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Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars Revised & Updated

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Dr. Richard Bernstein probably knows more about managing diabetes than anyone who has ever lived. He has had Type 1 diabetes since age 12. He is now in his late 60's, still works full-time plus, exercises hours every day, and has more energy than most people of any age, with or without diabetes.

At age 35, his body was falling apart due to the ravages of blood sugar. He had signs of kidney disease and eye disease and nerve pain in his legs.

Then he discovered how to normalize his blood sugars through the program in this book. Most of his complications eventually disappeared, and he has had no new complications since. His theory (shared by most diabetes experts) is that the complications are due to high blood sugars. But his solution (keeping your blood sugars in the normal range 24 hours a day) is rejected by most doctors, who believe it is too difficult for most people.

The three keys to his program are: A very-low carbohydrate diet - This is the most important part and will probably be helpful even without the other parts. Bernstein prescribes NO sugars, grains, fruits, milk, or starchy vegetables (fast-acting carbs.) He does recommend relatively small amounts of green vegetables and other slow-acting carbs, because of their vitamins and other nutrients. This is not an Atkins-style, no-carb diet.

Frequent blood sugar monitoring to develop your "blood glucose profile." You need to learn exactly how different foods affect your sugars, and how sugars change overnight and with exercise. By checking his blood sugars after each food he ate, Bernstein discovered how carbs raised his blood sugar faster than his injected insulin could catch up. He has you check your blood sugar many times a day.

Frequent dosing with fast-acting insulin or (for Type 2s) an insulin-sensitizing pill, to cover your meals, along with a low dose of long-acting insulin to get you through the night and early morning hours. He recommends insulin even for Type 2's who make some of their own, because he believes the injected insulin will take the pressure off the pancreas and allow it to heal.

If this sounds like a difficult program, you haven't heard half of it yet. He also recommends extremely vigorous, anaerobic exercise. He prefers prolonged weight or resistance training to the point of pain, because building muscle mass helps soak up blood sugar and lessens insulin resistance.

His program also requires you to counts carbs and proteins and calculate your proper insulin dose before meals. He recommends you have as many as four different kinds of insulin for different occasions. He wants you to floss after every meal to prevent dental infections. And there's a lot more.

But is it worth it? In researching my upcoming book, "The Politics of Diabetes," I have interviewed four people who read his book. Two thought it was too hard to try. One stayed with the program for a while and says it helped, but he has slacked off. One woman stuck with it and says it saved her life.

Diabetes experts I have queried are skeptical of how much the ultra-low-carb diet helps. They cite conflicting research and the success many patients have even on a balanced diet that includes fair amounts of carbs.

There is also no agreement on the need to get blood sugars down to "normal" (less than 95, say.) Many docs think getting sugars down to 120 or even 140 will be sufficient to prevent complications in most people. True, but SOME people will get complications that would not have gotten them if they kept their sugars lower.

You have to have some education and a lot of self-confidence to take this on, especially as it may mean educating your doctor as well. There is a steep learning curve, and this program will probably totally take over your life for the first weeks or even months. As you get used to it, it becomes less intrusive, but still much more so than the usual programs your doctor may put you on. It comes down to how important your health is to you, how much time and money you have to devote to your diabetes care, and especially how much support you have.

Bernstein is aware of these difficulties. He consistently advises lower-cost alternatives to various medications and equipment, which makes him one of the few docs or self-help writers to recognize that money is a problem for many of us. But the book is a demanding read - densely packed with valuable information on everything from insulin injection and blood glucose checking techniques to the different kinds of oral diabetes medicines, from what to do when you're vomiting (call your doctor immediately!) to pages of low-carb recipes. The language and style probably work best for people with some college education, although a determined high school graduate could handle it. It also has a number of inspiring testimonials and a good sense of humor.

I think that people who are having trouble managing their diabetes might want to try this program, or at least the low-carb diet part of it. If you want to do the whole thing, this book by itself won't be enough. You will need to get the help of a doctor and probably a diabetes educator as well, and having some supportive family wouldn't hurt.

If you do try it, I support that decision. I'd like to hear how you do with it.

One of the things you learn with Dr. Bernstein's book is that excessive eating (even when you don't overeat carbs, but other food types) leads to high sugars, due to the so-called "Chinese Restaurant Effect". Well, if you were to devour this hefty book (like you will, once you get your hands on it) you will not see your blood sugar rise. If you are a diabetic (type I or II), you will find in Dr. Bernstein's book a wealth of information that will answer the questions you've ALWAYS had, and even those that you didn't know you had, about diabetes and how to keep your blood sugars in control.

His approach is very unconventional (coming from a diabetic childhood, being an engineer first and a doctor later in life). But you will be fascinated with the amount of "Eureka!" moments throughout the book. I was unable to put it down from the moment I picked it up, and I am grateful to him for having taken the time to share so much wisdom from his years as a practitioner and from his many, many years as a diabetic and experimenter. His lessons are not easy to follow, but they are the way for those who want to live a long and healthy life with diabetes.

I leave you with a thought. If you knew what you need to do to prolong your life and live it in a healthy manner, in spite of what you've been told about typical lifespans in diabetics and all the ailments we seem to be bound to suffer later in life, wouldn't you do it? I would. And I hope you do too. So I recommend you take the time to read what Dr. Berstein has to say to you.

Amazon delivered my copy of "Dr. Bernstein's Diabetes Solution (Revised &
Updated) The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars" and I've had a
couple of days to digest the contents. This isn't a review, per se, but a
few points on some interesting parts of the book.

First off, the foundation of the book is that having "normal blood sugars"
will eliminate 100% of the complications of diabetes. Extrapolating from
the results of the NDDT, Bernstein asserts that diabetics must keep their
blood glucose levels between 80-100mg/dl ALL OF THE TIME.

Specifically, knowing that non-diabetics will very rarely have blood glucose
excursions are outside 80 to 100mg/dl, Bernstein's targets are 85mg/dl for
non-insulin dependent diabetics and 90 mg/dl for insulin dependent
diabetics. To achieve this target, Bernstein recommends a low-carbohydrate
diet combined with insulin-sensitizing and mimetics agents and/or insulin.

The book starts off with the requisite "Bernstein has worked for me"
profiles and has an interesting account of Bernstein's life, including his
early attempts at blood glucose monitoring (he is believed by many to have
invented the concept of using blood glucose testing for diabetic blood
glucose control) and his decision to attend medical school so that he might
be able to get his findings published.

Bernstein believes that sensitizers & mimetics such as metformin, Avandia &
Actos are the best choices for lowing blood glucose because they increase
the body's ability to use insulin without making the pancreas produce extra
insulin. Additionally, aside from the fact that sulfonylureas stimulate
insulin production, Bernstein avoids them because they can cause
hypoglycemia.

Insulin use gets over seventy pages and has what appears to be some
excellent information in calculating dosages for an intensive insulin
regimen that keeps the blood glucose very close to 90mg/dl even after meals.
Bernstein advocates using regular insulin instead of a rapid-acting insulin
such as lispro or aspart before each meal. He reserves rapid-acting insulin
for special situations such as dining-out.

He is not an insulin pump fan and does not believe that pumping gives better
control over a properly executed intensive insulin regime.

Regarding the appropriate blood sugar and HbA1c levels, Bernstein asserts
that values exceeding 75mg/dl on average increases risk of cardiac and all
other causes of death, however, he does not reference the research that
supports this claim.

The book winds up with 40 pages of low-carbohydrate recipes. I have tried
some of the recipes and they were good. It's interesting to me exactly how
very low carb they are. It would be difficult to put together a complete
menu with more than 10g carbs per serving. Quite a contrast to this month's
"Diabetes Forecast" meatloaf dinner with whipped potatoes clocking in at
over 70g carbs per serving!

An appendix does a good job defending a diet higher in protein & fat and
does cite relevant research.

On top of all of this information, Bernstein includes some good information
on how to deal with hypoglycemia, how to receive the proper care in
hospitals and what tools diabetics should have in their kit.

SUMMARY

I found the book to be very interesting and informative. I'm not sure that
I agree with keeping my blood glucose at a flat 80mg/dl, but much of the
information in the book is invaluable. This, along with Gretchen Becker's
"The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes" are the two books I recommend to those
who ask me about diabetes.

I am a type II diabetic, and things were going down hill. My feet were starting to hurt, and my eyes were giving me problems. I had gained almost 50 pounds, and nothing seemed to be able to stop this slow trip to a death I did not want to think about. I was maxed out on meds, and my doctor's next step was "just a little insulin". There was no way I was going to let that happen, but what could I do with blood sugars bouncing around with highs of 250 or more and my fasting blood sugars that were in the high 180's? Thanks be to God for creating Dr. Bernstein. After three weeks of using the 6,12,12 carb diet, my blood sugars are now down in the 80's. They stay there even after I eat, which is the real blessing, as there is no spiking of blood sugars. Not only has that happened, but I am loosing weight. I no longer have gas and chest pains that are caused from gas. If you are a type I or II, this is really a Diabetes Solution. As I see it, its a painful death, or a rich healthy life. Guess which one I picked?
Cheers
Dennis DeLaurier
Round Rock Texas

This book has changed my life. I am a type I diabetic and have been for 15 years. My wife (many thanks to her) found this book for me and since I've read it and started following the diet and exercise (primarily diet) regimen my blood sugars are near normal. Routinely, my blood sugars would elevate over 300 mg/dl after eating carbohydrates, which the America Diabetes Association recommends as 60% of your diet. Subsequent to reading this book, I've cut my carb intake to, as he prescribes, 6 mg in the morning and 12 mg at lunch and at dinner. By doing this I have been able to completely stabalize my blood sugars day and night. With my blood meter I can see what my average blood sugars have been over the past couple of months. Before I started my average was around 240 mg/dl...not too good. But, within 4 weeks of following this diet I was able to drop my average to 174 mg/dl. And, this is still falling toward 100 mg/dl where my blood sugars reside most of the time. I do crave carbs sometimes but the benefits definitely outweigh the short term cravings. Where I thought I was destined to die an early and not so happy death from complications with diabetes, I now am lifted by the hope and knowledge that I can live well into my 90's by following this simple plan. Thank you Dr. Bernstein, I owe you my life.

I saw Dr. Bernstein speak in 1998 and it completely changed the way I treat people with diabetes. Since that time, I have seen phenomenally better results. Though it is true the book is highly anecdotal, it is always right on in my experience. Dr. Bernstein is an incredibly humble and honorable person as well, a true critical thinker, who questions without belligerence for the truth about diabetes.

This book is a must for everyone who treats people with diabetes, and for everyone with diabetes.

For the 18 years I have been a Type 1diabetic, I have not found a more comprehensive source of information on diabetes, which has often frustrated me. This book gives a very thorough picture of the issues related to diabetes, and not only as it relates to diet. It even encompasses things like foot care and other issues diabetics might face. The book was somewhat scary to me as I finally understood what my average blood sugars read (A1c tests) and I found that my own average was 200. I am finding that my insulin use is not great for control, and that this diet is likely to get me there. I am somewhat uncomfortable with the low carb thing, but having tried it for the past week, I find it to be not so bad, and my blood sugar levels are decreasing. My doctor handed me this book, and insisted I try it. What I especially like is the detailed information on how to adjust insulin based on your own metabolism. This is information no one has bothered to discuss with me all this time.

Unlike the ADA advice my doctor and the diabetes educators gave me, this book works.

I have normal blood sugars, my cholesterol and triglycerides are normal again, and I am no longer spilling protein in my urine.
I have lost 70 pounds and kept it off.
My A1C results at 4.8% are very much in the non-diabetic range.

Better than all that, I can feel my feet again.
I had diabetic neuropathy that made my feet numb and I did not even realize it before.

With my blood sugars staying between 80 and 100, the feeling has been returning to my feet and the numbness is fading.

Dr. B, my little girl will thank you when she is old enough to understand that you saved her daddy's life!

Get this book.

Diabetes is a disease that used to only afflict young children when Type 1 was so dominant. But now it's the 21st Century and Type 2 diabetes hasn't just risen, but exploded into a full-fledged epidemic as one of the biggest health threats of our day. What's really scary is the fact that the problem is expected to get that much worse over the next few decades. Yikes!

In 1997, Dr. Richard K. Bernstein first introduced what would become the pinnacle diabetes bible to the world when he published the first edition of The Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars. Controversial, against the grain, but extremely effective, the low-carbohydrate dietary approach to treating diabetes has never been more clearly explained.

Now, Dr. Bernstein has revised and expanded his classic bestselling book to make it even better than it was when it released a decade ago. As a man who has lived with Type 1 diabetes since childhoood, he knows from whence he speaks and now wants to help others find the "solution" that he dicovered a long time ago.

Controlling diabetes as much as possible without little to no use of insulin or medications is the goal of The Diabetes Solution. While the American Diabetes Association (ADA) feels good about recommending a high-carb, low-fat diet (which requires HIGHER doses of insulin and prescription diabetes drugs), Dr. Bernstein believes that is the wrong way to go about managing blood sugars.

Written in a very informative and entertaining style, this book answers all those little nagging questions diabetics may have about this method of treatment, including the uniquely damaging role of carbohydrate in the diet, what the best pharmaceuticals and how they can help, a comprehensive look at the various types of insulin and which should be used, and what to do to manage your disease naturally.

Is low-carb dieting controversial? Sure. But so are a whole lot of other things that we used to think were strange, but now they're normal years later after much research has proven them to be true. The same goes for the low-carb lifestyle as a treatment option for diseases like diabetes and aiding in weight loss. The science is catching up to a reality that Dr. Bernstein unveiled years ago.

I personally lost nearly 200 pounds on this way of eating. Although I don't have diabetes, it runs in my family and I was borderline when I weighed over 400 pounds. But then I started a low-carb diet in 2004 and changed my life forever. Dr. Robert C. Atkins, like Dr. Bernstein, was also before his time espousing the benefits of livin' la vida low-carb.

Living with diabetes need not be a hopeless situation where you feel all alone. Dr. Bernstein has The Diabetes Solution and wants you to experience the freedom that comes from knowing you can beat your diabetes. Never give up the hope for a better life, even with diabetes.

Dr. Bernstein, we salute you for your contribution to diabetes management and low-carb living. You should be honored and hailed for standing up for what you know is right and refusing to just settle for the failed methods for treating your diabetes. I think your life speaks for itself. CONGRATULATIONS!

I'm a 41 year old male and have recently been diagnosed with pre-diabetes (whatever it is called), with diabetes running in the family, so to get up to speed on the subject I ordered a pile of books (12 of them) off Amazon including this one. I've been through them all and this one I found the best in its explanations of the various aspects of the condition, the various treatments, and many other relevant details.

Dr Bernstein was an engineer with type 1 diabetes and became a doctor to be able to help others with his experiences and findings; he conveys intimate and detailed knowledge about the condition and all its aspects, and generally impresses with the information he provides.

The diet is not exactly appetising plus its very time consuming to have to calculate food details all the time I guess (not having tried it and not hoping to have to try it for awhile), however I will always keep this book in my bookcase "just in case" - if I do get diabetes and complications occur, I will grab this book and give it a shot. Because it is more believable than most of the other stuff out there, for the reason that it comes from someone who found out all of this himself, then became living proof of his own theory.

I would buy this book initially for the descriptions of how diabetes works, how the treatments work and what the various dangers are, exercises provided, etc. - it is well worth its cost for this information alone. Secondly, the diet may come in handy in case of complications etc. and if other treatments don't work.

And Dr Bernstein does indeed answer the phone himself as another writer also mentioned - I called just before opening hours and sure enough got to talk to the man himself.