Joel Fuhrman - The End of Diabetes: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes

THE END OF DIABETES

The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes

Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

In memory of Daniel Boller, a wonderful young man, taken by the vicious consequences of diabetes

Contents

A CAUTION TO THE READER

If you are taking any medication, do not make dietary changes without the assistance of a physician, as medication adjustment will be necessary to prevent excessive lowering of the blood sugar level (hypoglycemia). Hypoglycemia from using too much medication can be dangerous.

Because this diabetic reversal program is so effective, it is even more important to consult with a knowledgeable physician who is familiar with the medication reduction needed as a result of aggressive dietary modifications. Do not underestimate how effective this program is because without medication reductions, a serious hypoglycemic reaction could occur from taking too much medication.

Many physicians, not realizing how effective this diet style is, may be hesitant to taper medications sufficiently. Make sure you warn your physician about this and follow your blood sugar more carefully the first few weeks after beginning this plan. If you are also on medications for high blood pressure, this nutritional advice may also lower your blood pressure too much, so be sure to watch that and discuss any changes with your physician as well.

I will discuss medications in detail and offer guidance for their reduction in this book. You must realize, however, that a book cannot take the place of individualized council from the physician who knows your medical condition. It is your responsibility to work with the physician of your choice to assure your blood sugar and blood pressure readings are not too high or too low.

Note: The cases in this book are all real, but the names have been modified for privacy purposes.

D EAR F RIEND ,

Congratulations. You have taken the first step in freeing yourself from the life-threatening disease known as diabetes.

As you may have read or heard, nearly 26 million Americans (11.3 percent of adults) now have diabetes, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention new estimates of diagnosed and undiagnosed diabetes. Nearly 80 million (35 percent of adults) qualify as having prediabetes. If the trend continues, one in three American adults could have diabetes by 2050.

Diabetes is widespread, and we can no longer take a passive approach to getting our health back. This book is designed for people who want to take aggressive action in their battle to lose a dramatic amount of weight and reverse diabetes, high blood pressure, and heart disease. You can seize control of your health. It is in your hands. Together, we can start right now.

This program has been tested by thousands of individuals, and the extraordinary results have been documented in medical studies. It is possible to prevent and recover completely from type 2 (adult-onset) diabetes.

As a diabetic you probably have a plan to keep on top of your condition with glucose monitoring, HbA1C measurements, regular physician visits, and medication adjustments. These standard and accepted practices to maintain control of your blood glucose are seen as essential to your health. Unfortunately, this is all wrong. Your life and these treatments are focused on controlling your blood sugar instead of learning how to rid yourself of diabetes. Even with adequate glucose control, if you remain diabetic, the illness will age you prematurely and shorten your life. Whats more, when you focus only on the numbers instead of removing the causes of diabetes, it could actually worsen your diabetes in the long run.

The majority of medications used to lower blood sugar place stress on your already failing pancreas. The probability of your diabetes getting worse under conventional medical care is especially likely since medications used to control blood sugar, such as sulfonylureas and insulin, also cause weight gain. The dangerous combination of pushing the pancreas to produce insulin and gaining more weight with medication actually results in the need for additional medication as you become increasingly diabetic. This common and yet failed approach shortens life span and increases the risk of heart attacks.

The number of people with type 2 diabetes is rapidly increasing, having tripled in America over the last thirty years. The main reason for this is openly recognized: Americas expanding waistline. Yet physicians, dieticians, and even the American Diabetes Association (ADA) have all but given up on promoting weight loss as the primary treatment for diabetes. Medication is the accepted treatmenteven though it is often the medication itself causing more weight gain, worsening symptoms, and making individuals more diabetic. This creates a vicious cycle: as a person becomes more diabetic, more medications are needed, the doses keep going up and up, and the person become more diabetic. It is a misguided approach to our health. Most diabetics would be better off if these medications were never invented because maybe then they would have been forced to change their lifestyle and eating habits. Reversing and preventing diabetes on an individual and national level does not require a prescription. It requires a change in the way we eat.

The medical community has given up on weight loss as an avenue to help diabetics mostly because traditional diets dont work. But even if you have failed on one diet after another in the past, please dont give up. The diet plan in these pages does work. You will see radical improvements in your health. You are the owner and operator of your body. You can reverse and even eliminate your diabetes with the life-saving nutritional information in this book. The nutritional plan I have used for over twenty years on more than ten thousand patients is based on a central idea:

Your Health Future (H) = Nutrients (N) / Calories (C)

My approach is radically different from other methods and is proven to work. I will show you how your body can heal itself when you give it the necessary tools. The fact is, your body is designed for wellness. Give it the right biochemical environment for healing and it becomes a miraculous self-healing machine. My approach is based on a scientific formula that determines life span and health. This formula, known as H=N/C, means your health is determined by the nutrient-per-calorie density of your diet. When you eat more foods that have a high-nutrient density and fewer foods with a low-nutrient density, your health will dramatically improve and your diabetes will melt away.

When you eat mostly high-nutrient foods, the body ages slower and is armed to prevent and reverse many common illnesses. The natural self-healing and self-repairing ability that is hibernating in your body wakes up and takes over, and diseases disappear. A nutrient-rich menu of green vegetables, berries, beans, mushrooms, onions, seeds, and other natural foods is the key to achieving optimal weight and health.

Contrary to popular speculation, the many diseases that plague all people and threaten our lives are not an inevitable consequence of aging. We are not the victims of poor genetics. We do not need a steady supply of pills for the rest of our lives. We have come to believe that our excess, disease-causing body fat is normal, acceptable, and too difficult to take off. Drugs are not the solution to the weight, diabetes, or other problems that seem to come with aging.

Knowledge leads to power. Learning how the foods you eat affect your health and well-being gives you the power to become healthy, live longer, and feel better every single day. People who use my program are amazed by the results. When you eat sufficient micronutrients and fiber with a high-nutrient diet, it suppresses food cravings. Amazingly, you begin to naturally crave fewer calories. This puts an end to overeating. If you are overweight, this approach will rapidly create weight loss until your body finds its natural, healthy weight. For most people, the weight loss obtained through this diet rivals that of gastric bypass surgery but without the risk.