Bottom line on chromium? If your body is deficient in this substance to begin with, your diabetes control may well improve with supplements. How do you know whether or not you’re deficient? It’s hard to establish. And since the amount of chromium present in food varies widely, the best course of action may be to give chromium supplements a try—after checking with your doctor, of course. We recommend a trial dose of 200 mcg per day for one month; if there is no improvement in your blood sugar control, discontinue the supplement. Excess chromium supplementation can lead to toxicity, which in turn may cause skin lesions, gastric ulcers and even liver and kidney impairment. Interestingly, there are no reports of chromium toxicity from food—only from supplements.
Where vitamins and minerals are concerned, we do recommend a basic one-a-day multivitamin and mineral supplement. There are two reasons for this recommendation. First, even though eating the Pyramid way is healthy in every respect and provides an ample supply of nutrients, a little added insurance—an extra margin of safety—can’t hurt, especially on those days when we may perhaps forget our daily portion of leafy greens!
Second, vitamins B6 and B12 along with folic acid may reduce the levels of a substance in the blood called homocystine, which is associated with cardiovascular disease. Since cardiovascular risk is of particular concern among diabetics, making sure you get those nutrients is important, and about the easiest way to be sure is to take a multivitamin, which invariably contains the recommended daily amount of all three: B6, B12 and folic acid.
Plant sterols and plant stanols—phytosterols and phytostanols—are useful if your total or LDL cholesterol is high. In fact, if that is the case, we recommend them. These substances are extracted from plants—often from soybeans or pine trees—and they work by inhibiting the absorption of cholesterol. They come in tablets or capsules and are available in health stores and pharmacies. We recommend 2 to 3 grams of phytosterols and/or phytostanols a day. You’ll find them easy to tolerate, and they can lower your cholesterol by anywhere from 9 percent to 20 percent. (Note: Cholesterol-lowering agents—whether by prescription or over-the-counter—are not recommended during pregnancy.)
Green tea is described as having thermogenic and fat-oxidizing properties—fancy words for burning fat to the tune of 90 calories a day. Do the math: that translates to nearly 10 pounds a year. Green tea has also been found to reduce fasting plasma glucose significantly in type 2 diabetics. And it can reduce the risk of developing coronary heart disease. How? It helps lower both total and LDL cholesterol, and it protects HDL cholesterol against oxidation. In other words, green tea can help prevent type 2 diabetes by decreasing body fat, can help control diabetes by lowering blood sugar and can decrease the risk and severity of diabetes’ main complication, coronary heart disease. And if that’s not enough, green tea also lowers the risk of many cancers.
Convinced? Take about 400 mg of green tea two to three times a day—or as your doctor recommends.
Our final recommendation is a weight-loss formula developed by Dr. Shapiro called Slenda Rx. This supplement is widely available, and we recommend that it be taken with a full glass of water an hour before each meal. It is composed of four ingredients: glucomannan, green tea, caffeine and hoodia.
1. Glucomannan. A 2005 study at the Rush University in Chicago suggests that this soluble fiber (derived from the Asian konjac plant) helps promote feelings of fullness. In fact, the study showed that patients who took glucomannan before each meal lost an average of 5.5 pounds over eight weeks—without any additional dietary changes
2. Green tea. Green tea has been proven study after study, to help you burn fat through its thermogenic and fat-oxidizing properties.
3. Caffeine. Caffeine also helps suppress your appetite, and acts in conjunction with green tea to provide thermogenesis.
4. Hoodia. This ancient, rare botanical has been used for centuries by the San Bushmen of Kalahari Desert. The Bushmen, who live off the land, cut off part of the hoodia stem and eat it to ward off hunger and thirst during nomadic hunting trips. Scientific studies have noted what the Bushmen know—research has isolated several compounds in South African hoodia that help suppress appetite.
SOME OF OUR FAVORITE TOOLS TO BEAT DIABETES
Here are some of our favorite products, used liberally in the demonstrations and recipes throughout this book. Find them at your local supermarket, fine foods market or health food store.
* * *
BREADS AND CEREALS
Arnold—Light 100% Whole Wheat Bread
Tumaro’s—Low in Carbs Gourmet Tortillas
Damascus Bakeries—Flax Roll-ups
Kellogg’s—All-Bran Extra Fiber
Weight Watchers—English muffins, pita and sliced breads
General Mills—Fiber One
La Tortilla Factory—Low-Carb Tortillas
McCann’s—Steel Cut Oats
* * *
* * *
SOY VEGGIE PRODUCTS
Marukome—Japan’s largest producer of miso
Tofurkey—Beer Brats, kielbasa and Italian sausage
Morningstar Farms—breakfast sausage patties and Meal Starters Recipe Crumbles
Synergia—Bleu cheese and tomato-garlic feta
Yves—meatless Canadian bacon and veggie pepperoni slices
Galaxy Nutritional Foods—American-and cheddar-flavor soy slices
Lightlife—turkey and bologna-style veggie slices
Whole Foods Soy Protein Powder
* * *
* * *
FROZEN TREATS
Tofutti—Chocolate Fudge Treats
The Enlightened Gourmet—Absolutely Free Double Chocolate Fudge Swirl
Unilever—Fudgsicles (no sugar added)
Edy’s—Fruit Bars (no sugar added)
* * *
THE OTHER ESSENTIAL HEALTH CHOICE: EXERCISE
It isn’t just poor choices in eating that are responsible for the surge of type 2 diabetes in the United States. Equally defining is the sedentary lifestyle—the sheer inactivity—of far too many Americans. The National Health Interview Survey tells us that fewer than a third of all adults in the United States spend the recommended thirty minutes a day in physical activity, while nearly 40 percent of us aren’t active at all.
For diabetics trying to manage their disease, exercise isn’t just a recommendation; it’s a necessity. It helps both control the disease and reduce the risk of complications—or the severity of complications if and when they do occur. For those in a prediabetic state, exercise can help delay the onset of the disease or prevent it altogether.
If you’re trying to manage your type 2 diabetes now, here are just some of the benefits regular exercise can bring to you:
An improved lipid profile—decreased LDL cholesterol and possibly increased HDL cholesterol
Decreased blood clot formation
Improved insulin sensitivity
Decreased body fat—especially intra-abdominal fat
An improved mental outlook
No wonder the American Diabetes Association recommends that all people with diabetes get a minimum of 150 minutes of moderate-intensity aerobic exercise weekly. What is moderate-intensity aerobic exercise? It’s exercise where you’re working a little—enough to get your heart going. Walking at a brisk pace, cycling on mostly level terrain, raking leaves, shoveling snow: all of these qualify as moderate-intensity aerobic exercise. And here’s the real bonus: this kind of aerobic exercise, done regularly, can actually decrease insulin requirements by as much as 100 percent for type 2 diabetics!
But the aerobics are not enough. Type 2 diabetics also need to perform some resistance training three times a week, unless other health conditions or complications make such exercise unadvisable. You don’t need to buy fancy weights or barbells, although these work well. All sorts of weight-bearing exercise work—including house cleaning, carrying groceries, dancing and even gardening. The idea is to work against gravity.
Combine the aerobic a
nd the resistance exercises into one workout, polish it off with some stretching and you will help not just your diabetes but your heart and your overall health as well. Of course, always check with your doctor about the type, frequency and intensity of exercise you’re doing. Find out also whether you need to monitor your glucose before and after exercise, and whether or how to coordinate exercise with food intake and medications. Your doctor will be glad to help with your exercise regimen. He or she knows that by undertaking a regular program of exercise and changing their eating habits, three-fourths of today’s diabetic patients could safely stop using medications. Indeed, they’d be better off for it.
LAST WORD
We started this book by offering some pretty scary statistics about diabetes. It almost made it sound as if we were all caught up in a race to stay one step ahead of this killer disease.
It’s true. We are in a race. What we’ve provided you here are the tools you need to win that race. Think of the information we’ve provided as your racing equipment—the swiftest gear, the fastest shoes. Think of the Beat Diabetes Pyramid as the course of training that will ensure you get to the finish line way ahead of the disease that’s chasing you—that’s chasing us all.
Now all you have to do is go out there and make the right choices day after day, one day at a time.
ABOUT THE AUTHORS
Dr. Howard M. Shapiro
Dr. Howard M. Shapiro changed the way America lost 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 www.drhowardshapiro.com.
Franklin Becker
Franklin Becker has served as executive chef at several of New York’s premier restaurants and his work has been featured in the New York Times, New York magazine, Esquire and People. 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 currently presides over Abe & Arthur’s restaurant, located in New York City’s Meatpacking district. Visit his Web site at www.cheffranklinbecker.com.
EAT & BEAT DIABETES WITH PICTURE PERFECT WEIGHT LOSS
ISBN: 978-1-4268-5490-3
© 2010 by Howard Shapiro and Franklin Becker
Photography © 2010 by Bill Milne
The health advice presented in this book is intended only as an informative resource guide to help you make informed decisions; it is not meant to replace the advice of a physician or to serve as a guide to self-treatment. Always seek competent medical help for any health condition or if there is any question about the appropriateness of a procedure or health recommendation.
All rights reserved. The reproduction, transmission or utilization of this work in whole or in part in any form by any electronic, mechanical or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including xerography, photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, is forbidden without the written permission of the publisher. For permission please contact Harlequin Enterprises Limited, 225 Duncan Mill Road, Don Mills, Ontario, Canada, M3B 3K9.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Shapiro, Howard M., 1943-
Eat & beat diabetes with picture perfect weight loss: the visual program to prevent and control diabetes/Howard M. Shapiro and Franklin Becker; photographs by Bill Milne.
p. cm.
1. Diabetes—Diet therapy—Popular works. 2. Weight loss—Popular works.
I. Franklin, Becker. II. Title. III. Title: Eat & beat diabetes with picture perfect weight loss.
RC662.S53 2010
616.4’620654—dc22
2009042995
® and TM are trademarks owned and used by the trademark owner and/or its licensee. Trademarks indicated with ® are registered in the United States Patent and Trademark Office, the Canadian Trade Marks Office and/or other countries.
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* Other, less common forms of diabetes include gestational diabetes, which affects from 2 percent to 5 percent of pregnant women and typically resolves spontaneously after childbirth, and certain rare forms of the disease that may derive from genetics, infection, malnutrition and even drugs or surgery.
* Recipe tested with Morningstar Farms® Meal Starters™ Grillers Recipe® Crumbles
* Wall Street Journal, May 19, 2009.
* “Kids Spoon-Fed Marketing and Advertising for Least Healthy Breakfast Cereals,” Yale University Office of Public Affairs, October 26, 2009.
*For example, La Tortilla Factory, Whole Wheat Low Carb, or Tumaro’s Gourmet Tortillas, Multi-Grain Low Carb.
* Available in health-food stores and many markets (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, etc).
* Available in health-food stores and many markets (Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, etc).
*See recipe and photo for Sea Scallops.
* See recipe and photo for Halibut Poached in Coconut Milk.
* See photo of Equilibrium.
** See photo of Chilean Sea Bass with Black Bean Sauce.
*See photo of Shiitake Mushroom Salad.
*See recipe and photo for Seared Whole Brook Trout with Cauliflower.
*See recipe and photo for Local Fluke Ceviche.
Eat & Beat Diabetes with Picture Perfect Weight Loss Page 23