Joel Fuhrman - Eat To Live

158 Joel Fuhrman, M.D.

many patients as possible each day. Your physician is likely doing just

as poorly as you are and eating just as unhealthfully or worse. Aft

reading this book, you could improve his health and reduce his ri

of premature death more than he could help yours. Even whe

physicians offer their fullest time and effort, their recommendations

are invariably too mild to have a significant benefit.

Drs. Randall S. Stafford and David Blumenthal, of Massachusetts

General Hospital in Boston, reviewed the records of more than

30,000 office visits to 1,521 U.S. physicians of various specialties an

found that doctors measured patients' blood pressure during 50 per

cent of the visits. However, doctors tested their patients' cholestero

levels only 4.6 percent of the time. Physicians offered patients advi

on how to lose weight in 5.8 percent of the visits, and suggestions o

how smokers could quit 3 percent of the time. On average, docto

gave patients advice on dietary and other changes that can hel~

lower cholesterol in 4.3 percent of the visits, and advice on exercise

in 11.5 percent of the visits. When records were reviewed in those

who had cardiovascular disease, the typical (almost worthless) di

etary counseling and exercise was usually never even mentioned.'

Obviously, we have a long way to go.

Diabetes - The Consequence of Obesity

One in twenty people has diabetes in this country, more than 16 mil-

lion Americans. As our population grows fatter, this figure is climb-

ing. Diabetes is a nutritionally related disease — one that is both

preventable and reversible (in the case of Type II diabetes) through

nutritional methods.

Diabetes can take a severe toll — causing heart attacks and strokes,

as well as other serious complications. More than 70 percent of

adults with Type II diabetes die of heart attacks and strokes. The sta-

tistics are even more frustrating when you watch people gain weight,

become even more diabetic, and develop attendant complications, all

while under the care of their physicians.

As our country's weight has risen, diabetes has increased accordingly. The

worldwide explosion in diabetes parallels the increase in body weight.