"The End of Diabetes" by Joel Fuhrman

[Jache]

Hi everyone,

I have been reading this book which encourages eating a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, beans, peas, etc- pretty much a vegetarian diet with low carb.
He also writes in his book against low carb "high protein" diets and he in fact discourages diabetics from taking any animal products at all (including eggs and milk). He cites studies demonstrating the harmful effects of a diet which is higher in animal protein.

I am now confused as to what to do (though I know that ultimately I have to find my own way) because the LCHF diet which seems to be working for many, actually encourages the use of eggs and full cream milk.

I wanted to know if anyone has read this book and/or has tried out the advice set out in it? If so, what were the results like?

Any other feedback or views on this would also be much appreciated.

 

[Indy51]

I've never been convinced by vegetarian diets as a health exercise - ethical reasons are something else entirely.

I wonder how he explains the excellent health of the Maasai?

 

[Rose28]

Hi Jache, I bought this book from Amazon about a year ago. The reviews caught my eye because diabetics were seeing great results by following Dr Joel Fuhrman's advice. I didn't look too much into the "low carb high protein" side of things... At the time I was quite unwell and was desperate to achieve lower blood sugars. I'm a vegetarian who doesn't eat eggs, I find the recipes I use from this book definitely have a positive effect on my blood sugars.

 

[Spencer67]

Hey Jache, I've yet to find a good book that deals with Type 1s and have a good comprehensive veggy diet plan, this book put me off because its looks like the usual yanky 'follow me i'm the new food messiah approach' and it seems more geared to T2s also seems a bit of a broad misleading statement saying 'the end of diabetes' seems to be the new sensationalist selling point but then you have to grab peoples attention to sell books. I'd personally like to know of a good book that isn't by st berny that has a good lc vegetarian approach for T1s.

 

[Jache]

As of now I don't know whether I'm T1 or T2. My doctor will be doing a blood test for me on my next visit (mid March) which would indicate if I am T1.
I've beenr reading quite a lot here and I seem to fit the profile of the "LADA" type of diabetes as I'm actually skinny. My diabetes started during pregnancy (at that time it was only "borderline") and got "worse" after I delivered.

I have been monitoring my blood sugars for the past 3 weeks and to be honest I still don't quite see a logical pattern. I get upset when the levels go too high despite my trying to eat better. It's really kind of frustrating and I guess at the moment the only thing that is keeping me dilligent is my 2 kids- I want to live long enough to see them graduate from school and hopefully form their own families. I get lots of morbid thoughts because I've heard stories of people who died in their 60s from complications of diabetes, and who had had to go through rounds of dialysis before that.

Anyway I digressed! Sorry...

Anyway, what I really wanted to say is that, even though I know there's no one size fits all diet for diabetes, I am trying to get my hands on good reading material to give me some "hope" and offer me some inspiration haha. I have borrowed this book and Dr Bernstein's book. I am also ordering Blood Sugar 101 by Jenny Ruhl from Amazon.

I have not finished reading The End of Diabetes but I'm still trying to sort out for myself which way I want to go- to cut out animal products OR to go "high fat"... I still don't know... One of my bigger concerns is losing too much weight- I think I'll look hideous. I know it's superficial but I can't help thinking about this.

Sorry for the long post.

If anyone has any other book recommendations (including recipe books) please do let me know!

 

[Jache]

Oh and I forgot to say, thank you Rose, Indy and Spencer for your replies! I like how everyone here is so supportive of each other

 

[Phlogiston]

Hi Jache,
I will look out for the book. I am sceptical of the premise in the title - if it was that easy the nhs would save millions.

I think, Indy, that a well balanced vegetarian diet offers one good way to healthy eating, but is not the only way.

Pre-diagnosis I enjoyed many meat free meals - however carbs were the basis of many of them - risotto, noodles, biryani, barley.
The chief sorrow is diabetes is the big reduction in biryanis. (Cauliflower is good - but not the same).
My consumption of fish has risen, size of meat portions when I have them has gone down.

I don't miss potatoes and pasta the way I expected.
Best wishes
Adam

 

[Spencer67]

Hey @Jache, its hard finding the right diet that suits you. Its a holy grail, i'm on the same quest, we all have our preferences some get on with eating meat, i don't and i want to go more raw because of the benefits it brings and my personal ethical choices but its a hard one. Whatever you do you will have to keep your carb low, not sure if your eating bread but thats the bogie man i've found bread spikes my bg so i've cut down on it. where i would eat a substantial part of a brown french stick, never white, i've gone on to just 1 slice a day wholemeal brown and cutting off the crusts, upsetting cos i loved bread. also No tatties and less rice and pasta all upsetting for me. I'm juicing now but only greens. fruit can increase the bg so if i do incorp it i blend to keep the fiber for a slower release of the fructose. but i'm t1 and can inject you will have nothing to control your high bg apart from diet and a pill, Its a big learning curve with the diet change and its hard if your the only one in the household as a diabetic. Experiment is the name of the game, no one has all the answers so i have to find them for myself with a little help and nudging off the forum.

Sounds like you had a rough ride with the pregnancy when were you diagnosed? Stay positive and stay in the now, any complications are a world away and you are on the right road, so there isn't any reason why you should get any, focus on getting the bg down, your hear now and you will learn more about the right foods for you on your journey, you will have to sort the wheat from the chaff, if you spot a good book for veggies and t1s tell me about it i need one too. Stay on top!!! gl.

 

[Daibell]

Hi. I'd like to see the scientif basis for the views in this book? I suspect they are absent or very weak. I'm not aware of any evdience that shows proteins to be a problem unless you have known kidney problems and this applies to both diabetics and non-diabetics. I suspect it's just another book based on opinion rather than scientific evidence; like the high fat statin story.

 

[Miafolkesson]

Hi everyone,

I have been reading this book which encourages eating a diet rich in fruit, vegetables, beans, peas, etc- pretty much a vegetarian diet with low carb.
He also writes in his book against low carb "high protein" diets and he in fact discourages diabetics from taking any animal products at all (including eggs and milk). He cites studies demonstrating the harmful effects of a diet which is higher in animal protein.

I am now confused as to what to do (though I know that ultimately I have to find my own way) because the LCHF diet which seems to be working for many, actually encourages the use of eggs and full cream milk.

I wanted to know if anyone has read this book and/or has tried out the advice set out in it? If so, what were the results like?

Any other feedback or views on this would also be much appreciated.

 

[Miafolkesson]

Hi jache
I am very curious to find out what diet you went for at the end and if it worked? I am basically in your situation today.

Many thanks
Mia

 

[bulkbiker]

Hi jache
I am very curious to find out what diet you went for at the end and if it worked? I am basically in your situation today.

Many thanks
Mia

Hi Mia
This thread is quite an old one and the person you are asking hasn't been on the site for nearly 2 1/2 years so you might be worth posting a new thread on the subject of WFPB diets.

 

[kokhongw]

@Miafolkesson, if you are already a vegan, then perhaps Whole food plant base diet is something you may want to explore fruther...

Otherwise I never get tired of reposting this when I see post that says we should avoid fats and meat to reverse our diabetes...my HbA1c on diagnosis was 11%....