Healthy weight loss has long been the first line of attack against the disease of type 2 diabetes.
Healthy Weight Loss is the first line of defense in preventing it, and it is the cure for people who already have it. Lose weight, and the symptoms disappear; maintain the weight loss, and the symptoms will not reappear. Regain weight, however, and the disease comes back.
For years, healthy weight loss for diabetes meant avoiding certain foods. Diabetics did not have to give up everything they loved, but their eating was confined: the range of ingredients and styles of cooking was necessarily limited. Today, however, the latest laboratory research provides some very, very good news for diabetics who take care to eat in a way that keeps their disease under control or prevents its occurrence.
What the researchers have found is that there are particular nutrients that actually fight the disease over the long term. Their names aren't a secret-fiber, phytonutrients, soy protein, and the so-called good fats: monounsaturated, polyunsaturated, and omega-3 fatty acids-but think of them as secret weapons in the battle against all the complications of diabetes.
Clearly, the foods that contain these diabetes-fighting ingredients should be part of every diabetic's eating plan, and we'll show you how in this book-deliciously.
But the best news of all is that the kind of eating that leads to healthy weight loss and the kind of eating that controls diabetes are exactly the same. Here's why. Diabetes is not just a disease; it is also a risk factor.
It is a component of what doctors have labeled metabolic syndrome-a combination of medical disorders including high blood pressure, high total cholesterol, high LDL cholesterol (the bad cholesterol), low HDL cholesterol (the "good cholesterol), high triglycerides and overweight or obesity.
The more of these components of metabolic syndrome a person has, the greater his or her chances of suffering life-threatening complications. But having even one component puts a person at risk for these complications. The eating principles you'll learn in this book-and the weight loss that can follow-address all the components of metabolic syndrome.
Parents are Responsible:
Children are not born with poor eating habits or the desire to eat unhealthy foods. They learn the eating habits that form their eating tastes from us, their parents. We're the ones who buy the foods our kids eat.
The meals we put on the table, the foods we order in or the restaurants we take our kids to establish patterns our kids learn to mimic. It's how they acquire taste-which is a learned experience. That's how and why we are ultimately the teachers of our children's eating habits, and that makes us responsible for their eating future-and the diseases that come from it.
But lately, many parents seem to have begun to abdicate that responsibility. To be fair, the abdication hasn't been by choice. When both husband and wife are working and the kids are busy with all sorts of after-school activities, it's virtually impossible to plan family meals, much less to sit down together as a family to eat one.
Result? Kids-and parents-rely more and more on fast food, which is high in carbohydrates, calories and fats. Americans eat 40 percent of their calories outside the home, and consumer spending on fast food has increased eighteen-fold since 1970.
Waistlines have grown with the rise in fast food, and 70 percent of kids ages six to eight think fast food is healthier than homemade food. Sure they do: they have the former almost more frequently than the latter.
And the portions tend to be outsized-having nothing to do with what's sufficient for normal growth, fitness and well-being. A recommended serving of meat, fish or poultry is 3 ounces; that is what is recommended for good health and nutrition by the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health. The typical portion of meat, fish or poultry that Americans eat is about 8 ounces-nearly three times what is needed and recommended. Today's typical pasta portion is 480 percent bigger than the government recommendation.
About the authors:
Dr. Howard M. Shapiro:
Dr. Howard M. Shapiro changed the way America loses weight with his New York Times bestseller Picture Perfect Weight Loss. He is the founder and director of Howard M. Shapiro Medical Associates, a private multidisciplinary medical office in New York City that specializes in weight control, nutrition counseling and life management.
He has been featured in the New York Times, USA Today and Vogue, among others, and has been a frequent guest on numerous national television and radio programs, including Oprah, Today, Good Morning America and The View.
Dr. Shapiro worked extensively with the New York Police Department and the Fire Department of New York, helping them lose a total of 2,544 pounds. Visit his Web site at pictureperfectweightloss.com .
Franklin Becker:
Franklin Becker has served as executive chef at several of New York's premier restaurants. At the age of twenty-seven, he was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. Following his diagnosis, Chef Becker lost 35 pounds and transformed his cooking style to create dazzling dishes that are healthy and flavorful.
Chef Becker is currently the executive chef at Abe & Arthur's restaurant, located New York City's meatpacking district. Visit his Web site at www.cheffranklinbecker.com.
About the book:
Dr. Howard M. Shapiro, author of the New York Times bestselling Picture Perfect Weight Loss series, teams with renowned chef Franklin Becker to tackle one of the biggest healthcare crises in the United States: Diabetes.
Every day, 2,200 Americans are newly diagnosed with this sixth most potent killer, and it is projected that a third of the population born in 2005 will contract the disease. The awful truth is that anyone who is overweight is at an increased risk for diabetes.
But the good news is that many can prevent or control the disease-or even be freed of the need to take medication for it-by taking charge of their diet. In "Eat & Beat Diabetes With Picture Perfect Weight Loss", Dr. Shapiro and Chef Becker share their easy-to-adopt plan for beating diabetes the healthy and nutritious way-by changing what and how you eat without sacrificing the joy of food.
According to Dr. Shapiro and Chef Becker-who was himself diagnosed with diabetes at age twenty-seven-the key to healthy weight loss lies in their Beat Diabetes Pyramid, which is simple to understand and incorporate into your diet.
The secret weapons are the "Four Phenoms"-fiber, phytonutrients, soy protein and good fats-and they identify the best sources for these nutrients, found in common foods that can literally put a stop to the effects of diabetes. Using the pictorial comparisons that are the hallmark of Dr. Shapiro's Picture Perfect Weight Loss series, Shapiro and Becker let readers "See and Choose" the differences between food selections, teaching how to substitute nutritious and delicious alternatives for what they may be eating.
At the heart of "Eat & Beat Diabetes With Picture Perfect Weight Loss" are dozens of flavorful recipes created by Chef Becker that prove how easy it is to change the way you eat-without sacrificing taste. From Cucumber Mango Salad to Grilled Shrimp with Shaved Fennel or Citrus Granita, the choices abound with gourmet splendor.
"Eat & Beat Diabetes With Picture Perfect Weight Loss" also features extraordinary recipes from seventeen of the country's top chefs: Lidia Bastianich, Neal Fraser, Christopher Lee, Kim Canteenwalla, Tory Miller, Seamus Mullen, Michel Nischan, Ken Oringer, Eric Ripert, Floyd Cardoz, Andrew G. Shotts, Sam Talbot, Heather Carlussi-Rodriguez, Lee Ann Wong, Bill Telepan, Marc Vetri and David Walzog.
"Eat & Beat Diabetes With Picture Perfect Weight Loss" is also a call to action for parents. "Due to the stunning increase in childhood obesity, we are seeing a substantial rise in the occurrence of type 2 diabetes in young children-as young as 11 and 12," report Shapiro and Becker.
"It means, unfortunately, that all these young people will have more time to accumulate the damage diabetes causes and may have shortened lives. This is the first generation projected to have a shorter life span than the previous one." There is also the psychological toll of being an overweight child. By giving kids a head start on healthy eating, parents are preparing them for a better future. Again, the visual comparisons provided by the book give parents and kids an easy way of seeing what healthy eating means.
Helping eaters beat diabetes every day, the book also includes a seven-day sample menu, as well as menu-selection guidelines for beating diabetes while dining out, be it at top New York City restaurants such as 41 Greenwich, Le Cirque, Nobu, Peasant, Rouge Tomate and Dawat Haute Cuisine of India, or at national chains such as California Pizza Kitchen, Chili's, Denny's, Olive Garden, Outback Steakhouse or Ruby Tuesday's.
Revolutionary in its simplicity and effectiveness, "Eat & Beat Diabetes With Picture Perfect Weight Loss" is for all the family, not only because being overweight is dangerous, but because achieving and maintaining a healthy weight is vital for everyone's health.
