The Diabetes Miracle: 3 Simple Steps to Prevent and Control Diabetes and Regain Your Health . . . Permanently

"The Diabetes Miracle" is such a fabulous book that it deserved my first book review ever. It is not just for diabetics, but for anyone overweight who wants to become more healthy. It changed many of my longstanding beliefs that eating lots of whole grain foods and avoiding fats was healthy. That's backwards. As a retired engineer I was able to confirm via blood tests virtually everything Diane Kress has written about the bad effects of carbohydrates on blood sugar, the existence of the liver's glycogen cycle and the necessity of eating at least one "carb serving" every 4 hours or less. No doctor has ever told me to eat before bed for a fasting blood test in the morning, yet that was just the first of the revelations in this book.It was a non 8-hour fast that falsely indicated a severe prediabetic condition for myself and got me started on an aggressive 1200 calorie diet, on which I lost 2 pounds a week for ten weeks. Then I discovered her book, began timing my meals, restricting carbohydrates and increasing the fiber/protein/vegetable fats in my diet, as she advises. I lost more like 3 pounds a week on the same caloric input. Blood sugar levels became almost flat with a little exercise an hour or so after eating meals with overall fiber grams equal to about 25% of carbohydrate grams. That is an improvement on the 2 grams fiber out of 11-20 grams of carbohydrate that she advises. I am now eating breakfast, brunch, late lunch, dinner, late dessert and bedtime snack while continuing to lose weight and feel great. One thing I found - and something she does not mention - is that under such aggressive dieting the liver glycogen cycles become shorter to the point where I could no longer fast (or sleep or delay eating breakfast) for longer than 7 hours overnight before my liver began its second overnight increase of my blood sugar levels. I had been able to sleep for up to 9 hours before I began restricting carbohydrates. I was "forced" to raise calories to above 1500 per day to get back to being able to fast for eight hours overnight. Her book does not mention calories much at all - just to eat high fiber foods from a list she provides until feeling full. I could have used some guidance on recommended caloric input when hunger no longer exists as motivation. I also found that some of the snacks suggested to reset the liver glycogen clock, such as a cup of strawberries or half a banana actually had inadequate carbohydrate grams to do the job under aggressive dieting. An orange or apple or whole banana has always worked, however.Another thing she writes is that some blood pressure medications increase blood sugar levels. That was dramatic in my case. Elimination of a diuretic as my blood pressure fell, caused my blood sugar levels to drop 10-15% over a week as my blood pressure climbed a similar amount, while remaining acceptable. Suddenly my fasting blood sugar was 15% below the threshold for prediabetes she mentions, after being marginal for weeks. Simultaneously I appeared to stop losing 3 three pounds a week for a week, apparently retaining about 3 pounds of water and simply diluting my blood and blood sugar concentration by 15%. I am not impressed with any medical approach that prescribes a diuretic to reduce blood pressure at the expense of increasing blood sugar concentrations and vice-verso. Both conditions are bad. Nor am I impressed with any blood sugar level indicators that fail to account for blood dilution or lack thereof in determining whether or not one has prediabetes or diabetes.I am very impressed with her book, however. It is full of assertions, that I feel I have proven to be correct, that everyone should learn for the good of their health. I recommend it to everyone who remarks about my dramatic weight loss, that I now know how to attain and maintain.Twelve Month Update 2/2013: Twelve months after being pronounced prediabetic and having an A1c of 6.5% - actually in the diabetic range - I have now had two completely normal six month blood test checkups with A1c tests of of 5.6% and 5.5%, including normal LDL, HDL and triglycerides. I have not taken cholesterol/triglyceride medications for seven months; I no longer need to test my blood sugar; I have lost about 70 pounds and have maintained that weight for three months now. My weight and BMI is now within the "normal" range. I wear medium shirts instead of XL. I owe it all to Diane Kress's advice in this book. While I never did her Phase 1 diet because I discovered her book only after already starving to lose significant weight, out of fear of diabetes, I continue to largely follow her Phase 2 diet. I still eat six times a day with each meal containing about 15 net grams of carbohydrates, supplemented with greater calories from healthy fats and proteins. While I have given up milk, juices, cereals, potato, pasta, rice, pastries and most bread, I do not feel hungry or deprived in any way. I have increased consumption of vegetables, greens, nuts, seeds, yogurt, lean meats, eggs, low carb wraps & pitas, bananas, berries, apples, olives, butter and soft cheeses. I have learned that if one does the exact opposite of those decades of USDA high carb/low fat diet recommendations, one will be healthy. Thank you Diane Kress!

As a type 2 diabetic since 2004, I was thrilled to come across The Diabetes Miracle, by Diane Kress.In May 2011, I started with Diane Kress' first book, The Metabolism Miracle and successfully was able to lose over 30 pounds of FAT and eliminate all medication for diabetes, high cholesterol and high blood pressure.The Diabetes Miracle contains the core lifestyle of The Metabolism Miracle with much needed, simple explanations of type 2 diabetes. I learned all sorts of stuff I never knew. For example, the difference between your BS numbers when you wake-up vs. 2 hours after a meal. Also, when the best time to exercise is as that will affect your numbers as well. I even start testing my BS on a regular basis because of the information in her book as I never did and just relied on my A1C.My life will never be the same and the same goes with my family. As I was adopted, I had not known any of my medical history. Now, I can pass this lifestyle on to my children so that they will never become pre-diabetic or type 2. As my husband is also Met. B, he has been able to keep from becoming pre-diabetic by following Diane's plan as well.As someone who has also suffered from depression, I know how discouraging life can get. es[ecially when you are following a diet and still gaining weight. If you can do one good thing for yourself, please do pick up Diane's book. It will literally change your life for the better. Yes, I have type 2, but I won't allow it to control me as I now have the tools to stay at a healthy weight and to be able to keep my blood sugar under great control without medication.Lots of people/programs are out there to make a quick dollar and don't care if what they are saying is potentially dangerous to your health. Not Diane Kress. Her program is tried and true and she stands 200% behind it. Her support site, [...] is a great place where you have direct access to her and she is on all the time answering our questions.

I was diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes 2 years ago after one elevated A1C. My readings since have been in the prediabetes range and I have struggled to lose weight and get the numbers down. (Metformin caused an almost immediate 10 lb weight gain & spiked my sugars to nearly 130 ... so I quit taking it). So I ordered this book and just started the program on Monday ... 5 days ago. My blood sugar readings have gone steadily down and today, for the first time in 2 years, my fasting reading was 99 and I've lost 3.2 lbs! If I could meet Diane Kress in person, I'd give her the biggest hug. She has changed my life.I've met with 3-4 dieticians over the years and was always told to eat 45 g of carbs with eat meal and 15 with each snack. It never felt right to me and it never changed my weight or blood sugar readings. I instinctively felt that this was bad information. Her approach has made so much sense to me and it is the only plan that has actually worked for me.Is it hard to give up some things? Yes. It is. But after you get through those first few days, and then especially when you SEE results, it is so encouraging. Phase One is only 8 weeks. I could stand on my head for 8 weeks if I had to!Her plan is easy to understand and easy to implement.Best of all -- I feel so good!I've watched diabetes ravage my parents physically, mentally, and financially. I value my health so much more than a box of candy.No regrets with this purchase, and I've been telling family and friends all over the place to buy this book.

You cannot view the tracking files while on the kindle. Resizing doesn't help much and rotating the worksheets just rotates them so that you can't easily read them. I ended up having to buy the book as it was cheaper than joining her site. The book itself is very informative, but the issues with the kindle version was just plain silly.

Very informative.

I bought this book alongside The Scandinavian Diet. It's another excellent book in regard to Diabetes and dietary requirements. The advice flies in the face of current NHS dietary advice, and many diabetics are finding the Low Carb High Fat type of eating suits them, their metabolism AND their Blood Sugar levels a lot more than the recommended NHS diet of 'eat carbs with every meal and come back in 3 months'. I've discovered through my own trial and error that it's the damned carbs that were killing me and living without them is NOT a problem and in fact, I'm NOT hungry at all if I follow the Low Carb High Protein and Fat type of diet. Definitely worth a read.

An excellent book for newly diagnosed diabetics. Easy to understand and health issues I have been experiencing for some time just fell into place. I am following the low carb diet as recommended and so far have lost 16 pounds in 9 weeks. I can't praise it enough.

Best help for people with diabetes. I've been 3 weeks on step 1 now and it WORKS! My blood sugar is much better than it was. I hope, I am sure, it will improve more and more. I can see a big difference in how I feel.

This book makes very interesting reading with many tips on preparing meals. I have always thought carbohydrates play a much bigger part than the medical profession suggest. I would wholeheartedly recommend this book to all type 2 diabetics.