Eating For Life

This book starts with 70 pages describing many of the ideas about food he covered in his bestselling book, Body-for-Life. As he explains, diets are BAD. They are impossible to maintain, so 95% of people who go on diets end up gaining back everything they lost (and often MORE than they lost). His philosophy is to eat balanced, nutrient-rich meals six times a day. This keeps you full, so you never feel like you're starving, and also signals to your body that its getting the nutrients it needs and can stop storing all the fat.

This is the first time I've seriously done the Body-for-Life challenge and I've already lost 8 pounds of fat! The biggest problem for me, as I said, was how BORING I thought healthy foods were. This book has shown me how wrong I was! The first day I got it, I flipped through it and salivated at all the delicious recipes! There are over a hundred GOOD recipes in here, including shrimp scampi, chicken noodle soup, filet mignon, chicken fajitas and SO much more. There are even several healthy dessert recipes, including fruit crepes, cheesecake and walnut brownies! The recipes are not only healthy, but extremely easy to prepare and very delicious!

A lot of people have said that Bill Phillips plan takes a lot of dedication and hard work, and that's true. But there is no "easy" diet out there. I've tried some of the "fad" diets, including low carb diets and diet pills. While they sometimes work, I found them impossible to stick to and maintain weightloss on. With Body-for-Life, and especially now with this AMAZING cookbook, I can eat healthy, delicious meals AND lose weight. Plus, with Body-for-Life, you have a free day every single week (usually Sunday) where you can eat whatever you want in whatever quantities you want.

I highly recommend checking this book out, even if you aren't interested in the Body-for-Life program. The recipes are better than I've seen in most diet books.


Highly Recommend !!!   July 20, 2004
S. M. Anderson (Lithia Springs, GA)
146 out of 146 found this review helpful

I have been doing the BFL plan, and lost over 30 pounds. The problem I had was finding ways to have variety with my eating plan. The food list is small, but after a while you ran out of ideas for meals.

This book is perfect, and I'm so happy he put it out. I really enjoy this cookbook. The title of the book says it all. Eating for LIFE. This is NOT a diet, but a way of life. Diets do not work, they are temporary solutions, and you don?t want a temporary solution, but a lifestyle solution. If you want to win the battle of the bulge, this book with the BFL book is the perfect lifestyle solution. If you exercise and eat the recipes from this book you will lose weight. You can?t do one without the other. Exercise and proper eating go hand in hand, and Bill stresses that. "Eating for life takes the guess work out of eating right.", and it really does.

There are some really easy and very satisfying recipes in this book. My favorites:

1. Taco pasta salad
2. Turkey Rueben
3. BLT wrap (I especially enjoy the mustard/mayo spread I make from another BLT wrap recipe!!!)
4. Zesty Italian Chicken
5. Grilled Salmon
6. Spaghetti and Meatballs
7. Balsamic Salmon Salad
8. Baked Chicken Parmesan
9. Sloppy Joes
10. Spicy buffalo chicken sandwich
11. chicken noodle soup
12. chicken tenders
13. strawberry cheesecake
14. berry parfait
15. Spanish omelet
16. ham & Egg sandwich (I don?t eat ham, so I use turkey)
17. Turkey bacon melt (this is simply delicious and easy!!!)18. eggs Florentine
19. turkey sandwich
20. chicken Caesar
21. chicken pita pizza
22. cilantro burrito
23. chicken quesadillas
24. mile high baked potato
25. turkey burgers
26. BBQ chicken pita pizza (I love this pizza, healthy and very tasty!!!!)


As you can see my list is long, and I just love this book. You can find something different to eat daily if you plan, and shop for everything you need.

I?ve noticed some people complain that the recipes are bland. I have not tested any of the dessert recipes mainly because I eat fruit when I want something sweet. But for a lot of the meals I use my own special touches by adding spices to snazzy up my recipes. You can do some amazing things with basil, oregano, and other spices. For instance I added more pepper to the spread used for the BLT wrap, and it came out excellent! This is a great addition if you are following the Body 4 life fitness plan, but at a loss of meals to eat. This book has a lot of variety, so if you try something new you will never run out of meal ideas.



If You Follow It, It Will Work.   December 7, 2003
K. Johnson (US/Asia)
30 out of 30 found this review helpful

More reality for the obese, over-weight, and health-weary American public. There are no shenanigans here, just straight talk and common sense--that happen to work.

After all the workout videos, metabolic drinks, Hollywood diets, fitness-gurus-cum-salesmen, "don't eat before noon" diets, and "only eat peanut butter" mantras, we are once again hit with what we don't get hit with enough: common sense.

Eating several properly portioned and balanced nutritious meals over the course of the day will keep one's metabolism moving, provide energy, and improve and maintain mental and physical health. We are also reminded of a very important factor in improving and maintaining our weight and health: The more muscle we have means our ability to burn calories increases. More muscle speeds up our metabolism. Eating smaller meals more frequently increases metabolism. Our bodies are natural machines and focusing on metabolism is just as important as placing emphasis on what we put in our mouths (what we eat).

This book is not for the sedentary, lazy, beer guzzler, fast food addict, or office-worker who comes home to watch TV at night.

Worth noting is that Phillips does promote his supplements in the book and that's fair enough. If you're serious, get this book. It has helped me in several areas of my life.


Couldn't have done it without this   November 4, 2004
John Tarquinto (Plymouth, MI USA)
23 out of 23 found this review helpful

When it comes to leading a healthy lifestyle, I am the type that needed to find a structured program. Bill Phillips Body for Life program was EXACTLY the instruction that I needed. This cookbook was absolutely essential to me meeting my goals (from 195 to 175 in twelve weeks).

I won't tell you the twelve weeks was easy, but Eating for Life cookbook helped immensly. Each Sunday, I planned out the weeks meals and went shopping. Twelve straight Sunday's to the grocery store. This book has some lousy recipes, but my wife and I found at least 15 of the dinner recipes to be in our rotation, as well as a few breakfasts and lunches. Just good, simple recipes that anyone is capable of making.

I want to be a witness that you do not have to buy the shakes and bars to do this. The cookbook provides many snack ideas if you are not wanting to drink the shakes. Personally, I hated the milkshakes, but did eat one of the Myoplex bars for my afternoon snack each day. Also, the free day is no joke. I ate freely whatever I pleased one day a week. Honestly, as the weeks went on, I didn't want to "pig out" on my free days. But I wouldn't hesitate to eat fast food, pizza, ice cream, whatever. I earned it.

The key to all of this is to PLAN both your workouts and meals each week. This book will bring you some variety for some very good meals each week, and I would recommend it to anyone who is realistic about wanting to lead a healthy lifestyle.


A true lifestyle that works   January 10, 2004
John F Biondolillo (New York, NY United States)
20 out of 20 found this review helpful

Hail Bill Phillips. I began a year ago with his best-seller, Body for Life, which is incredible in itself. His new cook book is an amazing supplement to that program and truly supports a manageable lifestyle, not a fad diet.

Bill's philosophies are realistic, pragmatic, most of all effective. Being single, in Manhattan, I don't have the time or the patience for complicated, time consuming food preparations, that's why this program has been so effective for me, it's the exact opposite. I've lost almost 30 lbs and managed to keep the weight off now for almost a year.

This book is filled with great recipes and the simple program is explained in an easy to read format. No gimmicks, just balanced meals with real food, that promote a healthy, active lifestyle.