Diet for a Pain-Free Life: A Revolutionary Plan to Lose Weight, Stop Pain, Sleep Better and Feel Great in 21 Days

by Harris H. McIlwain and Debra Fulghum Bruce

Book Overview

Do you wake up each morning aching with joint or muscle pain? Have you been trying to lose stubborn belly fat for years? Do you wish you could be active without pain medications? Look no further: Diet for a Pain-Free Life is the simple-to-follow, doctor-designed solution to improve your health. Leading rheumatologist, Dr. Harris McIlwain shares his revolutionary prescriptions in this first proven lifestyle plan that will help you drop pounds and decrease...

• Format: Paperback
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1569242690
• ISBN13: 9781569242698
• Release Date: December 2006
• Publisher: Da Capo Lifelong Books
• Length: 276 Pages
• Weight: 0.60 lbs.
• Dimensions: 0.7" x 6.3" x 9.0"

Customer Reviews

It Worked for Me!

I bought this book back in mid-August along with a couple others that promised to reduce or eliminate pain & inflammation. This is the one that worked for me. Yes, it is just a basic healthy eating & exercise plan, but I had no idea how much eating sugar and other refined starches was contributing to my pain. I had so much joint pain/inflammation that some mornings I could barely walk. After only 3 days of cutting out all sugar, breads, pasta, etc. I felt SO much better! It was amazing. I had no idea how much that nightly bowl of ice cream was affecting my well-being. The book says that taking off even 5 pounds can help with pain - no matter what your starting weight. This diet will help you gradually get to a more healthy weight if you need to. Since starting this eating plan, without even realizing it, I took off over 30 pounds in about 4 months and now most days any joint pain is minor. If you are a sugar-holic like I was and are worried about missing it, my experience has been that after being off sugar for just a few days, the thought of it was very unappealing. I look at most sweets and think, "Ugh." I do eat sugar, but in the form of fruit and now most fruits taste as satisfyingly sweet to me as refined sugar desserts used to. I broke down and allowed myself a small slice of reduced sugar pumpkin pie (my favorite) for Thanksgiving and it tasted really good, but I had no desire for more. Foods such as pasta, most breads, cereal, white potatoes and other starchy vegetables, white rice, & beef are pretty much off my menu. Most nights I cook a different meal for the rest of the family, but I don't mind since I'm feeling so much better now. At home, I eat a lot of salmon (that I buy online from a company that sells wild salmon that is negligible in mercury), some chicken, eggs, vegetables like spinach, broccoli, & sweet potatoes, salads with sugarfree dressing or lemon juice, brown rice, beans, fruits, some lactose-free dairy, nuts, and a delicious sugarfree high protein mixed berry smoothie I make. I like celery with natural peanut butter or hummus. For a special treat, I love a toasted slice of brown rice and nut gluten-free bread with a little peanut butter and sugar-free preserves. Ordering in restaurants has been more of a challenge, but is very do-able. Is the book perfect? No. But, it perfectly helped me. It got me inspired and I recommend it to all my friends. My plan is to eat this way for the rest of my life.

Everyone should eat like this

If everyone followed the advice in this book, we would all be much healthier and health care costs would decrease dramatically. The author outlines 4 keys to reducing pain and improving general health. The first, of course, is to lose weight -- even a small amount makes a difference. Other steps involve exercise, sleep and stress. The eating plan makes complete sense and can be followed easily, i.e., no hard-to-find foods and no elimination of complete food groups. It's basically an anti-inflammation diet plan which is recommended by many doctors (and many book writers.) I've been following the diet recommendations for a few weeks, mainly eliminating refined foods, and I've lost 1-2 pounds per week. This diet could be maintained for life in contrast to diets that are so restrictive that you can't wait to go OFF the diet - and return to former eating habits. I am thinking of buying this book for several friends and family members who would greatly benefit from this lifestyle.

Easy and Healthy

I have purchased many diet books in the past, but Diet For A Pain Free Life is the one that I choose to follow from here on. I have arthritis and fibromyalgia, and just happened to see this book on the shelf while looking for another book. The recipes are easy and very good. I lost 6 lbs the first week I followed this diet. It is nutritionally superior to any other plan I have seen, with good tips on stretching and exercise also

excellent book

I am about 35 pounds overweight and have struggled with joint pain for the past 5 years. I have tried everything since Celebrex was taken off the market and after being recommended this book by my sister, I can honestly say I finally found something that works! I have been on the diet for about 2 months and have lost 15 pounds already, which has done wonders for my pain- I don't have any! The recipes are also really good:)

pain free diet changed my life!

I finally found a way to control my knee pain following the diet in this book. It is easy to make these changes and I enjoyed the variety. This was fun to try and I am hooked!