5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Finally...Learn if a Food is HEALTHY? Or if it is"POISON"!, April 1, 2005
This review is from: Carbs from Heaven, Carbs from Hell: Discover the Carbs That Tack on the Pounds & Those That Don't (Paperback)
Kudos to Dr. Krystosik for finally addressing the importance of carbs in our diets! I went on a quest several years ago to solve my hypoglycemia. On doctor's orders, for 2 years I ate NO carbs. Although the hypoglycemic symptoms GREATLY decreased, I suffered through an increase of new symptoms like: infections, headaches, cysts, anxiety, & chronic fatigue. I did lose weight, but so much that I couldn't maintain a normal weight. At one time I was 105 lbs and I am 5'6" tall. I was "sickly"! Then, I had the opportunity to take the IgG allergy test Dr. Krystosik recommends in his book and found that the carbs I was allergic to were: corn, gluten grains, and sugar. I began eating potatoes, beans, non-gluten grains and flours, fruits, honey, etc. ALL my symptoms disappeared in a very short period of time! My weight stabilized. Most importantly, now I feel GREAT! If I had read this book several years ago, it would have saved me so much time, frustration, aggravation, money, and discomfort! I applaud Dr. Krystosik for his personal and professional efforts to solve the link between what we eat and how we feel!!!
As the mother of 5 children, I only wish that the FDA would adopt Dr. Krystosik's insightful eating plan, as I hate the idea that America's children are being fed so much "poison"...simply because the decision makers for their diets are misinformed!
I strongly recommend this book not only to those trying to solve weight issues, but also to anyone who suffers from ANY chronic symptom! Dr. Krystosik's book proves, that what you eat, STRONGLY affects how you feel!!!!!!!
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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Some great insights and debunking but still some flaws, November 23, 2004
This review is from: Carbs from Heaven, Carbs from Hell: Discover the Carbs That Tack on the Pounds & Those That Don't (Paperback)
It is a brave man who takes on the low carb fad and Dr Krystosik meets it head on. He picks apart the Atkins diet and exposes its terrible health consequences.
Corrupt Medical Profession
Not satisfied with that he brutally exposes the medical profession's institutionalized prejudice against any treatment that does not fit into their orthodox paradigm. A paradigm which, seemingly, has abandoned its Hippocratic ideals of allowing the body to heal itself.
He excoriates the American Medical Association for carrying out a systematic dirty tricks campaign to discredit alternative, yet scientific, practices. To be fair, many good medical doctors quietly practice `integrative medicine', which incorporates neighboring sciences such as nutrition.
Alternative Food Pyramids
Dr. Krystosik has an interesting chapter where he comprehensively demonstrates the foolishness of the USDA food pyramid. In its place he sets out alternative pyramids, each based on an ethnic diet that has a healthier profile: Latin-American, Asian and Mediterranean.
Carbohydrates from Heaven
So what is a "Carbohydrate from Heaven"? If you ask Joe Blow, "What food-groups do fruits and vegetables belong to", he would be hard put to tell you. In fact they are carbohydrates and most of Dr. Krystosik's `carbs from heaven' are indeed fruits, salads and vegetables. However, on the basis of his ethnic pyramids, he also includes whole grains, potato and beans.
Carbohydrates from Hell
Dr. Krystosik's `carbs from hell' are refined, processed grains, French fries and sugars. However, Dr. Krystosik admits, even heavenly carbs can become `hellish' if they give you illnesses such as ulcerative colitis, gluten sensitivity, leaky gut, gas, allergies, behavioral disorders, migraines, and hidden food intolerances. Dr. Krystosik leaves silent the fact that these maladies are almost always triggered by grains, potato and beans (rarely by fruits, salads and vegetables).
The problem of blood sugar control is well explained and the glycemic index (G.I.) of foods is tackled. This is a brave move: inconveniently whole grains and potatoes have glycemic indexes as bad as sugar. Dr. Krystosik tries to exonerate them by claiming, incorrectly that: "The glycemic index does not take into account the positive effects of fiber." On the contrary, these foods are tested with all their fiber intact.
Dr. Krystosik invokes another notion: that anyway, the effect on insulin levels is what is really important. However he does not mention that in this case, potato comes off even worse: its insulin index is 25% worse than even white bread.
Exposed
In fact Dr. Krystosik is valiantly trying to defend a position that is too exposed and it leads him to say some unwise things. For example he claims: "during the Ice Age, people only lived into their mid twenties". This is not only wrong but counter-intuitive. If parents died off while their children were still infants and toddlers, it is hard to imagine the tribe surviving very long.
Composite Diet
At the end, we find out why Dr. Krystosik is so keen to defend his version of `carbs from heaven' (which include those pesky unrefined grains, beans and potato). He has created a new diet from a composite of the ethnic diets, which he calls `The American MediterrAsian Diet'.
There is no doubt that Dr Krystosik's new diet, even with our quibbles, is a vast improvement on the average American diet.
Strategies
Dr. Krystosik does not shy away from the main difficulty that all of us have: how to actually DO all the sensible things we are being told. So he advances some interesting and unusual strategies for effecting change. One example is to find a `wellness' coach -- maybe just a buddy -- who acts as your conscience and keeps you on track.
Worth Reading
This book is worth reading too for the many other robust and interesting insights that Dr. Krystosik brings to the food, diet and health industries.
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