Wednesday 2 May 2012

Fit for Life


Many years ago, probably when I was in my early 20's, I remember testing out yet another fad diet in a desparate attempt to loose weight.  This one involved food combining; only eating certain foods together and at particular times of the day.  I had a book, which was my bible and it was called "Fit for Life".  I cannot remember how long I managed to stick to the diet or whether I managed to loose any weight as a result but I do remember a particular sandwich which I became addicted to.  The dietary requirements of the "Fit for Life" diet, were quite restrictive and complicated, so I seem to remember deciding that, the simplest thing to do was, eat this sandwich morning, noon and night. 


It sounded quite plain, just a combination of brown bread, tomato, avocado and mayonnaise but it was totally delicious.  If you have some really good tomatoes, a little pinch of salt, a perfectly ripe avocado, some really good wholemeal bread and a nice dollop of mayonnaise, really, there is no better sandwich in the world.  Even Hugh, the other half, who is the type of man who wakes you up in the middle of the night and makes you list, in order, your top five favourite sandwiches ever.......even he could not believe how good it was. It makes a fantastic lunch as it helps avoids the "post lunch energy crash" which I seem to have effectively managed to postpone from 2pm to 5pm. 

I imagine as a result of consuming all that bread and mayonnaise, I probably ended up putting weight on all those years ago, but I do still recommend an Avocado and Tomato Sandwich to this day. In fact I think it might even take the number one sandwich slot. 


My Favourite Sandwich - Avocado and Tomato
This recipe is adapted from Fit for Life, by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond. They call this “The Properly Combined Sandwich”. 
Serves 1

2 slices wholemeal bread
4 slices of a really ripe tomato or a handful of cherry tomatoes cut in half
Several slices of a perfect, ripe avocado
A pinch of sea salt and freshly ground black pepper
Mayonnaise


Spread the bread with mayonnaise and pile high with avocado and tomatoes.  Sprinkle lightly with sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

5 comments:

  1. Lovely, simple food. If it's meant to help lose weight then all the better!

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  2. Thank you for this.

    Btw, not a "fad" diet at all but one that was developed 25 years ago and the dietary and nutritional world catches up to it on a daily basis it seems. Also, not complicated.
    1.Simply do not combine different food types- no starches with protein, for instance.
    2. Only fruit in the morning and no eating after 8 pm
    3. Eat mostly "water" based food- vegetables and fruit

    I lost 30 pounds in 40 days on this diet years ago and never felt better. Have kept it off since.

    Thanks again.

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  3. Fit for life was one of those books in the early 90s that everyone ownd ..
    well in Britain anyway

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  4. We still have Fit for Life principals in my family, decades later. Not as a diet, but just as feel good tips. We still eat only fruit in the morning, and, my favorite sandwich remains the Properly Combined, with a little bit from the Goodwich. Then and now, I still love and eat this combo of the Diamonds' two most popular sandwiches:

    Toasted Whole Grain Bread
    Mayo
    Avocado Slices
    Tomato Slices
    Onion Slices
    Cucumber Slices
    Alfalfa Sprouts
    Sunflower Seeds
    Salt, Pepper and Dill

    Love it!

    I don't remember this as weight loss, but, we definitely felt better as a family when we ate certain foods at certain times, and it stuck with us. Maybe they had the last laugh since it wasn't a fad at all, was it?

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  5. Being a body builder competition winner, I chose Fit for life after having a surgery that put me out of the gym for 4 months. I was petrified that I was going to revert back to the body I had before, not being able to exercise. I went to the bookstore and bought the Fit for life book because it said is wasn't strickly for weight loss, it was designed more for staying cancer and dis-ease free. After 3 months of eating for the digestion function of my body, I had an eight pack, not a 6 pack abdominal region and I looked and felt better than the day I won the contest. This is not a fad diet! Fit for life is a lifestyle in awareness of how your body functions and you provide what it needs to do an optimal job functioning to it's top potential. Which means ideal lifestyle. It takes a mindset change to eat for function not for flavor. But when your biology experiences the functional way of eating, our taste buds change, our cravings for sugar changes, our desires to eat or drink anything other than whole foods and pure drinks becomes our norm. And the flavors of our food now do not even compare to the old ways. Now our food is exploding with nitrients and flavors. Lol We don't need to camoflouge our food with non nutrient sauces. YAY! Fit for life does work and is real and true! Thank you Diamonds for sharing your knowledge this way.

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