"Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes" book and review

One Caveat: I do not ordinarily write reviews of books, nor do I claim to be very good at it. However, the short of it is BUY THE BOOK! Now if you wish, you can skip the below. If you have any health issues, BUY the book! In his book, there has been some suggestion that for Rheumatoid Arthristis, heart disease, and diabetes can be helped by a Vegan diet. Prostate cancer may even be linked to milk and probably the Dairy protein.  All information from the book is copyrighted by Dr. Barnard, and NOT me. His book is written in an easy to read format and research format.

"Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes" by Dr. Neal Barnard is number one book for combating Diabetes. I have not found a better book because all books I have read have been Pro-Animal. This is the first book I found that was Pro-Research and Pro-Science and Truth behind the research.

I can NOT recommend this book ENOUGH! My own unscientific research on Diabetes has led me to believe that the recommended diet for Diabetics is one big piece of Sika (Finnish). English please! Okay, its a big piece of Dirty Pig. Reason? They NEVER studied a Vegan or a Vegetarian diet. They just arbitrarily came up with some theories, and then wrote diets based on those theories with limited research on alternative diets. I'd even venture to guess that MOST research on Diabeties has been Pro-Meat and Anti-vegan. My research? Okay, so even I did not put anyone on a Vegan Diet.



However, I did look at what the ADA diet did to my Aunt, Uncle, Client, Actor and a Friend. Admittedly, my friend didn't even bother taking care of his diabetes very well, so of course he was going to have issues. However, the client stuck to the prescribed diet very strictly after not caring about life, nor diets. She also could not reverse the damage done. The Actor I believe did attempt to take care of himself. However, being an actor, and being on a highly successful program does make eating more difficult. My Aunt and Uncle both were raised on a Farm with a Farmer's typical diet - Meat and Potatoes. Result: 3 going blind, 2 with gangrene,  2 dead. None with reversal of diabetes. This led me to believe that a Vegan diet may just be much better and the only real choice for those who genetics give them a higher chance of contracting Diabetes, Heart Disease or Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Dr. Neal Barnard says that he was raised on Bacon Fat. I believe him! I am very familiar with Fargo, North Dakota (where he was raised). I have a 2 sets of Uncles and Aunts that live very near there. North Dakota is farm territory, with farm diet mentality. Why wouldn't they eat Bacon fat? I was told that unless I ate meat and had lots of cow's milk, I wouldn't grow big and strong.  Dr. Barnard has done the research and proven that this is a bunch of bologna. In Dr. Barnard's referring to the work done by Dr. Ornish, Dr. Barnard says, "[Of the vegetarian group] Their cholesterol levels plummeted, their chest pain disappeared, and their heart disease reversed. The average participant lost, believe it or  not, 22 pounds during their first year." Page 161,

Dr. Barnard says on page 48 of his book, that "Animal proteins appear to accelerate the gradual loss of kidney function that can occur in diabetes. Plant source of protein - beans, grains, vegetables, and soy products, for example - do not appear to cause this problem.  People who have migraines often report improvement when they avoid certain foods, and milk and other dairy products are often at the top of the list. The same has been report3ed for some casees of rheumatoid arthritis. The problem, it appears, is not the fat or lactose, at least not for these conditions. The trigger seems to be the dairy proteins."

I find this fascinating! In his book, he mentions many different studies, including two large Harvard studies and reports on the striking conclusions. Some studies have even found a link between milk and prostate cancer in men. At the end of his book, he does have Menus and Recipes. However, if one needs to be gluten free and low fiber, then one might want to combine his studies with a good gluten-free vegetarian cookbook. I forget the title, but I am certain that one exists. I thought I found one at the bookstore. Another source in the next few months, will be my Allergic Vegetarian blog. I am hashing out low fiber, gluten free recipes that are vegetarian.

His book not only hashes out the science behind a Vegan approach to diabetes, but he also mentions the health benefits of the Vegan diet and its effects on other health issues as well. For those of you who have Mental Illness and have been placed on a Seroquel regiment, do not be surprised if you triglycerides go through the roof! A strict Vegan diet that is low fat, will be your only recourse if you can't switch meds.

"Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes" by Dr. Neal Barnard, Rodale publishing, I highly recommended. Even if you HATE my review of the book, do go to your local bookstore and read it for yourself. Your review of the book will beat my review any day of the week. His book is available at any of the most popular bookstores, in soft cover for around $17 USA.  Prices may vary.

Rodale Store Or call 1 - 800 - 848 - 4735

Dr. Neal Barnard's Program

Dr. Neal Barnard's website is down, however the link, just in case it becomes available again is  www.nealbarnard.org/ 






I did talk with a representative from the ADA at the State Fair, and she stressed that the ADA diet is only a suggestion and NOT a recommendation and is not the final word. She stated that only Dietician and a Doctor can really know what diet is the best for a particular patient and the if a client just happens to be Vegan or Vegetarian, they can certainly discuss that with there Doctor or Dietician. The way she said things, led me to believe that people should stick to how they currently eat with some changes as needed to reflect their own health needs - meaning that if you happen to already be a Vegan or Vegetarian, then its okay to ask about such a diet, but that doctors and dietician won't mention such a diet unless you ask. However under NO circumstance would we EVER suggest that a Vegan diet actually FORCES many diabetics off of insulin and does not cause Kidney damage. Nor would we EVER recognize that our diet actually CAUSES kidney damage, because we do NOT recommend a diet! They are full of Crappola!  This is why I can not and will not support the ADA. Period! They do NOT push Veganism. And do NOT want to change anyone's lifestyle  even if it means less meds or no meds. My Sister refuses to do Walk for Autism because MOST research funded by Walks for "Insert cause here" is for research on NEW MEDS to help control condition and do NOT research diet as a possible "cure" or "prevention of". This is also why I support Dr. Neal Barnard. He set out to find a way to reverse health issues without drugs and it appears to me, that he did his research based on a philosophy that the "status quo" may not necessarily be right, that his what he was taught may be in error,  and that much of  the research done previously may be biased or wrong.