 "Great book lots of info." | 2009-10-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: APMMBJ667Q931 |
| Bought book for my dad who is a type 2 diabetic. Haven't finished the book yet, but seems to have alot of helpful info on diabetes. Absolutely worth reading for any chance that may help to "reverse diabetes". |
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 "Cures for diabetes" | 2009-08-14 |
| - Reviewed By User: A1FSHA9XWQNROB |
| Dr. Whitaker's book has been out for years with the latest update at 2001. In the past 8+ years since his update there have been numerous alternative therapies added to the list of natural treatments for diabetes. Eliminating insulin and oral drugs for diabetic patients must irk many a doctor since just about all of the current medical school curriculums stress the use of insulin and oral drugs to "treat" the disease. These stopgap measures are a bandaid according to Dr. Whitaker and none "cure" the disease. Diet and exercise along with the use of vitamins, minerals, and herbs can eliminate the usual recommended prescription drug approach used by most physicians. Whitaker's detailed analysis of the use of natural, inexpensive therapies and the fact that thousands upon thousands of his patients and readers have been cured of this nasty disease makes this book a valuable resource of important information. It needs another update. |
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 "Dishonest or Shockingly Ignorant" | 2009-08-10 |
| - Reviewed By User: A3N9QO6EDQSZD5 |
Let me preface this by saying that I've recently found I have blood sugars in the pre-diabetes range and am very keen to get down to normal. I have been reading as much as I can find, including this book and Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution - two radically different approaches. Dr. Whitaker advocates a high carbohydrate/low fat diet and seeks to avoid medications in favor of dietary supplements. Dr. Bernstein, one of the oldest living Type I diabetics around, advocates a very low carbohydrate diet and, if diet and exercise do not get you down to normal, oral meds and/or insulin. Being preferentially vegetarian and averse to medication, I really wanted Dr. Whitaker's approach to be credible - but sadly, Dr. Bernstein is magnitudes more credible than Dr. Whitaker.
There is no disagreement between the two, nor in the medical community, that exercise is critical for diabetics. The ratio of body fat (esp abdominal fat) to muscle mass affects insulin resistance, so losing weight and adding muscle are the most powerful treatments for diabetes. Any doc who can get their patients to lose weight and exercise will be able to claim some measure of success. Where they differ is on the type of diet to use and how readily to use medications.
The first tip off that something fishy is going on is that Dr. Whitaker, in trying to make us believe that fats cause insulin resistance, cites a piece of research from 1935. In this experiment, subjects' responses to a glucose tolerance challenge were measured after being on a low carb/high fat diet, a high carb/low fat diet, and a few in between. The results show that the more carbs subjects had been eating, the lower their glucose response to the challenge. The way in which he cites this study leaves it clear he wants us to believe that the high-fat intake on the low carb diet causes "glucose intolerance (pre-diabetes)." However, it is well known that eating a low carb diet (not necessarily high fat) will cause a *false-positive* result to a glucose tolerance test. The reason for this is not insulin resistance (as Whitaker implies by the way he organizes this section). The reason is that the body scales down its production of glucose-handling enzymes when few carbs are coming in(1) - after a few days of eating carbs, the response to the glucose tolerance test would be accurate. As I said, this phenomenon is well known, so either he knows it and is trying to gloss over it, which I consider unacceptably dishonest, or he really doesn't know it, which would be shocking in an M.D. claiming expertise in this area. Indeed, after citing this study, he basically says he can't advocate a high fat diet because "there is just too much research on the harmful effects of certain fats" for him to consider this safe. Anyone who shares his belief should read Good Calories, Bad Calories by Gary Taubes which completely debunks the so-called research that fats are bad (i.e., there isn't any - there is only common wisdom).
Secondly, despite how scary it sounds to most of us, insulin is the most natural way to handle blood glucose. In fact, it has been demonstrated that early intervention with insulin can give the pancreas a rest and allow damaged beta cells (the cells that produce insulin) to recover, thus possibly saving someone like myself from disease progression. Indeed, Whitaker even acknowledges this (pg 70). At the same time, while acknowledging its importance for Type I diabetics, he mostly talks about insulin as a scary bogeyman and says that "safer alternatives" should be explored first. Well, if that were only diet and exercise, there would be no cause for disagreement. However, he devotes a good deal of time to discussing dietary supplements that he prefers. Now, I've tried most of these myself (no effect), and Dr. Bernstein also talks about them (but hasn't seen much effect), but frankly, if I were an MD, I wouldn't be advocating the use of supplements with meager research behind them, no long-term safety studies, and no quality control in their manufacture. Moreover, the way he talks about some of them makes you wonder if he doesn't stand to benefit monetarily if he can get people to buy them. On this point, I agree with other reviewers who felt like this book was sort of a sales pitch for his Whitaker Wellness Institute (I can only imagine how much they charge) and the "Whitaker Wellness Health and Nutrition Bar." Interestingly, after reading this book and getting mad, I was telling my husband about it and when I showed him Dr. Whitaker's name, he said "Oh, that guy" - he'd had the same reaction to him as a snake-oil salesman in some completely different context.
Finally, once you understand that the whole "Fat's are Bad" myth is just a myth, there is no excuse for advocating such massive carbohydrate intake for diabetics. The idea that it doesn't matter if you have high blood glucose as long as you maintain stability is bogus. The way Whitaker (and perhaps also the ADA types) apparently justify advocating high but stable blood glucose is by citing a statistic that the death rate for people who maintained lower blood sugars was no better than that of those who did not (pg 66-67). However, the problem with these statistics is that they don't control for carbohydrate intake; because most insulin-using diabetics continue to eat large quantities of carbohydrate, they have huge margins for error in their insulin estimates. Consequently, they are subject to mis-dosing themselves and having sometimes deadly hypoglycemic episodes, not to mention highly fluctuating glucose levels. Thus, their overall survival curve may not look much better than for people who had higher overall blood sugars and didn't use insulin. This is why Dr. Bernstein advocates the "Law of Small Numbers" - if you are eating only a small number of grams of carbohydrate in a meal, you will be very unlikely to calculate a dose of insulin that is too small or too large, thereby maintaining stable blood sugars throughout the day.
So, that's my take. If you want to live a life free of the horrors that are diabetic complications, get Dr. Bernstein's book and skip the snake oil.
[...] |
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| "He's Done It Again" | 2009-02-07 |
| - Reviewed By jferrara35 |
Do you have diabetes and are confused with all the information or lack of out there? Are you wondering how to get better and reverse this condition and keep yourself health? Then this book is for you.
Dr. Whitaker has done it again. He has written another well written and concise book on health. Reversing Diabetes describes why people who have diabetes need to change their diet and need to exercise before taking medication. This is no scare book though he explains the dangers of drugs and insulin, the information is real. Most of the book explains that just changing diet and exercise for type 2 diabetics can lower diabetes greater then any medication and can even allow you to stop taking your medications. He states that many doctors and patients are often too lazy to try these methods first. Many doctors feel that most people will not try to loose weight and just hand over a pill their patients. I surmise that many patients do not understand the disease fully (explained here) so they are helpless but to listen to what the doctor says. Many doctors say "Change your diet and Exercise", leave the patient to figure out what this means and doing it. Dr. Whitaker is knowledgeable and has researched the subject and gives the importance of both activities and why they work. Why specific actives are not mentioned, he tells you the type which is further then most doctors have given.
He doesn't just give the advise "Exercise and eat right", but he give the details on how to do it and how to do it safely. While I know most doctors will not write out a prescription for exercise of even do a stress test (which he recommends) to see if some one should exercise and what types are best it is up to you to request them. So he explains the best activities and how to get the most out of them. He also explains the benefits which seem like common since, yet most people are even aware of.
His diet is not the usual restrictive diet you see else where. While he doesn't want you eating white (sugar, flour, potatoes), he tells you why. He also gives you plenty of alternatives and substitutes on what to eat and the portion size you should eat them in. This was a real eye opener and I have started using the method to loose several pounds.
This is an excellent book with one noted exception, he mentions his wellness institute, two supplement he offers and his health and nutrition bar. From my experience, these are expensive, but are not necessary to complete his plan for reversing diabetes. So this is a minor inconvenience. There are only a few testimonials which is refreshing because other books of this topic spout out endless of tired success stories which add nothing but page to the book. I have to commend Dr. Whitaker on this.
The information covered in the book: What is Diabetes, Problems with drug therapies, The Whitaker Wellness Institute Program for reversing Diabetes, and putting the program into practice.
If you are a diabetic, pre- diabetic or just curious, each part of the book will help you in your everyday life in maintaining and controlling your blood glucose levels if you follow the plan in this well written book.
This is the second wonderful book I read by Dr. Whitaker and they are both worth the read.
Enjoy
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| "Reversing Diabetes Book" | 2009-01-12 |
| - Reviewed By User: A27YVEKIPCUVA1 |
Very good book! Great information. After 2 weeks on this diet, my husband's blood pressure has returned to normal levels and he now controls his diabetes with diet and 3 daily diabetes pills. He will be exercising and losing 30 pounds and hopes he will be able to discontinue the medication altogether. We are working closely with a Endocrinologist and still monitor his sugars and blood pressure closely.
This book was very helpful! |
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 "Heavy Reading" | 2008-11-15 |
| - Reviewed By bkozan |
| The first two thirds of this book contain everything known by Dr. Julian Whitaker (and it is a lot!) about diabetes -- the history, the research, previous attempts at control, effects of medicinal solutions. If you're a "I must know" type, then read, read, read. However, if you want to get to 'the program', skip directly to Chapter 13; "How to Implement the Diet for Reversing Diabetes." A friend who has successfully followed this program says that Dr. Whitaker's cookbook [ASIN:0446691410 Reversing Diabetes Cookbook: More Than 200 Delicious, Healthy Recipes]] is the better way to go. Wish I had started there! |
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