Fit for Life

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Fit for Life is a diet and lifestyle promoted by Harvey Diamond and Marilyn Diamond, which stems from the principles in Natural Hygiene. As the title of the book suggests, Fit for Life claims how to lose excess body weight and maintain good health via long term dietary and lifestyle practices, rather than short term dieting. In the Fit for Life book series many dietary principles are recommended including eating only fruit in the morning, eating predominantly "live...high-water-content" food (as per the raw food diet), and if eating animal protein to avoid combining it with complex carbohydrates (such as bread, rice or pasta). Tony Robbins promotes the Fit for Life principles and vegetarianism to increase energy levels in his book Unlimited Power.

Despite its popularity, it has received criticism from dietitians and doctors for espousing pseudoscientific theories, which include describing the human body as being "cleansed" or "clogged" and a variety of other claims that are inconsistant with medical science. However, since the first book was published several of the Fit for Life principles are now accepted by the general medical community, such as consuming a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables lowers the chance of developing heart disease, cancer and diabetes. Also, in Fit for Life II (1989) the Diamonds warned against eating artificial food additives such as hydrogenated vegetable oil, which at the time was being promoted by the food industry as the healthy alternative to saturated fat. The Diamonds' claims were disregarded by the food industry and criticised by various dietitians. Now nearly twenty years later hydrogenated and partially hydrogenated vegetable oil are regarded by health officials, such as those in New York City, to be so toxic that food containing the additive is classified on a par with food containing rodent droppings [1]. Harvard's School of Public Health researchers have estimated that trans fat, such as hydrogenated vegetable oil, contribute to the death of 30,000 U.S. citizens per year, and many more worldwide. However they also made claims that have not panned out or been proved to be useful or true. For instance they wrote about a "amino acid pool" in our blood that "stores" amino acids for us to be used later. This is false. Also they claimed that amino acids from fruit and grains are all that is needed, again the history of humanity show us as often meat eating omnivores not vegans. These vegan ideas are luxuries of developed civilizations. Nobody staving would turn away free range chicken or a piece of goat cheese. Would you really feed a new born baby only fruit and kamut for the first three years of life?