Eating for Life [Paperback]

Finally, a healthy way of eating that I can follow throughout my lifetime. I've been searching for a program that would allow me to eat nutritional, good tasting food and still lose weight. I've never had a serious weight problem but after a long-term illness I gained about 15 lbs and was really in bad shape physically. I have tried every diet imaginable and still after a whole lot of suffering still didn't lose all the weight or "feel" healthy at all. This diet provides a basic, easy to follow plan that will allow anyone to not only lose weight but start to feel good again. My energy level is skyrocketing! The book recipes are simple, with basic ingredients that you can find at most grocery stores (no special nutrition house trips for some odd form of home-grown barley). The recipes are also very good, my husband can't believe we are eating diet food and who can blame him when we are eating shrimp scampi, spaghetti and meatballs, turkey burgers, french toast, quesadillas, etc... There has been some criticizing of the brand names, but I think that the wonderful addition of actually showing pictures of brand items at the bottom of a lot of the recipes makes shopping for items easier. I just take my book to the store when I'm feeling too lazy to write a list and plan my menus right there.
My husband is losing weight, 6 lbs the first week! I'm losing lbs. and gaining muscle. My daughter is even losing and she was a nutritional nut before starting this program with us. She was already slim but couldn't lose a small amount of fat around her middle and in one week she lost 3 lbs and that middle fat is gone. The best part is that she is eating so much more than she was before and she is feeling good about food again instead of reguarding it as her enemy.
Try the shakes. I usually loathe protein shakes, but these are really good and make me feel full of energy.

I did the challenge back in 2002 and lost 25 lbs, but I had no variety in my diet--all I ate was chicken breast, cottage cheese, brown rice, and salad. Eating for Life takes care of that problem. So far I've tried the following recipes: Baked Chicken Parmesan (pg. 113), Mom's Chicken Enchiladas (pg. 114), Strawberry Cheesecake (pg. 195), Berry Dessert Crepes (pg. 199), Enriched Double Chocolate Pudding (pg. 201), Walnut Brownies (pg. 202), Egg-Cellent Enchiladas (pg. 223), Ham and Egg Sandwich (pg. 224), Denver Omelet (pg. 227), Cool Taco Salad (pg. 257), and the Tuna Salad Wrap (pg. 272). With the exception of the pudding, all of the recipes were great. I made the chicken enchiladas and cheesecake to share with my boyfriend's family and they all raved about both dishes (one tip for the cheesecake, mix the sliced strawberries with lemon juice and Splenda). The only recipe that took me longer than half an hour to prepare was the chicken enchiladas (mainly because I had to poach the chicken and shred it, buying pre-cooked chicken would solve that). Some of the recipes are really silly, like the Breakfast Du Jour (pg. 221) and the Turkey Sandwich (pg. 256), but there are plenty of interesting dishes to try. There is also a section containing 14 different ways to jazz up your nutritional shakes.

This is the best book about nutrition and eating correctly that I have ever purchased in the last 15 years, and I have purchased A LOT of cookbooks. Every recipe I have tried I have loved, and so have my husband and kids(they are normally picky eaters). Eating the recipes from this cookbook you can feel your body returning to equilibrium and a huge reduction in cravings! It is the only cookbook I will cook with for the rest of my life. It's hard to believe eating right can taste so good!