In late 1969, Bernstein’s life changed forever when he came across an advertisement in a trade journal called Lab World. The journal advertised a new blood sugar meter that would give readings in a minute using a single drop of blood. The device was actually intended for nighttime emergency staff at hospitals to use to distinguish between an unconscious diabetic and an unconscious drunkard. The instrument weighed three pounds, cost $650, and was only available to certified physicians and hospitals.  

Dr. Bernstein then began to measure his blood sugar about five times a day. He even adjusted his insulin regimen from one injection a day to two in order to balance his blood sugar levels. He also experimented with his diet by decreasing his intake of carbohydrates. However, three years after he began measuring his own blood sugar levels, his complications were still progressing, so he did some research on the matter. What he found was astonishing: complications from diabetes had repeatedly been prevented, and even reversed, in animals. Not through exercise, but through normalizing blood sugars!

Dr. Bernstein set out to achieve normal blood sugars, and within a year, he had refined his insulin and diet regimen to the point where they were normal around the clock. After years of chronic fatigue and debilitating complications, he felt healthy and energized. His serum cholesterol and triglyceride levels were now in the normal ranges, and friends commented that his complexion was no longer gray.

In 1994, the ADA stated that people with diabetes could eat anything, even sugar itself. "There is no longer a diabetic diet. People with diabetes eat the exact same foods as anyone else," says Nathaniel Clark, national vice president for clinical affairs at the ADA. "We do not believe there is any harm in eating carbohydrates."