The Fit for Life Plan is one of the best-selling diet plans of all times. The plan centers on the naturopathic philosophy known as natural hygiene. This concept concentrates on when and how you eat certain foods. Certain foods are emphasized while others are eliminated. As with any new diet plan, dangers can exist.
Can Lead to Nutritional Deficiency
Danger exists in getting proper nutrition from the Fit for Life Plan. The plan completely eliminates the dairy food group and limits animal protein. Lacking these food groups may lead to deficiencies in a variety of nutrients, including vitamins B12 and D, zinc, protein and calcium. Numerous health ailments can result from eating a nutritionally-unbalanced diet like the Fit for Life Diet.
Dairy foods contain the richest amounts of calcium, making up about 75 percent of the American diet, according to registered dietitian Ellen Coleman. Calcium is the most abundant mineral in your body, according to MedLine Plus of the National Institutes of Health. Lacking calcium can lead to osteoporosis or weak bones, poor muscle contraction, high blood pressure and poor dental health.
Emphasizes Time of Day Consumption
The Fit for Life Plan involves a key concept of when to eat allowable foods. The program states to eat only fruits before noon and mainly vegetables for the remaining day. Even though 70 percent of the diet consists of fruits and vegetables, eating these foods at incorrect times will cause harm and disrupt the body's digestive functioning. A key concept states that eating fruit at the end of a meal hinders the absorption process and causes fermentation. Fermentation can lead to obesity, according to the program. If fruit is eaten at the proper time, emphasizes the plan, the sugar content can cleanse and wash the body of toxins.
This contradicts reality in two ways, according to registered dietitian J. Kenney, Ph.D. First, pectin is a key component of fruit. Pectin is naturally fermented. If fermentation truly caused obesity, eating fruit would increase obesity levels instead of actually help them, according to the doctor. Secondly, the small intestine absorbs nearly all of the sugars, whether from fruit or refined sources.
Emphasizes Questionable Food Combining
The Fit for Life Plan promotes food combining. Food combining consists of eating certain food combinations in order to promote proper digestion and nutrient absorption, according to the plan. Improper food combinations hinder the intestinal tract's ability to proper absorb food. Enzymes of one food type can cancel out the enzymes of another type, as in the case of eating a protein and a carbohydrate together. Nutrients cancel each other out. According to the plan, the digestive tract cannot digest more than one concentrated food at a time. In turn, the body becomes full of wastage.
Food combining dates back to the turn of the century when little knowledge and research existed regarding the topic, according to Coleman. The food-combining concept contradicts what is currently known about nutrition and physiology. Coleman states that combining vegetable and animal protein in the same meal actually stimulates better utilization of vegetable protein instead of hindering the process. Food combining lacks scientific justification and frequently contradicts itself.
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