Customer Reviews

Atkins Diabetes Revolution

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The conventional test for diabetes in a doctor's office involves a blood-sugar level test after a fast of 12 or so hours. Atkins believes that this is inadequate. According to him, by the time a doctor's blood test shows elevated blood sugar following a 12-hour fast, and one is thereby labeled clinically diabetic (Type II diabetes), the blood sugar disorder is already well advanced. Atkins believes that blood sugar disorders are much more prevalent in the population than is commonly realized. In fact, Atkins asserts that he has never met anyone who was overweight that did not have some degree of blood sugar disorder, if only manifested by increased insulin resistance.

Atkins believes that the blood-sugar levels should be checked repeatedly after a meal, not just once after 8-12 hours. Using his words, what is needed is not a snapshot but a movie of the sugar metabolism. The normal curve for blood sugar is supposed to be as follows: A postprandial rise for about an hour or two (not too high at its peak) followed by a gradual decline, and one that does not need a great deal of insulin released to cause this decline. The first symptom of a blood sugar disorder is a normal blood-sugar curve that nevertheless requires excessive amounts of insulin to bring the blood sugar under control (hyperinsulism). For this reason, Atkins believes that measuring blood sugar alone is never enough. The insulin levels must also be measured. If the blood sugar goes too high one hour after eating, this also indicates a blood sugar disorder--even if the level after 8-12 hours is normal.

If Atkins is even half-right, then doctors are missing a lot. And Atkins believes that the solution to Type II diabetes is the reversal of insulin resistance, not the supplementation of additional insulin. Paradoxically, insulin supplements can make weight loss more difficult.

The Atkins Nutritional Approach has commonly been misrepresented as one where virtually all carbs are cut out. This is patently untrue. Atkins recommends the retention of natural, low-glycemic carbs, especially those which coexist with valuable nutrients, as is the case with many fruits and vegetables (for example, strawberries). Atkins mentions that, apart from weight loss, the elimination of empty carbs from the diet can bring such benefits as renewed taste of sweet things and a major drop in blood triglycerides. From personal experience, I can say "Amen!" to that.

As someone with Type 2 Diabetes, I have lots of experience with diet claims. This book nails down the reasons they have all failed - they were carb based. Counter-intuitive in many ways, this book patiently explains how the carbs get processed into fat and why low fat diets fail time after time.My knowledge of the Atkins approach was based on the often exaggerated claims made by both its supporters and detractors. When this book appeared, I decided to make my own analysis.I was thrilled to discover that this is not a diet book, but rather a guide to the Atkins Blood Sugar Control Program (ABSCP for short). With weight loss can come reduced dependency on drugs, less risk of complications, and a healthier, happier life.The book itself is divided into several sections. The core is a very well researched and documented 330 page overview of the state of diabetes research and how it applies to diabetics and those at risk for diabetes.There are 70 pages of meal plans, 37 pages of recipes (and a weblink for more), plus appendices on research documentation, induction foods, and various other helps to the reader.Because of the care with which this volume was put together, I found that many of the things I had been hearing about Atkins were just plain wrong. Authors Vernon and Eberstein are very clear that 4 ounces of cheese a day are the max; that eating foods with trans fatty acids is bad; and that the ABSCP is not an excuse to have a half dozen pork chops in one sitting. The allowed foods are also pretty tolerable for the fussy among us. I was able to put together meal plans that are easy to prepare and tasty. This is a good and helpful book, and I only wish I had been able to get as much knowledge about how diabetes works from the doctors who have treated me. Even the famed Joslin clinic never explained that my soaring trigycerides were the result of eating too many carbs on a low fat diet. Caveat emptor.

I am still in the process of plowing through this book. Some may find that there is not much new in it. I think it's a great resource for the Atkins way of life in general.

I am a newly-diagnosed type II diabetic. There is far more information in this book than I was able to get from the doctor who diagnosed me. As a matter of fact, that doctor originally suggested that I go on *Slim-Fast* to lose weight--I about fell off my chair. Most doctors are still mired in the anti-fat, anti-cholesterol hysteria and myths. The Atkins approach is a breath of fresh air, since it dispels these myths.

So far, from what I have read, I would recommend this book in combination with Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution (which seems to offer more practical day-to-day advice regarding the details of managing diabetes) as your standard diabetes references.

Unfortunately, few doctors out there are managing diabetes with the low-carbohydrate approach. The guy who diagnosed me immediately wanted to put me on four or five medications, and he actually vowed to talk me into taking a statin drug, even though he acknowledged that that would only mask the symptoms and not get to the underlying cause.

Some people may not like eating low-carb, particularly with its heavy emphasis on animal protein foods. However, for those like me, who like being carnivorous or omnivorous, you may like being vindicated in your liking to eat meat.

Six weeks ago I was in the hospital. I never knew I was a diabetic and was juicing to lose weight and lower my blood pressure. Over a period of time my sugar had climbed to over 850, I had a DKA seizure and was rushed to the hospital in an ambulance. I was told that I am very lucky to be alive. They put me on 30 units of insulin a day and told me I would need this the rest of my life.

Following the guidance in this book my sugar is now consistently 100, my blood pressure is coming down dramatically and I feel better and have more energy than I have in years. Have also lost 15 pounds.

When you look at the progression of diabetes in our society today and its exponential growth this book should be required reading in our high schools.

By the way, I no longer need insulin and able to maintain my sugar level at 100 using the principles in this book. It can save your life.

My husband has had type two diabetes for 15 years. He also had irritable bowel syndrome and was tired all the time . After starting this diet he has cut his insulin in half, lost 25 pounds and the IBS disappeared!! I used to think Atkins was crazy but now I'm a believer!!

I bought this book as a last result because I have type II diabetes. I was having difficulty controling my weight and knowing what to eat to maintain my blood sugar levels. I have started using Atkins book on diabetes and I now boasts how much it has empowered me. Now I can truly say that I can keep up with my four little granddaughters when they come to visit me. This book has made a big difference in my life. I wasn't surprised because after all, this is a book by Dr. Atkins. I highly recommend this book.

This book has become my bible.

Low carbohydrate eating has received a bad rap over the years, but I am an enthusiastic convert. Since I received an A1C of 129 and looked in the mirror and saw a grossly obese woman looking back at me, I had been desperately trying to lose weight with no success until I came back to Atkins. I had used it years ago - no health concerns other than obesity - and it worked like a charm.

When I found this book here at Amazon I though - OK - give it a shot. It was well worth the try. In fact, I can honestly say it has changed my life. No more guilt. No more panic. No more "munchie" attacks. Because of this book I have FINALLY taken control of my eating. It's been a Godsend to me.

This book is chock full of valuable information on how to promote this sensible, delicious, healthful way of eating as a weapon again diabetes.

As soon as I established exactly what the rules were and how to go about mapping out my meals for each day it became sinfully easy. I'm never hungry, the pounds are dropping off and I feel better all the time. It's a goldmine of information. My sugar is down, my cholesterol is down, my mind is clear and I'm never disappointed with my meals.

A typical day for me would be a breakfast omelet of two medium or small eggs beaten with 2 Tbs of heavy cream and filled with 1/4 C of shredded Monterrey jack and cheddar with freshly ground pepper, with a (fresh) sausage patty, and a cup of piping hot black vanilla tea. For lunch I might have a grilled chicken breast (or a generous portion of stewed beef with broth, or medallions of braised pork loin or ...) and a half cup of chunks of cucumber with skin on and a half cup of red bell pepper cut in large chunks with 2 Tbs of ranch (regular) dressing. For dinner I'd have a cup of steaming chicken broth dressed with a Tbs of grated Parmesan to start, 2 center cut pork chops seasoned with garlic and fresh black pepper, and 2 cups of assorted salad greens (including a few grape or cherry tomatoes) dressed with flavored vinegar (no balsamic)and olive oil, or a cup of chunks of celery and peppers with dressing and a cup of steamed broccoli with a pat (or two) of butter. For dessert sugar free gelatin (I make my own - those little cup packs are convenient, but TOO expensive) with whipped heavy cream sweetened with Splenda. For a snack during the day, a 1 ounce stick of smoked string cheese.

I swear to you, I no longer experience that hollow, gnawing sense of hunger that drives you to the refrigerator or the cupboard looking for something to fill the hole. I know this sounds too good to be true, but sometimes I have to remember to eat. What a concept, huh?

I'm avoiding caffeine. That was the nugget from this book that truly tipped the scales for me. The book's explanation made me realize that I needed to make that change. There were headachey days while I was weaning myself off the caffeine load my body was used to, but after I dropped down to 1 large cup of half/caff Hazelnut coffee at my desk in the morning the weight loss revved up considerably. I've turned to black cherry, strawberry, peach, apricot or green grape flavored sugar free seltzer water instead of colas, or just plain water for most of the rest of the day. I now choose flavored decaffeinated teas and the flavor difference from caffeinated is minuscule.

I'm doing a combination of carb and calorie counting, and it works like a charm. This one I learned early on - there's a good reason why the book tells you not to use processed meats - like bacon, many types of sausage, deli or luncheon meats, even wieners. They all contain SUGAR! After using the daily nutrition counter on Sparkpeople it came through to me with a bang that bacon is just not in the cards in large quantities. It is incredibly calorie dense. Better to have fresh salsiccia sausage than honey cured bacon. The calorie difference is stunning!

I'm in perpetual Induction - keeping my carbs below 20 per day and my calories below 1800, and I'm losing weight every day. I'm not perfect, so I do go over now and then, but it's easy to get back on the program. One thing that is essential to this program is - you MUST eat. Don't skip meals. Follow the program and you'll be full and thinner before you know it.

Remember this - don't eat white food - white bread, white rice, ice cream - perhaps the only truly white food that is allowed is cauliflower which makes a GREAT substitute for mashed potatoes or grated coarsely for rice. I've used it as a substitute for rice in stuffed pepper recipes and it worked beautifully. Eat fruit sparingly, but eat it! Once in OWL (ongoing weight loss) be sure to eat only those with the lowest GI (glycemic index). No fear - there are plenty that fit.

Most diets are about deprivation. This is perhaps the most significant thing about Atkins - you'll never feel deprived. You literally pamper yourself with delicious foods, and still you lose weight.

The book is for real people. It educates you. It includes recipes, meal plans, discussion on the finest details of what causes diabetes and what is necessary to stop it. It outlines what sugar substitutes to use - which are the most healthful oils - how to break through a plateau - how caffeine affects your blood sugar.

This is the quintessential sourcebook. I carry it in my car so I can refer to it when I need to - whether at home, at work, or out in the world just living my life. Teamed up with The Essential Atkins for Life Kit, this book is a real winner.

For anyone out there who is diabetic, pre-diabetic, or just plain overweight, this book is sensible, readable, easy to navigate and beautifully effective.

Check with your doctor before committing, but once committed, give it a good solid try. I believe you will find it can work for you. It sure worked for me!

I have found that the Atkins low carb diet is able to control my blood sugars and has allowed me to decrease my medications. I Think Dr. Atkins ideas are perfect for anyone with pre-diabetes or diabetes type 1 or type 2. Along with this, I also recommend Dr. Bernsteins books, The Diabetes Diet, and The Diabetes Solution. All are geared to us learning to monitor our sugars and eat accordingly. I have felt healthier, and my blood sugars are within a normal range since following the recommendations in the book. I highly recommend it, and wish the medical community would open their eyes to the results of following a low carb diet! After putting up with an awful cycle of being told to eat complex carbs, and watching my blood sugar increase from even oatmeal, and having my medications increased so I could eat the carbs the medical profession was telling me I needed, I finally found these books and learned. My blood sugars are almost normal now and my energy is great! Again, I cannot recommend these books enough to anyone who has pre-diabetes or diabetes.

This book had phenominal potential.

However, it fails to live up to that potential. Maybe that's because Dr. Atkins wasn't able to finish the book himself, due to his untimely death in April 2003.

Dr. Atkins had remarakable success treating patients with blood sugar disorders (espeically type II adult-onset) and related complications, such as coronary heart disease.

"Atkins Diabetes Revolution" does a great job explaining what diabetes is, what the primary causes & complications are, and how to utilize proper diet (i.e. the right balance of protein & fats, as well as significant reduction of hightly refined carbohydrates).

However, there are two areas where the book fails to deliver the maximum potential benefits to its readers:

1) The types of dietary fats & cooking oils to use

2) The sections that discuss the use of nutritional supplements for controlling blood sugar & heart disease risk factors.

The section on fats is much too short, and leaves out essential information on both the pros & cons of the different classes of fats (polyunsaturated, mononunsaturated, saturated, Essential Fatty Acids). Considering how vital consuming the right types of fats are to controlling diabetes & heart disease (among many other conditions), I find the lack of vital information on the good and bad fats rather disturbing. A book written by Dr. Atkins former collegue - Dr. Fred Pescatore - (see "The Hamptons Diet") does a much better job of explaining the pros and cons of the different oils / fats.

The section regarding nutritional supplements for preventing / controlling diabetes & heart disease is poorly done. It leaves out too many important facts about vital nutrients such as vitamins C and E, completely leaves out the trace mineral vandium, which is just as important as chromium for helping the cells utilize glucose, and doesn't discuss any of the herbs
(i.e. gymnema sylvestre, fenugreek, cinnamon and bitter melon) that significantly enhance the effectiveness of the essential nutrients in their ability to control & reverse many of the complications associated with type II diabetes. All the co-authors had to do was refer to Dr. Atkins earlier works (Dr. Atkins' Vita-Nutrient Solution, and Dr. Atkins' Age Defying Diet) to get the information necessary to make the nutritional supplement sections as helpful as possible.

For more detailed information on how to use nutritional supplements for diabetes-related complications, I highly recommend you read "Reversing Diabetes" by Julian Whitaker, M.D.

I honestly believe that had Dr. Atkins not died, he would have done a much better job with this important book, rather than having to leave it up to the two co-authors who finished the project.

This book had so much potential. I waited for its publication for nearly a year. When it finally came out, I was greatly dissapointed with it.

I must give credit to Dr. Robert C. Atkins for popularizing an approach - carbohydrate restriction - that helps people with diabetes control their disease, and likely helps prevent type 2 diabetes in others. Vernon and Eberstein do a great job explaining his program.

I can best summarize this book by noting that it is the standard Atkins diet with a few modifications: 1) special supplements 2) you add additional carbs to your diet more slowly 3) the warning that diabetics may well end up with a lower acceptable lifetime carbohydrate intake level.

By way of review, the Dr. Atkins' New Diet Revolution $5.99 is a very low-carb diet, particularly in the two-week induction phase. "Very low-carb" means lots of meat, chicken, fish, eggs, limited cheese, and 2-3 cups daily of salad greens and low-carb veggies like onions, tomatoes, broccoli, and snow peas. After induction phase, you slowly add back carbs on a weekly basis until weight loss stalls, then you cut back on carbs.

As an adult medicine specialist, I have no expertise in pediatrics. I didn't read the two chapters related to children.

The authors present "complimentary medicine"in a favorable light. Unsuspecting readers need to know that much of complementary medicine is based on hearsay and anecdote, not science-based evidence. In that same vein, the two chapters on supplements for diabetes and heart disease recommend a cocktail of supplements that I'm not convinced are needed. I don't know a single endocrinologist or cardiologist prescribing these concoctions. Then again, I could be wrong.

Vernon and Eberstein provide two excellent chapters on exercise.

A month of meal plans and recipes are provided for 20, 40, and 60-gram carbohydrate levels. [The average American is eating 250-300 g of carbs daily.] The recipes look quick and easy, but I didn't prepare or taste any of them.

The 5-hour glucose and insulin tolerance test (GTT, paged 61) that Dr. Atkins reportedly ran on all patients who came to him is rarely done in other medical clinics. This doesn't mean it's wrong, but certainly out of the mainstream. The authors admit that at least a few people will have to count calories - specifically, limit total calories - if the basic program doesn't control diabetes, prediabetes, and the metabolic syndrome. Limiting portion size will speed weight loss, they write.

What we don't know with certainty is, will long-term Atkins aficionados miss out on the health benefits of higher consumption of fruits, vegetables, legumes, and whole grains? Much of the scientific literature suggests, "Yes."

What if we compare the long-term outlooks of a diabetic Atkins follower with a poorly controlled diabetic who's 80 pounds overweight and eating a standard American diet? The Atkins follower is quite likely to be healthier and live longer.

-Steve Parker, M.D., author of Conquer Diabetes and Prediabetes: The Low-Carb Mediterranean Diet and The Advanced Mediterranean Diet: Lose Weight, Feel Better, Live Longer