Hi Cathy

 My wife and I had the same conversation :-)  Bottom line was that we did it all, including phase 1 because it is only 8 weeks out of your life to do the initial program and as this is a new approach for life on health / eating I didn't think it was too much to ask. 

Looking back on it, I'm really glad we did it.  While it was difficult at the start for a couple of days, it was well worth it.  We did go into this with the attitude of "its a big change, we can commit to doing it for 8 weeks (the book), and this is a change for life".  For me, I lost of lot of weight in phase 1, just due to eating well, and it really set me up for the rest of the program and beyond because it really makes you think about what you're eating, the harm/benefits of your previous lifestyle etc which makes it easier to stick with it for us.  As an added bonus my wifes IBS and my life time sinus problems cleared up, but that may have happened with phase 2 anyway . .

If you skip phase 1, I don't think all would be lost, you would still see benefits, but you may not get the benefit of removing the common allergens etc to see if you are intolerant, it would take you longer to see the weight loss I think.

With a little bit of planning for the meals, phase 1 is easily achievable, and its not that long to do.  You have taken a step to eat well just by getting the book, so why not just give it 8 weeks including phase 1 to get the maximum benefit.

Have fun!

Carl