Dr. Osama Hamdy

If you get the diagnosis of diabetes or prediabetes, this message from the book editor is for you

 

"You have type 2 diabetes." Some 2 million Americans each year receive the life-altering diagnosis, linked to poor diet, lack of exercise and excess weight.
Uncontrolled diabetes can lead to extraordinary complications—heart disease, stroke, kidney failure, nerve damage, vision loss, and hypertension. But according to Osama Hamdy, MD, PhD, assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School and the medical director of the Obesity Clinical Program at the Joslin Diabetes Center, type 2 diabetes doesn’t have to end up that way. You can halt its progress—and even prevent it.

The Diabetes Breakthrough transforms Joslin’s clinic-based Why WAIT™ weight loss program into an easy-to-follow, at-home guide for anyone diagnosed with or at risk of developing the disease. Dr. Hamdy, the Why WAIT founder, and his Why WAIT team-leaders Ann Goebel-Fabbri, PhD, Gillian Arathuzik, RD, Jacqueline Shahar, RCEP teams up with exercise physiologist Sheri R. Colberg, PhD, to offer a step-by-step approach to changing eating habits, slimming down, building fitness and overcoming psychological barriers—in just 12 weeks. 

 

Why WAIT is the only medical program to show lasting weight loss for people with diabetes. Over 500 patients with diabetes completed the Joslin Why WAIT program since 2005. Participants have kept an average of 6.4 percent of body weight off for five years, and more than 50 percent have kept 9 percent off afer 5 years.

 

By the program’s 12 week mark, patients cut their medications by 50-60 percent (and in some cases, stopped taking them altogether), resulting in a ~$560 average annual savings—not to mention the health benefits of fewer drugs, side effects and risks of interactions. Here, for the first time, is a comprehensive, practical strategy for losing weight and keeping blood glucose levels in check. By making wellness and a long, healthy life possible for all diabetes and prediabetes patients, Drs. Hamdy and Colberg have not only achieved a breakthrough—they’ve launched a revolution. Breaking Through

Why WAIT patients saw:
• An average 24 pound weight loss after 12 weeks.
• An average 3.7 inch loss of diabetes-provoking belly fat.
• An 85 percent success rate sticking with their fitness plans.
• An 82 percent success rate reaching blood glucose goals and improving blood
pressure, cholesterol levels and liver and kidney function.
• A 21 percent success rate in stopping insulin completely; the rest cut their doses
by 50 percent or more.
• An annual savings of 27 percent in overall health costs and 44 percent in the diabetes-related costs