Rating: 
Summary: Losing 25 pounds should have been harder
Review: The importance of optimum health is far surpassed by the premise of this book. It should be called the book of optimum health because that is what I now enjoy with everyday of my life. Thank you Jennie Brand-Miller you've changed my physical life in a way that is stunning and miraculous. I've had dates and for me that is amazing. To be honest I haven't had one in over a year. I could go on and on about how this book has affected my life, but prove it to yourself. You can lose the weight, but you may have to admit to yourself that you need professional help. That's what I did and I'm changed for it forever. Similarly I picked up a book about self-knowledge through life changing growth. It has only been out for a few months but is rapidly inspiring people worldwide. The name of it is Dreams gateway to the true self. None in either of their respective genres have impacted me like these two books.
Rating: 
Summary: environmental sociologist reports on the book
Review: The New Glucose Revolution is really two well-written books intertwined into one. The first aspect of the book, and the one that I found extremely useful, was the information on the glycemic index of different foods. The glycemic index is a deeper understanding of carbohydrate quality over the prior notions of "simple" versus "complex" carbs. The comparison of GI values for different foods is completely listed in tables in the back of the book, but comes through a lot better in the discussions of diets and dietary changes. It the recommended dietary changes -- and development of a GI-based diet -- that form the bulk of the book. The authors emphasize that the GI can be used in a wide range of diets to replace "bad" carbs with "good" ones, an approach that is quite reasonable and flexible. But the diet they emphasize the most is lower in protein than many others, including the Zone diet, which can be viewed as a high protein version of this diet. Individuals will need to figure out on their own protein needs (I lift weights and maintain a fair amount of muscle mass, so my protein intake is much higher than the authors recommend.) The authors minimize the impact of sugar on diabetes, obesity and heart disease, since sugar is only a moderate-GI food. One aspect of the book that is somewhat unclear, though, is the role high-fructose corn syrup, used extensively in sodas in the United States and most other sweetened foods. The authors cite high-fructose corn syrup as a high-GI food, but don't do so for the things that contain it. Moreover, as the authors mention, fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup in particular, is processed directly in the liver, where it happens that triglycerides form. The direct role of high-fructose corn syrup in raising triglycerides is well-understood, so this seems to be an area of the GI that needs further research. The authors also discuss how fats, like carbs, differ in quality. They cover which fats to avoid and which to add to ones diet, but it was not in the scope of this book to quantify fat quality as they did crab quality. The GI approach to eating (and providing energy for exercise) is a well reasoned, flexible, balanced approach to nutrition and health. This book is highly recommended, particularly to those individuals that Atkins-like diets have left depleted of muscle mass and the energy to exercise or do anything cognitively taxing.
Rating:
Summary: The GI is an information gold mine
Review: The New Glucose Revolution is really two well-written books intertwined into one. The first aspect of the book, and the one that I found extremely useful, was the information on the glycemic index of different foods. The glycemic index is a deeper understanding of carbohydrate quality over the prior notions of "simple" versus "complex" carbs. The comparison of GI values for different foods is completely listed in tables in the back of the book, but comes through a lot better in the discussions of diets and dietary changes. It the recommended dietary changes -- and development of a GI-based diet -- that form the bulk of the book. The authors emphasize that the GI can be used in a wide range of diets to replace "bad" carbs with "good" ones, an approach that is quite reasonable and flexible. But the diet they emphasize the most is lower in protein than many others, including the Zone diet, which can be viewed as a high protein version of this diet. Individuals will need to figure out on their own protein needs (I lift weights and maintain a fair amount of muscle mass, so my protein intake is much higher than the authors recommend.) The authors minimize the impact of sugar on diabetes, obesity and heart disease, since sugar is only a moderate-GI food. One aspect of the book that is somewhat unclear, though, is the role high-fructose corn syrup, used extensively in sodas in the United States and most other sweetened foods. The authors cite high-fructose corn syrup as a high-GI food, but don't do so for the things that contain it. Moreover, as the authors mention, fructose, and high-fructose corn syrup in particular, is processed directly in the liver, where it happens that triglycerides form. The direct role of high-fructose corn syrup in raising triglycerides is well-understood, so this seems to be an area of the GI that needs further research. The authors also discuss how fats, like carbs, differ in quality. They cover which fats to avoid and which to add to ones diet, but it was not in the scope of this book to quantify fat quality as they did crab quality. The GI approach to eating (and providing energy for exercise) is a well reasoned, flexible, balanced approach to nutrition and health. This book is highly recommended, particularly to those individuals that Atkins-like diets have left depleted of muscle mass and the energy to exercise or do anything cognitively taxing.
Rating: 
Summary: It's YOUR Quality of Life!
Review: This book about Lifelong Helath is a very important and helpful piece of work, and it will definitely have a positive impact on your life expectancy. But if you are really about to buy a book like this, I would like to suggest a special treat for yourself, and advise you to check out Clint Arthur's "9 Free Secrets of New Sensual Power" in which you will learn a more avante garde approach to improving your health through maximizing your sexual satisfaction and mastery of ecstasy. You know how awesome you feel when you really "connect" with your significant other; you walk taller, you have more spring in your step, you even look and FEEL better. This book taught me how to have THAT at my disposal ALL THE TIME. The New Glucose Revolution is like eating a big plate of steamed spinach; Clint's "9 Free Secrets..." is like a big slice of apple pie a la mode for your soul.Don't take my word for it. It's YOUR LIFE!
Rating:
Summary: Better than the original edition
Review: This book has had one BIG use since its first edition: the introduction of the concept of Glycemic Index (G.I.) which makes it clear that not all carbs are created equal. The G.I. measures how fast the carbs in a food get translated into glucose (which travels in the blood). As most diabetics should know (I am one of them -Type 2, since October 2002), violent blood sugar rises is something that most people (athletes excepted, ocassionally, perhaps) should avoid. This is where this book's meat and bone truly lies: the presentation of this concept plus very useful tables (a ton of pages of them!) of G.I.'s of most foods, which should come in handy when choosing what to pick in the grocery store or the restaurant. On the flip side, there are some VERY conflicting views presented in the book: "the most important message is that the diet should be low in fat and high in carbohydrates." (quote from page 55). This thought disturbed me, after a year of successfully applying a low-carb lifestyle. With the new edition the above approach was not changed, but rather a new concept was introduced: that of the Glycemic Load. Think of it as a sort of weighted average that combines the quantitative (amount) component of carbs with the measure of the glycemic index (more on the qualitative end), yielding a net measure that should be a better indicator of how healthy a particular food is for you. It's too soon to say whether this Glycemic Load concept has any positive effects at all, but it makes perfect sense. To err on the safe side, I will give the book 4 stars: improved if you compare it with the original edition, but too soon to know whether it will work or not.
Rating:
Summary: Informative
Review: This book is more than a diet book, it is a complete guide to better nutrition. Yes, it will help you in your quest to lose weight but even better it will guide you in developing a more eating-right-for-a-lifetime diet. The book is easily read and followed, a terrific pathway to better health.
Beverly J Scott
Rating:
Summary: Very Informative, A Valuable Reference
Review: This book is very well written, and contains a great deal of useful information. It truly provides the background needed to understand the Glycemic Index well.I am also disturbed by someof the conflicting messages. The authors seem to bend over backwards to encourage people to eat plenty of starchy carbohydrates, i.e. still eat many servings of breads and grains/cereals every day. There is no explanation given for why someone should continue to eat many servings of breads/cereals/grains rather than getting more of their carbohydrates from veggies, fruits, legumes and dairy - all lower GI foods. There seem to be some unfounded reasons stated for why people should avoid lower carb, low fat, lean protein diets such as "The Zone" - the book states that you might find yourself yearning for high-GI foods like bread and potatoes. Huh? I get the impression that the authors are worried that people, like Atkins dieters, will use this book as an excuse to avoid carbohydrates altogether. They also seem to be concerned that if people reduce the carbs in their diet, they will be increasing their fat instead, and that that is a "bad thing". They do point out that the long term results from high protein and/or high fat diets are not yet known. These diets are not as well studied as a low-fat high-carbohydrate diets are.Regardless of some of these undercurrents, I am finding the book very useful in adapting my diet to take advantage of low-GI carbohydrates. I now understand the roles that different foods play in the diet, and how the processing of carbs affect their GI.
Rating:
Summary: Works and Makes Sense--If You Read the Details
Review: This is an excellent book for learning how to eat in such a way that you naturally move towards your optimal weight, and do so without hunger if you're overweight and need to lose. A few of the previous reviewers apparently skimmed through the book and/or missed many of the qualifying details provided in the book about foods. Potatoes indeed have a high GI value: the bigger and older the potato the higher the value. So those small young red potatoes have a lower GI value than those big white Idahos most of us eat. Also, the authors stress that the goal of this approach is not to condemn all "high GI" foods and avoid them like the plague; the goal is to learn how to balance them out with sufficient low GI foods that you don't provoke the classical insulin spike associated with high GI foods. And the approach is not a "high carbohydrate diet." The GI values specifically measure carbohydrates and their different effects--as measured in the lab-- on insulin response. Meats, fish and dairy are pretty much "no GI" foods (as are a large number of vegetables by the way), and the authors encourage us to eat them abundantly (but to tilt towards the lean side of the meats and to still make sure we don't overeat). The main idea with meats, cheeses and other high protein foods is that they are "calorically dense" and that you can easily overeat them, the more fat they contain the easier. This is not a "plug and chug" kind of a dietary approach. The authors expect their readers to be reasonably intelligent and mentally hard working in devloping their individual eating plans. The GI values were not simply "invented" because they sounded good in theory. They were discovered as a result of extensive experimentation with human subjects and extensive post-eating blood draws. If you want a brain-dead approach that will simply tell you "this food is good, this food is bad" or that will tell you "today is Tuesday, this is what you can have for lunch" than this book is not for you. You are going to have to exercise your brain cells as well as your fork and your cardiovascular system (exercise is strongly encouraged) if you are going to get anything out of this approach. In the very few weeks I've used this approach I've already lost 13 pounds with no discomfort whatsoever and a fair amount of "cheating" (actually there is no cheating in this approach. If you pig out on a particular food at one time you simply adjust your eating plan accordingly for the next day or so and proceed. Forget the guilt). If you want to take it slow and easy, just remember to throw in some veggies with every meal, and try to have a low GI fruit with every meal as well (and horrors!! another contradiction!! Bananas are both "good" and "bad." Young bananas that are still very slightly green have a tested low GI value; older bananas with a lot of black spots on them have developed their sugars and now have a high GI value. Focus on eating slightly green bananas and forget the paranoia about them). The whole process is about learning which foods have low GI values and which foods have high GI values, and of thowing in some low GI foods whenever it seems appropriate and convenient, remembering that meats, poultry, fish and dairy are essentially "no GI" foods and including them in their lean incarnations as much as possible.
Rating:
Summary: 9 Secrets..........? What the heck?
Review: What the heck does that have to do with what the "Glucose Revolution" is about? What a joke!
I found the book to be a good repreive from the Atkins pundits. Atkins seems to link all carbs into two major categories with very little real evidence as to how it effects the insulin levels. Not all carbs are equal and can't be lumped into two simple divisions. Raw carrots do not equal cooked. "....Revolution" has some real answers.
I know people that have lost "10 pounds a week" on Atkins plan without stepping back and examining what that "weight" actually is. Let's do the math. sparing all the physiological details: 3500 calories per pound of body fat times 10lbs, equals about six days of running at ten hours each! (35,000/10 calories per minute/60 = 58 hours of running) Where does the weight come from? Not likely to be fat lose with Atkins plan!
Better to get advice from sources that have the numbers from sound science.
Rating: 
Summary: contradicts itself all over the place
Review: Why can't they put this into simple language. If you are a doctor or dietician, this might be understandable, but to the regular person, this is just plain boring. There must be another more easily understood book on the subject out there.
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