no good, in gory detail - (3/4 of the book)
2. Why you should become a vegetarian (a chapter or so)
3. Some recipes in order to tolerate an all veggie diet

Go to a library to thumb through it. This book isn't a keeper.

This book has changed me forever. I try to follow his nutrient per calorie plan as best as I can and that works for me. I have been a vegan for 11 months now. I will give you my stats before I started his program (by the way, I just read his book and since his theory is "nutritional wisdom makes you thin" I didn't follow it strictly. I just becamse a vegan!)

Feb. 2007:
weight: 137 lbs.
BMI: 22.8
Dress size: 6/8

Now, March 2008:
weight: 118 lbs.
BMI: 19.7
Dress size: 2/4

Total weight lost: 18



I lost the weight without any cravings. You know, the first week I was adjusting a bit, but from then on after the detox mode I did fine. I have lost so much weight and I feel good about myself. The modern american diet kills! Our bodies already make cholesterol. I hope that this book reaches many americans just like it reached me.
Also read:

'The Food Revolution' by John Robbins
:)

UPDATE:
Sept 14th 2009

Still vegan, and STILL thin.
Current weight: 117 lbs.

I buy this book for anyone who even shows the slightest interest in it who I love.

This book is must read for anyone who wants to improve their health and/or loose weight. This is marketed as a weight loss book, but it is more of a nutritional book than anything else. The dietary advice in this book is phenomenal! After following Dr. Fuhrman's advice, my entire household is reaping the benefits of healthy eating. I have personally experienced the following dramatic changes in my health:

1) My psoriasis cleared up within two weeks

2) My blood pressure dropped 20 points

3) My cholesterol dropped over 30 points (now at 128!)

4) Pain in my heal stopped after one week

Also, within two months, wife and I lost over twenty pounds each. We still ate some junk food, so if we had followed his recommendations more strictly, we would have lost a lot more weight.

This way of eating worked so well for us that we started feeding our children a more healthy diet also (if have children, be sure to get Dr. Fuhrman's book on feeding children right). Our eight-year-old used to have frequent colds, fevers, and sometimes ear infections. Because of this, he missed school at least once a month. We changed his diet and even started packing healthy lunches and snacks for him for school. So far so good because he hasn't been sick or missed a day of school in the past six months since we changed his diet. What a complete change!

Dr Fuhrman gives you the way to do it. He says give it six weeks-in three DAYS I felt a major difference. Higher energy, clearer thinking, lost weight. This was alot different from always being sick and tired of being sick and tired. Allergies decreased, anxiety decreased, simply from knowing I once again, after years of fatigue, had the energy to deal with problems. Plus I still enjoy meat, eggs, and dessert, I simply decreased it to once a week and still lost 15 lbs easily. Food binges? Still have them-cantelope, celery amd hummus, salad with spicy mustard etc. This is the answer so many people are looking for! Thanks Dr Fuhrman!!

I never write reviews but I had to this time. This book and what it promotes is welcome news and information for everyone who wants to finally bite the bullet and eat right. I have been an on and off vegitarian for several years and knew the choice was good for me, but did not know how to manage my nutrition and how much to eat. There is so much misinformation out there. This book sets it all out and helped me to realize my so-called healthy eating habbits were not necessarily healthy at all. I was a vegitarian who loaded up on cheese, pies, cakes and pasta. Gaining weight all the time....I loved tofu and veggies but ate far to little of the healthy veggies and fruits my body needed. If you are serious, buy this book and begin on a weekend, you will not regret it. The weight loss is a by product of a healthier life.

I'm 40 and have been on every diet I could find since age 10. That's 30 years of frustration and failure. I'm not morbidly obese, but it's more than a few "vanity" lbs. to lose though. This book has things I've never heard of in it! That's saying a lot since I've had a long dieting career. It's new information that's working for me. The first two weeks of the initial 6 week plan, I lost 14 lbs. and I feel great! None of the other plans ever made me feel this good.

Through this information I'm removing myself from several risk-factor groups that I was not happy to be in.

It's about more than weight-loss, it's about total health, being accountable for yourself and getting real results. My aches and pains are minimal now, too. My husband keeps asking, "Can I eat this...?" To which I just reply, "Honey, just read the book!"

I was introduced to this book and this way of eating by my doctor when I had pre-cancerous cellular change in my esophagus. After two months of eating this way and no medication, I am no longer experiencing symptoms of gastritis and I have lost 20 pounds (so far) without feeling hungry or deprived. I feel the best I ever have. I'm eternally grateful to my doctor for having recommended a lifestyle change over medication. Anyone facing serious medical issues should consider reading this book and adopting the lifestyle. It will change your life for the better!

I read the book cover to cover, was very excited about the information I learned, then went grocery shopping!
My family only lasted a few weeks on the diet. We had horrible stomach pains -- I think maybe it was the sudden increased intake of fiber, especially beans. Maybe we should have eased into it a bit.
We are not back to a full-scale meat-eating lifestyle -- we continue to loosely follow his rules of 90% vegetable matter, but we have added in quite a bit more of the fats.
There are lots of great tips in this book and we are following the ones that we can. But I think it was just too sudden of a change to our family's diet.

After running around, trying to figure out the best way to eat and lose weight, this book brought me back to basics - fruits, vegetables and whole grains. According to Dr. Fuhrman, the typical American diet (even those diets like Atkins, Zone, etc. specifically geared towards weight loss) is toxic, and could actually prevent weight loss. Most importantly though, this book teaches that eating a diet focused on fruits, vegetables and whole grains - one that avoids processed foods, animal meats and sugars - is a way to live and not just for weight loss. This is a great point to remember - losing weight should be a way of life - something that makes our health better forever. Accordingly, this book is for those trying to lose weight (permanently) by making choices that are better for superior health AND for those who are not overwieght who nonetheless suffer from all of the toxic ramifications of the American diet. Its a great read and very educational.

Although this book gives a lot of information about the epidemiological data regarding fats, animal proteins and the correlation with heart disease and cancer, its advice is to basically completely avoid these proteins and eat primarily raw foods. Actually, raw foods can be difficult to digest for many people, and it's just not practical to eat a pound of lettuce per day! I do agree with Dr. Fuhrman that Americans in particular lack the nutrients from fruits and veggies that many other cultures eat regularly, but his solution is terribly austere. I liked that he supported his theory with scientific data, but I disagree that this is the only way to lose weight. He also said that I should be about 30 lbs lighter than I actaully am, and back when I weighed 20 lbs less than I am now, I only wore a size 0 in Gap jeans. I don't see how that is healthy. Additionally, he also fails to really discuss the importance of stress relief and exercise in overall well-being.

In my opinion, the best take-home message from a book like this is to include MORE fresh fruits and veggies and legumes, but not to go crazy about it. You still want to ENJOY life and its delicious foods (at least in moderation).

I never seem to have enough time to follow a diet. I didn't even have enough time to read this entire book. I skipped to the plan for rapid weight loss and followed the most basic plan. It works. I lost pounds, had energy, felt great, did not spend a lot of time preparing foods. I recommend this to everyone I talk to.

It is about time that there is a diet book that takes your health into consideration! With all the diets out there that help lose weight at the expense of your health, it is refreshing and about time someone explained Nutrition and Healthy eating to the general population. Dr. Fuhrman explains not only how to lose weight, but how to get healthy. Like any diet, you have to follow it for it to work, but if you can stick to it for 6 weeks you will notice how much better you feel that you will want to continue eating healthy.
If you want to keep eating the same old stuff that the mass market sells and still lose weight, this is not the book for you.

I just read the book "Eat To Live" and was one of the first to get one. I knew of the phenomenal results Dr. Fuhrman achieved with his patients and had to read his book to understand his methods. Now after reading it I understand why we have an obese society with everyone popping pills to lower blood pressure and cholesterol. More importlantly, Dr. Fuhrman made sense of all the controversy and conflicting opinions in the media and the scientific literature and tied it all together in a comprehensive package that finally makes sense. Once you read the book you will understand why it is imperative every person in America read this book, not merely those who are overweight. Please, pass it on.

This book is a real godsend. My wife immediately read it and outlined the 6 week detox diet. We began the regimen and in two weeks she has lost 18 pounds, I have lost a couple of inches off my waist and a friend had her sugar levels drop from 145 to 81! Her doctor was flabergasted! They were preparing to put her on insulin and in two weeks they found they did not need to do so. Dr. Fuhrman (who personally consults with thousands of patients) has isolated the problems with the processed foods of the American diet and relates the importance of eliminating the source of our poor health and revitalizing our bodies with real and raw foods that supply the enzymes and micronutrients that are essential for long-term health and wellness. In addition to the detox diet which has cured diabetes (type-2) for many people, he explains how to follow a life-long wholesome diet that will bring lasting health. He also includes many personal recipes that can be incorporated into this new lifestyle. This is the new "Health Care Plan for America" that can set you free from chronic disease!

I have type-2 diabetes and on a recent vacation to Hawaii, my wife begged me to go on this diet. I did and my fasting blood sugars have gone from the 180's to the low 80's. I am actually having to reduce my medications (Janumet and Glimepiride) as my daytime sugars are a bit too low. All this happened within the first 4 weeks.

You get used to this diet within a week, and having a wonderful cook as a spouse has, I'm sure, made this much more tolerable. I am VERY luck my wife loves me that much!

I also think it was very helpful to start this during a one-week vacation. The stress of everyday life would have probably made entering this diet a real challenge, and I had little trouble adjusting to everyday life after returning from vacation.

I only gave it 4 stars because my beautiful bride is the only one that deserves 5.

My doctor asked me to read this. She thought that it would supplement my healthy lifestyle. The author makes the point that we are what we eat-essentially that to eat saturated fat and animal products and to barely eat green vegetables will set us up for health problems and early death. He cites many scientific studies to support his theories. His arguments are compelling but he states them to the point of reader exhaustion. This book does not have a lot of suggestions for how one would gradually adopt this way of eating. Overall, I will incorporate some of his ideas. I read his newest books which are more specific about how to eat and live this way including sample menus for the first few weeks. They are too restrictive for me but it seems that they are extremely healthy.

I am a family practice provider. Many of my patients ask why they can't get their weight down. I always recommend a lifestyle change (not a diet). This is the only book I feel good about recommending. It is well researched.

I myself have created this lifestyle change for my family using "Eat to Live" as a guide. It has changed my life forever. We are healthier and all have normal BMIs and great cholesterol results. Every American should read this and at least adopt a portion of this life style change along with regular exercise.

Many years ago, Dr. Fuhrman treated my husband with his diet plan, which significantly lowered his cholesterol levels. Over the years, we slowly started to fall back to our old diet (cheese, more meat, eating out frequently with friends, etc.), and we both gained some weight. Reading this book inspired me again to be fit and healthy. Applying the diet, I lost over 15 pounds in a short time. Eating sensible food is great. I love his diet to live a healthy life, and the cosmetic side effect of being thin and fit. Dr. Fuhrman presented lots of good scientific evidence that supports his theory to those who are big "protein-diet" believers. The book is well written and nicely organized. The recipes are great too. I highly recommend the book and the diet.

Read this book! This is the best health/diet book. It will change your life. It is a relief to find a diet book so rooted in science. There are pages of medical journal citations. And he is not afraid to say I don't know when the science isn't there. He says look they all agree on this - eat more greens! Fill up on them! Low calorie high nutrient foods really are the answer. I feel light and free and so much more mentally here, it is the best feeling! I am very greatful for this book. It has certainly changed my life for the better.

This is the last "diet" book you will ever need. I use the term diet here, but Eat to Live is really the best nutrition book you will find. It is a way of life, not a diet per se. The information presented here is based on the best scientific information available today.

Unlike popular fad diets, Dr. Fuhrman presents the data and the studies to back it up. He gives you the information you need to make informed food choices, to live a long, healthy, disease free, medication free life. Even better, Dr. Fuhrman has an easy writing style, so you breeze right through the book. I found myself not wanting to put it down until finished, and I can't say that about too many nutrition books!

This is a quality book that will change your life for the better. The book includes a 6 week plan for those who need to lose weight, and then there is "the life plan" for once you are at your ideal weight.

I also highly recommend Dr. Fuhrman's book "Disease Proof your Child".

I received this book from a close friend one day and finished reading it that very day. The next morning, I was ready to start Eating to Live.

I've just finished my second week on the weight-loss program prescribed therein, and I've already lost 8 pounds. I look forward to sticking with it. Only rarely do I feel tempted to have something prohibited on the weight-loss plan, and when I do, I simply go back to Fuhrman's book and read his compelling account of how our American way of eating is killing us all slowly. I am satisfied on this plan, and I am enjoying food more than I did before. It's a whole new experience to enjoy the taste of my food while knowing that I'm also treating my body well. We do only get one body, you know.

It's true, the recommendations are restrictive, but really only for the first six-week diet portion of the plan. On the Life Plan, you have much more leeway, as long as you continue to get the nutrients we need from unrefined plant food.

Dr. Fuhrman's book is very well written and easy to read. I browsed through a friend's copy a few weeks ago and started this way of eating with great success, but it really is necessary to read the whole book to understand why it works and how healthy this diet is. I finished reading my own copy within 24 hours ... Now I am even more motivated. (as if losing 10 pounds in 2 weeks wasn't enough!) This is the first diet that doesn't count points or calories or carbohydrates. Rather than cutting back, it encourages you to eat more, much more, of good, healthy whole foods. ...

The 3 stars is because of the recipes -- I rate the actual diet regimen 5 stars. The dietary guidelines are very simple and I must say I am rarely hungry and the weight has been fairly easy to lose (10 pounds). I started keeping a vegan diet over a year ago, based on the mounting evidence of the healthfulness of plant-based nutrition. Consequently, following the strict guidelines laid out in this book was not as difficult for me as it might be for people who are transitioning from a more typical American diet. The data appear to be solid and though the writing is a bit repetitive and cheerleader-y overall it *is* intelligent and motivating. The hardest part is that I am a complete foodie (and--as my partner says--a "cookie") and so finding nonfat and no-salt ways to add flavor to my cooking has been the biggest challenge. Unfortunately, I find many of the recipes in Eat to Live to be pretty bad, with little flavor and even less texture. The food one eats should be the best advertisement for a diet--not the main drawback. So my advice is to buy this book for the valuable diet and information but use other resources(such as Real Daily Food cookbook or the blog fatreevegan) for recipes that you can adapt.

This book has dramatically changed my weight & health for the better.
I challenge anyone to (1)follow Dr. Fuhrman's diet plan "to the letter"
(2)for 6 weeks, then (3)ask yourself if you want to ever go back to
eating the way you did before.
I personaly have done exactly that and I won't go back!
Dr. Fuhrman provides easy, inexpensive answers & solutions to questions
on diet, longevity, and overall health all wrapped up into one method.
Essentially, you use food as a "medicine" - the more you eat, the
healthier you get!
I'll bet you can't eat as much as he recommends for the entire 6 weeks!
I have complete confidence in saying that this book & diet plan by this
"Doctor's Doctor" will radically change your health for the better - you
will not regret it.
Jim

this book should not be read only be people who are obese and want to lose weight. this would also apply to those skinny people who can eat McD's and not gain an ounce.

of course you'll lose weight with Dr.Furhman, but are you only doing it for superficial reasons? will your life be complete with just weight loss? mine isn't. I got far greater motivation from this book knowing how great it makes you feel when you stop poisoning your body .

Read this book, embrace it's teachings, and you will have much more to be happy about then a thin waist. if you are overweight, chances are you don't feel too good each day. your knees hurt, your stomach hurts in the morning after your midnight binge, you have no energy to even get up. you probably have chronic headaches. ending all of that should be your goal also, and you won't find the answer in the bogus commercial diet books and programs.

Eat To Live is a "must read" for anyone who has struggled with loosing weight or just wants to learn about the healthiest way to eat. A diet with plenty of vegetables, fruits and legumes can be as boring or as exciting as you wish to make it. How many times have you stood before the stove and contemplated the 1001st way to make chicken... it's still boring chicken. Dr. Fuhrman's recipes provide a starting point for an unlimited combination of natural foods for very creative and delicious meals. It's the fastest way I have ever lost weight and not been hungry. Sure, I could eat everything and anything, like my parents did, but I know I'm genetically pre-disposed to cancer, so I need to sit up and pay attention to all that Dr. Fuhrman has to say about the food-disease connection.



Where some people go wrong is that they don't realize that eating Dr. Fuhrman's healthy style can actually taste as good - or better - than their present diet. Once you start learning the recipes it becomes effortless and you will be amazed at how quickly your taste preferences change - you actually start craving these delicious, more nutrient rich foods. The Eat To Live plan easily becomes a healthy addiction!

I've always had a VERY HARD TIME losing weight. After making a 100% committment to this plan, I've lost 3.5 pounds in 5 days. You'll learn to get creative with your salads and meals, and there are plenty of recipes out there! My tastebuds are more sensitive. My sugar cravings are all but gone, and my "inner workings" are more regular than they've ever been. I feel better, have energy, sleep well, and best of all, I DON'T have to be hungry. Besides all that, Dr. Fuhrman tells it like it is. No wonder Americans are fat! This is not only the best way to eat, but gives you an eye-opening, fact-based, real-world view of how bad animal products really are for you. READ THIS BOOK! It will change your life.

Nagging nutritional questions after 10 years of off-and-on reading on the subject were suddenly answered in "Eat to Live." Dr. Fuhrman's Food Pyramid snapped everything into place Coupled with the new video "Eating,"..."Eat to Live" jacked up commitment to a plant-based diet by about 50 notches. Sometimes it's easier to jump in and get the cold water part over with than to ease in inch by inch--Dr. Fuhrman's Six-Week Plan is just the ticket.

I started "Eat to Live" because I desperately needed some guidance. I was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 12-08. My first doctor prescribed drugs that made me very ill & he didn't seem concerned about it at all. My blood sugar at diagnosis was 491 & my A1c was 8.9%. (normal blood sugar is 80-140). Almost immediately, my blood sugar became normal & after 3 months on the program, my A1c was 6.0% which is a non-diabetic range. I've also lost 30 lbs which is very important for diabetics. I've been following the program 85%. My blood pressure also became normal. The best part: NO DRUGS FOR ANYTHING!!

Here it is, im going to keep it short and simple. I was 260lbs in March, here i am in August weighing 210 lbs. My goal is 175, and for the first time in my life, i can actually know, not just hope, but flat out KNOW that I will reach this goal.

This book saved my life. Period.

If you are overweight, read this. End of story.

I tried incorporating some of the ideas in this book into my already vegetarian diet in an effort to reduce some of the health problems and joint pain I currently have. I do not need to lose weight, but ironically I gained weight on this diet because I was hungry all the time! Eating mostly fruits and vegetables was filling initially, but the sensation of fullness did not last long. I think that this diet as evidenced by the positive reviews may be very doable and benificial for some, but the extremeness of it, even on the most moderate diet plan was too much for me.

I've read a lot of diet books and didn't follow through most of the time.
This book was recommended to me by a Physician Assistant in my doctor's office. She told me she and her husband were following this diet and it was working out well for them. She and her husband also both look terrifically healthy! So I ordered the book and did what Dr. Fuhrman recommended, I read the whole book before I started. I lost 11 lbs in the first 10 days and am enjoying what I eat. I haven't adhered perfectly to the diet either! It makes good sense, it's a healthy way to eat that you can continue indefinitely.

I followed the plan, fairly closely, eating out from time to time, enjoying a Hardee's biscuit here and there along with a steak every now and then. And, I still lost inches from my waist line. I never weighed. I just went down several pant sizes. Waist size is always a better indicator than simpy going by weight. My blood pressure problem went away. In fact, it went way down beyond what my doctor called acceptable. Yes, I get tired of the large salads but I'll take the low blood pressure, slimmer waist line, and feeling better any day of the week. No other plan I've tried has worked this well.

This book was recommended to me by the world class nutritionists at The Pritikin Longevity Spa, in Florida (www.pritikin.com). These are the people who are helping 80% of people recommended for bypass surgery, avoid the surgery, in a 5 Year followup. (Open www.pritikin.com - Click on Health Benefits, to see the medical journal references). 40% of diabetics get off insulin, in 3 weeks. And, these nutritionists recommended Eat To Live above the Pritikin books! That's not easy for me to say, since I've been a Pritikin devotee for 30 years.

Dr. Fuhrman's Eat To Live is an improvement on the Pritikin, Ornish, Esselstyn, McDougall diets (but completely consistent with them).

The second book everyone should read is The China Study, by Dr. Campbell.

The information in this book is well documented and very useful for anyone iterested in excellent health. He covers all the common disorders in the United States, usually based on poor nutrition. He then gives very easy to follow solutions for the diet to improve one's health. Nothing is off in "left Field" and simple to follow and will increase energy and health levels very early on the diet. I highly recommend this book for anyone interested in improving their health. It's a great reference book...I won't even lend it because I need to look at it on a daily basis. No wonder our local library never had it on the shelves...that's why I finally bought it and have not been sorry.

I've been vegan for years and I thought I was getting all my fruits and veggies... but Dr. Fuhrman has taught me how to achieve the healthiest body possible. He helped us make some major changes in our eating habits - and they were so easy to do! He's a genius!

If you want to be healthy and thrive (and not be just another American that lives at the drs. office and is on some medication everyday of their lives) read this book!

Don't just live - thrive!

Finally, someone who will give it to us straight. Dr. Fuhrman not only does his research, but he interprets it correctly. He doesn't pull any punches, unlike some other "diet" authors who feel the need to cater to our food addictions. If you're ill, or just looking for prevention, Dr. Fuhrman's superior nutritional approach will make a substantial difference, if you're willing to change. His caring, honest attitude resonates through the pages of his book. Unlike others, you don't have to buy anything from him to put into action this plan for high nutrient living.

A friend recommended the book to me, so I ordered a copy. Since summertime is quite busy, it took me about four weeks to read it. Then I began the six-week diet. I am still in that six-week period. But I can tell you that I like the results--more energy and very little hunger. This is something that I find amazing. And AT LAST I am beginning to lose some weight! I greatly appreciate the thought that I gleaned from the book: when you go to a party, party! Then go right back on the diet. That attitude makes this diet realistic. I recommend it to my friends.

I bought this book and was not a vegetarian or vegan. I have lost 20+ lbs in the first six weeks, but more importantly I feel better than ever. I know it is a pretty rigid plan, but if it helps you change any of your bad habits, it is worth it.If you strictly adhere to the plan for six weeks, you will have a diffeent perspective on eating. I do not plan to stay vegan, but I do think I will eat vegan most of my meals from now on.

Disclaimer: I have not read the entire book; I am an MD (retired gastroenterologist). For years we have all known---or should have known---that a vegetarian lifestyle is not only better for our bodies, but also better for our world. Be that as it may, most of us still eat meat, with all its attendant problems, saturated fat being the most harmful as far as blood lipids are concerned. This book promotes a vegetarian to semi-vegetarian diet, and does so quite convincingly. I plan to read the entire work as soon as I solve the rest of the world's problems!

This is by far the best food book I have read. Having lost 25 pounds in the first month, I can attest that the plan is effective, especially when combined with exercise. Apparently, weight loss of 20 pounds in the first month is not uncommon, although the norm is 15 pounds during the first month. As remarkable as the wieght loss plan is, the book is also a trove of information about disease and its relationship to food. For example, there are interesting pages on immune system related diseases, including certain kinds of arthritis, that may be resolved through diet instead of medication designed to surpress the immune system. And, of course, there is also much information about cardiovascular problems, such as high blood pressure, that may be positively affected by a change in diet. Incidentally, I also found the author's website of real use -- but the key is the book and the information in the book.

Eat to Live is a well written diet/health book that makes total sense. Anyone who starts to read this book will not be able to put it down, especially if they are overweight or sick.
The highly critical review written by "Anonymous" is ridiculous!
It is not possible to have anything but positive results on Dr. Fuhrman's diet plan. I believe that gimmick diets, like the Atkins Plan, the Zone, and the Blood Type Diets are dangerous and maybe that is what Mr. Anonymous meant to say. Dr. Fuhrman backs up everything he says with proven scientific studies that no one can dispute.
I have read several other health related books by other doctors and nutritionists and have to say that "Eat to Live" is the easiest to read and understand of all of them. Plus, it is jammed packed with detailed and scientific information. I strongly recommend this book.

The perfect title for the book -- because this is about a lifestyle change to improve health, energy and outlook, rather than just another lose-it-fast fad diet. The book is based on well-researched and presented information that addresses many of the modern ailments without the rush to medication.

The approach DOES take some will-power, because it is very different from the way most of us have been eating for a very long time. But it is the sort of will-power needed to make an intelligent and sustained change in the most important thing that we do for our health--making food choices. If you stick with it, the pay-off comes quickly. You feel so good when you stop eating all the junk that you don't want to go back!

A simple concept: Make the majority of your diet fruits, vegetables, and a small portion of nuts, and get rid of the majority of the processed foods you eat on a daily basis. Eat huge salads and lots of fruit, filling up on foods naturally light in calories but heavy in nutritional value. No wonder most people in America are obese and sick: so much dead, non-nutritional, high-calorie food. I've read so many health and diet books over the years and this one puts it all in a simple to read and easy to follow book. My family eats a good diet to begin with, but this pushes the idea further. Now I'm making my kids fruit salads before breakfast and salads to start dinner. With flu season just around the corner, it can't be anything but beneficial to eat a diet loaded with nutrition to keep you healthy. Do yourself and your family a favor and read this book.

Lost 8 lbs in 12 days and haven't been dieting, depriving, or other undesireables. The type of foods he recommends really do curb your hunger. Eating like this dramatically decreases the cravings, the desire for sweets, salty foods, and processed food tastes pretty bad now.

I actually found this book a bit boring because the information wasn't new to me. I've read all the books by Dr. McDougall and found Eat To Live to just be a updated equivalent with just a different spin on the language used. Dr. McDougall focuses more on a starch based diet, but the info on nutrition is almost identical. You can find similar advice in Dr. Dean Ornish's books as well.

So, if I've read all this info on nutrition, why haven't I lost the weight before? There are two reasons. One, I'm kind of lazy and just didn't put the work in. That was until I read this book. For some reason, reading how much salad and raw veggies I should eat, helped me get on track. Also, reading how much fiber to eat has helped, too. With the McDougall diet, I find I eat too much starch and not enough veggies. Thanks to Eat to Live, I've changed the ratio and eat tons of salad with starch on the side (beans, rice, etc).

The second reason is that I decided I'm finally worth it. I know all this stuff about health, but I've never applied it. My father is getting over having cancer and I wanted to show him how to be healthy. I want to live an example.

I eat fruit in the morning with oatmeal. Then for lunch and dinner, I eat these huge salads with a cup of beans in them. I'm eating 99% vegan and loving it.

Granted, I have cheated and eaten some veggie pizza here and there. Or some ice cream. But I weigh myself daily and lose about 2 pounds a week. I'm sure if I didn't cheat, I'd lose even more weight faster. But I'm happy!

People I see every day are finally starting to notice the weight loss. You can really see it in my face. I've lost 15 pounds so far. I must admit, I had a stomach bug two months ago that caused me to lose 4 pounds. But when I could actually eat again after the bug went through my system, I was eating the Eat to Live way and kept losing more weight.

Strangely, I do not crave junk food anymore. I crave salad! Isn't that weird? I find myself eating junk (the pizza and ice cream) out of habit and for emotional reasons. Yet afterward, I'm not satisfied at all. Also, if I eat pizza for lunch, I'm not hungry for dinner. So I think that helped me not gain additional weight.

I'm very aware now of what makes me feel good after I eat it. Eating the Eat to Live way makes me feel so much better!

What have you to lose except pounds! :) I may write back later with an update about how much more I've lost.

There is no doubt in my mind that this book is the need of today. The number of people with diseases speak for themselves. It is hard to be on the diet but I have definitely gone "salad crazy" and fill myself with raw food first. I do not follow the book strictly and yet I am losing weight. The facts about the other bad diets really opened my eyes. Also, the facts about hydrogenation and trans fats have made me limit my intake of burgers and fries. I have not given up on anything but limited my intake. Now as a family we order one french fry and share it between the three of us. Similarly for cakes, ice-creams and other stuff. I feel great. Thanks, Dr. Fuhrmann

No need to read any diet/health book but this. This is a way of life to reverse disease and maximize health. One benefit of following Dr. Fuhrman's advice is your taste buds will change and you will no longer desire unhealthy food. I was a junk food lover, ate ice cream every day and made frequent trips to fast food restaurants. Now that food just tastes ultra sweet, salty and greasy, Juk! I can't go a day without a blended salad!

This book is outstanding. I was a big disbeliever in nutrition my whole life ... essentially a carnivore. Then I was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis. I followed the advice in this book and my symptoms started getting better - in just a week!

I am 24 year old male and my nutritionist recommended this book to me along with the China Study.

This book makes so much sense, I have purchased over 5 copies already for gifts and loaner books. That is how dedicated I am to getting Dr. FUhrman's message out to people who want to know the healthiest way to eat and live.

This guy truly cares about your health and has reversed and cured tons of people.

You must own this book, everyone in the world should own this book or have at least read it.

$15 for a book that is priceless. Buy this book you will not regret it.

I love this book. Joel Fuhrman is hard in what he says, but he is right and his tips work. It is not easy to follow, but if you can, it is very successful. One tip: read the book till the end, don't let him scare you away with what he says. It will change your life.

I've been on Fuhrman's diet for five months. I prayed for a diet that would be HEALTHY as well as contribute to fat-loss. The secret of Eat to Live is that high-nutrient, high-bulk foods satisfy the body's needs, with the result that you don't feel hungry. As the pounds almost literally fell off, I felt no cravings or nagging hunger whatsoever. The diet makes sense, and it's backed by 27 pages of scientific references. Fuhrman says nothing that he doesn't document with care. Also, he's a former US National Team gymnast, and I'm a very old athlete. The diet works for those practicing intense endurance sports. All you do is bump the carbs a bit, and you still lose tons of weight.

This book is fascinating. It contains so much, what to the everyday reader, is groundbreaking information, that by the end of the book you may be tempted to become vegan. Spotlighted studies, the author has reviewed thousands by the way, include the Oxford China study which found a negative correlation between percentage of fresh produce in the diet and occurance of heart disease and cancer. To learn more about this and other studies as well as basic nutrients and phytochemicals (plant-derived chemicals) I would definately recommend buying this book.

Haing read the same review in the Economist that Marty Wisott includes in his review, I purchased the book. I was not disappointed.

Even if you don't buy off totally on the Fuhrman diet, this book is valuable because it presents great information and advice on nutrition and diet and points out the defects in the various pop diets that are out there, notably Dr. Atkins'. Dr. Fuhrman has obviously spent a great deal of time analyzing and reconciling the many nutritional studies dealing with the effects of diet on health, and his conclusions make sense.

This book is cutting edge and revolutionary when it comes to health. For the past 50+ years American's have been consumed with counting calories and cutting the fat or carb content in their diet. This book offers a revolutionary approach to judging the quality of a diet with Nutrient Density which is the amount of Vitamins, Minerals, Phyto-nutrients, and Anti-Oxidants found in foods.

He even has a way to score yourself and has a chart that ranks out a foods nutrient density per 100grams. For instance Kale ranks 1000 points where Oatmeal is about 50. So per 100grams you would have to eat like 20 bowls of oatmeal to equal 1 bowl of Kale!!! This book really puts diet and nutrition in perspective and also talks about the current pitfalls in the current American health model.

As a Physician myself, this book has helped changed my life and many of the patients I have read it.

At the risk of being attacked by (what appears to be) a crazed following, I want to share my thoughts for others who may be in the same position as me approaching this book.

I heard about this in People magazine after Alanis Morrisette said it changed her life. And she looked amazing! She picked up running marathons and was glowing and trim. The reviews for this book on Amazon are also extremely high, which usually bodes very well.

My criticism is that it's very hard to follow and I think unrealistic for the vast majority. I won't go into the scientific evidence and all that-- right or wrong in the details, the general concept is sound. My problem is that this is very close to a vegan diet (yes, he allows for some non-veg options but advocates extremely small amounts). So if you can basically go vegan, you can follow this diet [as other reviews have pointed out]. I am not a vegetarian, much less a vegan. If I could follow what is essentially a detox-style diet forever, I would. Also, I'm not in the position of being overweight or diabetic, I just want to be more healthful and fit, and this approach is too aggressive for me.

That said, I will focus on eating a lot more fruits, veggies, and beans, and less meat and dairy. The focus on nutrients rather than empty calories is good.

While it's clear that many people have had great success following this plan, and I applaud the idea of filling your diet with macronutrients, I would caution anyone with a history of eating disorders to be very careful with this plan. There are many rules and many forbidden foods, which can be triggering. If you do decide to try this plan, I would highly recommend doing so with the help of a counselor or nutritionist, or your doctor. Sometimes we can fall back into old, bad habits by convincing ourselves it is for our health.

If you do what he says in the book, it works. People can debate health and say "oh, a little of this is ok" but the truth is, our bodies don't need a lot of what we put into them. One egg, the occasional fast food, a candy bar. Our bodies don't need these things to live. Just like we wouldn't put dirt in our cars to run "just every once in a while" because our cars don't need it. In fact, it's bad. The same goes for a lot of the things we eat.

My husband and I had become vegetarian a year ago after reading "Skinny Bitch," but we were eating badly. We seemed to compensate for giving up prime rib by eating mass quantities of pancakes and baked goods. So we didn't lose any weight or get any healthier. That's not the fault of SB, they warn against dairy and sugar and fat food, we just didn't follow it. I concluded that we needed a more detailed and specific weight loss plan for vegetarians, and this came up in my search. We have been on it for 6 days now and it is definitely causing weight loss. I have lost 8 pounds, he has lost 12. We both feel good, and more importantly, hopeful. It's too soon to tell what will happen in the long run, but today this is actually working.

The book has all the nutritional discussion up front that I expect in a diet book. It gives a lot of information, much of it familiar, some of it new and startling. (Fish oil might be bad for you.) Where it excels is that you can go straight to the plan, starting on page 175, and get busy. He includes a shopping list. The plan is simple and easy to follow.

He is sympathetic to the idea that giving up all the foods we love (or even like) is painful. He encourages the reader that if we stick to this for 6 weeks, we will lose our cravings and enjoy eating healthier. I hope he is right. I have to say that today I am looking forward to my salad, and I never thought that would happen.

I gave it five stars because he delivers what he promises, there is no "bait and switch" or pseudo-mystical components to this book, and no pseudo-science either, which sometimes happens in a self help or diet book. It is organized in a way that makes it useful and simple to follow. When I have a question, it is easy to find the answer.

This book has offered me a way to change my life that I find appealing and also realistic. It is also quick. It is as close to instant gratification as a diet can get. It offers a way to lose 20 pounds in six weeks without having to have your gall bladder out, and then offers motivation to adopt this as a permanent lifestyle. I recommend it to anyone who wants to give up obesity and live a truly healthy and highly sustainable life.

This is an excellent guide to healthy eating and living. I started following the eating guidelines 3 weeks ago and have lost 6 pounds with no effort (other than cutting up lots of veggies). If you decide to follow the guidelines, it is important to see it as a lifestyle change, rather than a temporary diet. You will NOT be hungry, and you WILL feel great!

This book is incredible in the amount of valuable information it contains. You can lose all the weight you want, lower your cholesterol levels, and your blood pressure, and live a LOT longer if you follow his advice. The only negative thing I have to say is that unless a person is very self disciplined they're going to find it difficult to live on salads with no dressing for the rest of their lives. He allows all the fruit and veggies (mainly green leafy vegetables) you want and legumes (beans) and a tiny amount of nuts; that's it. I definitely believe he's right but for most people I know it would be very difficult to adhere to. The book does contain a wealth of information on health. I don't know if I can ever eat a diet that strict but I am definitely eating a lot more fruit and veggies and a lot less carbohydrates after reading this book.

I have lost 25 pounds during the first six weeks and have absolutely no cravings for unhealthy food. I am so excited to know exactly what I am eating because I am not eating strange chemicals or unhealthy foods. Great life changing book!

I found this book to be a revelation. Our culture of food is so fast and confusing, and Joel Fuhrman's book cuts through all of the misinformation. If anyone wants to learn how your body works, what foods give you what energy, this book is for you. Eat to Live teaches people how to eat, and is only a "diet" book because eating right equals a healthier and leaner body. There are no shortcuts, and this book is serious about teaching you all the information so you can own your health. I would suggest it to anyone feeling displeased with their body, and betrayed by "fad diets."

I am so amazed at how different I feel since I started following the advice in this book. I though I was eating healthy before I read this book. Now I know how my body reacts to the foods I have avoided when I try them again. I have no desire to cheat because I can easily tell what isn't good for me. I will be keeping this book, get your own copy!

Eat to Live is the perfect complement to T. Colin Campbell's The China Study. Drs. Fuhrman and Campbell share the same fundamental philosophy to nutrition and health living, namely, eat whole foods, mostly fruit and vegetables, and minimize consumption of animal products (fat and protein). Fuhrman does a much better job describing in detail the relationship between nutrition and human disease. As a practicing physician he has clearly mastered the art of explaining complicated biochemical processes in a concise but simple way. This book is a MUST READ for anyone who wishes to take control of their health in an informed, logical, and proven way. This is also a way for Americans to reclaim their lives and bodies from the politically powerful special interest groups such as the meat and dairy associations, Madison Ave., multi-national fast/junk food corporations, and their representatives in Washington.

I have read the E2L book and most of the reviews on this page. I think people must not read the book thoroughly... If you are buying or considering this book, please give it a chance. After the first 6 weeks he says you can eat what you want in moderation in the 10%. Slowly adding in meat & dairy if you wish.

This is a drastic change from the way most modern Americans eat, but not that far off from how our grandparents, (my grandmother is in her mid-90's) used to eat. Reality check folks, you wouldn't be thinking about this book if you didn't need nutrional help! Don't bash a book with sound advice if you happen to not agree with eating vegetables. The Dr. clearly states this does not have to be a strict vegan diet several times, but yet meany reviewers latch on to that notion.

If you are thinking about a lifestyle change buy this book!

This book is an eye opener. Here I was, eating skinless poultry cooked in olive oil to lose weight. Now I understand the dismal results. Actually I never thought of some of the concepts presented here. For example, if I take 1 lb of concentrated fat and add 10 lbs of water/junk to it, I have a product that is 90% fat free! which still contains all that fat and junk to boot. But be forewarned, the idea here is to eat a lot of veggies/fruits to fill up, which may not be an easy thing for you. I like a medium well steak as well as the next guy, but I am perfectly willing to give up some of the so called pleasures of eating in return for a good chance that I will never have to hear those dreaded words "we need a biopsy..." or for a good chance of never waking up with partial paralysis from stroke or a cardiovascular disease. How about you? As Dr Fuhrman says - food tastes horrible in a coffin.

I obtained the copy of this book in the summer of 2008.I was reading it for a few weeks, some chapters only once, some of them numerous times. It made sense. I have to admit, I was pushed in this direction before, by herbalists, ayurvedic doctors, detox/cleansing advisers, but in this book everything was spelled out, everything was chewed down for me.Lots of instructions and directions, less guidelines. This doc doesn't leave to much of the gray zone.
On Avg.27'09 I started it, after visiting my doctor, and getting pretty ugly picture of my near future, without to much hope for the far future. Cholesterol of, triglycerides of, sugar borderline. Weight, let not use scale, but BMI 46.9 Morbidly obese. Doc, I am glad we had that talk.
It wasn't to much fun first few weeks, lots of bloating, cramping. In times I was avoiding to eat, just to prevent further bloating. But, since day two I start filing difference. I slept better. Second week I was able to take full breath, third week walking become easier.Few more interesting improvements happened in the following weeks.By week 6 I felt so good that I decided to stick with program for indefinitely. I was finally feeling good and not hungry. I have to much energy. Even I walk on the job, I can't get tired. My feet may hurt, but 30 minutes later I am ready for more. Night before thanksgiving I went to gym and renew my membership. By Christmas just walking on the treadmill wasn't enough so, I had to start jogging. 30-45 sec. at the time, with 1-2 min. walk as a break. Two miles, most days of the week.
December 4th I had checkup with my doc. Her assistant asked me if I felt good, she was worried that I might be sick. I felt great. My lab work come god, except for the good cholesterol, that has to be improved through exercise. As I discussed with my Doctor, I achieved better results with this way of eating, than what I could expect to achieve with a surgery for the weight loss. And, let me point it, without surgery. She is considering lowering of my medication for high blood pressure. Yes, I presented my doctor with a copy of the Eat to Live. She can help more people than I can do. But, since then, the only present somebody can receive from me is the copy of this book.
Yesterday, my BMI was 34.8 Still morbidly obese, but, more then 1/4 of me is gone, and I hope to lose another quarter, I hope to become a half of men I use to be. Four months and one week in the program, I am a happy camper. And I am still loosing, thou now 2-3 pounds a week, but I am not a saint, I go out and have not favorable choices(rarely), when I travel I even eat in the fast food places, but less and best available choice. When I am a guest in somebody's home, I eat favorable food a lot, and not favorable, I share with somebody. I'll have a glass of Merlot, or two. My two miles footing/jogging will cover for that.
What do I know about reviewing a book? Not much. But I "know" that this is the way to eat. I feel better today then in my 20's, and the only regret I have, is that I found this book now, instead of 30 years ago. I am still grateful for knowledge I received from this book. In the way, I am pushy for this "health management system", suggesting my friends with weight and weight related problems to buy the book and give it a honest try. Everybody has to decide for them self. As Dr. Fuhrman mentioned in the book, my health is my responsibility, not my doctor's, not anybody's else.
Did you notice, nobody teach us (or lets say, rarely) how to do most important things in the life.
For the purpose of how to eat, this book should be a manual for the mandatory subject in the school.
Just my opinion.

This is essentially the Raw Food Diet without oils or salt. I was expecting something more from all the hoopla associated with this book --- but the info is good. and yes, if you live on a raw food veggie diet, you will feel great within days, lose weight and be healthy! Throw in some raw nuts and legumes and you're set. It's kind of a no brainer. Maybe this book gets all the attention because it is written by a medical doctor.

I really liked reading this book. I am not a vegan, but want to be healthier in my diet choices, and I so appreciated the facts presented on the benefits of natural whole foods. I liked that Dr. Fuhrman never scolded meat eaters, but rather presented documented facts and well-researched material that points to why meat may be a huge problem. I was fascinated by this book because I love to read about nutrition, and there were many things in his book I was not aware of. Highly recommend this, especially to those with cancer history, personal or in family as I have.

This does seem to be more than a typical diet book: you know the type. "Lose weight instantly by eating all the same crud you've always been eating, only MORE!", and where we are expected to trust that the author's recommendations are sensible and healthy because he or she is an "expert." This book, on the other hand, makes the very rational point that if you want to achieve significant results in terms of weight and overall health, you have to make equally-significant changes to your lifestyle and eating habits. In preparing for this book, Dr. Fuhrman reviewed nearly 4,000 studies on health and diet. He arrives at a number of useful conclusions about what he calls the Mainstream American Diet (M.A.D.), as well as what we should be eating. These conclusions are all the more remarkable for being intuitive. The good Doctor also thoroughly debunks a number of other diet books and their authors, whom he considers (with considerable scientific backing) to be [...]. A good read.

It amazes me how many people are - and pardon me for saying this - ignorant when it comes to nutrition. The main premises of this book (the entire premisise, actually) can be summed up into this: Eats alot of vegetables and fruit, make your limited amount of grains whole, and stay away from all animal based products. That is a very simple policy that has a very profound effect. This book is not about losing weight. It is about getting healthy, which in turn makes you lose weight. Everyone should read and follow this book, even if you are skinny to begin with.

I feel so much better after implementing the instructions in "Eat To Live". Not only that but I lost substantial weight (Even Though I Did Not Completely Follow All the Suggestions) and never really felt hungry. Perhaps the best advice in "Eat To Live" is on blended salads. Worth its weight in gold.

If you want to regain your health - and to stay in health permanently - then this is a book you shouldn't miss to read. Please take into consideration, other than many books dealing with health and nutrition these days, this very book comes without any "disclaimer". There's no need for having a "disclaimer", and that's good that.
The information provided herein about proper nutrition as the leading factor to loose weight and to prevent degenerative diseases is compelling and based on fact and experience. The present explosion of obesity, diabetes, cancer, heart attacks, strokes and other preventable diseases and afflictions, are by far beyond crisis! Dr. Joel Fuhrman provides conclusive evidence on how to stop them. A must-read for everyone concerned about her or his health and the health of their loved ones!
Andre Bessler of Bremen, Germany

This book has it all including nutritional information and recipes. Since the purchase, I have lost several pounds. It is more than a weight loss book. It is a "help" book to change your way of eating and make it a lifestyle not just weight loss. This book is knowledge!

You'll find a lot of info in this book but in some ways it's a little extreme. This book states that the average healthy weight given to us from the medical society is wrong and that to be healthy you must wiegh MUCH LESS that the average healthy weight.

As a physician who graduated from medical school recently, I really wish we would have been taught to better educate our patients about how much their diets can affect their daily health. We really did not get the training in proper nutrition ourselves. Basically, we learned what diets to write for an inpatient non-diabetic, a diabetic inpatient, a cardiac inpatient, and morbidly obese inpatients. If such a diet as is described in this book was presented to us, we may have been pushing this to patients instead of pushing meds as the only option for improving hypertension, atherosclerosis, and diabetes. I'm a strong advocate of meds as long as they are prescribed responsibly. If this diet can reduce the number of meds a patient is on, so much the better. This is a great book and I'm trying to work at incorporating more fruits and veggies and cutting out animal meats from my diet. Thanks Dr. Fuhrman!

THE POUNDS MELT OFF!!! And I can eat as much as I want. I have a huge appetite, and when I was eating the wrong stuff it went strieght to the waste. Now that I'm eating right I can eat as much as I want when I want and not have to worry about gaining weight. I've lost 15 pounds in three weeks and lovin the extra energy I've had lately. It's an eye opening book. IT HAS CHANGED MY LIFE!!!

Being a Health Educator I have many books on my shelf about nutrition. This is one of the books besides The China Study that I keep referring back to for my classes. I had high cholesterol for most of my life (over 225) and was diagnosed with Hashimoto's Disease in 1999. Since switching to a Vegan Diet, I've lowered my cholesterol under 150, lost those "last 5 pounds", increased my energy levels naturally, and kept myself from going on meds for the Hashimoto's. Every one of my friends who have read the book have had similar results. None of them want to go back to the old way of eating and neither do I. I really can't because my tastebuds are permanently changed and I know too much information about how harmful the Standard American Diet fare is for my health. I highly recommend reading this book along with The China Study as part of a person's nutrition education for lifelong health.

I am in the 6-week challenge right now, and I have to say that I feel better now than I have ever in my life. This book is right on target and has given me information that I didn't know existed but recognized as truth as I read it. It was highly educational. I would recommend this book and lifestyle to anyone who wants to be healthy and strong!

A friend of mine borrowed me this book to read. I loved it so much that I bought three more copies! One for myself, and two for family members! While I am not a vegetarian in any way, Dr. Fuhrman does an EXCELLENT job of talking about why it is so important to eat well. He talks about all the benefits of fruits and veggies and LESS meat. I think it is so important for people to read and use as a guide in eating, esp. since I have heard our childrens life expectancy is going down because our society is so obese. Truly worth purchasing.

This book is a sane, sensible approach to healthful eating. It particularly focuses on weight loss, although it is a plan for anyone who wants to live long without the debilitating diseases brought on by poor eating habits. It is simple (no counting calories or fat grams or keeping food charts)and allows one to eat a lot of food...thereby always feeling satisfied. I would recommend it to anyone dealing with high blood pressure, atherialscerosis, diabetes, water retention, etc.

I loved Dr. Fuhrman's new book. It's an easy read, packed with powerful arguments for a plant based diet that I can credibly share with friends and family. I really liked the way Dr. Fuhrman picks apart the myriad of popular diets from high protein to "blood type", all of which som many of my friens and family have mistakenly tried. His recipies are also great and easy to prepare. I loved his last book--Fasting and Eating for Health--and can't wait for his next book.

I've read many health and weight loss books and now after reading Eat To Live by Dr. Fuhrman I am ready to throw them all in the garbage. This book explains it all with a marriage of common sense and solid science. It has changed my life!

I bought this book for the (mostly) vegan life plan intending just to consider the 6 weeks weight loss plan. The large amount of glowing reviews factored in. That has usually served me well, but not in this case.

As he recommended, I read through the entire book before making a decision. The overbearing, rah-rah snake-oil salesman tone of the first chapters bothered me but I kept reading to give it a chance. I read it carefully, every word. Checked some of his more dubious info, too - China study data, "true" hunger is in the throat, romaine lettuce is a super source of protein. Sigh. Wasted $.

I haven't read all nearly 400 reviews and their comments but I went back and read a bunch more and I seem to be the only one who suspects that Dr Joel has an eating disorder and the only people who can "succeed" on this diet are those who also have a disorder.

To me, there is a huge red flag when he proudly relates that he has had many patients who come to him after being on his plan and tell him that all their friends and family are saying they are now too thin. Dr Joel is delighted to show them how they still have "too much fat".

That is wrong, unhealthy and dangerous is so many ways.

Eat lots of veggies. There. That's the best thing from the book.

I became vegan before reading ETL, and I'm currently reading The China Study. Both books have similar themes: our bodies were designed for whole foods, plant based diet and exercise. Without either, we put ourselves in harms way.

What rang true to me was Dr. Furhman's ridiculously simple concept of nutrient density. I've taken nutrition courses, read tons of information on nutrition, and yet this simple concept eluded me until I read his book. In a very simple nutshell, he asks the reader to take a really good look at their diet and to eat (until full, by-the-way) meals that are nutrient dense instead of calorie dense. I don't know why that was an "a-ha" moment for me, but it was. I've adopted this concept into my diet, and without trying, without hunger and without thinking I needed to, I've dropped over 12 pounds in about 4 months.

I took off 1 star because what I didn't care for was his style of trying to write a another diet book. I get that people love the next best diet, but I found it annoying. The concept of nutrient density felt so truthful and important, that I felt that the "diet" aspect clouded this truth.

Like I said earlier, The China Study is similar in concept. However, is more data reporting while ETL tends to be written on the basis of observation. The China Study appealed much more to my husband.

I very heartily applaud Dr. Fuhrman for speaking the truth about what our bodies need to work properly until our end. Just try not to get so caught up about it being a "diet" book.

Finally, round out your reading about animal farming so that you can get a clear idea of how harmful it is on many, many levels: the harm to the animals before ending up on our plate, the harm to our food, the harm to our environment, and the harm to our bodies. Once you put the pieces together, your life will forever be positively changed.

My wife got to the garbanzo beans and threw the book in the wood stove

I have been following this book for just one month and I feel sooo much better and the weight is falling off! Very happy this book was recommended to me! It's been very informative!

I have read, perhaps, a dozen books on weight loss, healing and reversing heart disease, and this is at the top of the heap. Highly recommended. He deviates from many of the supplement, fix it with a pill, self appointed weight loss gurus and cardiologists by recommending a more homeopathic approach to wellnes with some radical thinking - imagine someone so bold as to suggest that we eat unprocessed whole foods that our body was made to have. And to provide supporting documentation of same. Imagine that!

Even if you arent ready yet to trash that big mac, or radically cut back on animal protein, it is obvious that Joel is in the knowel and closer to the truth than all the other guessers out there speculating on the root cause of obesity and disease. Challange your paradigm and read this book. Highly informative and thought provoking. And better yet, just plain good common sense.

Another book highly recommended to those interested in treating or reversing heart disease, is 'Track Your Plaque'

Mr. Furhrman, by the way, does not say fish it bad for you. Based on the China Study and others, he simply suggests limiting your amount of animal protein, and gives a target amount. The China Study showed that cardiac disease, cancer, and others illess showed its ugly head in regions of China that consumed high amounts of animal protein. He did say, that in some instances, adding a little fish proved helpful. However, he put a cap on the total amount of animal protein recommended and lumped the total amount of fish being eaten with with chicken and meat. Excessive Red meat consumption is almost a given, along with consuming processed foods, to contibute to premature death and poor health. I would have liked to see a specific reference validating whether or not limiting the amount of fish (assuming weight gain is not an issue) is as important as other animal protein in reducing disease.

I found this to be a good read. It definitely convinced me to change my diet. In fact, I think it should be required reading for citizenship because after reading it, it should be obvious that our health care crisis is really a diet crisis. Nutrition is a huge topic and no book about it can be perfect. So, while Fuhrman's recommendations are a huge improvement over the typical American diet they don't take into account several important considerations. In short, this book is incomplete and outdated. A few examples:

On page 49 it looks like frozen spinach is an excellent source of iron. But, spinach contains oxalic acid which forms a complex ion with the iron makes the iron unavailable. This property of oxalic acid makes it a useful ingredient in some rust stain removers.

Some foods are excellent sources of some nutrients, but deficient in others. Without a genius memory or good menu or diet analysis software there is a risk of coming up short in some nutrients. The USDA's SR-21 can be searched online, but it's labor intensive. I wish Fuhrman's somewhat simple approach were optimum, but it's not.

Knowledge of human nutrition is still incomplete and new discoveries are being made. A recent (July 2009) of Readers Digest says that plums or prunes may to be able to reverse osteoporosis in post-menopausal women.

Fuhrman is an M.D., not an agronomist. Contrary to what he says, there are very few nearly perfect soils in the world. Having just spent two years on a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) farm one of my first tasks was a soil analysis. While the soil supported 140-foot tall fir trees, it was woefully inadequate for optimum vegetable production. It came up short on the usual nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium scale, but also calcium. sulfur, copper,and boron. Even then humans have more essential elements than plants. So while a soil may supply all the elements necessary for the plants' life cycles it may not supply all the elements necessary for humans. Given the fact that many vegetables are grown hydroponically there is the possibility that they lack nturients that might be found in vegetables grown on a good soil. Also, in talking with the soil analysis people about their recommendations for organically approved amendments I learned that potassium sulfate (sulfate of potash) was the prefered source of potassium and not potassium chloride (muriate of potash). Potassium chloride would degrade the taste of vegetables. Potassium chloride is cheap and found in many fertilizers so I suspect most of our conventional vegetables are fertilized with it and therefore don't taste as good as they might. Anyway, the broccoli we we grew actually tasted very pleasant. If vegetables all tasted good, it would be easier to sell the idea of eating more of them.

As was been mentioned in another review. studies have shown organically raised produced is often nutritionally superior to conventionally raised produce. However, I do not necessarily like the Organically Certified label. The food industry has lobbied to make it so expensive to comply that only large farms can pay for the expensive testing that is necessary for each crop grown. So again deep pockets may have perverted a good idea to their advantage.

Freshness of food is critical to keep the nutrient content high. If food loses 50% of some nutrients in shipping and storage, does the low price stll make it a bargain or would you be better off buying local? Long trips to market also damage produce and make it unattractive.

Currently, the movie Food, Inc. is playing. It identifies several problems with our food prouction. While I agree with Fuhrman that our meat consumption is too high, it is also true. as Food, Inc.shows, that the meat (and eggs) we do eat comes from animals that are being fed an unnatural diet - no grass and a lot of corn and soybeans. The eggs we produced on the CSA farm came from pastured chickens. Given the chance, chickens will eat a lot of grass and other green vegetation. The result is high omega-3 eggs with superior taste, but with a much higher price too. But cheap chicken feed is cheap because the components -- corn and soybeans -- are subsidized by tax dollars in the form of crop subsidies to large multi-national corporations.

Improving the health of our nation is dependent on individual choices.
We can vote with our food shopping dollars and with our ballots. Knowledge is key in either choice.

So I think Fuhrman's book is a step in the right direction, but it omits many considerations that would lead to even better diets and a better food production system.

BTW, in my quest for the perfect diet I am also reading Foods to Fight Cancer by Richard Beliveau and Osteoarthritis: Preventing and Healing Without Drugs by Peter Bales, M.D.

I have been Raw/Vegan for almost nine years, and have read MANY books on the subject. Eat to Live is a simple, no nonsense approach to a healthy lifestyle, one that will rid you of fat and disease. I could write a novel of the benefits I have experienced, one of which is having maintained a 70 pound weight loss for almost 9 years. Eat to Live tells you how to do exactly that "EAT TO LIVE" while most Americans are "living to eat." It discusses several diet and nutritional myths that Americans continue to believe, ones that keep us sicker and fatter than ever before. If you're looking for a something that will work - give it a month...what do you have to lose? It's not a diet, rather a lifestyle you can live with.

This book gives clear, research based information explaining how food is related to health. Plus when you eat for nutrition, weight loss follows automatically. Following Dr. Fuhrman's recommendations, I have lost about 35 lbs, and my husband has lost over 120 lbs. He has struggled with his weight and many other health issues for years, and many of his health problems have resolved since starting the plan last Dec. We can now do so many things that were difficult or impossible before. Its like getting your life back!
I would highly reccommend this book. PS-The book offers non-vegan options.

I can't say enough about this book or his very informative website! Not only did I lose weight painlessly and easily with almost TOO much food but I have never felt so good and energetic in all my 44 years! I don't worry about diabetes, high cholesterol or blood pressure now. His book saves people's lives and will save the planet, not to mention the factory farmed, drug filled animals.

This book changed my life, literally. I highly recommend this book for anyone who plain enjoys a good read. It is NOT (in my humble opinion) a "diet" book. Joel Fuhrman has done all the research for you, now you will have the knowledge you need to change your eating habits. I did, and I will never go back!

This book is well worth the money and time. I bought it with the intent to get another perspective on losing a little weight, but this book is that and so much more.

Every claim in this book is backed by a specific medical study, and he explains how and why his plan works and why some other "fad" diets don't. And it just makes sense. And it's not all about denying calories - which is SO hard to do - it's about understanding what food does to your body.

In addition, you'll learn how to drastically decrease your risk of getting cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke, and more of today's biggest killers. I feel much more confident in my ability to take care of my health and not nearly as scared that cancer is just "in my genes."

Once you read this book, you will feel like a nutritional genius.

This is only my second week on Dr. Fuhrman's diet and I feel awesome, better than I ever have in my life! I didn't buy this book to lose weight, only to get educated and start living a healthy lifestyle. However, I did lose 6 pounds (which is a huge plus) and gained a lot of energy. Also, I've seen an improvement with my skin (I have Rosacea, and the redness is going away).
I am very glad I picked up this book while I'm still young and before I start to have children, because now I know how to prevent my family and I from diseases while getting the nutrients and vitamins we need. I HIGHLY recommend this book to everyone, and you can bet I will continue living this lifestyle for the rest of my life!

This has proved to be a life saver for me. Not only am I losing weight and feel so good but my blood pressure is going down and I feel better than I have in many years. There is so much information in this book and its user friendly approach to understanding it all makes this book a must read!! If not to save yourself then to give you positive information regarding general health and nutrition. Buy it! Read it! Live it!

A scientific and worthwhile guide to using food as a medicine and to lose weight effectively.

Dr. Fuhrman is exceptionally wise in his understanding of what the body needs to work optimally. This was an informative, educational, advance study of human nutrition. It was well written for the lay person and professional alike. You end this book with a deeper understanding of what causes the body to breakdown and, even better, how to rebuild your health. We don't need to fear "catching" most diseases. We need to fear what we are doing to cause it. I highly recommend this book.

This book can make a change in your life for the better. All you have to do is read and incorporate it into your daily life. I've lost 8 lbs since reading it, also blood pressure has come down. Highly recommend this way of eating to anyone.

This book is a straightforward instruction on nutrition and how to become healthy and stay fit without using drugs or gimmicks. Dr. Fuhrman, the author is a cardiologist practicing in New Jersey. As he explains when his patients come to him for help with high blood pressure for example, rather than prescribing drugs, Dr. Fuhrman asks the patients if they are willing to follow an 8 week eating program to naturally reduce their blood pressure. Many patients follow this recommendation and achieve dramatic results of increased health. Incredibly, many doctors in the west do not study nutrition and are not able to competently advise us patients. Not Dr. Fuhrman. He describes all types of foods and what their benefits are to our health. He explains how to prepare them and includes numerous recipes in the book. I started this plan and in 8 months I had dropped 45 pounds, normalized my blood pressure, and reduced my sugar and cholestorol levels to well within recommended limits. I also felt 20 years younger and lost my joint pains. I you need one book to lose weight and improve you health dramatically, read this one. If nothing else, you'll become a nutrition knowledgable person and be able to determine valid products and foods from the scams out there, and sadly, there are too many of these.

This book is fantastic! It has changed my life. I've lost 40 pounds and I feel better and look better. Thank you Dr. Fuhrman!

I was so loyal to protein. I never went as far as Atkins because I couldn't comprehend how that diet could possibly be healthy, but I cycled regularly between the Zone, Dr. Perricone, Fat Flush, Eat Right 4 Your Type, and other high-protein, moderate carb plans. But cancer rates in my family are exceedingly high and usually develop around age 40 - - I read the China Study and other reports linking cancer to animal protein.

I grudgingly bought this book. I went to a cafe, ordered an omelette, potatoes & and toast and read it sequentially, as he recommends. I finished it that evening and committed to the 6-week launch.

The first thing I noticed was I was never hungry. The only time I approached hunger was upon awakening. I'd eat a piece of fruit while preparing the rest of my breakfast and on I'd go. However, I almost gave up the first week because I had so much belly pain from all the fiber. A couple of times, I even vomited when I tried to eat my dinner because I was so stuffed from everything else I'd eaten during the day. Later, I realized this was simply an adjustment stage along with detox: the congestion was clearing from my head and I was getting queasy from the draining.

I was trim before starting this (for a 21st century American, anyway) - - I lost 3 pounds the first week, and my allergies cleared. My complexion was glowing by day 6. Amazingly, I had more energy than before and my body temperature even went up a little! Before doing this, I was constantly cold. It has revved up my metabolism. The first month, I lost 11 pounds and have stayed at that weight (my college weight) ever since. I feel great and take great comfort knowing I'm making the best choice to cultivate health in the short and long term.

What continues to amaze me is how thoroughly I'd internalized the message that high protein is the solution to weight loss. I now see that the weight control benefits of The Zone, Perricone, etc. had more to do with the high levels of recommended fruits and vegetables than with the high protein.

I was suffering serious digestive problems, they have all cleared up. The weight-loss was just an added benefit. Makes me so sad to remember all the crazy diets I have been on in my life when all that was needed was a little common sense. Lost 35lbs so far. Not feeling deprived because I've finally found a way of eating that doesn't make me feel ill while doing. No bad moods, dizziness etc, just lots of energy and great health!

I'm not necessarily looking to lose weight; I got this book to learn how to eat right and avoid infirmity. It's a well-researched and interesting read that leaves, for me, no doubt about what's killing us and how not to become another statistic. If you want to know how to avoid the classic killers - heart disease and cancer - then read this book. No gimmicks, no fads, just the absolute obvious truth: it's your lifestyle, dummy, and until you start eating the basic foods your body has evolved to consume, you're a sitting duck. Knowing that truth makes it harder to eat the bad stuff, so fill your head with this wisdom and live long!

For those of you who have a hard time imagining 1Lb of raw veggies can be easy to eat I have a solution.... high speed blenders and green smoothies! I recently found out I needed to cut down (or out) on gluten, soy and dairy. I thought I had a very healthy diet, because I was a flexatarian and didn't eat much processed food and meat, and the dairy and wheat consisted mostly of whole wheat I gound myself and plain yogurt. After reading about the health benifits of green smoothies I bought a Vitamix in order to have fast options for incorporating more veggies. The green smoothies were so delicious and filling I wanted to substitute two meals a day with them, but didn't want to cut my calories down too much even thought I have 20-30 lbs to lose. Ater some research I stumbled on Dr. Fuhrman's book, and I am now convinced I am on the right path. I have been having an extremely hard time losing any weight even when severely restricting calories, but since starting Dr. Fuhrman's plan less than a week ago I have lost 4 lbs. and have plently of energy and am not constantly hungry. I was worried about four servings of fruit and blood sugar problems but I have not been shakey or had a headache all week. The blended smoothies make it very easy to fit in the high volume of green veggies! I am very happy I came across this book, and will update in a few months!

At age 49 I have searched and tried every diet out there. Once I started reading this book I could not put it down. I started the diet the next day. In six weeks I have lost 10 lbs. I have a digital scale and I know it is accurate. I have not followed the six week program to the letter nor did I exercise as much as I would have liked. I finally heard what I had needed to hear all along. It just took Dr. Fuhrman to explain it to me. I had depended on Atkins for years and always lost weight, but always gained it back. From the first day I gave up meat and dairy I have not missed it at all. I never thought I could live without either. I already had a vitamix and was used to the taste of powdered stevia, so that made it a little easier. Vitamix "ice cream" made with frozen berries, a little water, and stevia saved the day. The vitamix recipe for gazpacho(minus oil) is my staple along with pistachio nuts and all the fruit I can eat. I will stay on this diet the rest of my life. Being on the diet is effortless now and I just keep losing. Occasionally I eat a meal of whatever I want and it does not affect my weight loss. I was extremely addicted to sugar and now that is not such a problem. Granted I only had 20 lbs to lose in the first place, but there is no doubt this will work for anyone. I have never felt better. Remember,"nothing tastes as good as thin feels".

Eat to Live is definitely an eye opening read. It provides an EXTREME amount of scientific data to back up its claims (I swear the bibliography is 20 pages) and it presents the information in a way that is precise and clear.

Now alot of people say this is a pro vegetarian book, and that it would be impossible to stick with the diet outlined in the book. It's not really a question of being pro vegetarian as it is being pro HEALTH. There is no way to get around it. Eating a diet made up of mostly fresh fruit and vegetables is the healthiest thing you can eat. Its not because he's against the meat industry, or because he gets kick backs from vegetarian groups. That's just the way it is. This has been shown in COUNTLESS studies, that cultures who eat mostly vegetables are healthier and have less disease. This is what the book is trying to show you.

If you are truly concerned about your well being, then don't sit there and try and rationalize your bad eating habits. If you want change, you will need to unlearn all the things you have learned your whole life about how to eat, and do what is right. This is not without its challenges, as you will need to break free of your addictive food habits.

Following the diet proscribed, (and I have not done the strictest version) I have already lost 15 lbs in roughly 3 weeks, I have much more energy, and my mood has vastly been uplifted.

If you cannot live without some meat, the diet does alow for it, but you have to moderate, just like anything else that is not good for you. Over time, you will lose your cravings for unhealthy foods.

Try not to think of it as a diet, but as a life change. That is the point of this book. It breaks down the typical american diet, showing how it will kill you, debunks the popular fad diets, shows how eating like this is the healthiest thing you can do, and gives you a guideline to kickstart your road to better health.

If you do not want to make the commitment to yourself to change your habits, then don't bother reading the book. It is not for you. Stick to your fad diets, yo-yo your weight, and kill yourself slowly.

This book will help everyone and is worth every penny. It will change your life. I am eating better and its been 3 days & I have lost 3 lbs and I am not hungry, ever! I went from 174lbs to 171lbs! I am drinking water. No More Diet Soda or Coffee! I am so excited about the lots of fruits and veggies I am eating and the fact that I lost so much weight this fast that I had to publish this review now. I even feel better!

I know the weight will continue to fall off as I will continue to follow the program.

UPDATE: I am still following the program and it has been just about 6 months since I wrote the review. I am down 59 lbs to 125! I am lovin it! If you can't do this program for you, then maybe you can do it for the ones who love you. Good luck all!

I loved this book. It told me things I'd never heard and convinced me that eating right was a damn good idea.

I've read many books on eating healthfully over the years, but this book is the best I've come across. Why? Because none of the other books based everything on scientific experiments, like this one. Dr. Fuhrman isn't married to any one idea, he wants to present to us the facts as science knows them and continues to uncover them. This combined with his own extensive experience presents a very strong case for Eating to Live.

Since I'm a long time vegan and have been interested in eating healthfully for many years, transitioning to eating the way this book outlines was not that difficult for me. But it has made a great difference in my health. I was not very overweight (but some, I've lost almost 20 lbs. now and will probably lose a few more) and didn't have high cholesterol or blood pressure, but I had health issues that are clearing up and I couldn't be happier about that. I also have more energy and I am not tired after I eat or at the end of a day of work. This effects your whole life in a positive way!

Have been changing our way of eating for quite some time but did not commit fully. After reading this book, all the statistics and factual information, it was hard not to change our eating habits even further. Our family is focused on nutrition not necessarily weight loss but the first 3 weeks of following the healthful way of eating my husband and I both have lost 6 lbs each and we just feel better. I recommend this to anyone committed to healthy eating!

The book delivers a very easy and healthy way to lose weight. You don't have to be 100% Vegan to lose the weight. Easy read!

I bought this book on recommendation from a friend. At the time I was working out rather aggressively for a workout competition and was having tremendous trouble dropping to a lower weight class. As instructed in the starting chapters I read the book all the way through before beginning this diet. I successfully lost 15 pounds doing this diet. I thought at first it wouldn't work for me because of increased energy and protein I needed to accomplish my goal, but it worked fine and I never found myself lacking. I only give this 4 stars because it is VERY aggressive and requires a tremendous amount of dedication to maintain it. Treat it like a diet and the affects will be temporary; treat it as a lifestyle change it will last. After my training I stopped following the guides in the book and the weight came back rather quickly. Because of the drastic reduction in sodium during the first several weeks if you stop after this process your weight in all likelihood will immediately return.

I found the early chapters exciting. As I heard about the smooth weight loss experienced by participants, their actual names and statistics listed and very positive sounding, optimism clutched me. I read on. I found a good and believable discussion of health problems that could very well subside with the new program. The thesis here is that it isn't how much you eat, it is what you eat. Bravo! I was willing to commit.
But my hopes dimmed as I pressed further in my reading. I learned I would be eating up to a pound of lettuce or salad greens a day. Breakfast, lunch, dinner - I could vary between iceburg lettuce, spinach leaves, mixed greens, arugula, so on - but it would always be basically a salad. All I could eat! No dairy, no animal products, little grains; these rules form a basic structure of your new metabolism.
At this point I dropped my reading. This may work very well for many people. But how well would be dependent on age and personal body make-up as well, I suspect, as digestive powers. At this point I had to drop out. I hope this book might be for you, but I would advise approaching "Eat to Live" with caution.

Geesh, I don't think I've seen a set of reviews more volatile and extreme than these. The fact is, this is one clinician's take on how to lose weight and keep it off, not a thorough and unbiased incorporation of the nutrition literature. One only has to hit the diet section of the nearest bookstore to find countless other clinicians/writers who do the same thing.

Don't get me wrong; I like a lot of Fuhrman's ideas here. It doesn't take a rocket scientist to know that most Americans would benefit greatly from higher produce and fiber intake. I'm one of them, and if this book has helped me with anything, it's with really making sure I get my fruits and veggies every day. That said, let's be clear: This is a restrictive approach that aims for major health transformation. You will be eating fruit, nonstarchy vegetables, beans, a serving or two of starch (i.e. sweet potatoes), and a smidge of fat every day. Period. Fuhrman "allows" animal protein once or twice a week on his Six-Week Plan. Anything else is highly restricted. Who the heck wouldn't drop a bunch of weight? The plan may work well for many people, but I suspect that it's just too extreme for many coming straight off the SAD. There's also a pretty militant, my-way-or-the-highway tone to the material, which I have to say I've encountered in a lot of the raw/vegetarian/vegan community.

If you're looking to make a hard-core life change, and are willing to tolerate the anxiety and cravings of the first weeks and months, by all means try this approach and see how it feels. If you find, though (as I ultimately did), that more fat, more protein, and more flexibility are necessary for long-term fitness and weight loss...don't think you failed. Take what works for your unique body and leave the rest. (Weight Watchers finally worked for me.)

When purchasing this book I thought based on the description given that it would provide more information and ways to prepare the various vegan food items. I was disappointed in that section of the book. It provided little information other than salads. I've been a vegetarian for over twenty years and was looking forward to hopefuly finding alternative meal prep option than what I have been able to find in the past. Where i live it's hard to come be vegan products, they think you should have a dead animal on your plate.I was hoping to get instrution on different ways to prepare veggies. Also, he advises to follow a six week plan, but only offers a seven day menu.

I was disappointed in this product and the description given about the book. The closest book store in over an hour away. If I had been able to see this book prior to purchase I would have seen it wasn't what I was looking for and not made the purchase.

This author provides information about the foods we eat in a very digestable manner. All quotes or claims have been documented and come from well-known agencies or doctors associated with accredited and main stream medical facilities. A must read for people with health or/and weight problems. A great read for everyone else. Captivating!!

Great book-I have been following Dr. F's program for a year now and lost 80 pounds. I bought this again because I keep giving it out and never getting it back. Great program if you are serious about wanting to live healthily and be rid of pounds that chain you down. Great service: fast and inexpensive. I could have a closet of this book and never have enough to lend out! If you have almost lost hope- read Eat to Live- it will change your life and set you free from the bondage of unwanted weight and unhealthy living.

Dr. Furhman's book describes the health crisis Americans currently face b/c of their diet and lifestyle in simple and compelling language. His extensive research explains the connection bwtn diet and desease. You can't read his book and knowingly return to your previous ways. On whatever level you are willing and ready to make a healthy change, Furhman's book will teach you the why and how of doing so.

I read and followed this books advice. I have lost over 30 pounds. My cholesterol and triglycerides are the lowest (in normal range) for the first time in years. I eat more than I did before of the foods recommended by Dr. Fuhrman in this book and continue to lose weight. The first 20 pounds came off just as he said. Since that my weight loss has been gradual. I have more energy than before, feel better and can fit into pants I wore in college.

If you want to positively change your life through eating, read and follow the directions in Dr. Fuhrmans book!

I enjoyed reading this book. It inspired me to eat right, give up processed food, fast food, sugar and coffee. I lost 10 pound in 2 weeks. I found out I have a wheat allergy. I always thought I had environmental allergys:like grass, mold ect.. My allergys went away when I stayed away from wheat or glutens. I ate mostly vegan and felt a 100% better. I am now on a more modified diet which I eat some meat but mostly veggies, beans, nuts, and fruits. I am not eating processed food, glutens, sugar, or milk.

This book has changed my life! Well, just my eating habits and how I recognize the nutritional value in food. The initial 6 week diet makes a lot of sense. You never feel deprived. I urge everyone to read it, even those who don't need to loose weight. The main focus is on reversing & preventing common illnesses, prolonging and adding quality to your life. In addition, it refutes several of the popular diets with substantiated research.

Dr. Fuhrman's book is a real eye opener. The information her is life saving. I lost over 40 lbs and my blood pressure is now perfect. My cholesterol is also good now. Read it - you won't regret it. AAAA++++

This is an unusual "diet" book in that it is actually backed up by a great deal of scientific research. It really turns the typical "American diet" on its head and makes you reconsider the food you put in your mouth. It requires making some huge lifestyle changes, but you are definitely healthier for it.

This book helped me lose 20 pounds and find the health I was looking for. The best diet in the world, and the scientific data to back it up!

This book makes a good case for switching to a mainly plant based diet. The premise is that by eating nutrient rich natural foods, primarily green veggies, that you can lose weight and gain better health. The first half of the book seems to be making the case for the diet scientifically then the rest is how to "Eat to Live." I've read a lot of diet books and this one does make the most sense to me. I've just started eating this way for about a week and a half. I've lost 5lbs and feel great.

The only problem with trying to get America on this diet is the price and availability of fresh fruits & vegetables. We don't currently produce enough fruits & vegetables for everyone to get their standard five servings per day.

My doctor recommended that I read this book. He was concerned food I was eating was counteracting some medicine I was taking. WOW! What an eye opener about food. It is an educational book about food, written in a dynamically interesting way. It is not boring. Fascinating and captivating - yes, I am not kidding - is more the description. The weight loss works because it is food with a high nutrient value to calorie ratio. There is no question about the weight loss. I can vouch for that. But the truly interesting part is the information you receive about foods and your resulting altered perception about various foods, and the food connections with various diseases. The book also explains why "diets" based on other premises typically fail in the long run. This is not a diet book, but a lifestyle book. Splendid!

Compelling, pertinent information substantiating a simple, pure diet that is good for body, mind and soul...as well as the animal kingdom and planet.

This book has motivated me to lose 30 pounds so far. I am still following it losely and endorse it.

Yes this book also comes in handy if your only goal is to lose weight, but it is actually a lot more than that. It systematically explains what should a normal every day diet look like, regardless of the potential weight issue one might have. Next to Dean Ornish'es Heart Disease Reversal Program this book is a must-read for all wanting to achieve/preserve optimum health through superior nutrition. After reading it I actually bought additional copies as gifts to close friends with diabetes, hypertension and high cholesterol. An easy and informative read. Well worth your time!!

Dr. Fuhrman outlines a way of living that is not only healthy it makes you feel great. It's easy to follow his direction because he follows up his views with proven scientific studies.
I truly felt as though he wanted to help people with this book...not just make a lot of money.
It's a life change but it really works!

It's plain and simple... eat fruits and veggies. What's tough is the 2 lbs of veggies a day goal. I don't think my refrigerator can hold that much produce! But I sure try!
I might eat a salad with chicken in it, once a week. He doesn't say to completely omit meat, just use it as a side dish.
We are so used to eating sausage, ham or bacon with breakfast... Lunch meat with lunch or some source of meat... and dinner always has meat. That's meat, three times a day! Just narrow that down to once a week. Not 2-3 times a day.
His program is very strict. If you were just diagnoses with diabetes, I bet you'll do it and get off the meds.
His diet is not trendy or anything NEW and revolutionary. Fruits and veggies. Plain and simple. This book is very inspiring.

It is a wonderful book. I'm an avid eater. No matter what it is. but a few friends and i have been on this way of living for a while now. After 10+ years of having trouble sleeping. THIS book has helped me. I love it.

Dr. Fuhrman tells it like it is. This is a good read and will change your life.

Great food book. I haven't read one that helped me this much in many years. The author really helps you to rethink your eating. I lost fourteen pounds and am still in this mindset. Hopefully, it will last. I only need another five to go!! Good read; I highly recommend it.

I recommend this book to anyone who has decided to take control of their own health. I especially enjoyed reading the eye-opening section on protein. Who knew broccolli has more protein than steak?! Lots of great info. Read to live "Eat to Live".

Eat to Live lays out, step by step, and very explicitly, a formula to extend life and improve your health. I am following the suggested advice and am witnessing a very positive change in my energy level, combined with consistent weight loss. This wonderful book explains the science behind Dr. Fuhrman's ideas in layman's terms so it is very understandable and I must say, convincing.

This is a very good eating plan. I do not consider it a diet because you are usually not hungry and you are eating very well. For the first time in my life other than being pregnant my fingernails are healty, very strong and growing like never before. A friend has lost almost 40 pounds so far on this plan. I would suggest this book for anyone wanting to get healthier and or needs to lose some weight.

Eat to Live: The Revolutionary Formula for Fast and Sustained Weight Loss
This inexpensive book by Dr. Fuhrman, a practicing board-certified Family Physician, might be more appropriately titled: "Eat To Live, How to Avoid Diabetes, Heart Attacks, and Breast and Prostate Cancer." He presents the powerful evidence that supports a plant-based, low-fat, whole food diet as a cure (not just treatment) for adult onset diabetes and for coronary artery disease, the two most common dietary complications of our Western, meat and dairy-based diet.
The health implications of this information are so urgent in our society that I have purchased several copies of the book to share with friends and family.

What a great book! Mark BIttman referred to Dr. Fuhrman and I'm so glad I read both books by these guys. I even purchased the Eat for Health 2 book set and dvd, it's made a tremendous difference in my energy & my husband & my health. Read it, try to incorporate even a few of Dr. Fuhrman's ideas, you won't regret it!

This book will open your eyes to the true badness of the average American diet. Few even realize how many vegetables we should actually be eating, and how doing so would relieve us of a vast majority of the sickness and disease that plague our fat & sugar-fed population. We were not MEANT to survive on refined sugar and flour!
A friend of mine was directed to go on this diet to reduce her high blood pressure and cholesterol. She has lupus, and therefore cannot take the usual prescribed medication. Her cholesterol and blood pressure are great, she's down to her healthiest weight ever, and she feels better than ever. Who'd have thought that the food we put in our bodies actually has an AFFECT on how it functions?? Makes sense!
Read the book. It will help you to make changes in your diet that will lead to longer life and far improved health.

I have a friend I did not see for a few years as she had moved to Napa. Well , I moved to Napa and saw her. She was looking real good, but as the months went by, her skin had an unbelievable glow, she was gradually losing weight, and she seemed so happy. I had no idea she was on a diet. I found out it was by means of this book a year later-by the way a year later she has not gained it back and still has that glow! I'm an underweight person who has IBS and hate being underweight and not feeling good at times. She recommended this book for the healthy options I can add to my other indulgences. I'll give it a try based on her gorgeous skin as a result of this diet!!!

Eat to Live is an informative and persuasive tract on food knowledge. As a result of reading it I have changed some of my eating habits for the better. My own food knowledge is based on the growing of food. When I first began to use organic farming practices it was illegal to sell your animals as organic and even the act of questioning the wisdom of basing the production of food on toxic chemicals and reactive fertilizers was a suspect activity. What I know about food is that you should eat food as nature intended, grown in healthy soil, with minimal processing. Eat local, in season with a reasonable amount of protein. Stay away from junk food and most processed food. Listen to your body and, most of all, enjoy eating. Getting too worked up about food is more unhealthy then most food choices. Joel Fuhrman's book is an informed approach that will help you grow in food knowledge, but he is a bit uptight and one-sided. Eat thoughtfully and give thanks for the abundance of food we enjoy and you will be fine.

It's a tough diet to follow long term, but I encourage everyone to give it a try at least once, if only to learn how your body feels when it's properly fueled. You may even rid yourself of a chronic ailment.

Before trying ETL, I had periodic, moderate-to-severe asthmatic reactions to dust (mites). A couple weeks into the ETL program, I started coughing up phlegm, which was odd because I had no cold symptoms of any kind. I felt great, in fact. The "productive coughing" continued for a a few more weeks before abating. Almost 3 years later, even having returned to a omnivore diet, I haven't had a single asthma attack since.

I was never a believer in the whole "detox" concept, but that's clearly what happened.

I thought I knew all about basic nutrition and what we're supposed to do to loose weight, but for nearly thirty years I have struggled unsuccesfully to loose it. I knew there must be some secret I was missing. I've read books, tried herbs, exersize plans, prepared meals, the works. This book has it! The secret is out! The USRDA has been lying to us all our lives about what good nutrition is. With Dr. Furman's plan for healthy eating it can finally be done for a lifetime of good health. Once we understand what our bodies really need and give it to them, the weight issues take care of themselves. I lost 8 lb the first week by just implimenting what I learned (not even following his suggested meal plans yet) and I've not felt hungry but better than ever. It's not about being skinny, It's about being healthy.

This is the most ridiculous book I've ever read. Don't buy it unless you are ready to reduce your food intake to almost none. It is for extremists. I discarded this book the same day it arrived. I don't recommend it.

All you have to do is follow the plan - read & understand the book - the 'why' of how it works then follow it. It's not a diet, it's a lifestyle change. It's not for cheaters, this is for people who are really ready to commit to making a change. This plan is simple, the first six weeks making meals was never easier - salads, fruits & vegetables! Once you understand the difference between the hunger you feel two hours after a burger & fries, and real hunger in your stomach, it is easy. The best thing I can say is it works. There is no hunger - you just learn to eat healthier and as much as you want at meals - and the pounds fall off. We felt better (sleeping better, sharper thinking, etc) within days.

Good luck, it's a healthy way to improve your lifestyle!

This is one of the BEST books I have read on nutrition and living healthy. The other BEST book I have read in the same regard is Disease Proof Your Child: Feeding Kids Right by same author Dr. Joel Fuhrman. Both books are a "must read". Dr. Fuhrman offers practical, straightforward informantion and anyone can comprehend and apply to their daily lives. His plan is simple and makes complete sense as we are faced with daily pressure to eat fast food,junk food and foods loaded with sugar, fat and preservatives. Some nutritous food may not always be as convienient as fast food but nutritous food won't kill you, fast food and junk food (empty calories) will. I plan to read all Dr. Fuhrman's books and apply his plan to my daily living.

This is the first "diet" book I've read (and I've read a bunch in the last year) that actually makes sense, is easy to understand, and easy to follow. I feel much more informed and able to make healthy food choices within the parameters of the diet instead of having to follow "eat this for breakfast, eat this for lunch..." I never thought I could be Vegan, but this is more of a lifestyle than a diet that has a long-term benefit of health. What's amazing to me is that I'm not hungry, I've lost 6 pounds (only 5 more to go!)and 2 inches off my waist and butt, my skin is glowing and I have much more energy - and I've only been on the "diet" for about 2 weeks (not including 4 days on vacation where I didn't exactly stay on the wagon - but didn't gain weight back). Can't wait to have my cholesterol checked. Have already sent this as gifts to 2 people and will continue to share. I also suggest Skinny Bitch in a Box - takes a very different approach to reach many of the same conclusions.

This book explains in a wonderful way how to change your eating habits and stay healthy and slim. My husband and I sticked to the 6-week eating schedule effortless and lost 10 pounds each (at age of 64, I went from 135 to 125 pounds in 6 weeks). The most wonderful thing is that we are still on this healthy eating style long after the 6 weeks were gone on March 15, 2008. I have recommended this book to others and they have the same experience as I had.

This book is so full of nutrition information you will want to buy extra copies to give to your friends. One of the most informative parts in this book is how our US government provides a none scientific list of recomended daily consumption values for our nutrition needs. It also provides the results of how nutrition affects your health from studies around the world.
If you are interested in staying well with little or no prescription medication, READ THIS BOOK! ***** I give it a five star 3A rating.

This is easily one of the best nutrition books on the market. If America followed these principles the vast majority of our health problems would start to correct themselves. This book, along with Dr. Fuhrman's Fasting for Health, packs a strong one-two punch.

Excellent, easy reading in laymen's terms. My husband and I have already lost 6lbs+ each after following his recommendations for eating well, esp after removing excess saturated fats from our diets. Doctors should have this book available for their patients.

A great book to understand what food does to your body. I personally will not follow the plan to the letter, but I have adjusted my diet considerably and find I feel much better, have more energy, and don't crave junk food nearly as much.

THIS IS JUST NOT ANOTHER DIET BOOK TO LOSE WEIGHT.IT'S MORE OF A LIFESTYLE
CHANGE FOR THE BETTER!IT'S A THOUGHT PROVOKING BOOK ON HOW TO EAT PROPER-
LY FOR SUPERIOR HEALTH.GOODNESS KNOWS WE AMERICANS DO NOT KNOW HOW TO EAT
THE CORRECT FOODS FOR HEALTH MANAGEMENT.THIS BOOK SHOULD BE IN EVERY HOME!

This is a worthwhile book even if you think you have already heard it all before. The information is presented in an easy to read way, it makes sense, and is backed up by good science. Everyone should pay attention to the simple and yet excellent advice this book gives about choosing the kinds of foods you eat in a way that promotes good health.

Dr Fuhrmans book is a must have for those who have tried diets and failed. He re-educates you into changing your way of thinking about the nutritional value of foods that is available through natural unrefined unprocessed foods.

This book is FULL of info regarding the importance of eating the right vegetables for a HEALTHY life. This is a must have for your personal Healthy living library!

We have implemented the ideas in this book in our daily life. We are not totally convinced that no meat is good but we have cut red meat from our daily diet and use only chicken or fish a couple days per week. It's a great start on eating to live.

This book provides great info on health and wellbeing as well as great advice for food and healing. I highly recommend it for anyone looking to feel better about themselves physically and mentally.

Dr. Fuhrman's book really makes sense and has no gimicks. Follow it and not only will you lose weight, but live a much healthier ife.

The best ever book on eating to live - great book with attainable goals for lifestyle change to better health - not about just loosing weight - it is about a healthier lifestyle.

Dr. Joel Fuhrman is a nutritional educator whose effective guide to weight loss is based upon sound research and responsible medicine. His dietary recommendations are those one can readily adopt for undeniable health rewards.
Gold star!

The overarching theme to take away from my review of this book is that I think it's excellent. I was really astounded to learn Furhman's theory on how the appestat is satiated by the level of nutrients in food, not in the quantity. I also enjoyed the part about calcium absorption. I am ready to begin my Six-Week Plan and I'm looking forward to breaking my addiction to overeating, sodium, and fatty foods. On the whole, this book is excellent advice and, even though aimed at those with serious illness or disease, is great for me.

The one thing that occurred to me as I read this book, however, is the language that is used to support the science. Furhman opts out of the declarative in many of his conclusions, which makes me think he knows that this is not proven. I am amazed that his publisher did not take one look at the book and hand it back to him, saying, "If it's science, prove it." Instead, he dances.

"If you have gained even as little as ten pounds since the age of eighteen or twenty, then you -could- be at significant increased risk for health problems such as heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes." [Emphasis Added]

"Whole wheat that is finely ground is absorbed into the bloodstream fairly rapidly and -should- not be considered as wholesome as more coarsely ground and grittier whole grains." [Emphasis Added]

Fuhrman references "observational studies" in multiple places. This phrase makes me extremely cautious, especially coming from a learned professional. Lastly, and most tellingly, is this sentence. And for every author who wants me to take his or her work seriously, I implore you to rethink the use of this phrase.

"-Apparently-, excessive vitamin A is potentially a problem in humans, too. . ." [Emphasis Added]

What does this even mean? To whom is it apparent? He further modifies with "potentially", which makes me think even he knows that this claim is unsupported. In law school, we called a statement like this "illusory".

To dial back my criticism, I do not doubt any particular claim made by Fuhrman. On the contrary, I believe every word of it! But anyone who uses this language to present facts about nutrition makes me suspect that it is not entirely truthful or there is substantial evidence to the contrary and the author does not wish to explore it.

My biggest problem is two instances in which Dr. Fuhrman attempts to convince you that you know better than your doctor.

"Do not expect to receive valuable health advice from your typical doctor. Physicians usually do not help; they rush through their patient appointments, especially in the current HMO climate, because they are paid so poorly for each visit and are pressured to see as many patients as possible each day. Your physician is likely doing just as poorly as you are and eating just as unhealthfully or worse. After reading this book, you could improve his health and reduce his risk of premature death more than he could help yours. Even when physicians offer their fullest time and effort, their recommendations are invariably too mild to have a significant benefit."

"'My doctor noted that my complexion had turned yellowish and told me to cut back on foods containing carotene. . .' Tell your doctor it is he who has the dangerous skin tone."

This is more than just a little scary. As I understand it, each and every one of us is just a little different, and our health problems are also just as unique. All health, exercise, and well-being programs I have ever come across recommend working with your physician, not against him or her. I realize Fuhrman is not out to make friends with this book (especially with other diet plans' creators), but he seriously comes close to holding a grudge against your general practitioner. He's making blanket recommendations, based on shaky observational science (see above) and telling you to disregard their advice? It seems almost criminal, but I guess you're expected to be smart enough to know that he really has no interest in you beyond the cover price you just forked over. See if you can spot the problem with this statement (hint: Furhman is a high-protein-diet guru!).

"High-protein-diet gurus usually claim that they hold the truth and that all other doctors and scientists are wrong."

In the end, it's just a little disappointing that this book was marketed to be about losing weight. You can clearly see that this is the influence on the publisher to have Fuhrman peddle his wares wearing the cheap cloth of quick pounds falling off. It's really "eating healthy results in losing weight results in a long, healthy life" that is the key to this plan. You'll have to pardon me, however: I need to chop up some vegetables.

I first read Dr. Furhman's book, Eat to Live, several years ago while I was in college. I had a gained several pounds over the years from high school (although I was never super thin) but more importantly, I felt really unhealthy, and just wanted to gain knowledge about how to live a more healthy life-style. To be honest, at that time, I was used to eating the "typical American lifestyle" which included breads, cheese, lots of meat, and did not think it was a feasible for me to completely change my ways. But what I loved the most was the knowledge that I gained in the book. I really appreciate Dr. Furhman's emphasis on health and how it's not necessarily about not eating certain foods, but how, once you start to eat the foods that are good for you (greens, veggies, fruits, nuts, and seeds) you won't have as much time or space in your stomach to eat the bad things. Anyways, although I did not adopt the life-style (and it is a life-style change and not a diet) right away, the knowledge that I was not treating my body well kept nagging and nagging over the years...I don't believe in quitting anything cold turkey, I think you have to know yourself, and I knew that I would not be able to change my bad habits overnight and reasonably sustain it without feeling like my entire life was what I ate. So I started very slowly to gain a taste for fruits and veggies. I thought about what I enjoyed, taste-wise, about these foods and how to prepare them in ways that I could genuinely feel was delicious (for example, I LOVE sauteed shitake mushrooms with bok choy.)

So to start, I did not focus on trying not to eat meats and dairy and refined starches, I simply focused on eating more fruits and vegetables and enjoying the tastes of these wonderful foods. THEN, when slowly over time, I began to try to eat less of the foods that I knew were bad for me. I never tried to do more than I thought was reasonable, I never tackled more than one item at a time, and if I felt like I really couldn't resist and indulged (or over-indulged) in something (for example, I LOVE steak and had a hard time fathoming the idea of never eating it again) most importantly, I DID NOT beat myself up over it. I used it to understand myself better and the types of foods that trigger me, etc. So in using the steak example, in the olden days, I loved steak with a starch like potatoes or french fries, covered with salt and pepper. Nowadays, I only eat steak once in a while, less than once a month, and I have a small piece of grass-fed, organic, free-range steak sliced over a great arugula or watercress salad with a simple lemon/olive oil dressing and crispy shallots. So yummy! And I really savor and enjoy the real taste of the steak by not drenching it with lots of salt and pepper. I also enjoy the steak with the understanding that it tastes so good for me because it is a treat and because I only eat it once in a while. I really feel like it is important to live your life and enjoy and have treats like this for yourself once in a while. Thus, it is also very important to eat the fruits and veggies that you love and to have it in a way that you enjoy the eating experience and your meals, so that you not only can sustain your life with healthy food, but you enjoy your life with these foods as well. For example, I LOVE watercress and eat it everyday and I never seem to get tired of it, whereas I don't enjoy spinach as much. I also love reconstituted shitake mushrooms for their savory, rich, and meaty flavor and texture in stirfry dishes, etc...Anyways, it has been about 3 years since I first started on this journey to better health and I feel absolutely great!

Some stats: I am 26 years old and 5'4''. At my highest weight, I weighed about 150 lbs. Now, I am always consistently at about 117 lbs (that is a 33 lb weight loss people!) This for the girl who NEVER thought I could ever cross the 120 lb benchmark, without starving myself (something I never would have done.) But more importantly, I feel great, the absolute healthiest I ever had. People often mistake me for a teenager because they say I seem so high-energy and youthful...

What I mostly eat to sustain my health: I love eating all the varieties of fruits and veggies out there and I never, ever limit any fruit or veggie (arugula, watercress, bok choy, and broccolini are my favorites greens--I love every fruit known to man and eat a huge variety of them when in season.) I also love whole grains and jasmine rice (I never really eat white bread, pasta or refined starches anymore and find that I do not crave them at all--if I am craving pasta, which is only once in a while, I will use quinoa or brown rice pasta instead or even spagetti squash is a delicious, pasta like veggie to use in such recipes). I do not drink any soda or bottled juices (I love homemade fresh juices as a treat however). I VERY rarely eat any processed "junk food" or "fast food" because I've learned over time how bad I feel eating them. I also love mixed-bags of nuts and dried fruits (even very, very dark chocolate) as snacks. I love drinking almond milk/rice milk as a treat, etc. I do not eat dairy and severely limit sugar, refined starches/flour and any processed/junk/fast foods.

Typical Breakfast: Variety of fruit (berries, watermelon, kiwis, oranges, etc--I usually prefer juicier and more interesting fruits over apples or bananas). I always always have a protein for breakfast, really helps sustain me for the rest of the day. For exaple, egg white omelet, some nuts or nut butter, tofu scramble, etc. If I am indulging, I may even have 1 or two pieces of free-range organic chicken or turkey sausage (yum). Once in a while I may also have a piece of Ezekiel sprouted grain bread with marinara sauce and soy cheese too. Instead of eating the fruit, I will sometimes make a smoothie with vegan protein powder thrown in (this is a great time to throw in some extra spinach which look funky but you can't even taste--especially if you use bananas in the smoothie because it's such a strong taste.)

Typical Lunch: A large salad with all kinds of veggies depending on my mood. My favorite green base for my salads are always either arugula or watercress or a mix of the two. I keep the salad dressing simple, with balsamic vinegar or lemon with extra virgin olive oil. I try to make the salad as colorful as possible with lots of other veggies (tomatoes, bell peppers, corn, carrots, cabbage, you get the idea). I always add nuts and/or beans to the salad for more protein. My favorite beans to use are either garbanzo or butter beans, pinto, etc. I also love to have avocado on my salads, I may also include more protein like a small amount of chicken/turkey breasts, steak, grilled salmon, or boiled eggs if I am treating myself.

Typical Dinner: Veggie stir-fry with jasmine rice. I grew up eating rice, so rice to me is a very comforting food, and I can't live without it. I make the veggie stir-fly with any kind of veggies I have laying around (broccoli, onion, bok choy, bean sprouts, whatever you love). I always use exta virgin olive oil and may include tofu in the stirfry (but protein is less important to me at night since I've probably already had some earlier in the day). Then, after a little while after dinner, I have a treat/dessert, sherbet or sorbet made with coconut milk/almond milk, dark, dark chocolate, etc.

Snacks: For snacks I love any un-roasted/unsalted nut/seeds, almond/rice milk, ezekiel bread with marinara sauce and/or one slice of soy cheese, a Lara Bar (these are the best raw, whole nut & fruit bars EVER, so many flavors that are so good-WAAAY better than a cookie in my opinion), and dark, dark chocolate, etc.

Excercise: Excercise is VERY important so I hate making it a chore. Instead I only do activities that I really enjoy and find myself looking forward to. I love to swim, kick the ball around outside, play frisbee, do light yoga/stretching, bike, and walk/hike outdoors, etc.

I don't exactly follow the Dr. Furhman plan because I do love to eat organic eggs for breakfast, fish once in a while for dinner (and even meat once in a while). I don't limit my olive oil use because I figure you gotta choose your battles and olive oil is good for you so I don't care about the calories--but I also don't go overboard! And of course, I eat jasmine rice everyday. Nonetheless, I feel it is important to read Eat to Live even if you don't follow it exactly for the knowledge so that you can empower yourself! Otherwise, treat your body kindly and do the best that you can and what works for you! Remember you only have one body so fuel it right! Just eat lots and lots of Greens, Veggies, and Fruits. Remember, it's never too late or too early to change your life. It's okay to go slow, make mistakes, start over, etc. Whatever works for you. Just make a commitment to be open minded, to gain knowledge, that you deserve to treat yourself well, that you can be healthy !!! I did, and if I can, ANYONE can...

I found the book very informative, and easy to understand. Dr. Fuhrman sites many medical studies, but he does so in everyday language. After reading the book it is hard to even consider trying any other diet approaches.

I was looking for a lifetime dietary change, and Dr. Fuhrman presents just that! You can easily adopt his eating plan from this book. However, I also purchased Dr. Fuhrman's Eat Right America package from Shop NBC, which gives a slower, step-by-step approach to altering your diet, rather than a complete overhaul all at once.

I highly recommend this book to anyone looking to eat healthier, lose weight and improve long term health!

I am sure this diet works as it is calorie restrictive, however, it is just too strict for me. I need cheese and wine. I have to have it, and though I eat it in small quantities, this diet LARGELY discourages eating any animal protein whatsoever.

I couldn't even do it for one day - *sigh* - let alone a lifetime.

This book was sooo very useful. So many of us live thinking about our next food stop. I am a health nut, but I wasn't allways one. I started my journey with [...] and now I feel like books like this(and the entire YOU series) are so very helpful.

This is a great book!! Dr. Fuhrman backs up his knowledge with numerous examples of scientific research and studies. What most impressed me about this book is that Dr. Fuhrman is a regular conventional doctor who extols the benefits of healthy nutrition as a way of disease prevention and also to reverse many existing diseases prevalent in our society. This makes it more believable for the average person who may be opposed to alternative medicine or anything having to do with a "holistic" approach. He reveals the many nutrients in vegetables such as the high protein content, that as a society we are not taught. The book is an easy read filled with very interesting facts and great recipes at the end. I'm looking forward to reading his next book which I believe is titled; Eating for Health. I hope this review encourages anyone who may be considering getting this book!

There is no better diet or nutritional advise out there for the human body. I am never hungry and have lost ten lbs so far on this diet. My husband has lost 15lbs. This is definitely a lifestyle, and Dr. Furhman tells the truth. Read this book if you want to have optimum health, lose weight, and eat how you were created to.

Eat to Live makes a lot of sense to me. If you fill yourself up with one pound of raw vegetables, one pound of cooked vegetables, fruits and legumes you won't be hungry, you will get the proper nutrients and you are bound to lose weight.

I have been happy to follow this way of eating and I feel wonderful. The only thing the book doesn't address is how to stick with the eating strategy when you are on vacation and can't get "clean" food with healthy varieties of vegetables. On a trip to Puerto Rico salads are iceburg lettuce and tomatoes. Beans often have fat added and it was a challenge to meet my vegetable requirements.

A great sequel would be how to Eat To Live on vacation!

When cooking for myself or eating out occasionally this is an easy, flavorful and healthy way to live. I am so glad that I read the book.

EAT TO LIVE is a remarkable study of proper eating strategies to combat disease and to lose weight. The book was recommended to me by a friend who at the age of 60 had lost 60 pounds and dramatically improved his diabetes and cholesterol. It has already changed my life. My wife has been following it for eight weeks with tremendous results. She has lost weight and feels better. I am next...

According to Dr. Joel Fuhrman, America's love affair with animal-rich foods is causing obesity and leading to an explosion in deaths due to cancer and heart disease. Contrary to the conventional wisdom promulgated by the diary and meat industries and the USDA, a diet rich in animal proteins and dairy is not only unhealthy, it could kill you.

The "four food groups-including large portions of meat and dairy" supported by the milk and dairy industry and the federal government have been shown to increase disease in people. In the words of Fuhrman, "This [USDA] program ignored science."

"Cancer is a fruit and vegetable deficiency disease" says Fuhrman. He says: 1. Vegetables and fruits protect against all types of cancer. 2. Raw vegetables have most anti-cancer properties of all foods. 3. Vitamin pills and supplements cannot take the place of fresh fruits and veggies, 4. Beans have special cancer-reducing properties.

A proper diet - one which leaves the person healthy and vital - will contain at least 90% fresh fruits and vegetables. Milk, dairy, meat, fish and chicken may not comprise more than 10% of the intake.

I am overweight and have just started this new regimen. I have lost and then regained weight on other eating plans including Atkins and sugar-busters. I am looking forward to a vegetable and fruit rich eating regimen and will update this review as I go along...today is January 6, 2009.

This book challenges the modern medical views that our health answers arise from pharmaceuticals. Fuhrman discusses several major chronic degenerative diseases and how processed foods play a part in their development. He also includes some recipes that are quite tasty - once you have weaned yourself off of processed food. Just try eliminating refined sugars and flours for a few weeks and see how you do. If you are anything like me, you'll be quite shocked at your physical symptoms as you go through withdrawal.

Dr. F. will educate you on diet and nutrient-dense food choices. I've lost 25 lbs, feel great and never feel hunger. Everyone needs to read this book and make more informed decisions about eating veggies, greens, fruit, grains and nuts.

Great book that informs you of a lot of food information, and will make you shed the pounds if you live, and eat what this book informs you is good for your body. NOT JUST ANOTHER DIET BOOK. This book will help you change your way of life when it comes to food.

I stalked this book for a while and finally
broke down and coughed up the cash.
Best book purchase ever.
Not a bunch of boring mumbo jumbo.
But some very enlightening stuff to wrap your mind around.
The information is explained in a way that you feel
"hey this is so do-able"
Parents feed your kids like this... they will thank you.
I have placed this on my "should be mandatory reading" list.

This book has helped me change my eating habits and the way I look at different foods (based on their nutritional value). I have lost 15lbs in 4 weeks and I will continue to lose weight as I have made a lifestyle change. My goal is to lose 40lbs in 4 months, so I feel quite confident I will get there. No need for DIETS, when you can just EAT TO LIVE.

A MUST HAVE FOR PEOPLE INTERESTED IN TAKING THEIR HEALTH INTO THEIR OWN HANDS! THIS BOOK HAS THE POWER TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE DRAMATICALLY INTO THE BETTER!

The best "diet" book I ever read (and I've read just about all). He tells you exactly like it is and why. If you're ever going to be successful loosing weight, you MUST understand the whats and whys of what you eat and what happens to your body when you do eat different types of foods. Following this book really will give you the tools you need to loose the weight and keep it off for life, but it's no good unless you follow it. Far more than a diet book, it outlines what you need to know to live a much healthier, more active lifestyle.

I'm enjoying reading this book. I thought I was a pretty healthy eater but not after reading this book! Lots of great ideas for eating healthier.

breakthrough diet plan -- could reverse effects of the
standard american diet (SAD) that over 95% of americans
currently eat -- scientifically based on over 1500 peer
reviewed studies -- fritz kleman

I've been following Dr. Fuhrman's diet and found it very helpful. I have more energy and fewer aches and pains and have lost 10 pounds so far.

This book is absolutely the best if you are interested in healthy living!

My wife and I plan to incorporate some of Dr Furhman's recommendations.
The idea of eating mostly nutrient-rich food makes sense.
The book is well written with reference sources and a bibliography.

full of mind altering information,knowledge is power,thank goddness for Joel Fuhram's straight forward information on the falsehoods of dietary nutrition passed down from mislead,misinformed generations.

I think this is really an excellent book, one that I would highly recommend. Everyone should read this and realize the words of wisdom by Dr. Fuhrman. I have changed my diet radically because of what he has written. A real wake up call for me! The diet is easy to follow and one that will revitalize and energize anyone that follows it! A great read!!

This is a great book on how to live healthy and disease free. I highly reccomend it.

This book is an interesting read for several reasons. Of course the big selling point is to LOSE WEIGHT FAST. How is this accomplished assuming that the results he quotes have been true? No meat, no dairy, no fats, no starchy foods but lots of green vegetables and moderate amount of fruit. It's just a low carb diet without the meat. He scares the reader out of meat and dairy with various unsubstantiated statements and outright misrepresentations of scientific studies. He scares the reader out of all fats - lumping good and bad fats together - even after making the distinction that there are some essential fats. For example, he says scientists can look at fat anywhere in your body and tell what you ate and he provides a reference. Well that study only tested for the 2 essential omega-3 fats. What he concluded is false or at the very least unsubstantiated. And that is only one of many multiple false statements.

So how is this low carb? Once you cut out the carbs from dairy, the carbs from sugar and the carbs from starchy foods, what you have left is the low carb green vegetables. It's not that you aren't eating meat and fat that's losing the weight, which is his main thesis, it's that you aren't eating the carbs.

There are so many other just outright dangerous statements and recommendations. For example, meat, fat and dairy cause cancer. He should explain why Budwig's protocal of flax oil and cottage cheese is able to cure cancer. Of course, he recommends soy even after paying lip service to the studies about the dangers of relying on soy as a protein source. His whole rant against high protein diets is filled with outright lies. This list could go on and on but these are some of the main ones that stand out as the most outrageous and outright dangers of this diet.

Every Adult and parent needs this book as a guide to simple and effective nutuition. I am amazed how easy changing to high nutrient foods was. I don't feel hungry, I feel great, and have more energy. It was hard to give some favorite snacks but my cravings for them went down fast. Shoppong for food is simplified and less expensive. This book is a must read for everyone.

A very good book for weight loss. Very down to earth and common sence. Best if all, it works and works very well. Well worth the money.

This is an excellent book to increase your understanding of the required nutrients for good health. The diet is not that difficult. I started in 3 weeks ago for health reasons. I am seeing some improvement in my health and I have lost 9 pounds.

I would reccomend this book to anyone who is ready to make life changes in their diet for a healthier life.

Everyone should own a copy of this book. Everyone should READ this book! And, start to shift bad habits, into healthy, life-prolonging, disease preventing habits. You are what you eat!! Don't continue to be sucked into the media pressure of consuming things that are killing you. Educate yourself (this book is a great start) and then start to make changes to your diet and nutrition at a pace you can handle. New habits can be formed... but, good health isn't for people that "need it" -- it's for people that "want it". Do you family a favor... and "want it" - so they can enjoy spending time with a healthy version of you :)

i have some baby weight i would like to shed... about 15 pounds. i am a weight watcher lifetime member and am very fit but i need a more wholesome approach to what i eat and i am not so into the ww current plans. this eating plan makes sooo much sense to me and it isn't so hard to follow so far. i like the fact that i don't have to track points b.c i know if i stick to produce and whole foods, i will get what i need (you don't nec. have to track on ww anymore but it wasn't working for me). i do love dairy products so i still add some milk to my tea/coffee and eat yogurt with fruit/grape nuts, but i avoid cheese unless there is some in a salad i buy at the restaurants. with 3 kids it's hard to resist pizza and pasta (their staples) but in order for me to say no and be a healthy eater i have to have guidelines and a plan so that i know what to eat to get what i need. a food journal is essential to any diet, just so you can track success or failure, what you like to eat and what is filling vs. not so you don't quit. i like to track and go over what i eat to make sure i get enough nutrients (calcium, omegas and fiber, etc.). this book is great b.c it answers a lot of the questions i had about this kind of diet. so far, so good...

If you want to prevent disease and reverse some ongoing problems that you currently have, READ THIS BOOK! This book is the diet bible!

The book is a great buy, just not enough recipes. I felt amazing after changing my diet and within the first week saw results.

I have struggled with several health issues including a frustrating weight problem for years now. No traditional or fad diet I have ever tried was completely successful. Dr. Fuhrman's book was given to me to read by someone whose opinion I value very highly. There is no way to fully explain how simple the process is to revamp the way I looked at food. While I must admit that I've only just begun to integrate the Eat to Live approach to my current diet, I can tell you that physically many of the intense joint pains that have limited me have already been cleared up. For a "meat and potato" person, they might find this a little challenging, but I assure you that it is worth the effort to reform your attitude and approach to eating.
There are numerous recipes included in the book to help take some of the fear of the unknown away. The causes for weight gain have been clearly outlined in this book. The nutritional values of food, as well as mention of numerous scientific studies to support Dr. Fuhrman's assertions are included.
In short, if you are serious about getting help for physical problems and weight-related problems, Eat To Live will bring you relief. Not only do I feel better in little more than a week of incorporating the doctor's program, but I've aleady lost several pounds. Once I have made the mental adjustment to completely following the diet as prescribed, the weight will come off even faster. I highly recommend this book be added to anyone's library if they are serious about living life in a healthy way. Jim Fargiano, author of The Spoken Words of Spirit: Lessons From The Other Side

In my opinion, this book is and always will be simply the best book on health there is. Thank you Doctor.

I have not yet finished the book yet, but it is amazing.
My taste buds are changing and I'm eating healthier.
The thing I love about this book is he doesnt say to go on a diet.
He simply explains how we all need to just eat healthier.
Not only does this book provide some great recipes, but Dr. Fuhrman provides some great statistical data as well as what the obesity epidemic is doing to america. I would recommend this book to anyone!

This was such an easy diet to follow. I lost (and continue to lose) 2 pounds a week and I feel great. This book goes wonderfully with Dr. Ornish's book, and lots of people that use this book also use some Ornish stuff.

Well written concerned with facts about disease and diets. It is not trying to sell any products (shakes, bars, etc.), but only trying to educate consumers about processed foods and their affects on the body.

Dr. Fuhrman's book is a well organized, mostly easy to read approach to better eating. I bought two copies after i read it to pass along to those in need. I really appreciated the scienctific support and research that he included. There are some recipes in the later chapters, with many more available through his website, as well as an easy to follow menue plan for the first 6 weeks. its a simple approach and definitely worth the read.

I read Eat to Live after I read The China Study by T Colin Campbell.
Herein lies the truth about nutrition. This information will change
your life forevermore--if you let it. Excess weight will literally
fall off. Cholesterol will come down. High blood pressure will come
down. Diabetes can be reversed, as well as heart disease. And there
is still more . . .

If you are trying to lose weight, or simply want to have a healthier lifestyle this book is essential. I have lost 10 pounds in 3 weeks, I have more energy, and I simply feel healthier.

Finally, a book that educates you about food,and what it does. This book could save your life. You would be mistaken if you think it's just another diet book. Great research from the China Project. You will be blown away by how we are constantly influenced by our culture to eat poorly.

I've been following Joel Fuhrman's instructions for three weeks now and I've lost 10 lbs. I might have lost more but, it took me a while to brake away from my unhealthy eating habits. Anyway, I feel great, I work out three times a week. I recently got another copy of this book for a very good friend that is having some health problelms.

A lot of the info seems like common sense. It's like Atkins without the meat and fat - almost vegetarian. I am a really committed carnivore though - so I don't thinks I can totally adjust my lifestyle. I have gone about 50% vegetarian which has helped. And I look at the value of whatever I eat. If you have serious health problems it is worth the read.

Excellent and very educational book to having a healthy life. Good read and fast too! I recommend this book to anyone who wants to live for a very long time.

This book is the first book that I could relate to. I began eating according to his plan about two months ago and I feel great. It's all about eating well and once you make small changes, (I was a vegetarian, but now follow a vegan diet) you will feel and look so much better. Eat to Live offers recipes and meal ideas so all the thinking and planning are done for you. And, it really is not a hard plan to follow.
So if you are considering this book, don't think about it. Just buy it and begin to feel and look healthier!

You want to be healthy read this book and his 2-book set Eat for health also by J. Furhman.

After my last visit to my Dr.s office this past May, my physician said that my cholesterol was inching up at around 179 (medicated 10mg Lipitor) my blood sugar was at 99 and my blood pressure was averaging about 139/90 (medicated 20mg Lisinpril). Another issue came up, my AST levels were close to 200, which scared the daylights out of me. My weight was up to 223 as well, which was very disappointing because I've been trying to lose weight all year. Well, I found this book one week after that dread full visit to the Dr.s office. After reading it, I figured I'd give Dr. Fuhrman's diet plan a try for at least one week. Well, I've been on "that plan" ever since (over 3 months now) and guess what?

1. I lost over 30 pounds (down to 191)
2. I no longer take any Lipitor (without medication my cholesterol is at 150)
3. I no longer take any blood pressure medicine (average BP is 120/78)
4. Glucose is down to 82
5. AST levels back to normal

All I can say is WOW! Up until reading this book, I was on BP medicine for the past 6 years. The cholesterol medicine was more recent, just 2 years. Now I am back to normal!!!! And, I plan to keep it this way. Nutrient rich low calorie foods all the way baby!

This book is a great jump start to healthy eating! Because of it I have now gone Vegan along with my family. We have all lost weight and feel 100% better in everyway.

first of all, i am going to say that i am a physician - a pediatrician who has seen children slowly gaining weight over the years. I was prepared to disregard this book when my aunt gave it to me. To tell you the truth i am not overweight and generally physically fit ( work out two to three times a week and i dance salsa twice a week). however, being over 40, i was getting achy...and even yoga was not helping. I read this book and for the first time was on board with a lifestyle change.....i now eat to live....my aunt lost 50lbs in one year and has kept it off for 5 years. She is 63. This is a life saver book and i recommend it to patients, their families and my family members. I had visited my doctor, four years earlier and told that my cholesterol was "getting up there". my choleterol has been below normal for the past one year with little effort on my part. I love the diet and like many comments feel it has changed my life. MY joints no longer ache and i fit delightfully in a bikini. This is a fantastic tool for fighting obesity and for encouraging you to LIVE YOUR BEST LIFE. read it and start to Eat to LIVE.

I'm not sure how this book slipped past my radar (seeing as it was published seven years ago, but maybe I wasn't ready for it).
If you are interested in long-term health, day-to-day well being and general disease prevention and healthy longevity--GET THIS BOOK.
It's funny, the concepts are rather basic and almost intuitive but maybe you just have to have experience with breaking habits and the desire to feel (and look!) a lot better.
If health were just an intellectual concept (like longevity) the power of the message may not be enough for me--but I have experience trying many different ways of eating and it is clear that daily emotion, moodiness, body pain, energy levels and clarity of mind are all affected by diet. In Indian spiritual tradition our bodies are called 'food bodies' because that's what they are entirely composed of. The fact that our 'advanced' scientific society has not caught on to the power of food as medicine seems to be one of the biggest irrational mistakes perpetrated in the medical community. People like Dr Fuhrman are bringing long-held traditional insights out of their niches and presenting case-studied scientific material to modern people in a modern way. Plus, the execution is easy--it's much more what not to eat, than what to eat.
I especially appreciate Dr Fuhrman's grasp of the mechanics of habit and behavior patterns. Try this for 6 weeks, he says, strictly. Then follow the recommendations if it works for you. We are given the information here and the motivating reasons to change our habit patterns and live longer, healthier and happier. The choice and commitment are ours to make. Best of luck to all of you!
(also, as a great appendix to this book, purchase 'Green for Life' by Victoria Boutenko. Green Smoothies for breakfast and throughout the day are a simple tasty way to incorporate 'Eat to Live's' recommendations)

It is a book ideal for rereading. In fact, I affixed a long ribbon to the
inside of the back page to use as a permanent bookmark.

I do most reading on the computer and this book was given to me to
read by a friend. I liked it so much I ordered my own hardcover
version of it and bought an extra to loan out to friends.

Then I bought the Fasting and Eating for Health and the Eating for Health
(books written prior and following this book) by the same author, Dr. Fuhrman.

Do yourself a favor and get this book, follow the dietary changes, and
then enjoy the health benefits.

This book belongs in every library.

This nutritional diet is based on solid scientific research, it's not a fad diet. It is about living a life that is healthy and disease free. Dr. Fuhrman is a real life practicing physician who is truly interested in helping people get healthy (which will also result in weight loss if overweight). This diet not only prevents heart disease and diabetes but will reverse it. I highly recommend this book to my family and friends!

This book tells you the truth about the way we eat and what to do to live a healthier and I would add a happier life. I am not sure if everybody is willing to give this way of eating a try because it seems so extreme and difficult to sustain but for the people who wants to make a great investment in their health, this is the book to implement!

As a result, you will live a healthier and happier life, guaranteed!
Alex....Dr Fuhrman's #1 fan

Okay, I'm only kidding with the title, but seriously, what's profound about this book? Fruits and vegetables are the best foods for you, as are legumes. I knew that without spending the money on the book. Also, even with this diet, my cholesterol never went below 200 and never has in my life.

These docs fail to mention that many people have inherited their cholesterol and diet isn't enough to compensate. One of my workmates eats butter, cheese, and basically all garbage and is significantly overweight (and smokes). Her cholesterol is 102.

BUT my biggest issue with this book, aside from writing their findings as facts with no backup, is the weight scale. At 5'6" inches a woman should weigh 119. Seriously? I'm 5'7" and my ideal weight is between 130 and 137. I wear a 5/6 and feel fabulous. I, like many other females, was fed the ideal of weighing in the teens or low twenties in my younger years, and, yes, I once starved myself down to 122 pounds. I looked and felt horrible. So not only is the beauty industry telling us we need to be stick thin, the medical profession is taking up the call?

All I have to say is shame, shame, shame. These two should know better.

I'm going back to Wendy Chant's book Crack the Fat Loss Code--It's a diet I can live with and that's important.

This book, Eat To Live, was okay. Just okay. Written just like any other diet or nutrition book. I thought it was a nice idea in theory, but I felt...for lack of a better word, empty, after reading it. Nothing set this plan apart from any other, and It seemed somewhat unrealistic. I think that if you have boundless resources and no social life, this diet might work. But for the average person, it just wouldn't work. The food was far too expensive, and it seemed very hard to carry out in everyday life, at work, or school. It was okay, just not for me.

Loved Eat to Live! Great overview of eating for health and longevity. This recipes are a little crazy though, not anything I could get my family to eat. Still you can create your own once you have the concepts down.

I love all the enlightening information put forth in Dr. Fuhrman's book. He absolutely shows us the way to ALL the benefits of the perfect nutrition of veggies and fruits. So why do humans keep insisting on the consumption of animal-source foods for their pleasure......and ultimate physical, emotional & sometimes, financial downfall?? Is living that bad that we have to keep punishing our bodies needlessly? Why go to the grave sick, broke & unhappy? Why not wake up, smell the roses (literally!), and enjoy life as best as we can? That enjoyment CAN include a salad instead of a steak, an apple instead of a candy bar, and a sweet potato instead of a Twinkie.

Dr Fuhrman is to be admired for his stand against the medical, pharmaceutical & food industries, who only see profits in what they sell. Furhman sees whole health for us, at costs MUCH less than drugs, surgery & hospital visits. He joins a growing list of doctors joining the ranks of those really solving the health crisis in America......by promoting nutrition, nutrition, nutrition.

Very meaningful information in regard to developing/maintaining healthful eating habits. Most importantly, author's formula for health: Health = Nutrients/Calories enables the reader to take charge and become responsible for staying healthy in order to prevent unnecessary illness.

Fuhrman demystifies nutrition and cuts through the misleading messages delivered to Americans by competing fad diets like Atkins and The Zone. I highly recommend for all human beings. The Kindle edition has live footnote links.

This book is very good and should be read by everyone. The nutritional facts are straight forward and empowering.

I bought this book as a gift for my parents (who are in their 60's). It was recommended to them by their doctor, and that have been very satisfied with it.

This book is full of information for the way we currently live our lives. It is a good read and can help you make the right choices.

Dr. Furhman's book is life changing and for the better. I have enjoyed it and am using it as my guide to a better and healthier life style. I have recommended this book to friends and have bought a copy for my sister. I have to thank a friend for telling me about it. Is is changing her life as well and for the better. RP, Greenville, NY

book seems to be factual but i was expecting more from reading all the reviews,author suggests trying to eventually elimante eating all meat which is very hard for me,raw vegtables and fruits only is way too restrictive for 90 percent of americans,just my opinion .

This is a great book and I recommend it to everyone. I have actually ordered two more copies for my mom and cousin to read. It is very imformative and easy to read. If you are interested in nutrition, losing weight or just being healthy, get this book!

This product arrived promptly and in great condition! It's exactly what I was expecting and asked for.

This is my second reading of this book. It is well written and well documented. For those interested in a vegetarian/vegan diet(which should be everybody), and losing weight, this is a great book to start with.

Gary

GOOD CONDITION, SATISFIED. THIS IS A GREAT BOOK. THOUGHT I KNEW ENOUGH. I HIGHLY RECOMMEND IT.

The selection of food in this book works very well with losing some pounds. Love it, thanks.

I have read most of the book and I found the information very good. I have started to use some of the information that I have learned and plan on using it with my family as well.

The book EAT TO LIVE,by Joel Fuhrman, came from a Goodwill Store, in Spokane, Wa. I was surprized; however, it was in good condition. I was very pleased with the content. It has been extremely helpful. Thank you so much, Marcia Warren

Having read this book I was converted. Dr. Fuhrman explains the chemistry of food in ways that are totally understandable. I have been eating the way he suggests now for nearly 4 weeks, have lost weight and am not finding it difficult to stay with it. A very good book for those looking to make over their lives, or just wanting to find a healthier way of eating.

Another outstanding book on the health food line. This is a good compliment to the Fit for Life series of books by Harvey Diamond.

I'm not sure about the science as such in this book, but what the author argues makes excellent sense, and I've tried to adopt his essential point, which is to eat far more nutrient-dense, lower-calorie fruits and vegetables. That said, as a person who likes to enjoy food, this book was just too austere for me. It's not a diet plan that I could adopt long-term or, frankly, short-term either. Since I cook for a two-year-old who's just not that into leafy greens yet (and trust me, I continue to try), it wasn't realistic for my family either. It is an inspiring book, but I guess I eat to enjoy as well as eating to live. For those looking for a similarly healthy approach to weight loss that is a bit more realistic and fun, I recommend "Eat, Drink and Weigh Less" by Mollie Katzen and Walter Willett--also a useful book for vegetarians, which few diet plans really accommodate well.

"Which has more protein -- oatmeal, ham or a tomato? The answer is that they all have about the same amount of protein per calorie. The difference is, the tomato and the oatmeal are packaged with fiber and other disease-fighting nutrients, and the ham is packaged with cholesterol and saturated fat."

This is what one can expect from Eat To Live...information about nutrition from cover to cover.

The advice is good... Eat more fruits and veges. But it is very restrictive... Eat ONLY fruits and veges for 6 weeks and 90% of the time after. You dont need to buy this book... It does do a good job of convincing you and I bet it's healthy... But if you enjoy eating variety and dont particularly care for veges I would refrain from buying it. I feel like I wasted $10 because I already knew I would lose weight if I only eat fruits and veges 90% of the time.

The shipping did not damage the book, and it arrived very well,
Thank you,
Apache Bob

This book explains why we need to change "what we think we are eating is healthy" - to actually eating what is healthy.Fun & "scary" reading.

This book helped me to change my life. It has provided me with the education to make healthier choices. It's not a diet. I believe this book should be required reading for school children in Jr. High. Every parent should read this book!

completely changed my views on vegetarianism and low-fat eating - detailed health benefits, perceived health negatives, fallability of the USDA, etc

I decided to read this book because I had been feeling ill for a long time, yet there was nothing 'wrong' with me proven by doctor visits and blood tests. I figured I'd try the 6 weeks because I thought there was no way possible that I could give up the things that I loved to eat. Well, at first it was hard but by the end of the 6 weeks I started to feel healthier, full of energy, less depressed and happier then I had been in a long time.

It's not easy being a vegetarian but I wouldn't change it for the world. I am amazed by how I feel now. Yes, I've lost weight, a very decent amount, but it is simply a good side effect of my new lifestyle.

Some people may say things but you know someone always has something bad to say about everything. Buy this book, read this book and then try this book (with your Dr's guidance of course.)

I want to add my applause to that found in most of the rave reader reviews. It is an absolutely wonderful book. (One of the interesting things is the collection of highly complimentary comments by numerous significant physicians listed on Fuhrman's own web site, www.drfuhrman.com)One of the easily missed but valuable and rarely found comments concerns hunger--its role and nature (see the book's index), although Fuhrman could have said a bit more in that context about the question of the timing of meals.

As for minor criticisms: Fuhrman could have paid more attention to other nontraditional approaches to health (e.g., intravenous chelation; colon hydrotherapy) and commented on how they might relate to his own nutritional approach. But on the whole, I just cannot say enough good things about Fuhrmans very valuable contribution. As he notes, it is not for everyone (see some of the readers' comments), but that's just too bad for those who cannot or will not use it.

I am 23 years old, and since graduating from college and taking a desk job, I have been feeling sluggish and put on about 10 pounds. I just started the eat to live plan recently, and already my clothes feel looser and I have a lot more energy to work out, do things around the house, play with my dog, etc. The plan is not just about weight loss and energy, though, by any means: it is about disease reversal and prevention!! Most Americans I know over the age of 40 suffer or have suffered from high cholesterol, blood pressure, heart problems, cancers.... you get the idea. Dr. Fuhrman shows you that armed with the proper knowledge and the produce section at the supermarket, these diseases are preventable! Also, I never feel deprived or hungry, and I love coming up with inventive ways to cook veggies, beans, grains, etc... Everyone should read this book, even if they decide the plan is not for them, the nutritional knowledge is worth it!

Obesity rates are soaring and the timing for this book could not be better. Americans are dying in record numbers
because of their unhealthy lifetyles including massive consumption of junk food and processed foods that are almost
void of any nutrients. This book shows you how to change your lifestyle for weight loss and better health. It's
simple... change the type of foods you eat from "Nutrient Void" to "Nutrient Full" and you will reap the benefits
forever. You may also want to check out another great lifestyle modification book that just came out called "The
Power of Positive Habits"...a great combination.

The perfect title for the book -- because this is about a lifestyle change to improve health, energy and outlook, rather than just another lose-it-fast fad diet. The book is based on well-researched and presented information that addresses many of the modern ailments without the rush to medication.

The approach DOES take some will-power, because it is very different from the way most of us have been eating for a very long time. But it is the sort of will-power needed to make an intelligent and sustained change in the most important thing that we do for our health--making food choices. If you stick with it, the pay-off comes quickly. You feel so good when you stop eating all the junk that you don't want to go back!