Diabetes Books

(My full review originally appeared at http://www.diabetesmine.com/2008/05/lawn-care-guy-spreads-joy-of-diabetes.html)

Sometimes delightful, inspiring things come from the most unlikely of sources...

I saw that bright green cover on the Internet, and had no idea what to expect from a book like this, from the founder of TLC - Total Lawn Care, no less. Was it a comic book? Or some kind of glorified "improve yourself" pamphlet? It turned out to be a little bit of both, but with a straight-talkin' narrator who has walked in our shoes, and offers some very pragmatic diabetes management advice.

It's only 95 pages in large, eye-friendly print, so it won't take you but an afternoon to read through. And it's just chock-full of quotable gems, like these:

In the beginning, after being diagnosed, many people are afraid of their own shadow. That's understandable. Once you figure this thing out, you can do and achieve as much as anyone else. You just need to realize your needs and plan for them.

(He suggests always having Plan A in place -- you must always be thinking about where you are right now and where you will be throughout the day -- along with a Plan B for backup: a roll of LifeSavers or a Glucagon kit. Plan C is wearing medical ID, and/or simply having someone around you who knows what to do.)

Life is a balance. When you stay in the middle ABE (Bob's nickname for di-ABE-etes) is fine. Get out of balance and he will remind you of his presence...

Bob mixes motivational stories about his own adventures cross-country cycling, scuba diving, bungee jumping, and water and snow skiing with practical tips on the duration of insulin action and recording your meal and BG results -- all in a way that makes for a quick and fun read.

He even pulls off the chapters on Believing in God, Helping Others, and Abstaining from Alcohol without sounding self-righteous or preachy. Quite a feat. (Not that I'm giving up my wine, mind you)

I'm sure there are other diabetics who achieve more than I have ever dreamed of, he writes. I am also sure there are hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of diabetics who are steadily declining and losing their health and mobility. It doesn't have to happen to you, and I believe it all starts in your mind. Your mindset and approach are everything.

This little book, with the seemingly contradictory title, turns out to be one of my very favorite books ever written on diabetes. Highly recommended for your older child or teenager with diabetes, too.

You know how challenging it is to live with diabetes. Those days when it seems nothing is going right. You can't control your blood sugars, then you get a bleeder when changing an infusion set and your meter runs out of batteries at the worst possible time. The countless times when the possibility of complications weigh heavily on our hearts.

You get the picture, you know the story. It's hard to see any positives to diabetes, but they do exist.

Despite diabetes I've been able to do pretty much anything I want. And diabetes has led me to things I wouldn't have done without it. So I see joy is some aspects of diabetes. And it seems I'm not the only one.

I got a copy of Bob Hawkinson's excellent book The Joy of Diabetes, and I've read it twice. I plan to try and do this every other month.

Bob's message is simple but important. Diabetes is serious, but if you take care of it properly then you can have joy in your life despite the big D. His book is also a great high-level overview of type 1 diabetes, outlining what's important without drowning the reader in details. Excellent reading for diabetes newbies.

His book starts six points for a 'Life of Joy'

1. Accept the disease
2. Understand the disease, as much as possible
3. Manage diabetes
4. Be there for folks who need you
5. Remember to laugh at myself from time to time
6. Relax and take charge of my life

For me, this was a quick read. It helped me focus on some important points. I especially liked the idea of ensuring that I will be there for others. The best way to do this is to take charge of my diabetes.

I like the colorful drawings and I especially liked the slightly larger type face. Some might think this makes it more like a children's book - it's certainly approachable enough to be read by teenagers. But this choice of font makes it easy to read and is probably even better for folks who may be struggling with eye problems.

This may not be for everyone, but I see the book as a great addition to the toolkit I use for living with diabetes. Joyfully.

A very interesting, well-written, informative, practical book. I appreciate the way the information was presented to the reader.

One of the first things I noticed about this book is that is it is printed in large type. Just the thing for a diabetic whose sight has been affected by the disease! And uncontrolled diabetes does cause many things to go wrong with one's body. Doctors seem to offer some help, but not nearly as much as a diabetic needs. It is networking with other people similarly afflicted and guidance from a dietician who has specific knowledge of diabetes requirements that most help the patients regain control over their lives. Inside these covers are personal testimonies of fourteen diabetics. Some are written in a factual way, others with a flair for comedy. We learn that what works for one person might not work for another, so their coping tactics are not all alike. Most agree, however, that diet and exercise are vital elements of success. After the fourteen people have spoken, we are told of changes some have experienced since their pages were written. Best of all is the Appendix. This contains valuable nutritional information, description of effective exercises, and resources that will continue to educate. I would highly recommend this book to anyone who is newly diagnosed or who has had little success with traditional medical treatments.

I've had diabetes for close to 15 years, but I read explanations in this book that answered questions my physician hadn't made clear in all that time.

The information in the book was very helpful to me. I am 61 years old and have pre-diabetes. I need information on carbohydrates and foods that have a high glycemic index. This book is all I need to point me in the right direction for healthy eating.

Being a diabetic and having a younger husband; this book was very informative for us both.

Thank you.

Very good resource. My wife is diabetic and I thought the book could help improve our love life. My wife is also a Diatician and Diabetes Educator so a lot of the info was already known. But I would recommend this book as an excellent initial resource diabetics need help with their love life

Most diabetes books only include a chapter on changed sex concerns, but diabetes complicates and strains relationships, posing new issues and problems. This book addresses all the issues, providing tips ranging from how to talk to a doctor about sexual complications of diabetes and drug treatments to control it to common physical and emotional complications for both men and women. From how losing weight and exercising affects sexuality to using music, movies, and even romantic foods to set new paths for intimacy, SEX AND DIABETES is an important acquisition for any health library or general-interest collection.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

You must add this to your collection if you need a constant reference source to your medical field.

One of the slimmer of the Stedman's volumes, this one deals with its title subject as well as any of their others. As a general MT who transcribes all types of medical dictation, this book doesn't come in handy often; however, nothing else will do when this book is needed. Certainly anyone involved closely with specialists in the field must own this book, although again, be warned this is a word book and not a dictionary or encyclopedia. Its purpose is solely to present the accurate spelling and phrasing of terms in its field, and Stedman's does this better than anyone in the business.

This is a very informative book. It is a must-have for those families who have children with diabetes.

Condensing many of the possible things one could say about raising a child with diabetes into 10 key points makes it easy to apply the book to your life.

Dr. Wysocki, a child psychologist,draws from his wealth of experience dealing with children, teens and families affected by diabetes.

He conceptualizes the layers of diabetic management as a pyramid. Like the food pyramid, the first steps are the basic staples and other steps follow. Basic, factual knowledge serves as the basis. He discusses other common challenges faced by the family of a young person with diabetes. I particularly liked his sections on communication and on dealing with crises. He shows how certain common family conflicts might play themselves out in a family affected by diabetes.

He does a superb job of discussing the specific self-care steps a young person must master in order to move toward independent diabetes management. Some families and clinicians have set ideas about when a child should manage the diabetes independently. He takes a more moderate view. One must judge the developmental readiness of each individual child and adolescent.

In the section on dealing with the health care team, he talks about gradually allowing the child and then the adolescent to take a more central role in communicating with his care team.

I found this book to be chock full of interesting and invaluable information. It explains so much about the ways this disease affects you and how important your eating habits are. It also explains in detail how the different types of medications work. I would recommend this book to any woman who has Type 2 diabetes.

I've been a nurse for 20 years and thought I knew enough about diabetes. Then I was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and found myself asking alot of the same questions that I've heard other patients ask. This book was a big help to me and will be a big help for my family in understanding how to live with and control this condition.

Yes it is a simple book and perhaps a simple diet but it works! Isn't that the goal? No diet is easy but, this one is very effective. I have suffered form a low thyroid for years and even on medication I couldn't loose the weight I wanted until I followed this program. I not only lost weight, I also lost inches! I have been able to got back and forth with it effectively any time I need to loose a couple more pounds. Just follow the regiment. Dr. Ian's three categories really help you understand how little you have to eat and how much exercise you need to do in order to loose weight. Yes, the exercise portion is necessary.
I am thrilled with my results! This regiment is not for lazy people! I got used to the amounts of both food and exercise and now I am an avid walker. If I don't do my daily cardio, I feel sad. This book helped me get hooked on cardio. I know I sound like an infomercial but that is because I only have good things to say about the book. Thanks Dr. Smith!

Cheers,
Michael

I couldn't stay on this diet. It made me weak and the initial detox faze was to long for me.

I've struggled with my weight for a long time. Right now, I'm 25 years old, about 35 pounds overweight. About a month ago I joined a gym, signed up with a personal trainer...and ate nothing but junk. Haven't lost a pound.

I started this diet 12 hours ago, and I'm so thrilled and excited for myself. I work a 12 hour day, and spend the whole time sitting, so I've eaten nothing but fast-food for years. This diet is a total overhaul for me. But after reading 50+ reviews and carefully considering what this diet consists of...I'm 100% confident I'll see some results in a couple of days.

This book is short, clear and concise. Some people have a problem with that, but I feel that the way Dr. Ian plans it out is just that simple. And for whatever else there is a message board online, or you can just use common sense.

I think the most important thing is the dreaded "Phase 1 Detox". The truth is, you can cut calories and starve yourself all you want. But if you think that having a burger without the cheese, or iced tea instead of soda will help you, you're wrong. Fat Smash is being straight-up, and telling me to cut the crap, the ONLY way to keep yourself healthy, and keep your body in shape, is to EAT HEALTHY AND WORK OUT. Use this diet to change your life, and stop going on and off tricky diet schemes.

Its so great that someone laid out a plan to train yourself to stop eating garbage. After reading this book, I can't think of a better way to do it. I'll remember to update after this... right now I'm 153. I'm hoping to get back down to 115.

It works!!! You really have to stick to the 1st 9 days of Detox, but if you really want to lose you won't care. Every time I want to lose my book is here. Really gets you eating healthy.

I am proud to say that I finished the diet about 5 months ago, all the way through, cheating maybe once during the 3rd phase (which, by the way dr ian says is okay as long as you get back to where you were) and I lost 25 pounds.

Now I can eat the pizza, burgers, fries, and yes even potato chips, however I am a lot smarter in my choices. For instance I'll only eat wheat bread and pasta (occassionally going to the white but only when there's no other choice and that doesn't happen often), I substitute water for carbonated or sweetened beverages, I only eat fried food MAYBE three or four times a month, instead of chips I'll get pretzels (although when I'm truly craving doritos I'll treat myself but I've honestly only had a handful of doritos maybe twice in the last 5 months, and I have a serious sweet tooth so every once in a while I'll reward myself with a piece of cheesecake (my FAVORITE dessert EVER!!!) and it is perfectly fine to have a couple of chocolate chip cookies for dessert or as an afternoon snack. I even indulge in an alcoholic beverage on the weekends when I go out.

I still eat every 3 hours, I don't eat at least 2 hours before I go to sleep, I eat lots of fruits and vegetables for snacks, drink lots of water, and I work out only 15-20 minutes 4 days a week doing yoga or Pilates (I'll also run about 3 miles whenever the weather is good and I wake up early enough). I have successfully kept the weight off for the five months and I'm thinking about going back on the diet to lose 15 more pounds so I can hit my ultimate goal!

But I just wanted to share my story because a lot of people may feel like quitting but trust me in the end it will be all worth it. You can eat the foods you were craving the first 8 weeks (in moderation of course) and you can keep the results. I LOVE this diet. My sister and mother both started after seeing the results it gave me and my mother lost 15 pounds and sister has lost 20. It's just amazing and I thank Dr. Ian from the bottom of my heart because I've struggled with my weight ever since the 7th grade. I had always been active (3 and 4 sport athlete) but the weight never seemed to come off. My mother put me on all kinds of diets that just never worked so thanks to Dr. Ian Smith, at 23 I can FINALLY like what I see when I look in the mirror.

So for anyone who wants to lose weight with a reasonable and practical diet and lifestyle change than I HIGHLY recommend this book.

Great stuff. I have listened to Dr. Neal Barnard lecture and he seems quite intelligent. I respect his perspective and feel that this is one of the best books out there on Diabetes, next to Dr. Gabriel Cousens' "There is a Cure for Diabetes".

Dr. Neal Barnard's Program for Reversing Diabetes surprised me, because of his straightforward and simple approach to explaining the role of fat in diabetes. I've been reading everything I can on diabetes, and his approach was easy to follow and makes sense. I put down the book and started his recommended diet six weeks ago, and it works. I never feel hungry, and I've been losing weight. I also feel better. His basics are simple and easy to follow. No hype. No gimmicks.

What a great book. I read it in 3 days taking notes along the way. The fast food and junk food are going to kill off our next generation unless we have them learn better eating habits. With 3 of the illnesses cause by poor diet, I decided I need to change my eating habits and give up all meat and fish and their by-products. I lost 6 pounds in a week so I think its working.

In 12 hours, my blood sugar had drop significantly. In 24 hours my blood sugar was at normal levels for the first time ever. In one week the levels were consistently lower and my doctor is having me cut some of the medication in half. One evening, out of curiosity, I added meat to my meal and by the next morning my blood sugar had risen to the higher levels it had been before I started. I went back to eating as the book suggested and in 12 hours the sugars had dropped back to normal levels.

Also, in attempt to control and reduce the sugar levels I had been eating very little. Following the advice in this book has allowed me to once again eat full and balanced meals and snacks. I'm starting to experience the weight loss the book says can happen. Before, even with the minimal eating, I was gaining weight due to the high sugar levels - even with regular exercise.

The advice given is for eating that is easy to do and nothing extra to purchase or do. Eat a vegan diet with no animal products, minimal oils, high fiber, low glycemic index, and watch the sugars. That's it. Nothing to measure or count or exchange. The recipes are great too. This morning I was so happy to be able to eat one of my favorite foods, waffles.

This book should be a must read for anyone and I believe would be successfully marketed as a weight loss book.

The diet in this book is a vegan version of the nearly-vegan, low-fat diabetes diet given by Nathan Pritikin (Live Longer Now, 1974); identical to the vegan diabetes diet of John McDougall, MD (The McDougall Plan, 1983); and a vegan version (without supplements) of the low-fat diabetes diet employed by Julian Whitaker, MD (Reversing Diabetes, 1987). All in all, the author's claims to originality don't hold any water.

The only things original in this book seem to be the results of A1c measurements, and comparison with the ADA diet (which has been known to be lacking for many years).

The author never mentions the highly successful diabetes treatment programs that have been in operation for the better part of 20-30 years at the Pritikin Longevity Center in Aventura FL, the Whitaker Wellness Institute in Newport Beach CA, and Dr. McDougall's Health and Medical Center in Santa Rosa CA. These three programs have successfully treated a combined total estimated at over 40,000 diabetes patients.

The author never mentions how he, personally, lionized the Pritikin Program in one of his previous books (The Power of Your Plate, 1995), and then forgot about it in the present book.

All in all, Dr. Barnard seems to want the reader to get the impression he invented the vegan diet and was the first to use it to treat diabetes. He does say, "A new idea," "We have completely redesigned the dietary approach to diabetes," ". . . an entirely new approach to diabetes," and "This program is truly a revolution." All claims that appear to be untrue and unwarranted.

Whichever diabetes book you decide to read, first read Prtikin's Live Longer Now, 1974. Used copies are available on Amazon.com. I bought a nice used hardback for $5.

Dr. Bernstein has performed an amazing public service in the compilation of this book. His odyssey dates back many decades when he realized the advice given by his doctors to control his Type I diabetes was wrong and causing his health to deteriorate. (Type I is the more serious one, where the body produces no insulin at all.) This was a time when home insulin testing became available, and he launched an incredible personal voyage of discovery to determine just which foods were raising his blood sugar levels and which were safer to consume. It involved testing these levels every half hour at times. Applying this knowledge to his own diet, his health began improving as he got his diabetes under control. In reading this account, one begins to wonder just what this poor man can consume, as it seemed most foods were problematical. Another amazing aspect of this investigation is that, despite the fact nothing like this had ever been done, he could not get his findings published as a layman. Incredibly, he then entered medical school, and with an MD after his name was able to interest a publisher. Subsequently, he opened a private practice as a diabetes specialist. I feel Dr. Bernstein's findings would benefit everyone, diabetic or not, as you learn which foods need to be decreased or eliminated in our diets and which should be emphasized.

A very good (and brief) revision of the Bernstein's theory about diabetes and carb. Puntual diet. For all who follow his career. Very useful

I am sure that if a person could actually live with this diet plan, not only would he/she lose weight, but blood sugars would be in complete control. There are too few choices in acceptable foods and too many no-nos. It is similar to Phase One of South Beach Diet, which is doable for two weeks but too strict for the long haul.

I bought this book before I learned how off-base Dr. Berstein is in the area of disbetes treatment. His suggestions are ultra low-carb and I believe dangerously low. If you are looking for a good reference on type-2 diabetes and how to treat I would NOT recommend this book. Try a publication from Joslin Diabetes Center.

I commend the author for faithfully following the diet he prescribes in this book- but for the vast majority of people this diet is impossible to follow. He suggests an extremely low-carbohydrate diet, even more so than the south beach diet or the atkins diet. He says to follow a 12-6-6 diet, 12 grams of carbs for breakfast, and 6 grams for both lunch and dinner. I was hopeful that this book would give me a diet to follow, but his diet was just too strict, he doesn't even allow for milk- instead he has you use a little cream mixed into water! ick! I'm sure his diet of protein and vegetables would make anyone lose weight and be very healthy, but for the average person it is just not realistic to think that you can go through the rest of your life cutting out all carbs.