Richard Laliberte

I reviewed a previous Reader´s Digest book by Pat Harper and gave it also one star.

Many rubbishy books have been written about diabetes and these two books by Pat Harper et al are about the worst.

Firstly, nowhere does it say on the cover, or in the title, of this book that it only addresses diabetes type 2, which it does, and not the auto-immune disease, diabetes type 1. So the book is misleading from the start.

Secondly, the book mostly seems to be about losing weight, and I understand that overweight is a big problem with diabetes 2 patients. I personally suffer from type 2 and am underweight.

Thirdly, the authors state that “all foods are fair game”, and I understand them to mean that anything goes as regards what one can eat. They state that sugar is not inherently bad, the only problem with it being that it contains lots of empty calories. These authors are apparently completely unaware of the fact that sugar has been found to be cancer-causing.

There are no restrictions on what you are allowed to eat: no foods are forbidden. You are permitted to eat “highly processed and packaged foods --- sweets”, etc. etc. The only thing you need to think about is that “your total intake of calories needs to decrease”.

Neither do the authors know anything about the newer findings about fat, that the intake of fat is essential to one´s health, even saturated fat. This knowledge is not even that new; you can find it, for example, in “Fat and cholesterol are good for you” (2009) by Uffe Ravnskov and “The great cholesterol con” (2008) by Malcolm Kendrick.

The authors of the book under review continually recommend fat-free products, which have been found to be harmful. We actually need to eat a high-fat, low carbohydrate diet.

Fruit is permitted in generous amounts, though some reputable diabetes experts ban the intake of all fruit, or greatly limit it. Fruit contains sugar too, and a banana contains about 9 g of sugar. They state “Fructose – fruit sugar – isn´t absorbed as quickly as the sucrose in table sugar and sweets --, so it won´t send your blood sugar soaring so high.” This may be so, I wouldn´t know, but the renowned Dr. Mercola, whom I greatly admire, warns particularly of the dangers of fructose. He states “Sugar may be bad for you but fructose is far more deadly”.

The authors state, provocatively, “All foods belong in your diet (i.e. also all kinds of junk foods), and everything is allowed. For the plan to work, though, your total intake of calories needs to decrease”.

They recommend “´good´ fats – such as the ones in most cooking oils and in fish”. Firstly, most so-called cooking oils are deleterious. They fail to mention coconut oil, which is the optimal cooking oil and one of the very few permissible for this purpose.

They write: “Olive and canola oil consist mostly of healthy fats, the kinds that help stave off heart disease. All the others contribute to heart disease”. Rubbish! It is true that organic olive oil is good but, as regards canola, Dr. Mercola states: “Of all the processed oils, canola has probably done the most damage to America´s health” --- “Canola oil is a poisonous substance, an industrial oil that does not belong in the body.” And, again, why don´t they mention organic coconut oil, the healthiest of all?

It is true that fish oil is beneficial to us, but the problem is that practically all fish these days are severely polluted, both with mercury and other heavy metals and now by radiation after the accident in the Japanese nuclear plant. The radiation in the sea has spread throughout the oceans of the world. Farmed fish are also deleterious to our health and have been banned in several countries.

In the Introduction, the Editor in Chief of “Reader´s Digest Health Books” states that we should just add “5 minutes a week to the amount of time (we) walk each day”. Ha, ha, ha, ha, what good is that going to do? 5 minutes a week is less than a minute a day. In this fashion, it will take a considerable time for us to even begin to get any real exercise. He certainly doesn´t want us to overexert ourselves!

He also states that nothing can cure diabetes, I take exception to that statement, particularly as regards type 2 diabetes.

We are advised to drink diet sodas with “noncaloric sweeteners”, i.e. artificial sweeteners. We should “use sugar substitutes whenever possible”. We should use aspartame, acesulfame-k, saccharin, and sucralose.

In actual fact, all these artificial sweeteners have been shown to be dangerous. Aspartame is the worst of these; it has been shown to damage the brain and much else (Try to google “the dangers of aspartame”). Aspartame can be deadly.

There is no mention of Stevia which, as far as I understand, is beneficial.

We are told to “make sure dairy is on the menu”. In fact “plant food based diet, or vegan diet, is always associated with lower mortality rates from cancers, stroke, and coronary heart disease” (Jessica Brooks).

Perhaps the authors of this book are in the pay of the Illuminati or are perhaps Illuminati themselves, and thus wish to greatly hasten our demise. Or they are paid by Bill Gates to expedite his depopulation strategy since he can´t vaccinate and thus harm/kill us all.

The book contains lots of recipes, and some of these may provide some good ideas. Though I wouldn´t recommend tuna salad since tuna, being large fish, are filled with mercury, nor am I personally attracted to “meat-lover`s meal” (ha, ha!).

In some of the recipes, butter is regarded as “a disaster food”, though it is now termed by experts as “healthy”, except by vegans; “light margarine” is regarded as a “master food” though, in fact, experts have long pronounced it as bad/dangerous.

“Vegetable Fettucine Alfredo” might perhaps be a healthy recipe, though I would avoid the “light tub margarine”, “all-purpose flour” milk and cheese.

The book does comprise some good aspects, for example, suggestions for specific exercises, including good photos.

The best part of the book is the chapter entitled “Other natural approaches”. This includes the recommendation of acupuncture, though the authors are uncertain whether it can help to lower blood sugar.

However, they recommend some excellent herbs that do lower blood sugar, including Gymnema sylvestre, which I use myself, fenugreek, and bitter melon; I have yet to try the latter. Then there is chromium, vanadium, and alpha lipoic acid, and garlic for the heart. I take chromium and garlic every day. Garlic, in particular, is excellent, kills all bacteria and prevents cancer.

All in all, I found this book to contain exceedingly harmful, sometimes deadly, advice. A redeeming feature is the valuable recommendations of the above-mentioned herbs, etc.

I would recommend that instead of reading this book you instead get hold of “Dr. Bernstein´s Diabetes Solution” by Richard K. Bernstein and Cass Ingram´s “Natural cures for diabetes”.… (meer)

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