Diet books are a tricky genre. Customers can sometimes be fickle or impatient. I have several diet books on the shelf in the health section claiming that if you read them you may “lose 10 pounds in 10 days!” or that they can “make you hot.” Discerning which diet books possess the potential to become staples in the genre or become another of-the-moment fad book is not always the easiest task.

I had a customer call the other day and ask for help selecting a health-related book for a book club, preferably a recent book that had been selling well. As I racked my brain for books that fit this criteria, it didn’t take me long to come up with a suggestion.

The Blood Sugar Solution by Mark Hyman, MD, touts itself as “the ultrahealthy program for losing weight, preventing disease, and feeling great now!” In the beginning of the book, Dr. Hyman introduces the term “diabesity,” which he explains is the combination of “our current global epidemic of obesity and type 2 diabetes.” If you are at risk for “diabesity” or just want to get your blood sugar under control (even if you are not overweight or feel like a reasonably healthy individual, your blood sugar levels may be much higher than you think), this is the book for you.

I especially enjoyed and could relate to the chapter “How Big Food, Big Farming, and Big Pharma Are Killing Us.” Processed foods are a body’s number one enemy when it comes to health and weight. By making junk or processed foods cheap and widely available, the food industry, government and pharmacy companies are preventing Americans from leading healthy, productive lives.

It’s not a coincidence that the poorest states, such as Mississippi, in our country are also the fattest. Poverty makes it impossible to make the best food choices, and poverty rates are higher than they have been in a generation. Not only are healthier foods almost always more expensive, they are often not available in poorer neighborhoods. This combination of factors is a direct link to obesity and diabetes.

The Blood Sugar Solution  has been on USA Today’s Best Selling Books list since its debut in March for good reason. Hyman presents a sensible and manageable plan for lowering your blood sugar and getting back your health.

by Anna

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