Diabesity: The Obesity-Diabetes Epidemic That Threatens America--and What We Must Do to Stop It
Author: Francine Ratner Kaufman MD
Experts now predict that more than one-third of American children born in 2000 will develop diabetes in their lifetime. Written by one of the world’s leading authorities on the link between obesity and diabetes, this passionate, frightening–but ultimately hopeful–book points the way to a solution.
To enter Dr. Francine Kaufman’s clinic is to see the future of America: a 220-pound twelve-year-old boy…a 267-pound thirteen-year-old girl…their concerned but equally overweight parents…the human faces and human suffering behind the epidemic of type 2 diabetes that threatens to overwhelm our health care system. Once a disease of the elderly, type 2 diabetes now strikes adults in their prime–and, increasingly, children. It has nearly doubled in the last decade. The cause? Our soaring rates of obesity.
Diabesity takes us to the front lines of the fight against this preventable but deadly disease. Through vivid patient stories, it explains how excess weight destroys the body’s ability to process sugar properly–with life-threatening consequences. It shows what happens when the genes that evolved to protect us from famine collide with a sedentary lifestyle that has put bacon cheeseburgers on every corner. And it demonstrates why our usual blame-the-victim response is futile in face of the complex, worldwide forces behind this epidemic.
Detailing the tools for change at every level–from families to school systems to government–and reporting on innovative programs that are already making a difference, Diabesity offers a compelling action plan for winning this battle.
Publishers Weekly
Kaufman explains the severity of the obesity/diabetes epidemic this way: "our ancient genes and our modern environment have collided," and so many adults and children are now being diagnosed with the disease that it "imperils human existence as we now know it." The author, who recently served as president of the American Diabetes Association and was instrumental in banning the sale of soda in Los Angeles schools, notes that the sharp increase in the number of diabetics in the U.S. mirrors the increased incidence of obesity (hence the word "diabesity," first used by health journalists in the late 1990s). Her first-rate, important book discusses the diagnosis of diabetes and its subsequent sequelae, the world history of both diabetes and obesity, and, most importantly, what must be done to fix the problem. Not so much a how-to for patients as a call to arms for policy makers and those in the health-care industry, the book intersperses riveting case studies that serve to accentuate the importance of "creating a new normal" mode of behavior in American culture-one that includes eating intelligently and exercising diligently. Kaufman has taken on a difficult topic, but her text is easy to understand and will be useful to many. Agent, Adam Chromy. (Mar.) Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
Library Journal
Fueled by the increased incidence of obesity in the American population, diabetes has become the sixth leading cause of death in the United States. Hence, experts have begun to link the two as a single problem of "diabesity," especially in children. A pediatric endocrinologist and former president of the American Diabetes Association, Kaufman has written an enlightening text on this epidemic and its impact on the individual, family, and society. She explains how obesity triggers diabetes, the devastating long-term effects on the human body, and what means of prevention and treatment are available. She also relates the history of diabetes as it has evolved with changes in culture and lifestyle and explains what can be done through education and healthcare systems to improve individuals' health. Kaufman's sympathetic, nonjudgmental accounts of her patients highlight the many factors contributing to the problem, and her compassion and dedication shine through. This engrossing volume is recommended for all consumer health collections. [See Prepub Alert, LJ 7/04.]-Janet M. Schneider, James A. Haley Veterans' Hosp., Tampa Copyright 2005 Reed Business Information.
See also: Man Who Saw the Future or Accounting for Growth
Riding the Windhorse: Manic-Depressive Disorder and the Quest for Wholeness
Author: Robert S Corrington
In this account of his struggles with manic-depressive disorder, distinguished philosopher Robert S. Corrington, creator of the school of ecstatic naturalism, presents a compelling argument for rethinking the nature of this malady. Having inherited the disorder from his mother, a gifted actress, who struggled with her own form of it until her death, he early on developed crucial survival strategies that he here recommends to other sufferers. In this study Professor Corrington details the latest medical, psychological, and spiritual thinking about bipolar disease; a disorder characterized by extreme mood swings and that is responsible for many untimely deaths each year. However, manic-depression is also found in almost all forms of genius and Professor Corrington presents two detailed case studies showing this correlation, that of the English scientist Sir Isaac Newton and the Indian mystic Sri Ramakrishna. The book represents one person's eventual triumph over a potentially crippling disease and shows that creativity and the quest for wholeness can support the erratic flight of the windhorse of manic-depression.
Table of Contents:
| Preface | ||
| Acknowledgments | ||
| 1 | A Life's Journey and Dreamscape | 1 |
| A | A Life's Journey | 8 |
| B | A Dreamscape | 40 |
| 2 | Body and Soul - Medical and Psychological Vistas | 55 |
| A | Medical Vistas | 58 |
| B | Psychological Vistas | 82 |
| 3 | Creativity and Genius in Manic-Depression | 103 |
| A | Creativity as Manifest in: Products, Processes, and Communities | 104 |
| B | Genius and the Not Yet | 111 |
| C | Two Case Studies of Manic-Depressive Genius: Newton and Sri Ramakrishna | 127 |
| c.a | Isaac Newton: Cosmology and Divinization | 129 |
| c.b | Sri Ramakrishna: Divine Energy | 149 |
| 4 | Intimations of Wholeness | 167 |
| A | Spirituality, Sacred Folds, and Intervals | 172 |
| B | Creative Distancing and Communal Testing | 177 |
| C | Individuation and the Spirits | 183 |
| App | My Passage from Panentheism to Pantheism | 193 |
| Endnotes | 217 | |
| Bibliography | 231 | |
| Index - Names | 238 | |
| Index - Subject | 241 |
No comments:
Post a Comment