Create your Best Life Diet
and leave it on Autopilot

How do you decide what is the Best Life Diet for you? There are hundreds of books written on this subject and thousands of weight loss schools, classes, and seminars.

Once you have finished reading this page, you will realize that you DO NOT have to spend half your life reading all those books, or waste your money going to all those schools and classes! You can take control of your body health right now, without a question! Your search for great health ends right on this page!

Let me begin by giving you a sampling of my success with nature cure over medicines. My intention here is to inspire you with the courage that you too can take your life into your own hands, rather than handing it over entirely to the doctor community.

 My Enlarged Prostate 

“Your prostate is that of a four year old baby!” That was my physician screaming at the end of my annual physical in January 2013. And he went on, “Your blood report is excellent. Everything else looks in good shape. You are my best patient!”

My tryst with prostate started some 10 years ago. You are expected to get an annual prostate screening once you are fifty. But I started late, when I was about sixty.

In my first visit to the Urologist, he found my prostate to be slightly enlarged. That was not good news and I panicked. He prescribed 1/2 mg of the popular drug Cardura, which he said would prevent its growth. That was not a cure! He told me not to worry about it because 1/2 mg was the smallest dose.

The dose kept increasing every year! Obviously, because my prostate kept growing bigger every year!! In the second year, the dose was 1 mg, and the third year the doctor increased it to 2 mg. Now I was getting a bit jittery.

I started research on the internet to learn more about enlarged prostate. Some sites were about prostate Cancer. But there was a clear distinction between the two conditions; it was gratifying to note that an enlarged prostate did not necessarily lead to prostate cancer. 

One web site described the benefits of a chemical called “Lycopene” in preventing prostate cancer. At the time, the chemical was being extracted by a company in Israel and marketed in America.

I thought, if Lycopene is beneficial for prostate cancer, it might also be beneficial for prostate health in general!  

And if Lycopene is extracted from tomatoes, “why not eat tomatoes instead of buying Lycopene from the store?”

I also learnt from that site that in order for Lycopene to be released for easy absorption by the body, the tomatoes need to be slightly cooked, preferably in some form of fat.

I remembered the old English breakfast we often enjoyed in India…Fried Eggs with bacon, and Fried Tomatoes, and buttered toast on the side! My focus turned to those delicious fried tomatoes – certainly not the bacon!

I added two tomatoes lightly sautéed in canola oil, to my vegetarian diet, which has been my best life diet for many years. Two slices of toasted whole wheat bread rounded up the breakfast.

This ritual continued, without fail, for almost a year, until my next trip to the Urologist. I had figured that he would double my Cardura dosage to 4 mg. But after examining my prostate he was pleased to find that the medicine was working and that there was no further growth! He let the 2 mg dose continue! I didn’t say a word about tomatoes…

I never stopped eating my fried tomatoes, even for a single day! The next year, the Urologist was taken by surprise. He proclaimed, with an air of disbelief, that my prostate had shrunk by about 20%; and he reduced my dosage back to 1 mg!

We had become good friends by then. So I thought I will tell him my secret. Boy was he shocked! It appeared that he had not heard about Lycopene before. But he said he certainly did not know about the tomato advantage for prostate!! He made some notes and said, “Keep eating your tomatoes, Anand…We will see next year”

Back to those heavenly fried tomatoes for another year…and back to the Urologist. And you guessed it! He announced another 30% reduction in the size of my prostate and cut down the medication to ½ mg.

Now, there were no more surprises the next year. The good natured Urologist announced with great jubilation that my prostate had shrunk back to normal! And he stopped the medication! That was in 2008.

As I was leaving, he put his hand around me and whispered, “I have also started eating tomatoes; and I tell my patients about it too…”

My Escape from Chronic Hypertension

This may not sound as exciting as the tomato story. But this is a long history of my fight with high blood pressure that started when I was a little over forty. My cardiologist in India had put me on Nifedipine 60 mg for life! And since there were no side effects, I didn’t give it a second thought...

Coming to America increased our health awareness. In the first several months after arrival, we did not have medical insurance. We were depending on the supply of medicines we carried with us from India. There was not enough money to pay doctor’s fees either. We tried our best to avoid falling sick!

And as I said before, there was not much money for what is (ironically) considered great food. Like steaks and barbeque! We were driven to live on the cheapest vegetables, beans and rice, splurging occasionally on chicken legs!

This food habit continued over the years, even after we got into jobs and started earning reasonable incomes. We were enjoying our predominantly vegetarian lifestyle, that became our best life diet, gradually upgraded by the inclusion of Broccoli, Spinach, and Asparagus!

We walked the parks, the sidewalks, and the museum grounds during spring, summer and fall. In the winter we walked in the University gym where we had a discounted membership due to my wife’s employment.

We were also covered by our employer’s health benefits and I visited our physician periodically to monitor my hypertension. One day the doctor said, “Your BP has been consistently low for a year. Let us try with a lower dose of medication”. So he reduced the Procardia 60 mg (which is a brand name for Nifedipine) to 30 mg!

He attributed the drop in my blood pressure to meatless diet and exercise!

It struck me that perhaps I could bring down the blood pressure even more by continuing this good regimen. We were still eating chicken every week, and also a good amount of cheese, potatoes, sweets and deserts. Over the next few months I stopped most of these, except cheese which was my weakness.

One day in 2005, during a visit to the bookstore, I was drawn to a special display of a book titled “EAT TO LIVE” by Dr. Joel Fuhrman. I picked up a copy and started looking at the reviews as I normally do. I was spellbound!

There were eleven reviews in all, by people whose names read like the Who's Who in the world of medicine in America; and the reviews were mind blowing! According to them, this book was the last word on diet! One called it a gift from heaven!!

I walked out with two copies – one for me and one for my wife!

Following this book, and some trials, I chose the food types to suit my taste and lifestyle, and created my final best life diet.

Then I left it on Autopilot! No course correction till today!!

During my annual physical in 2012, my physician noticed my blood pressure had steadily decreased to about 128/80. He changed my medication to a smaller dose, and said that once I reduce my weight by another ten pounds, I would be able to stop medication altogether!

The three primary goals of the diet prescribed in Eat To Live are:

1. Reduce weight
2. Increase life span
3. Avoid medications for life

Here is the essence of my best life diet, designed with guidelines from Eat To Live. And this is also my recommendation for you!! 

Vegetarian Option – My Choice

Vegetarian Best Life Diet
Preferable
Lots of fruits and vegetables, including leafy greens, preferably raw.
Good servings of Beans and Legumes.
Small servings of whole (unrefined) grains, and breads.
Flax Oil for Omega-3 fatty acids, important for brain function (vegetarian substitute for fish).
Avoid Dairy products.
Stop all sweets and desserts.

CAVEAT

I am not saying that you shouldn't eat a piece of cake on your birthday... Although I don't! You may even have a piece of candy on Valentines Day!!

Just don't make it an everyday habit. APPLY RESTRAINT!!

Non Vegetarian Option - My wife's choice

Non Vegetarian Best Life Diet
The Alternative
Everything under the Vegetarian Best Life Diet.
Add lean poultry or fish once or twice a week.

And don't forget...Exercise Like Crazy!!

Although I said that you don't need to read any book once you are through with this page, I may recommend just this one book - more as a reference manual, especially if you have a scientific appetite for food and nutrition. It can help you to select a specific nutrient that you may want to add to your diet.

Get your own copy of this life changing book

Click to buy it on Amazon!

My best life diet and exercise regimen have paid handsomely.

I Wish you a totally healthy life too!

To review introduction to Total Body Fitness, click here

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