Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

186 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

product and the next night a vegetarian dinner. Use animal products

primarily as condiments — to add flavor to soups, vegetables, beans,

or tofu — not as the main dish.

Similarly, if after the first six weeks you choose to reintroduce

dairy back into your diet, use fat-free dairy only (skim milk, nonfat

yogurt) and limit it to 12 ounces per week. You can add an unsweet- }

ened fat-free yogurt or soymilk yogurt with your fruit breakfast. Do !l

not eat fruit flavored yogurt, as it contains sugar. Keep a close eye on 1

your weight with both these additions.

How does this work out in terms of calorie consumption? The ac-

cepted wisdom is that the "average" woman should consume fewer

than 1,500 calories daily, and a man fewer than 2,300 calories. To

hold to the 90 percent rule, women should not consume more than

150 calories per day of low-nutrient food, or about 1,000 calories

weekly. Men should not consume more than 200 calories of low- J

nutrient food daily, or about 1,500 calories weekly.

In real life, this means that if you choose to have a bagel for

lunch, you use up your 150-calorie allotment of low-nutrient food

for the day. If you put one tablespoon of olive oil or a few ounces of }

animal food on your salad for lunch, then you should have only

plant food for dinner, with no added oils, pasta, or bread. Using the

90 percent rule, you are allowed to eat almost any kind of food, even

a small cookie or candy bar, as long as all your other calories that day

are from nutrient-dense vegetation.

100 Calories of Low-Nutrient Foods Equals

• 2.5 teaspoons of olive oil


• Half a bagel


• Half a cup of pasta


• One small cookie


• 2 ounces of broiled chicken or turkey breast


• 3 ounces of fish


• 1.5 ounces of red meat


• One thin slice of cheese


• One cup of 1 percent or skim milk

In general, the Life Plan dictates that you eat not more than one

or two items of low-nutrient foods daily. Everything else must be un-

refined plant food. The number of calories consumed will vary from

person to person. Those who exercise or who are naturally thin eat