Marilyn Diamond, who with her then-husband Harvey Diamond wrote the bestselling diet book Fit for Life (1985), died September 7. She was 81. The New York Times reported that the co-authors "attracted millions of adherents to their fruit-and-vegetable-based regimen," but also drew sharp criticism from the medical establishment.
Fit for Life, which spent some 35 weeks on the Times bestseller list, "promoted a diet rich in fruits and vegetables with little or no meat, a regimen that nutritionists have long embraced. The book also presented ideas that were ahead of their time, like veganism, caloric restriction and drinking oat and nut milk to replace dairy." The Diamonds emphasized the importance of diet to overall health at a time when dieting had primarily been seen as a means for weight loss.
Many health experts criticized them for not having a conventional background in nutrition, noting that their recommendations "had no scientific basis, like alternating breathing between nostrils to balance the body's energy or not drinking liquids with meals to enhance digestion," the Times noted, adding that one of their most contentious ideas was "natural hygiene," which claimed that, with a proper diet, a body afflicted by disease could heal itself without medical intervention.
Nevertheless, many of the book's ideas have become popular, as has the Diamonds' contention that their critics were "beholden to big business and intent on keeping Americans improperly nourished," the Times wrote.
The Diamonds also published the cookbook Living Health (1987) and Fit for Life II (1989).
After her divorce in 1993, Marilyn Diamond married Donald Schnell, who had an interest in alternative medicine, in 1994. They co-wrote Fitonics for Life (1996), which emphasized what they called "high-energy eating," and Young for Life: The Easy No-Diet, No-Sweat Plan to Look and Feel 10 Years Younger (2013). They divorced in 2014.