The Blood Sugar Solution: The UltraHealthy Program for Losing Weight, Preventing Disease, and Feeling Great Now! [Hardcover]

Mark Hyman (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 28, 2012

In THE BLOOD SUGAR SOLUTION, Dr. Mark Hyman reveals that the secret solution to losing weight and preventing not just diabetes but also heart disease, stroke, dementia, and cancer is balanced insulin levels. Dr. Hyman describes the seven keys to achieving wellness-nutrition, hormones, inflammation, digestion, detoxification, energy metabolism, and a calm mind-and explains his revolutionary six-week healthy-living program. With advice on diet, green living, supplements and medication, exercise, and personalizing the plan for optimal results, the book also teaches readers how to maintain lifelong health. Groundbreaking and timely, THE BLOOD SUGAR SOLUTION is the fastest way to lose weight, prevent disease, and feel better than ever.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Dr. Hyman has done it again with a lucid description of the causes of the diabesity epidemic and a powerful treatment program. The Blood Sugar Solution is a must-read for anyone anywhere on the spectrum between mild insulin resistance and full-blown Type-2 diabetes--a groundbreaking, science-based, easy-to-follow prescription. Start your journey to healing now!" (Mehmet Oz, MD )

"With compassion and authority, Dr. Mark Hyman addresses the real driver of overeating, obesity, diabetes, heart disease, cancer, and more-insulin. Insulin imbalance, the secret killer, robs millions of a rich, joyful, happy life. If you have struggled with weight and ill health, you will find a new doorway to wellness through his solid science-based, personalized solution." (Deepak Chopra )

"Rare, indeed, is the individual who combines scientific expertise, deep caring, and equally deep insights. Dr. Hyman is one of these, and in addition, as a leader in functional medicine, has a unique ability to see past the many adverse effects of a lifestyle at odds with health to the underlying causes both within and all around us. He puts all of these attributes to work for you in The Blood Sugar Solution, providing detailed guidance for both individuals, and the population, to avoid the perils of obesity and chronic disease-and get to health." (David L. Katz, MD, Director, Yale University Prevention Research Center )

"Diabesity is not longer a hidden epidemic-it's visually obvious all over North America and the primary driver of ill health and out-of-control healthcare costs. Dr. Hyman once again nails the problems and provides real solutions." (Joseph Pizzorno, ND, co-author Encyclopedia of Natural Medicine )

"If you want to be empowered to change your life, lose weight, and get to the bottom of chronic health problems, The Blood Sugar Solution by Dr. Mark Hyman will take you all the way there. Dr. Hyman is the best kind of doctor -educator, coach, and motivator. He presents a radically new scientific approach more powerful than any drug or surgery. Read this book and solve your struggles with weight, diabetes, and other diseases forever." (Jack Canfield, coauthor of the Chicken Soup for the Soul series )

"The Blood Sugar Solution is spot on accurate. This is a blueprint for restoring the health of our nation!" (Christiane Northrup, MD, author of Women's Bodies, Women's Wisdom and The Wisdom of Menopause )

"First, the bad news: Type 2 diabetes and pre-diabetes will affect half of Americans in the next few years. Drugs are not very effective at preventing the complications of diabetes, including heart disease, blindness, impotence, amputations, and kidney damage. Now, the good news: diabetes is completely preventable and even reversible for most people--today--simply by changing diet and lifestyle. In The Blood Sugar Solution, Dr. Mark Hyman shows you how." (Dean Ornish, MD )

"Are you desperate to feel better but don't know where to begin? Has your doctor prescribed a quick fix pill, but no solid game plan? This is your lucky day. Dr. Mark Hyman's revolutionary work has the power to radically transform and uplift your life. He is the shining, break-out voice of a new breed of functional medicine doctors who treat root causes rather than the symptoms. Let Mark be your guide and your teacher as you create a happy, healthy body filled with sustainable energy and balance. I can't say enough about this brilliant pioneer, and once you read his book, I know you will agree." (Kris Carr, New York Times bestselling author of Crazy Sexy Diet )

"In The Blood Sugar Solution, Mark Hyman maps a road to health that will benefit anyone. Read it for yourself, your family, your friends. Give this book to the people you love." (Daniel Goleman, author of Emotional Intelligence )



"Dr. Mark Hyman offers life giving hope to a world plagued by diabetes. His approach to preventing and treating this terrible killer is comprehensive, evidence-based, and practical. Learn from him and you will surely lower your blood sugar-and most likely live longer and better." (James S. Gordon, MD, founder and director of The Center for Mind-Body Medicine and author of Unstuck )

"Dr. Hyman has taken on the most important health issue not just in the United States but around most of the world-diabesity. And, as usual, he has performed a great service, this time by providing a blueprint for attacking diabesity for individuals struggling with its complications and for the larger community, where it is a major economic as well as major health problem." (Arthur Agatston, MD, author of The South Beach Diet )

"Dr. Mark Hyman makes managing your health simpler than you ever thought possible. There's no time like the present to get started. Don't wait till tomorrow! Start today!" (Rick Warren, author of The Purpose Driven Life )

"In his book The Blood Sugar Solution, Dr. Mark Hyman combines the latest scientific findings and decades of experience to show how correcting physical imbalances - involving nutrition, inflammation, allergy, toxicity, metabolism and stress - can reverse prediabetes and prevent heart disease. The Blood Sugar Solution provides a radical new program to restore radiant health and well-being for millions of Americans struggling with chronic disease." (David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, Professor of Pediatrics, Harvard Medical School, and author of Ending the Food Fight )

"I have either reviewed or read hundreds of nutrition and health books over the past thirty years as a professional in the field. Many of these books have touched upon the topic of blood sugar and diabetes. It is Dr. Hyman's book The Blood Sugar Solution, however, that has struck me to be the perfect balance between helping the reader to understand the revolution that is occurring in the science of blood sugar and chronic disease with the 'news to use' for the reader to successfully apply this breakthrough information in their own lives years before it becomes common knowledge. The questionnaires in this book engage the reader in a way that connects their lives to health solutions in a very unique manner." (Jeffrey Bland, PhD, FACN, FACB, Founder, Institute for Functional Medicine )

"With our world facing multiple crises, including a dramatic rise in diabetes, The Blood Sugar Solution arrives not a minute too soon. Dr. Mark Hyman's insistence on identifying the root social causes of obesity and diabetes is a crucial step beyond many of our long-held assumptions and in the direction of real solutions. Our children deserve nothing less." (Arianna Huffington, president and editor-in-chief of the Huffington Post Media Group )

"Functional medicine pioneer Hyman... points to imbalances in seven body systems that cause life-altering chronic illness. Quizzes, shopping lists, recipes, and tips for overcoming obstacles will keep readers on track, while Hyman's memorable terminology, passion, and simplicity will keep them highly motivated." (Publishers Weekly )

"Hyman's book is mindful, comprehensive and impeccably organized...An avalanche of vital information and advice from an enthusiastic wellness expert." (Kirkus Reviews )

"THE BLOOD SUGAR SOLUTION is a highly informative but, thankfully, also a very accessible book for both professionals and the laypersons... He writes with passion and a sense of urgency - and rightly so. The obesity crisis keeps growing unabatedly worldwide and the time for "small steps" may have passed." (Seattle Post-Intelligencer )

About the Author

Mark Hyman, MD, was co-medical director of Canyon Ranch for ten years, and is now the chairman of the Institute for Functional Medicine and founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center. He is the New York Times bestselling author of Ultrametabolism, The Ultramind Solution, and The Ultrasimple Diet, and coauthor of Ultraprevention.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 448 pages
• Publisher: Little, Brown and Company; 1 edition (February 28, 2012)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 9780316127370
• ISBN-13: 978-0316127370
• ASIN: 031612737X
• Product Dimensions: 6.5 x 1.5 x 9.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.5 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.1 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (510 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #366 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
  • #1 in Books > Cookbooks, Food & Wine > Special Diet > Diabetic & Sugar-Free
  • #3 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diseases & Physical Ailments > Cancer
  • #43 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting > Diets & Weight Loss > Other Diets

More About the Author

An internationally respected physician, researcher, educator, activist, and five-time New York Times best-selling author, including The Blood Sugar Solution (also a PBS special), The UltraMind Solution (also a PBS special), The UltraSimple Diet, UltraMetabolism, and UltraPrevention (winner of the Books for a Better Life Award), Dr. Hyman has dedicated his life and career to ensuring optimal health - UltraWellness - for all individuals. His new book and PBS special, The Blood Sugar Solution, will be released March 2012 to address the global epidemic of obesity, diabetes, and cardiovascular and other related diseases.
His revolutionary "secret" to achieving UltraWellness? Dr. Hyman is the world's leading pioneer and practitioner of a ground-breaking and emerging approach to medicine that treats our system, not our symptoms. This new health paradigm is a systems-based, patient-centered method (called Functional Medicine) to preventing and treating disease and promoting health that works on two intertwined platforms: identifying and addressing the underlying causes of disease instead of just managing and masking symptoms and employing emerging trends in science and medicine, and integrative medicine.
Dr. Hyman teaches that there are seven keys to achieving UltraWellness, centering on Optimizing Nutrition, Cooling Off Inflammation, Balancing Hormones, Optimizing Digestive Health, Enhancing Detoxification, Boosting Energy and Metabolism and Calming the Mind. By connecting these dots, he provides a way of get our bodies to work the way they were designed. We come to understand all the influences on our biology which are at the root of illness, and how our lifestyle and environment interact with our genes to create the imbalances or balances that are the real determinants of disease or poor health.
Practicing what he preaches, Dr. Hyman is the founder and medical director of The UltraWellness Center in Lenox, Massachusetts, where he directs a team of physicians, nutritionists and nurses who utilize this comprehensive, life-changing approach to health, involving diet and lifestyle modifications, in combination with nutritional and specialized testing, nutritional supplementation, and medications to address individual needs, from creating wellness to treating chronic, complex medical problems. The overarching goal is to bring about harmony of body, mind and soul while empowering us to take back our own health.

At its core, Dr. Hyman's transformative approach is centered on diet and lifestyle modifications. He maintains that our grocery store should be our drug store: "What is at the end of our fork," he declares, "is more essential and important than what it at the bottom of our pill bottles." And, "each meal is a chance to heal." In short, healthy food equals healthy relationships equals healthy world.

Innovative, empowering, a catalyst, advocate, the experts' expert, healer...Dr. Mark Hyman is re-defining health, re-defining disease, re-defining medicine so that we can feel as good as we've ever felt.

Amazon Author Rankbeta 

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#21 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#28 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#21 in Books > Health, Fitness & Dieting

#28 in Kindle eBooks > Health, Fitness & Dieting

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1,336 of 1,417 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Terrific resource February 27, 2012

By Tracy Rowan TOP 500 REVIEWERVINE™ VOICE

Format:Hardcover

Let me cut right to the chase: Do I think this book is worth buying? Yes. With reservations. Before I get to them, though, let me tell you why this is such a valuable resource. Dr. Hyman understands that there are a myriad of factors that affect both our weight and our overall health. One of the things I find most helpful about this book is the focus on environmental factors such as pollution, pesticides, hormones and antibiotics in our food. Taken a step or two further he has nothing good to say about heavily processed food, and while there are processed foods that I genuinely enjoy like Nutella (which I will no longer eat because it contains palm oil, which is a whole other issue) I recognize they're not good for me, and I try to avoid anything that falls into this category. Fair enough, I say, it's relatively simple to cut much of the processed food out of your diet. You just have to make smarter choices and work a little harder.

It's also relatively easy to buy foods that are organic, rBGH-free, free of high fructose corn syrup and so forth (non-GMO foods are harder.) Relatively easy. Not simple, and certainly not cheap. If you make a commitment to avoiding these things, it takes some homework, and rebudgeting. But doing these two things are good starts.

Taking supplements because our diets will probably never provide the level of nutrients many of us need, that's a good start too. Again, quality supplements aren't cheap, and by now you're beginning to see that good health is a bigger commitment than you might imagine. It's not just about eating less and jogging for an hour each morning. Far from it. It's about making the choices I've mentioned, and as Dr. Hyman points out, it's about advocating for change in every aspect of life that affects our health. Big business isn't going to worry about whether we're fat and miserable, they're just going to keep shoveling cheap, sugary, salty food at us and watching their bottom line. Industry isn't going to clean up the air and water voluntarily because it costs them money. So part of taking control of your health is becoming an advocate for everyone's health.

Exercise is another important part of Dr. Hyman's program, and I can testify to the effectiveness of even a little exercise. It has improved my blood glucose dramatically and put a big dent in my depression. We have to move to be healthy. I hate to say it because I'm sedentary by nature, but there it is. We have to move.

Where I tend to disagree with Dr. Hyman is in the way he's structured his program. Now I have no argument with the idea that cutting out whole food groups will help pinpoint whether you have a problem with them. That's just common sense. What I do have a problem with is that you start the program by cutting out all sugar, including the so-called "healthy" sweeteners like honey, agave, stevia and all artificial ones; all gluten, all other flour products, even gluten free ones, all dairy, all processed foods, all grain, all starchy vegetables and all fruit except for 1/2 cup of berries a day. In fact, he says you should start by throwing out everything in these categories, just dump it. I say, I'm sorry, but who -- apart from someone in a blind panic about his or her health problems -- has the money to do that, not to mention the will power to wake up one morning knowing that you're going to spend at least six weeks eating virtually nothing but lean meat or fish, legumes and leafy vegetables? I can't. I can't afford it and I sure know that I'd maybe last two days on a regimen like that before I'd be running out for a burger or some cookies. To me it's like setting yourself up for failure and self-flagellation.

You do start adding foods back into your diet once you've... I guess de-toxed is the word. Not that I necessarily buy into detoxification diets, but hey, whatever, right? You add them in and you pay attention to how you feel as you do. And that makes a lot of sense in terms of discovering where your problems lie, if any -- there are group of questionnaires at the beginning of the book to help pinpoint where some of your problems may lie, and no matter what your score, Dr. Hyman says you need his plan. Well yeah; why would he say you don't right? So so you might well ask what is the point of all those questions? But I think they're valuable because they can show you where you really may be having problems. Sensibly, to me anyway, that's the place to start. By all means work the program, but work it in a targeted manner. There's so much in it that's good that you have to start feeling better if you do even part of what he recommends. If you can do it all, then wow! Go you! You're a star. But for most of us, that's simply not going to happen no matter how much we may want to do it.

Bottom line: This is a commonsense plan save for the fact that he doesn't seem to accept that human spirits are always willing, but the flesh is very, very weak in most cases. It's certainly a plan that's worth working with, but if you find it overwhelming, you'd be better off working at it slowly than giving up on it entirely.

ETA: I won't be monitoring this review any longer, and so can't answer questions about it. If you do have serious questions, please either buy the book or ask a professional. Neither I, nor the True Believers are actually qualified to answer medical questions.

931 of 1,001 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Read it until it said go to the website, that ended it March 2, 2012

By goldbond

Format:Hardcover

This book looked great and I couldn't wait to read it. In the beginning it suggested that you go to his website and take his tests online. I did and right away a window came up suggesting supplements for me. I was curious so I put them in my cart, and thought about ordering them until I saw the price of $800+.

I am sure this is a wonderful book, but please don't try and sell me anything at the very start of the book. It leads me to believe that this book it is just a way to market your products.

I lost interest before the first chapter because of this , I am returning the book

233 of 248 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Costly ..to say the least March 12, 2012

By Momtothree

Format:Hardcover

I am on my second week of this diet. I love it and would give it all stars except for two major reasons..the cost!and the restrictions on what you can eat.

I am really trying to stick with this. I go to the grocery store and the foods that are healthy are costly and have to be continously replenished because they are veggies and meats. Then, I read the book and it says join the community online for more support. I go to do that and it costs $19.99 a month to join. The supplements all listed to buy in his site cost upwards of $400 if you were to buy them all. So, I am choosing what I can afford..a few supplements I feel that are most important, some dinners, lunches and eggs etc..but mostly shakes from GNC..the new slimline ones. Basically, I am using his book but shopping everywhere else for the supplements, shakes etc.. He would have much more success having better prices and allowing free community support, especially if he wants before and after stories for his research! I had to sign up at a free support group but it would have been nice to have this diet specific support group.

The other issue I have is how restrictive it really is. I am on the advanced plan and giving up: Lactose, Gluten, Carbs, My staple (diet coke or at least crystal light), even starchy veggies, and more..I mean really..of course if you eat like a caveman you are going to lose weight. The only thing left out of this diet was having us hunting and gathering our own food. He did come close by suggesting we all purchase a goat together.

Although all the criticisms above I do intend to try to stick with this program. I just really feel bad that it is so costly and on top of that his site reads like a business model intended just to make him money. This book really goes to show why it is that low income families are stuck with weight problems and diabetes..the cost of eating healthy and taking multiple supplements is prohibitive.