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 How our doctors dietary ignorance is killing patients May 17, 2008
This is an excellent book written by a medical doctor who uses low carbohydrate diets in his practice to lower blood pressure, enable patients to lose weight, control blood sugar in diabetics, raise HDL cholesterol, and help with the symptoms of irritable bowel syndrome and coronary artery disease. He explains through biochemistry how lowering your carb intake reduces the levels of insulin in your blood stream and it is the high levels of insulin that cause negative biochemical reactions at the cellular level.He also explains why the maistream medical establishment rejects low carb diets and tows the party line of low fat and low cholesterol diets even though there are no studies that conclusively prove this diet does anything positive for your weight loss or health. Doctors prescribe drugs they are not dieticians.
This book is written in a friendly conversation format and is an easy read. The author's positive experiences with low carbs in his practice are nothing new. The same principles were written about years ago by other doctors in "Protein Power", "The Atkins diet revolution", "The Carbohydate Addicts Diet" and "The Zone" this last one was written by an endrocrinologist.
I myself lost 60 pounds in 3 months following a moderate low carb diet of about 100 carbs a day balancing the carbs with protein. The book is about explaining why low carb diets work with little to no dietary advice provided, I sugggest reading any of the above books to learn how to implement the doctors advice into a real diet. I also highly suggest that you get 20 or more grams of fiber a day and drink plenty of water if you do try out a very low carb diet. But do not go to extremes, a low carb diet is really just balancing out you carb/protein intake which should be about equal, the standard American diet currently is about 4 times as many carbs or more than protein. Buy this book it could literally save your life, the current American diet is very dangerous and your doctors advice could literally kill you.
LIVE A LONG HEALTHY LIFE May 08, 2008
I AM A PATIENT OF DR. CARLSON'S AND SO ARE MY CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN. BELIEVE ME WHEN I SAY HE KNOWS HIS STUFF!! I AM A DIABETIC AND I HAVE FOLLOWED HIS DIETARY RECOMMENDATIONS OVER THE YEARS. MY GLUCOSE HAS BEEN IN NORMAL RANGES NOW WITH NO MEDICATION AT ALL. I FEEL GREAT. I HAVE SEEN TOO MANY DOCTORS IGNORE NUTRITION AND JUST KEEP WRITING PRESCRIPTIONS AND OVER MEDICATING THEIR PATIENTS. THANK YOU DR. CARLSON FOR CARING ABOUT YOUR PATIENTS AND TAKING THE TIME TO ALWAYS EXPLAIN AND ANSWER OUR QUESTIONS.
2 of 5 found the following review helpful:
 Extrapolates limited personal experience to universals May 03, 2008
Dr. Carlson, who was once 50 pounds overweight, claims that low fat, high carbohydrate diets are behind the obesity epidemic in America. Like Dr. Atkins of "New Diet Revolution" fame, Carlson put himself on a mostly fat and protein diet and lost the extra weight. He also put some of his patients on the diet with good results.
I have no doubt that some people, perhaps many people, can lose weight on a diet consisting of little more than protein and fat. But I don't believe that such a diet is the natural diet of human beings. Carlson makes the argument "When we compare our digestive system with that of a wolf, we find it is very similar. When we compare our digestive system with a cow, there is no similarity whatsoever." (p. 139) I wish he had taken the comparison further. If we compare our digestive system with that of a chimpanzee or a pig the systems really are "very similar." This argument from anatomy is a good one, and can help us to a good understanding of our dietary needs if the comparisons are really accurate. Our digestive tract is longer than a wolf's because we are built to include a larger percentage of vegetable foods in our diet.
The simple truth is that human being are omnivores, like rats, pigs, bears, etc. Our digestive systems prove it as well as our habits and appetites. Now it is true that the natural diet of human beings, honed by our experience as hunter and gatherers in the Pleistocene, did not include much in the way of sugars or carbohydrates. The fields of amber grain were few and far between, and the grain that grew was merger, and processing it was time consuming and labor intensive. It wasn't until the rise of agriculture about 10,000 years ago that humans began to get a majority of their calories from grain. And we paid the price. Evacuations of humans buried during the early period of our transformation from hunter-gatherers to farmers, show that humans got smaller in stature and suffered more often from contagious disease than had their ancestors.
The "truth" that Atkins and Carlson is so enthusiastic about is that many people have what has been called "carbohydrate intolerance." It's a bit like alcoholism in that, given a ready supply of cheap carbs, some people can't resist eating them to excess. Furthermore, mass market agricultural practices have lead to what might be called the forced feeding of America, mostly in the form of highly processed carbohydrate-rich products, potato chips, corn chips, white bread, crackers, corn syrup sodas, etc.
And it is true that the Inuit people can and have lived for many centuries on a diet consisting almost exclusively of animal fats and proteins.
A problem arises however when we try to apply this understanding to all people. Human beings can adapt to a great variety of diets. The Japanese before WWII ate a diet rich in fish, shellfish, rice and vegetables and enjoyed relatively long lives and good health. The Chinese cuisine contains an enormous variety of foods, but the bulk of this diet--proven healthy for thousands of years--consists of rice and other plant foods. Other differences abound: most Asians are lactose intolerant which isn't surprising since they have had historically almost no cultural experience with cow's milk. Some people, Pacific Islanders, Native Americans and others, have trouble dealing with alcohol, while the Mediterranean (and French!) practice is to include lots of wine with meals.
One of Carlson's dicta is "Sugar is sugar is sugar." He writes, "...carbs are broken down into sugars, so whenever one eats carbs, the cell will see sugar." Well, whatever food one consumes--protein, fats, alcohol, carbs--what the brain cells always receive is glucose, that is, sugar. That's the way the body works, and that is why we have a taste for things that are sweet.
Another Carlson dictum is "the calorie is irrelevant." (p. 72) Because a calorie is defined as so much heat produced in a closed system, he claims counting calories doesn't matter because we don't burn them, we digest them. True, but consume too many calories and you will gain weight, and consume way too few and you may starve.
Aside from not applying to most people, the other problem with Dr. Carlson's thesis is the way it is presented. I don't think it's proper to use the term "genocide" in reference to low fat, low cholesterol diets prescribed by many physicians. The physicians are NOT committing genocide as Carlson claims. "Genocide" is a monstrous, deliberate crime in which some people set out to eradicate some other people. This is not the way to characterize the rise of type II diabetes and obesity that we are experiencing today.
Another problem is that Carlson's style is in the form of a rambling rant. He repeats himself again and again. He goes off on tangents and makes many unsubstantiated claims. There are few footnotes, no index, only a five-title bibliography, no table of contents and numerous deviations from standard English practice. Here's how he begins Chapter Six on calories: "This topic really burns me up. Get it, burns me up...OK, sorry. I couldn't resist."
A pun can be a useful literary device if not overdone. A bad and obvious pun is occasionally excusable, but a bad pun that the author calls our attention to and then apologizes for (twice), is a bit much. Unfortunately this sort of "cute" writing is all too common in this book.
And here's an example of the kind of unfair claim he tosses off without support:
"There's a show out now called, Are You Smarter Than A 5th Grader? For most docs when it comes to understanding math, I mean really basic math, the overwhelming answer will be no." (p. 55)
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
Genocide: How Your Doctor's Dietary Ignorance Will Kill You!!!! Apr 13, 2008
Having been patients of Dr. Carlson for over 10 years, my wife and I are no doubt proof his conclusions are accurate. He breaks the technical medical facts into clear language anyone can understand. Hopefully other doctors will take the time to review the evidence, become enlightened, and provide their patients with the correct dietary advise. As for the proof I spoke of, my wife is diabetic but is not on insulin because of the proper diet. I lost 30 lbs and brought my blood pressure down and came off the blood pressure medication. I have more energy and feel great. If you are over weight, have high blood pressure, have low energy, or a diabetic, you must read this book. Your life depends on it.
1 of 1 found the following review helpful:
sugar is sugar is sugar Apr 09, 2008
Dr. Carlson does a superb job exploiting the perpetual misconceptions of the ever so recommended low fat- low cholesterol diet. The author is so informative in giving the reader the biochemical explanation of the metabolic pathways in regard to the role of the consumption of triglycerides, cholesterol, and carbohydrates. (in laymen's for those not in the medical/scientific community). While I certainly do not claim to be a conspirative theorist, one can not go without questioning the medical community and the drug companies. They are supposed to be there for the greater good; are they not? Why are they keeping this dietary evidence out of the public eye; and continue to give the public incorrect and dangerous information? Big $$$ for them. I have yet to stop conjuring up all these mind-blowing excerpts from this gem from the moment I completed its 303rd page. This is a MUST read for anyone interested in living a healthier lifestyle through their diet. I have MADE 3 people order this book. It quite possibly can be one of the greatest gifts one can give themselves. This is real eye-opening stuff. I can only wish that every Doctor, Dietician, and Nutritionist would read this book and help disband a priori reasoning from their professions....Remember sugar is sugar is sugar.
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