Diabetes Reversed by Doctor's Diet
Diabetes Reversed by M.D.
In joining in on the fight to eradicate diabetes, especially amongst our young, I purchase the latest research materials to bring you and our medical experts up to date. This book was a published in 2007 with the most recent research.
As one who has experienced the tremendous power of "whole food" approaches to our health problems, I am very happy to have read Neal D. Barnard, M.D.’s new book on "Reverse Diabetes Now." We have more and more doctors joining in on the new approach to healing based on the foods we eat. Dr. Barnard is not a "first generation doctor." He dedicates this 2007 book to his father: "Donald M. Barnard, MD, a kind and wise physician, and the participant in our research studies. I am deeply grateful for your important contribution to this author." Dr. Neal Barnard represents a new breed of medical doctor who challenges old thinking, the efficacy of drugs and the ADA’s approach to an ever-growing problem: Diabetes.
"What we will zero in on is the type of food you eat. That has emerged as the critical factor, as you will soon see." That is what Ralph J. Argen, MD, F.A.C.P. was so excited about when he read my blood work and resulting weight loss in October of 2003. My book, influenced and recommended by Dr. Argen, is now in print, "Make Eating A Lifestyle Change" and is already changing the lives of all those who have made the effort to learn more about addressing health problems with good whole food.
Dr. Barnard is candid, provocative, honest and a clinician of the highest caliber. Very few books have addressed the major problem of diabetes in such easy to read, layman’s terms.
He recounted a telling comment made by the clinic’s founder (Boston’s famed Joslin Clinic), Elliott P. Joslin, about diabetes research: "Gentlemen, we don’t need a big research grant. What we need is a new idea." Dr. Joslin made that observation in the 1950's, and the need has only grown more urgent as the incidence of the disease has exploded. Worldwide, about 200 million people are living with diabetes.
In research studies conducted with Georgetown University and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the latest research confirms that many people with diabetes can think beyond delaying the inevitable decline and improve their health dramatically. They can cut their blood sugar, increase insulin sensitivity, and reduce or eliminate medications, and they can do this with a simple set of diet changes. Unlike with medication treatments, the "side effects" of the menu change are good ones: weight loss, lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and increased energy.
The first study to use such an aggressive approach to diabetes was a small study involving only 13 patients—that relied entirely on diet changes. There was no new drug, no magical supplement—not even an exercise program. But the results were amazing. Two-thirds of the patients improved so much that they were able to reduce or eliminate their medications within 12 weeks. The study was published in Preventive Medicine in 1999.
Then in a second study, this one involving 59 patients with varying degrees of blood sugar control, some healthy, others prediabetic or diabetic—studies were concentrated on why diet change works. It became clear that the diet shift actually caused a fundamental change in the body itself. In 14 weeks, the diet led to a 24 percent improvement in insulin sensitivity—that is, the body’s ability to respond to insulin, the sugar-storing hormone that is dysfunctional in diabetes. Participants whose blood sugar levels were in the abnormal range saw them promptly return to where they belonged. The results were presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Meeting in 2004 and were published in the American Journal of Medicine in 2005.
The new studies suggested that this new approach may be the most powerful nutritional plan ever devised for diabetes. "We can help the body’s own insulin work properly again by directly addressing—and improving–the cell’s sensitivity to it, which is the key issue in type 2 diabetes. Even when the disease has evolved to the point of serious complications, it is not too late for marked improvements to occur," says Dr. Barnard.
Starting in 2003 (the year I began research for my book) with the support of the National Institutes of Health, they conducted a new research trial to compare Dr. Barnard’s diet with the gold standard: the American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines. Many people followed these guidelines, religiously, and millions of people exchanged lists, as well as cookbooks developed from the guidelines, to manage the disease. But too often, despite everyone’s best efforts, the disease worsened over time.
Dr. Barnard, in a careful analysis that kept exercise and medication use constant, found that the new diet controls blood sugar three times more effectively that the previous "best diet." It also accelerates weight loss and controls cholesterol better that the old gold standard. Other investigators have shown that this kind of diet also has dramatic benefits for the heart and leads to a healthy drop in blood pressure. It allows many individuals to take charge of their lives again and to return to health and vigor.
Dr. Barnard’s new book "Reverse Diabetes Now" translates these scientific breakthroughs into tools that can be used, including an easy to follow plan with simple diet guide-lines, menus, and recipes.
It may surprise you to know that type 1 diabetes begins when the body’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. New research has revealed what appears to spark this attack and what can help to prevent it.
In joining in on the fight to eradicate diabetes, especially amongst our young, I purchase the latest research materials to bring you and our medical experts up to date. This book was a published in 2007 with the most recent research.
As one who has experienced the tremendous power of "whole food" approaches to our health problems, I am very happy to have read Neal D. Barnard, M.D.’s new book on "Reverse Diabetes Now." We have more and more doctors joining in on the new approach to healing based on the foods we eat. Dr. Barnard is not a "first generation doctor." He dedicates this 2007 book to his father: "Donald M. Barnard, MD, a kind and wise physician, and the participant in our research studies. I am deeply grateful for your important contribution to this author." Dr. Neal Barnard represents a new breed of medical doctor who challenges old thinking, the efficacy of drugs and the ADA’s approach to an ever-growing problem: Diabetes.
"What we will zero in on is the type of food you eat. That has emerged as the critical factor, as you will soon see." That is what Ralph J. Argen, MD, F.A.C.P. was so excited about when he read my blood work and resulting weight loss in October of 2003. My book, influenced and recommended by Dr. Argen, is now in print, "Make Eating A Lifestyle Change" and is already changing the lives of all those who have made the effort to learn more about addressing health problems with good whole food.
Dr. Barnard is candid, provocative, honest and a clinician of the highest caliber. Very few books have addressed the major problem of diabetes in such easy to read, layman’s terms.
He recounted a telling comment made by the clinic’s founder (Boston’s famed Joslin Clinic), Elliott P. Joslin, about diabetes research: "Gentlemen, we don’t need a big research grant. What we need is a new idea." Dr. Joslin made that observation in the 1950's, and the need has only grown more urgent as the incidence of the disease has exploded. Worldwide, about 200 million people are living with diabetes.
In research studies conducted with Georgetown University and George Washington University in Washington, D.C., the latest research confirms that many people with diabetes can think beyond delaying the inevitable decline and improve their health dramatically. They can cut their blood sugar, increase insulin sensitivity, and reduce or eliminate medications, and they can do this with a simple set of diet changes. Unlike with medication treatments, the "side effects" of the menu change are good ones: weight loss, lower cholesterol levels, lower blood pressure, and increased energy.
The first study to use such an aggressive approach to diabetes was a small study involving only 13 patients—that relied entirely on diet changes. There was no new drug, no magical supplement—not even an exercise program. But the results were amazing. Two-thirds of the patients improved so much that they were able to reduce or eliminate their medications within 12 weeks. The study was published in Preventive Medicine in 1999.
Then in a second study, this one involving 59 patients with varying degrees of blood sugar control, some healthy, others prediabetic or diabetic—studies were concentrated on why diet change works. It became clear that the diet shift actually caused a fundamental change in the body itself. In 14 weeks, the diet led to a 24 percent improvement in insulin sensitivity—that is, the body’s ability to respond to insulin, the sugar-storing hormone that is dysfunctional in diabetes. Participants whose blood sugar levels were in the abnormal range saw them promptly return to where they belonged. The results were presented at the American Diabetes Association (ADA) Scientific Meeting in 2004 and were published in the American Journal of Medicine in 2005.
The new studies suggested that this new approach may be the most powerful nutritional plan ever devised for diabetes. "We can help the body’s own insulin work properly again by directly addressing—and improving–the cell’s sensitivity to it, which is the key issue in type 2 diabetes. Even when the disease has evolved to the point of serious complications, it is not too late for marked improvements to occur," says Dr. Barnard.
Starting in 2003 (the year I began research for my book) with the support of the National Institutes of Health, they conducted a new research trial to compare Dr. Barnard’s diet with the gold standard: the American Diabetes Association (ADA) guidelines. Many people followed these guidelines, religiously, and millions of people exchanged lists, as well as cookbooks developed from the guidelines, to manage the disease. But too often, despite everyone’s best efforts, the disease worsened over time.
Dr. Barnard, in a careful analysis that kept exercise and medication use constant, found that the new diet controls blood sugar three times more effectively that the previous "best diet." It also accelerates weight loss and controls cholesterol better that the old gold standard. Other investigators have shown that this kind of diet also has dramatic benefits for the heart and leads to a healthy drop in blood pressure. It allows many individuals to take charge of their lives again and to return to health and vigor.
Dr. Barnard’s new book "Reverse Diabetes Now" translates these scientific breakthroughs into tools that can be used, including an easy to follow plan with simple diet guide-lines, menus, and recipes.
It may surprise you to know that type 1 diabetes begins when the body’s immune system attacks the insulin-producing cells of the pancreas. New research has revealed what appears to spark this attack and what can help to prevent it.
Real people like "Nancy" found out about the research from advertisements in the Washington Post. She had been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes 8 years earlier. A cousin of hers had lost some of his eyesight to the disease, and failed kidneys left him on dialysis. Nancy did not want that in her future. She was willing to fight back.
Two years after her diagnosis, her doctor put her on her first diabetes medication. Eventually, her doctor felt she needed two medications. Still her blood glucose level continued to rise. As she entered the study, her hemoglobin A1c level—the key index of blood glucose control, which ought to be below 7.0 percent—was an unhealthy 8.3 percent.
Two years after her diagnosis, her doctor put her on her first diabetes medication. Eventually, her doctor felt she needed two medications. Still her blood glucose level continued to rise. As she entered the study, her hemoglobin A1c level—the key index of blood glucose control, which ought to be below 7.0 percent—was an unhealthy 8.3 percent.
Nancy joined the study because she liked the focus on food rather than on drugs. Nancy intuitively felt that the problem had to be the kinds of food she ate and that the solution had to be there, too. As she began to follow recommendations, her weight started to fall, along with her blood glucose, the latter with surprising speed. The trend of a rising glucose started to reverse. After 11 weeks, she stood on the scale and was surprised to see she had lost 14 pounds. She also found that she had dropped from 8.3 percent to 6.9 percent. All this in about 3 months’ time. Her insulin sensitivity was returning. Nancy’s blood sugar continued to fall. In fact, it fell so much that it became clear that her medications were now too strong for her. The combination of drugs she had been taking, along with the new powerful diet changes, actually left her blood sugar too low. It was time to reduce her medications. But as she cut back her doses, it turned out not to be enough. After several months, she had to stop one of them altogether.
Another payoff was the numbers in her lipid profile had gotten dramatically better and another benefit she had not anticipated was that she found that her severe arthritis pain had completely gone. The best part of the story is that Nancy’s experience is not unusual for people who make diet changes—mine were the same.
Another payoff was the numbers in her lipid profile had gotten dramatically better and another benefit she had not anticipated was that she found that her severe arthritis pain had completely gone. The best part of the story is that Nancy’s experience is not unusual for people who make diet changes—mine were the same.
Sugar exacerbates the pain of arthritis, in my experience, and less pain was the result of an aggressive change in my "whole-food-approach." Eating became my way to use food as a way of getting quality nutritional support for my bodyl while easing the pain.
For Vance, a 31-year-old diagnosed with diabetes, the payoff came very quickly. His weight started to fall, and over a year’s time, he lost—to his surprise—about 60 pounds (the same as my wife using the "Nutrition-Based-Regimen"). His A1c which had been 9.5 percent at the beginning of the study, fell to 7.1 percent after just 2 months and 5.3 percent after fourteen months into the study.
Dr. Barnard, MD states, "That’s why we will focus solely on what you eat, not how much. You can eat until you are full and have snacks when you want them. You will have to learn to think about food in new ways. And you have to unlearn some old, outdated notions. And if you have been overweight, it is very likely you will have to buy some new clothes!
Over the long run, high blood glucose levels can damage your nerves, eyes, kidneys and other parts of your body. Diabetes comes in three main types, called type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. Insulin is made in the pancreas, an organ located just behind your stomach and about the size and shape of a TV remote control.
Dr. Neal Barnard, MD is candid about the medical profession in his statements: "Some doctors and patients view medications as the only tools at their disposal. The marketing of pharmaceuticals has so dominated medical practice that many doctors give little more than lip service to diet and exercise, which can often be dramatically effective."
"If you were to leaf through the mail that floods doctors’ offices, you would see information about medical courses, symposia, and online educational programs, all paid for by the drug companies trumpeting their products. These companies cater full dinners to lure doctors to presentations about one or another applications of their drugs. Drug companies have cornered the medical education market. At the ADA annual meeting, drug company representatives arrive at the loading dock looking as if they are preparing to put on an enormous political convention. All of this ends up sticking you with the bill for high-priced pills containing only a few cents worth of active medication. All of this hoopla is designed to woo the clinicians in attendance!!"
This book is complete with research, results, problems and solutions, diet and exercise, recipes and specific designs to improve your overall attack on diabetes. I highly recommend you get a copy and, as the author proposes, share it with others. That is what I am doing in this article. We can no longer trust our government, our doctors, the FDA or the AMA to decide how to best approach a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise.
For Vance, a 31-year-old diagnosed with diabetes, the payoff came very quickly. His weight started to fall, and over a year’s time, he lost—to his surprise—about 60 pounds (the same as my wife using the "Nutrition-Based-Regimen"). His A1c which had been 9.5 percent at the beginning of the study, fell to 7.1 percent after just 2 months and 5.3 percent after fourteen months into the study.
Dr. Barnard, MD states, "That’s why we will focus solely on what you eat, not how much. You can eat until you are full and have snacks when you want them. You will have to learn to think about food in new ways. And you have to unlearn some old, outdated notions. And if you have been overweight, it is very likely you will have to buy some new clothes!
Over the long run, high blood glucose levels can damage your nerves, eyes, kidneys and other parts of your body. Diabetes comes in three main types, called type 1, type 2, and gestational diabetes. Insulin is made in the pancreas, an organ located just behind your stomach and about the size and shape of a TV remote control.
Dr. Neal Barnard, MD is candid about the medical profession in his statements: "Some doctors and patients view medications as the only tools at their disposal. The marketing of pharmaceuticals has so dominated medical practice that many doctors give little more than lip service to diet and exercise, which can often be dramatically effective."
"If you were to leaf through the mail that floods doctors’ offices, you would see information about medical courses, symposia, and online educational programs, all paid for by the drug companies trumpeting their products. These companies cater full dinners to lure doctors to presentations about one or another applications of their drugs. Drug companies have cornered the medical education market. At the ADA annual meeting, drug company representatives arrive at the loading dock looking as if they are preparing to put on an enormous political convention. All of this ends up sticking you with the bill for high-priced pills containing only a few cents worth of active medication. All of this hoopla is designed to woo the clinicians in attendance!!"
This book is complete with research, results, problems and solutions, diet and exercise, recipes and specific designs to improve your overall attack on diabetes. I highly recommend you get a copy and, as the author proposes, share it with others. That is what I am doing in this article. We can no longer trust our government, our doctors, the FDA or the AMA to decide how to best approach a lifestyle of healthy eating and exercise.
The time has come for all Americans to realize that change is only going to happen if you stand up, stop paying for ineffective pills, and start taking responsiblity for your own health. Make lifestyle changes that produce recognizable results instead a pyramid of pills! No idolatry is needed here - especially for those who kneel at the alter of the almighty dollar!
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