This new edition of "There Is a Cure for Diabetes" offers an innovative approach to the prevention and healing of what Dr. Gabriel Cousens calls chronic diabetes degenerative syndrome. A leading medical authority in the world of live-food nutrition, Dr. Cousens exposes the dangers of excess glucose and fructose as the key causes of this seemingly unstoppable epidemic that affects more than twenty-five million Americans and 347 million people worldwide. Cousens, whose Diabetes Recovery Program is the most successful antidiabetes program in the world, presents a three-week plan that focuses on a moderate--low complex carbohydrate, live food, plant-source-only diet that reverses diabetes to a physiology of health and well-being by resetting the genetic expression of a person's DNA. The program renders insulin and related medicines unnecessary within four days" "as the blood sugar drops to normal levels, and the diabetic shifts into a nondiabetic physiology within two weeks. Substantially revised throughout, this practical and encouraging guide reveals the risks of "low" cholesterol and low omega 3s in one's diet and includes more than 140 delicious and healthy recipes. The book represents a major breakthrough in understanding the synergy that helps cure diabetes. "From the Trade Paperback edition."
If you want a program that will help you or your family/friends cure diabetes then this the program.
OK- the program is hard. Follow it only if you want to live a long healthy life.
I read this book in two days. Applied it on the mother of a friend with diabetics and she went to a normal FBS level after only 4 weeks. Sidenote, we did execute an all or nothing approach, so no moderation.
This book is definitively geared more toward type-2 diabetics. There is a stey by step guide and it is more geared toward an everything or nothing approach which can be very hard for some people, I cannot see some people living "the culture of life" as Cousens calls 80+% raw vegan) forever.
People shouldn't buy this book expecting an easy solution. They are going to need a lot of dedication and support from family, friends and peergroup.
Whenever I show this book to medical doctors, they are always surprised that there is actually a cure for diabetes without insulin or medicin, but they forget that there is big business profiteering on diabetes.
Also if you have diabetes and didn't do much research about it, then this is a good condensed starting point.
Anyone interested in raw food or diabetes should read this book, which is to say, everyone should read this book. The information is not particularly earth shattering, and, unfortunately, Dr. Cousens does a fairly poor job of weaving the facts together to paint a coherent picture of overall processes, but he presents several hundred pages of studies that you should have heard about in high school health class, and he suggests a rough implementation of the findings, which, based on his 30 years of experience treating diabetics, have shown, anecdotally, to keep the effects of diabetes from degrading one's health.
His diabetes curing claim is based on fasting blood glucose levels, using the definition of diabetes invoked by the ADA, but that definition is complete bunk. By getting his patients' blood sugar to drop to normal, Cousens is not "curing" or "reversing" diabetes anymore than is done with effective use of meds or insulin. What he's doing is merely "treating" diabetes. But his treatment, in addition to being more effective than traditional methods, also seems to carry real potential for actually "reversing" or "curing" diabetes, but he only hints at that in this book.
As Cousens explains, albeit with rather muddy writing and organization, there are multiple pathways to diabetes, and they often take roughly twenty years of environmental conditioning to traverse, depending on one's gene set. But from my read of this book, Dr. Cousens is not suggesting that the insulin resistance and depleted beta cells that took decades to develop are being reversed in 3-21 days. It remains unclear to me if he's claiming that his plan achieves this over two years - the time period occasionally indicated for full reversal. His focus on epigenetics suggests that full reversal is, in fact, his goal, although I imagine that, in his view, the practical importance of achieving it is minimal, since he advocates maintaining his treatment plan forever for its positive effects on general health, although, at the same time, he does not put forward an explicit claim that this plan is the best lifestyle for non-diabetics. Indeed, I have (uneducated and unscientific) concerns about the lack of fruit and the high percentage of fat in this diet, although I concede that it may be the best one for people with blood sugar concerns. I see Cousens' plan as a strong medical response to the widespread adoption of extremely bad lifestyle practices, but since the book does not suggest it is the best lifestyle for non-diabetics nor does it explain how it might truly transform a diabetic into a non-diabetic, I see it as a life-long treatment plan for the non-cured diabetic.
But as someone who has an a1c of 5.8 when practicing an American lifestyle, albeit a significantly improved variation of it, I wanted to know if I could follow this treatment plan in order to reverse the effects of years and years of lack of sleep, high stress, and a diet with SAD-like components. I already knew that I'm fine on stress-free days with five hours of exercise, eight hours of sleep, and nothin' but vegetables to eat, but give me an urgent project, a couple breakfast meetings, a cup of coffee to meet a late night deadline, and a celebratory dinner at the end of the week, and I'm back to feeling like I just can't be part of this world. If I strictly follow his plan for two years, will I be able to handle real life again? That's the book I want to read. I want to know if there is a cure for diabetes. Sure, it will be mostly speculation and extrapolated theory, but I get the impression that there's enough there to make that worth writing. Plus, one would think Cousens has some patients who have, more or less, been following his treatment plan for years who would be willing to submit themselves to 30 days of the American lifestyle to see if they reverse their cure. Okay, so when I say it like that, I realize that perhaps no one would be so willing, suggesting that perhaps the treatment is the cure, at least when taking all motivations into account. Still, though, scientific minds want to know...
The book can be a dense read. Lots of technical info in it and like a bazillion charts and graphs. And Cousens is a little too fond of the phrases "culture of life/culture of death." But the man knows what he's talking about and it's obvious that anyone suffering from diabetes would benefit enormously from this book.
and the cure for diabetes is....yep, like cancer, just a turn back to Nature...but then again $274 billion of revenues would be missed by Big Pharma if we all found out we didn't need them in the first place...
I'm really leaning more towards a 3.5 on this book but rounding up. At nearly 600 pages with abundant citations, this book is fairly dense for the average reader. It is very informative and I found much of what the author states to be truth, anecdotally at least, for myself. However, there were parts that I didn't agree on and I felt that it was somewhat outdated on some of the references that were used. I do think that it is mainly useful and certainly can be helpful for most individuals as much of it is intuitive, healthy lifestyle changes, but there were a few comments or points that I don't believe he backed up well enough to make claims on. Fortunately, nothing too crazy or harmful, so it didn't really detract from the book much for me.
Hmmm, this is a tough one. It's pretty interesting, and good to get Dr. Cousens' perspective. I have no doubt that drastically changing one's eating habits towards natural, unprocessed, nutrient-rich foods can and does reverse a lot of the problems associated with Type 2 diabetes. This is not a "miracle," just common sense and better nutritional education and knowledge. I am a Type 1 diabetic, which I do not believe is a diet-related disease, so for me, it's difficult to see some of the connections he draws. His evidence for Type 1 diabetics is shaky at best, it's as if he's just tacked us on to all the Type 2 patients, and assumed our bodies work the same way. The two diseases are very different, different causes, different treatments. For example, he claims that two of the people in the study were Type 1 and significantly reduced their meds. Ok, I'll buy it, I've even contacted one who swears by this method. However, after having had Type 1 for 15 years, I am pretty sure my beta cells are dead. There's no "reviving" them with raw plant foods, in turn "reversing" my disease. Also, one of the patients he cites as Type 1 came into the center on Lantus (by the way, whoever edited this book should have caught the fact that Lantus insulin is spelled with a "u" not an "i"! That one kills me. If you know your meds, you know it is not spelled "lantis")and Glucophage. Glucophage is an oral medication, and is not used to treat Type 1 diabetes! I found out later that this particular patient was mis-diagnosed with Type 2, so he was probably on Glucophage by mistake, but the book just glosses over that, or reports it inaccurately. With only 9 or 10 cases to follow, you'd think he could get those details right. Don't assume your reader isn't smart enough to catch on. One of my main problems with the book is that Dr. Cousens' posits all of these evils of modern culture, the Culture of Death, as he calls it, without a ton of evidence to back it up other than citing a bunch of rather inconclusive medical studies. He also operates under the assumption that all of us diabetics consider our disease a death sentence. Well, I don't, and I never have. Yes, I am interested in eating healthy, local, organic, natural foods and controlling my diabetes the best I can through diet, exercise, and diligence in my meds and monitoring. No, I do not believe that my life expectancy is getting shorter every day. I am already in good control. The other issue I have is that he has no control group. No group that simply ate a nutrient-rich diet, including moderate amounts of proteins, dairy, and eggs, and exercised daily. Perhaps they would have achieved similar results to the raw-foodies who ate nothing but raw plant foods? Perhaps not, but it would be nice to see some conclusive evidence other than the 9 or so people he wrote the book about and then decided to say were cured. This book definitely peaked my curiousity and I have done a lot of research on the subject since reading it. I will be curious to see what, if any, influence it has on the field of diabetes research, particularly Type 1. I would support further research on the subject, but I don't yet find Cousens' theory to be the end-all. Also, on a side note, the book is very serious and therefore a bit depressing. It could use a sense of humor, and a sense that Cousens actually exists in the same society I do. Yes, I am sure there are support networks and I could make new friends if I became a pioneer of raw-foodism, but what about the friends I already have and love? What about my other interests? So far, it's just not complete enough to convince me.
I really like this book. I had watched some videos and done some research on the author before reading the book, so I felt confident it would be great. This 6oo page book isn’t for the faint of heart. What Dr. Cousens is advocating a change in mindset and lifestyle, and this takes courage to do. The benefits are a longer, healthier, and more peaceful existence, and this is worthwhile. It is a technical book, but Cousens adds anecdotes and wisdom so that it is not as dry as you might expect.
The Western World is largely ignorant to holistic health, and this book can serve as a cure to this, as well. Cousens’ book is laid out into three main sections: one introducing diabetes and the factors in modern society contributing to it, another promoting his theory of diabetes as largely based upon the former, and third describing his healing programme. All of this is nested between the front and back matter you’d expect, such as a foreward and indices, and supported by charts and other visuals that help explain the material.
This is a life-changing book that anyone who has diabetes or (better yet) wants to prevent diabetes should read. I give it four stars instead of five because I feel that the book is a tad lacking in the application segment of the text. I was reading carefully, and I still had to piece things together to create a step-by-step guide for myself. I feel that having an “action guide” toward the end or maybe as an appendix would be beneficial. On the other hand, diabetes is somewhat individual as are people, so, perhaps, Cousens has left this vague on purpose to cause the reader to develop an action plan on his own, but this does not seem to be the case as I think Dr. Cousens would have said this had it been his intent. Still, reading and applying this book is like digging for treasure—the golden reward of a lifetime of good health—and I highly recommend it to all who are interested in the subject.
This book's title, and content, are dangerously misleading, and the author is not credible.
Knowing that, going into it, makes it hard for me to actually read it; however, my dad is OBSESSED with this book. I want to know more about Cousen's program, so I can have informed conversations with him concerning Cousen's raw food diet, and religious sect.
I know some think Gabriel Cousens is out there, but he has something valuable on every page. I did not know that parabens act like estrogens in our bodies!! And what do excessive estrogens do! Cause fat accumulation and cancers just to name two of the nasties!! Great book. Somewhat clinical, but generally very readable.
I didn't think this is something I would do even if I had diabeties. But if they think it would work and you are willing to grind up all your vegtables and drink them. Maybe you would like to try it.
This entire review has been hidden because of spoilers.
Excellent construction of the book, providing a solid foundation on the reasoning behind the lifestyle change, the benefits of it, the experimentation and results for it, and then providing a structured manner for the reader to pursue the same changes in their life.