Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes

Purchased this over a year ago. As a Type II diabetic, Dr. Barnards book can and did (for me) work wonders and it all makes scientific sense. Follow this book and add an exercise/activity regiment and you can expect very good things for your health. The more closely you follow the book, the better your results will be. You'll be most successful if you treat this as a lifestyle plan rather than a diet. You can, and should, go off plan occasionally and not feel guilty - this reduces the chance for "diet burnout". Plan on not being hungry Dr. Barnards approach you will be eating plenty of high nutrition, low energy density food. Dr. Barnard mentions the possible benefits of exercise in his book but, as a scientist, he kept focused on well researched food related recommendations. Because of my personal situation, I added endurance exercise (OK, it started as walking - some endurance aye?) and gradually added more and more - but only to the point that I enjoyed it. The secret to all of this is Personal before and after results from using this approach and adding a endurance type exercise. Weight Before 220 (clinically obese) After 188 (overweight, but getting there) A1C Before 10.8 (in the scary range) After 5.6 (in the normal range) Morning (Fasting) Glucose (Morning effect is present) Before 200-220 After 96-120 LDL Cholesterol Before 130 After 86 HDL Cholesterol Before 28 (sub par) After 61 My personal recommendation and approach 1. Work closely with your Dr on any change and plan. He is a key member of your team. 2. Don't give up, everyones diabetes is different. Experiment and find what works for YOU (it will likely be different from others). Dozens of my experiments failed for me (some were quite delicious) but I eventually found the right mix. 3. Look for Low Glycemic Index (LGI) foods and LGI equivalents to foods you like (e.g., Dreamfield pasta, available locally and virtually identical to regular pasta). The simple removing rice, bread, potatoes from your diet helps. 4. SLOWLY ramp up your exercise. This assures your enjoyment and minimizes the chance of injury. Slowly you'll be amazed at what you can accomplish...and how good it makes you feel! 5. Ask your Dr about Metformin. This is a dirt cheap miracle drug invented in the 1920 but nearly forgotten until recently. Reliable research (see for yourself, google it) indicates metformin can increase a diabetics lifespan by 14% (this is very significant) and non-diabetics by 6%. It is even being prescribed to cancer patients (reduces blood sugar levels to slow its growth. Why do't we see this marketed as a miracle cure on television? A expired patent coupled with little financial gain for drug manufacturers. A couple of exceptions (e.g., Jenumet) whereby a new and patented drug is made better by adding metformin. The downside is minimal and the upside is huge. 6. Research supplements and experiment with supplements (i.e., cinnamon, burberine). For instance, cinnamon reduces my morning blood sugar by about 10 points, but it does nothing for a friend of mine. Our metabolisms are probably different. If you do all of this and it still doesn't work (though it probably will), keep trying and experimenting (in conjunction with your MD). Also, there are some potentially wonderful drugs being developed that may work wonders. Have hope and faith.

This doctor does not hand out pills and go home. This man actually explains everything so you get a sense of what you are up against with trying to care for your body. He calls it functional medicine which he says is growing in popularity in the world of modern medicine which avoids handing out pills and looks at what is causing your biological situation, whether it is diabetes or high blood condition or other ailments we all are exposed to. He blames our crazy food industry and fast food joints that cause us harm over the decades of eating bad or junk foods that sets us up with inflammation which causes disease of liver or other parts of our body, like the brain getting inflamed and getting poor outcomes of the brain later in life ! This medicine man blames mostly high intake of carbohydrates and it's cousin, sugar, which is vastly used in most of our foods and drinks we eat or consume daily !!! Which he says causes pre-diabetes and more serious conditions ! There are now more doctors who follow this mans pioneering ideas in new modern medicine ! Most people eat lots of carbs each day ! Because the food industry knows many people can't afford much else. This is why many people end up over weight and diabetic. Proper nutrition is very crucial to staying healthy. In fact, most diabetes doctors don't explain this fact to their patients and they just hand out drugs to keep blood glucose down to normal levels. But if the carbs are dramatically reduced, then diabetes is an easy metabolic disease to control or even Reverse ! It depends on many many cases how a patient adopts the understanding that cutting bagels and pasta and pizza and bread and potatoes can greatly help in controlling diabetes and often Reversing diabetes ! Yes reversing ! A claim that is achievable if a patient really understands and uses this idea each day of his or her life ! Also the nasty insulin resistance also is avoided if carbs are dramatically avoided each day ! This powerful information is often not mentioned in doctors offices because it is not high tech but it is what is needed to avoid serious complications among type 2 diabetics, whose numbers are growing daily because medical personnel do not discuss low tech solutions !!! Low tech solutions don't promote big office charges! Good luck. Gerard

Great read but information is a bit outdated. Dr says one should exclude all fats, even healthy fats (like olive oil, avocados etc.) Diagnosed as type II 2 years ago, I eat healthy fats all the time (I do stay away from bad oils & fats including seed oils) & have gotten my health & blood-work back in the normal healthy range. The book is spot on otherwise.

Zwar stört mich immer bei Ernährungsempfehlungen das etwas extreme: tu etwas nie! tu es immer! Aber davon mal abgesehen ist dieses Buch eine wundervolle Beschreibung der richtigen menschlichen Ernährung, nicht nur für Diabetiker. Ich selbst bin Ernährungsberaterin und habe trotzdem noch Zusammenhänge erfahren, die mir neu waren. Er beschreibt die biochemischen Vorgänge im Körper so anschaulich, dass es jeder versteht. Wer halbwegs Englisch kann, der wird keine Probleme haben, das Buch zu lesen. Es ist kein Fachchinesisch. Viele Aha - Erlebnisse warten hier auf den Leser. Und : es wird endlich mal mit diesem Low Carb Blödsinn aufgeräumt!!! Das hier ist meine erste Rezension, aber dieses Buch verdient es, dass hier mehr Meinungen stehen.

My best friend was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes two months ago and I've researched tons of books, web sites and other information about this condition in order to help him. Unfortunately, official medicine seem uninterested in healing people with diabetes (both types), other than keeping their sugar levels low with medications in attempt to prolong their life. It seems that nothing has changed in treating this condition since the times when my grandfather had it. As a result of such "treatment" patients only further develop their insulin resistance (with type 2) and require more and more different medicines over time. I have not heard stories of people being completely healed by such drugs, quite on contrary, there are plenty of unfortunate stories of people losing sight, kidneys, limbs and even dying. At the same time there is a simple way to improve your condition by simply eliminating products that caused diabetes in the first place - all animal products including fish and dairy, refined oils, sugars, alcohol and junk food. Replace it with vegetables, quality whole carbohydrates (yes) - like brown rice, quinoa, buckwheat; exercise daily, use natural and inexpensive supplements; fast, if you can; and you will start feeling better day by day. There is no-one out there who can heal you, but yourself. And you have everything to be healthy. All you need is the right direction, and this book gives you enough information to find it. It is written by a doctor who dared to experiment and he discovered a very simple way to cure diabetes with incredibly high success level. While I would urge you not to stop there and continue your research, this book is a very good start, in fact in has everything to change your life and get you on the road to recovery. Coming back to my friend, he followed a program we developed for him, which is very similar to the one described in this book, for two months and last week his analysis came completely clean - Hemoglobin A1c 5.8, glucose 5.5. Of course it is not the reason to revert back to a previous diet, rather a motivation to go even further. If you or your friend/relative have diabetes, especially type 2, you need to buy this book and give it a try. I do hope it will work for you same way it did for my friend. It's all in your hands. UPDATE: It's been 6 months since my friend was diagnosed with diabetes and about 5 months since he adopted a diet similar to the one described in this book (I think a bit more advanced) and he is now virtually free of any symptoms - his blood sugar is always normal, and he feels less tired and in general much better than before. He only lost about 1 1/2 stone (9 kg) but considering it was done without any restrictions on food intake (he's a bit of an eater so it's hard to change) it's a good result. If you or your relatives or friends have diabetes, please buy this book and research further but most important, stop eating foods that made you ill, and you too can become diabetes-free. It's not a miracle, it's only natural to live a healthy and happy life. Good luck.

Disappointed, in a nutshell, he is saying be a Vegan and eat LOADS OF CARBS!! it will spike the sugar

I am truly grateful for discovering this approach. An alternative approach for diabetes exists thankfully. I am a family physician and like most I believed that once you have diabetes you will land up on medicines and these will keep spiralling upwards. My dad developed diabetes a few years back and was resistant to the idea of medI cations. He did try lifestyle changes but could not sustain and finally we started medicines. Even on metformin the sugars appeared resistant. For almost 6 -8 months they remaibed stuck. As a physician I knew this meant a change in dose or drug. But as he wanted to avoid medicines we tried once again with no medications and following this book wholeheartedly. The guidance is simple to follow and you can fairly easily customise to suit the cuisine you follow. We are vegetariàns so it's slightly easier. I had to prepare weekly meal plans following these principles but using our homecooked Indian food. So you would need to get used to that some or take help from someone who knows better. The recipes in the book are more Western. Coming to the results. His blood sugars dropped over 20 points in 8 weeks with no medications. This had not happened in a few years now even with medications. He lost 5 kg of weight over the same period. He is much more conscious of what he eats now and about walking as exercise. And he just said how he feel much more energetic at age 64 and willing to take on more work. Thank you, thank you, thank you for returning his health and vitality. Giving us hope. Showing us an alternative healthier approach. I am more keen than ever to take this forward with more patients through my practice. To give diabetics hope and alternative healthier approach. And to also use diet to prevent lifestyle diseases. I am also guiding a few acquaintances on weight loss based on Dr. Barnard's program. I like that these are scientifically proven principles, there is absolutely no guilt or judgement attached. It is simple to follow, and the best part, you are never required to go hungry! Thank you for sharing this with the world. God bless!

Excellent livre, très instructif... Les médecins et chercheurs americains ont découvert le secret pour renverser le diabète, pas seulement le traiter avec les médicaments... Il faut reconnaître, qu'en France nous sommes en retard de 35 ans par rapport à leur connaissances, ou est-ce que renverser ce fléau n'intéresse pas les autorités ? Nos médecins devraient continuer à apprendre et élargir leur connaissances après leurs études à l'Université... !!! Mais les plupart se laissent couler douce... en ayant leur clientèle assurée, puisque le diabète progresse à grand pas !!! Tous les diabétiques devraient prendre connaissance du contenu de ce livre pour sauver leur vies des complications inéluctables ... Bravo pour les médecins qui oeuvrent pour sauver les vies humaines !!! Ça mériterait une bonne traduction en français !!!