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Product Description Until Dr. Barnard’s scientific breakthrough, most health professionals believed that once you developed diabetes, you were stuck with it—and could anticipate one complication after another, from worsening eyesight and nerve symptoms to heart and kidney problems. But as this groundbreaking work reveals, this simply is not true. In a series of studies—the most recent funded by the National Institutes of Health—Dr. Barnard has shown that it is possible to repair insulin function and reverse type 2 diabetes. By following his scientifically proven, life-changing program, diabetics can control blood sugar three times more effectively than with the standard diet; and cut back on and in some cases eliminate medications while reducing the risk of diabetes complications. "The long overdue epic scientific breakthrough in diabetes is here…an obvious must-read for health professionals and for diabetic and potential diabetic patients." —Caldwell B. Esselstyn, Jr., MD, preventive cardiology consultant, Cleveland Clinic "This is the approach to follow…the clinically proven way to get your blood sugar under control… and start living again."—John McDougall, MD, founder and medical director of the McDougall program "Dr. Barnard’s book is no exaggeration…The signs and symptoms of diabetes can be reversed, and he’s got the evidence to prove it."—Jennie Brand-Miller, PhD, author of The New Glucose Revolution About the Author Neal Barnard, M.D., is a physician, clinical researcher, and adjunct associate professor of medicine at the George Washington University School of Medicine. His books include Breaking the Food Seduction, Turn Off the Fat Genes, and Foods That Fight Pain. Excerpt. © Reprinted by permission. All rights reserved. CHAPTER 1The Basics Have ChangedIn the past few years, much of what we thought we knew about diabetes has been turned on its head. What is now coming into focus is an understanding of its fundamental causes, and that gives us power we never had before.To make sure we are at the same starting point, let me walk you through the basics: symptoms, diabetes types, and typical treatments as they are currently used. Then I will show you what's new.HOW DO WE KNOW IT'S DIABETES?First, let's make sense of the symptoms. Diabetes may arrive with no symptoms at all, but often it starts with fatigue. For no apparent reason, your spark is just no longer there. It may also seem that you are losing water more rapidly than you should be, which is to say that you make trips to the bathroom more often than usual. And you are thirsty: You find yourself drinking a surprising amount of water.Here is what is going on: The fundamental problem is that sugar is not able to pass from your bloodstream into the cells of your body. From that single problem come a great many others, like one domino knocking over another and another and another.The sugar we are speaking of is glucose--one of the smallest and simplest sugar molecules. In this case, sugar is not just another word for junk food or empty calories. The fact is that the cells of your body use this kind of sugar--glucose--as an energy source. Like gasoline for your car or jet fuel for an airplane, glucose is your body's fuel. It powers your movements, your thoughts, and more or less everything you do.And that is exactly the problem. If glucose is unable to enter your cells, they are deprived of their basic fuel, so you lose your energy. That is why you are fatigued. If your muscles do not have the glucose they need for power, you tire easily.Meanwhile, the glucose that cannot get into your muscle cells builds up in your bloodstream. It becomes more and more concentrated in the blood, and eventually it starts to pass through the kidneys and ends up in your urine.*Now, as glucose passes through your kidneys, it carries water along with it- -lots of water, hence all those trips to the bathroom. What follows, naturally, is thirst--you are losing all t
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