Book Report: Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit And The Simple Way To Beat It by Jeff O'Connell

 This book is one that I am revisiting. I checked this book out from the library and read 2/3rds the way through it when I was 19. The information presented made so much of an impact on me that I quit eating sugar for 9 months. In the recent months I have been feeling the need to reform my diet. I know I have been over doing my carb intake. I thought it would be a good time to re-read Sugar Nation, and I was hoping it would have the same effect on me now, that it did 9 years ago. Of course, back then I had the determination of youth, a very gullible disposition, and a quite obsessive personality.  

Maybe some of that is still true today.......

Anyway,

I have just finished reading Sugar Nation: The Hidden Truth Behind America's Deadliest Habit and the Simple Way to Beat It by Jeff O'Connell. This is a book about diabetes. The author was diagnosed with prediabetes. His doctor offered him very little advice. Because Jeff O'Connell wanted to take care of his body and live a full, vibrant life he did his own research. He interviewed doctors, read books, analyzed studies, sorted through clinical reports, and did his own experiment on himself. He was able to find the cure for his condition through lifestyle changes.

Jeff O'Connell uses his own story as the background on which he draws the complex picture of diabetes development, diagnosis and care in the American medical system. When he talks about what diabetes does to the body you are left with a vivid impression and a feeling of urgency to take action before you loose your own health. 

The parts of the book that discussed the mindset of the medical institution were very motivational to me this time reading the book. A doctor can not make you take care of yourself. Doctors are primarily trained to prescribe medicine not nutrition. Once you are taking a prescription you very seldom with get off of it. I have had this experience. Reading Sugar Nation opened my eyes, anew, to the fact that I must do something to cure my condition and ditch my prescription.

There are a lot of studies referenced in this book. Parts of it are a little weighty if you find that sort of thing boring. Some of the events in his life seem a little shoehorned into the book, but I think they were supposed to break up the monotony that can come with statistics. Overall, I enjoyed this book and found it interesting. It is not too long; 265 pages excluding acknowledgements and notes. It discusses the seriousness of taking care of you health and also convinces you that you can succeed.