Eat for Health

For Christmas, Jess got a set of books entitled Eat for Health by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. She started reading the books and quickly became convinced that both of us needed to read the books and that we needed to start taking some of the steps that are talked about in these books. Initially I was skeptical that these books were setting us up for a fad diet, but to humor my wife, I decided I would read the books.

Once I started reading Book One - The Mind Makeover, I became hooked. Dr. Fuhrman explains clearly the method behind his plan. It is not a diet, in that, you eat a particular way in order to lose way. Instead, it is a lifestyle change. This way of eating is based on the idea that our bodies are built to take care of many of the physical problems we have. The reason we end up needing medication or surgery is largely because we don't give our bodies the nutrients they need to take care of themselves.

Dr. Fuhrman makes a distinction between macronutrients (calories, proteins, and fats) and micronutrients (think vitamins). We give our bodies far too many macronutrients and far too few micronutrients. The lack of micronutrients is due largely to the lack of fruits and vegetables in what we eat. He argues that our focus should be on eating nutrient dense food, that is, food that has many nutrients per calorie. Fruits and vegetables are the most nutrient dense food that we can eat. Because these foods are so dense, Dr. Fuhrman allows you to eat as much of these foods as you want. Although some may be concerned with calories, 300 calories of fruits and veggies will fill your stomach, whereas 300 calories of chicken barely fills a quarter of your stomach and 300 calories of oils barely fills any part of your stomach. In other words, you can eat your fill of veggies and will consume so few calories and so many nutrients that it will not work against you.

Dr. Fuhrman would like to see people eating 90% of their daily calories from fruits and veggies. However, he has a four phase plan to help people adjust. He makes it clear that you can stop at any phase and it will help your body out from the way you are eating now. The first phase he wants you to eat a half a pound of veggies a day and a half a pound of fruits a day. This may seem like a lot, but if you spread it out over multiple meals or munch on some fruits and veggies as snacks, you hit the half pound marks really quickly. Additionally, he advocates that you eat till you liquify your food, as many fruits and veggies often do not give us the nutrients they have as we do not break them down enough. The second phase increases the fruits and veggies to a pound a day each, while the final phases focuses much more on reducing animal products, oils, and non-fruits/veggies. Again, you don't have to make it to phase four. If you do, you'll see drastic changes in many different areas of your life. However, making it to phase one or two will still do good things for you. Phase three and four only become necessary when you start dealing with things like diabetes and heart disease, for you can help your body deal with these diseases without having to become dependent on meds for the rest of your life.

The thing to keep in mind in this process is that you can still eat other things. If you want to eat the birthday cake and ice cream, you can. If you want a steak, you can. However, the idea is to focus on making sure your body is getting the micronutrients, because here in America, we have no problem at all getting our macronutrients. (I was surprised to find out the protein and calcium content of many fruits and veggies!) If you try to get the bulk of your calories from fruits and veggies, you'll go a long way toward accomplishing that goal.

The second book is basically a cookbook full of recipes that help implement the kind of lifestyle needed. We haven't tried many of the recipes, but look forward to bringing more and more into our supper rotation.

I've been trying to eat more fruits and veggies and reducing some of my animal products. I'm somewhere between phase one and two on my fruit and veggie intake, but lagging in the animal products, although I've accepted that I love my milk and cheese too much to ever get to phase three or four. Over the last month (while being somewhat inconsistent due to traveling), I've dropped 6 pounds, while doing nothing in the way of extra exercise. Both Jess and I are trying to add more physical activity to our lives. However, the focus is not on losing weight, but rather on eating healthier and being healthier people. Thanks to Dr. Fuhrman, I think we're on our way!

I highly recommend this set of books if you're looking to find a way to eat healthier in a way that is not a fad diet. I made a vegetarian chili tonight that turned out incredibly well and will be cooking with eggplant for the first time tomorrow night. It's changing the way we look at food and encouraging us to try to live healthier lives. I hope it can do the same for you!