FACING THE TRUTH ABOUT DIABESITY
Are you interested in the social, political and economic factors driving obesity? Do you need to lose weight, fix your BP or improve your diet?
If you answered yes to even one of the above (and let’s be honest, chances are the answer is yes to at least two), then Dr Mark Hyman’s The Blood Sugar Solution will likely be of interest to you.
The book takes a critical look not just at how we eat and why, but also at how the resultant problems are treated by our healthcare providers.
Using case studies and practical tips, Dr Hyman starts out by explaining why he considers diabesity an epidemic, why it’s important to act now — on an individual and community level — and what forms that action ought to take.
A first step is debunking myths that persist about obesity and diabetes. Take, for example, the idea that diabetes is genetic.
“What many people don’t realize is that our genes are affected by our environment… In truth, diabetes is almost entirely induced by environmental and lifestyle factors,” Dr Hyman says. “...genes get turned on (or “expressed”) only under conditions of poor diet, sedentary lifestyle, stress or environmental toxins.”
His solutions take a holistic route. The focus, Dr Hyman says, should be on creating health rather than treating disease; disease, he reminds you, goes away as a side-effect of getting healthy.
While discussing solutions, he engages readers in what he calls ‘The UltraWellness Quiz’, sets of questions sprinkled through the book that aim to uncover the true source of your health issues and start you on the road to health and vitality.
This road leads to what he calls ‘The SixWeek Action Plan’. Be warned, there are no cheat days in Dr Hyman’s Plan.
Some of the specifics of the problems and solutions may not relatable to Indians since the author has written the book primarily for an American audience, based on research conducted in America. But given that the issue is global and the root causes common across the board, everyone, as Hyman puts it, has the power to become a part of a movement to “take back our health”.