Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It

by Jeff O'Connell

Overview

THIS BOOK COULD SAVE YOUR LIFE

Every five seconds, one more person develops diabetes.
Worldwide, 285 million people are affected by type 2 diabetes.
Many of them have no idea.

Here is the personal story of one man who has unearthed the mysteries of this global epidemic and offers hard-won practical advice for how readers can take control of their lives and combat this deadly disease.

"Sugar Nation is a must-read! As a fitness expert myself, who has dealt with family diabetes and coaching families on how to limit their sugar intake, this book is a fundamental tool in educating the world on just how dangerous dietary sugar can be. Jeff O'Connell's direct yet user-friendly approach to this important and overlooked subject is more than refreshing. All will benefit from picking this book up." -- Jennifer Nicole Lee, author of The Jennifer Nicole Lee Fitness Model Diet

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781401396572
Publisher:	Hachette Books
Publication date:	07/19/2011
Sold by:	Hachette Digital, Inc.
Format:	eBook
Pages:	288
File size:	1 MB
Age Range:	18 Years

About the Author

Jeff O'Connell is editorial director and publisher at Bodybuilding.com, part of Liberty Media Corporation. He was formerly editor-in-chief at Muscle & Fitness and executive writer at Men's Health, where he remains a contributing editor. His feature writing has been cited in both the Best American Sports Writing and Best American Science and Nature Writing anthologies. He has coauthored four books, including Mario Lopez's Knockout Fitness and LL Cool J's Platinum Workout, which became a New York Times bestseller.

Editorial Reviews

Journalist, editor in chief of Bodybuilding.com, and fitness buff O'Connell was shocked to learn of his prediabetes diagnosis in 2006. Knowing that his father had lost a leg to diabetes, O'Connell set out to learn what research has shown as medical best practices and why diabetes is at epidemic proportions in the United States. He warns that doctors do not do enough to prepare and support patients for necessary lifestyle changes and are too quick to simply prescribe drugs. Nutrition, and especially the sugar that permeates the American diet, is targeted as the primary culprit in chronic diseases such as diabetes, heart and kidney disease, and stroke. McConnell weaves information from medical experts and clinical research studies into his story of personal challenges and his journey to better health. VERDICT An engrossing, well-written narrative that has major relevance to all consumers. O'Connell questions many established guidelines and bases his own logical assertions on research. A thought-provoking title; highly recommended for all consumer-health collections.—Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans Hosp., Tampa

Library Journal

"[S]ugar has enslaved us," writes health journalist O'Connell. "As a result, America's most preventable disease, type-2 diabetes, has taken over."

When the author discovered that he was pre-diabetic in the fall of 2006, he was stunned. However, he knew that had no desire to become like his father, whose own untreated case of diabetes had led to a leg amputation and a "torturous demise." Though lean and physically fit, O'Connell quickly realized that he was eating and drinkingan over-abundance of sugars and their carbohydrate kin, found in fast foods and, less obviously, "healthy" ones like yogurt, pasta, Gatorade and whole wheat bread.The author's timely and readable account of his four-year personal journey to recovery explores diabetes as a metabolic, endocrine and vascular disorder. Through exhaustive research, O'Connell unveils the ignorance and misinformation clouding this complex disease. Processed foods along with high-stress lifestyles, he writes, have created the conditions for diabetes—even among those not otherwise prone to it. Not one to shy away from controversy, the author highlights the disturbingly close and collusive relationship among health-care professionals, the American Diabetes Association (ADA) and drug manufacturers, illustrating how no-nonsense, drug-free approaches to combating the disease have taken a back seat to money-making concerns. Most importantly, O'Connell offers practical suggestions for disease management, including the diet and fitness strategies that helped him regain control of his own life.

Excellent reading for diabetics and anyone interested in understanding and/or managing diabetes.

Kirkus Reviews