Diabetes Books

Not exactly what I was hoping for. But useful nonetheless. The CalorieKing book was a much better buy.

It was OK. I hated the way it way laid out. I wished more places had been listed.

Great food guide, brought many a scream when read in a group of weight watching people!!

I really love this book. You would be amazed on how much calories and fats you are eating when you go out. I also loved the fact that it gives you the healthiest choices. It covers tons of well known restaurants. Recommended to friends.

A bit bulky but very eye opening. Makes you think twice before ordering.

At one time or another, we all get caught up in a furor over nothing (or at least to onlookers and perphieral culprits), and we wonder "Why Me?" Please, God, let this happen to someone else, but not to me! It occurs without premonition and without provocation, just two or three mean criminals to cause trouble for all concerned. John is a 'professional' (though not the best in the trade) thief of jewelry to make a profit. This time, he walked in on a robbery of a jewelry store in New York and takes what he pleases from the safe after the original bad guys had left. He had no idea that he had taken something very valuable until he went to his usual junk store owner to get a pittance for such a beautiful ring.

The Turkish government had given it to USA, the Greeks stole it, and now John has no way of getting it off his hands before he is caught up in an international furor. Donald Westlake used his inspiration and real-life events to draw from to make this a believable happening. The FBI is brought in to find the gem, and Agent Zachary will go to the ends of the earth if needed to make things right again. Chief Mologna (bologna with a capital M) holds regular press conferences to prove that his NYPD are on the case and will soon bring the perpetrator to justice. He listens to an "easy listening" radio station (similar to EZ88) as he travels home in his patrol car. "Smoke Gets in Your Eyes" played by a million violins; Mantovani lives.

John has expertise in getting in to make a robbery; this time, since he had no way to dispose of the evidence, he decides to just return it! It was too bad he couldn't tell the world about his greatest triumph, as it had turned out to be no more than a circle in which he wound up putting his most magnificent haul back where he'd found it." A triumph is a triumph and so he went to a different bar to order his favorite Double Bourbon on the rocks, as he had the feeling that he is finally at the beginning of a lucky streak. After all, he didn't get caught by the police, FBI, nor the persistant woman with a funny telephone.

Probably this book just wasn't my style, but I found it cheesy at best. I like humorous crime fiction and looked forward to making Dortmunder's acquaintance, only to discover this book really wasn't all that much about him, but spent more time dwelling on various FBI agents and bumbling policemen. I was hoping to follow Dortmunder through a series of escapades, but after the initial burglary, nothing much happened.

However, the book was short and the writing style excellent. Westlake certainly has enormous talent. While I can't recommend you rush out and read this book, if you like Lawrence Block's humorous books, you might very well like Why Me.

This book will delight anyone who finds the "value-added" features of telephones (such as call waiting, call forwarding, caller ID, and answering machines) to be annoying. John Dortmunder does, too, especially after his friend, Andy Kelp, becomes addicted to all of these features.

John Dortmunder is your basic everyday, unlucky, but hard-working burglar. In Why Me, he spots a sign on Skoukakis Credit Jewelers in South Ozone Park in Queens that the owner is away on vacation. Noting that the door's alarm box is an easy one to by-pass, he plans a late night return trip. While alarms ring in the distance, he's started when a car pulls up in front, and someone climbs out. He dives behind a display counter just before someone opens the door. The entrant is followed by more men, and they all talk in a foreign language. The safe door is opened and closed. Eventually, they leave.

With good fortune, he finds that the safe is also an easy one to handle. Soon, he has it open, and starts removing the contents. He took some diamond bracelets, a few sets of earrings, an assortment of jeweled brooches, and a few rings. He notices a single box with a ring set with a suspiciously large red stone. "Now why would any jeweler pub a fake stone like this in his safe?" He decides to take it along, and let a fence tell him if it's valuable. That turns out to be an enormous mistake.

The stone is actually a historically important one, the Byzantine Fire, which has just been stolen by a band of Greeks from its courier who is taking it to be returned to the Turkish government.

The rest of the story involves the consequences of this unwitting heist. The heat is really on, and only Andy Kelp and his girl friend May are on Dortmunder's side as he tries to avoid the consequences of being the object of an international manhunt.

Dortmunder quickly gives up on the notion of trying to make any money from the gem. After all, every fence in New York is being watched and no one would buy it. He decides to give it back, but the police won't cooperate. They want his head on the wall. Now, how will Dortmunder get out of this one? That's the mystery of this story.

In typical fashion for a Dortmunder story, there's enormous humor about the stupidity of life . . . and an ironical twist to almost every situation. As with most stories in the series, there's a scene where barflies mangle words, quotes and ideas in very original and hilarious fashion.

This story is about as simple as the Dortmunder stories get, but it is all the more appealing for its intensification of the overhanging problem of how you get out from between a rock and a hard place.

After you finish this story, think about some time when you were faced with a seemingly impossible situation. How did you find a solution? How can that solution help you with other difficult situations in the future?

In my house, I have a shelf for books that reach an unmatched level of perfection. Inbetween Hawthorne's "Blithdale Romance" and a battered, but loved Curious George lurks Westlake's Dortmunder books. They have all been read and reread, stained with tears of laughter and cheap gin, dog eared copies that only a collector could love. "Why Me" is my favorite and as priceless to me as a 80 year old New York grandmother giving the finger to an oblivious passing cab. Westlake can do it all, but his true unrecognized talent is bringing New York to life with a group of small time crooks and John Dortmunder as their tired and beaten leader. What should be an easy jewelry store robbery, leaves Dortmunder with a priceless ring and everybody out to get him. Oh sure, some people will complain that they could follow the story without difficultly and there weren't enough "the-cereal-killer-had-a-twin-brother-who-just-happened-to-work-at-the-police-department" twists, but they are missing the rock-um, sock-um robot pacing and kidney stone passing laughs that only Westlake can deliver. Without hesitation, I recommend all of Westlake's books, but if you have to start with just one, I suggest "Why Me." It's a frickin' masterpiece.

John Dortmunder still operates with plenty of luck going his way. Unfortunately, it's still all bad. From the master of sticky situations and the brilliant, yet doomed to failure plans to overcome them, comes another Westlake farce highlighting the incredibly unlucky Dortmunder.

John inadvertently steals a large and very important ruby and sapphire ring that had in turn, just been stolen before it was to be given to Turkey. The resulting manhunt and shaking down of every known criminal in New York has not only the NYPD and the FBI on his tail, but also every known criminal in New York wants a piece of him too. So the question is, how can Dortmunder evade the police, the Feds, some terrorists and the entire criminal element of New York, and still somehow come up smelling of roses with a cleared name? How indeed!

In an ironic twist, compared to his adventures in The Hot Rock where he couldn't get hold of a valuable jewel no matter how ingenious the plan, Dortmunder know finds himself racking his brain trying to get rid of a similarly valuable jewel - safely, anyway.

Once again, Westlake provides a humorous story where, if anything can go wrong then it will. The predicament that Dortmunder finds himself in is typical of his unfortunate run of luck and is the reason that these books are so enjoyable.

When my husband was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes a friend gave us a copy of this wonderful cookbook. I have since had the oportunity to give a copy to another friend who was recently diagnosed with Type 2. What I love about the cookbook is the easy to follow recipes, ingredients that I have in the house, how each recipe has the carbos, fats, etc broken down and most of the recipes are delicious. I highly recommend this cookbook to anyone, whether they have diabetes or not.

This book helps you to understand all the food exchanges and how they play a part of your diet. The recipes I have tried have been wonderful and my family has enjoyed every meal I have fixed.

This is my favorite diabetic cookbook. My response to the unfavorable review about the portion size is that you have to adjust your eating habits to less meat and more starch and vegetables. You don't have to go hungry!

I was very disappointed in this book. The portion sizes are very small. I certainly could not satisfy anyone in my family with a half cup of beef stir fry (noted as the serving size for this receipe). The receipes were good but you must figure on two serving sizes for each person for most main dish receipes. Explanations of food exchanges was very helpful.

This ccobook has very simple, easy to prepare meals. ALL the ingredients are things you would find in a normal pantry. Not items that need to be purchased at specilaty stores. EXCELENT!

Any with diabetes, pre-diabetes or heart problems as well as those seeking an easy pocket-sized guide to better eating will welcome GUIDE TO HEALTHY FAST-FOOD EATING, which is packed with over 1,500 menu items from the 13 largest fast-food chains complete with nutrition charts, exchanges, serving sizes, and insights on common pitfalls. It IS possible to consume fast food and remain healthy, with the aid of this guide - and any public library lending collection strong in healthy lifestyle presentations will find GUIDE TO HEALTHY FAST-FOOD EATING a popular pick.

Diane C. Donovan
California Bookwatch

This book really explains carb counting and all that goes with it. It has helped me plan my meals since I was diagnosed with diabetes

This was exactly what I wanted. I do wish, however, that more restaurants were included. I would buy it!

This is a very good book, and it has guided me in finding healthy choices in fast food places. But it might be better to just get the guide to healthy restuarant eating. That one is more thourough.

Overall I thought this book was pretty light on the information. Not many restaurants. I found that their suggested meals often weren't the healthiest choices.

I bought this cookbook for my wife who has just been diagnosed. She has the book on our dining room table and has been thumbing through it. She has tried a couple of the 2,000 receipes, and she has recommended this book to four of her friends who are also diabetic. She can't wait to really get into it and start preparing some of the great sounding receipes. Only down side for me is that it has no pictures. However, a picture means one less receipe. My wife can mentallly "see" the dish just by looking at the receipes..I can't. It's a really good cookbook, with lots and lots of great receipes. Well worth what I paid for it..you won't be disappointed!

By Finsand, Caldwell, and White - This book has thousands of recipes and they are good. I don't think I will ever grow tired of using it. However, if you or someone you are cooking for has just recently been diagnosed with diabetes, this is not the book to get you started. It does have useful charts, but it has very little educational material about the disease. I would recommend this book as a companion to a book with comprehensive information about diabetes. I think the most prominent chart in the book deals with sugar substitutes. (The Simply Gourmet Diabetes Cookbook by Mary Donkersloot is a great place to get started. With this book and the book you are reading about, youu will never lack in information and choices.)

Personally, I would prefer less recipes about desserts. There are hundreds and hundreds of these recipes. I've never really craved daily deserts or sweetened foods. After spending time in the hospital, and meeting other diabetics, this may be exactly what you need, though. Some people do eat sweet dishes frequently. I plan to use these recipies in cooking for my aging parents and myself, in order to provide things that we can all eat. I doubt I will use more than a portion of this book in my own home.

I was very recently diagnosed with type 1 diabetes and need accurate information on grams of carbohydrates to determine my insulin use. I had to send this book back - the nutritional information was incorrect for the couple of recipes I looked at (For example, one recipe stated it had over 100 grams of carbs. I couldn't tell if it was missing a decimal or what the problem was. Even if that was the carbs per recipe rather than per serving, when you divided it by the # of servings it still ended up being more carbs than most diabetics should eat at a meal).
In addition, the majority of the recipes were for desserts - which doesn't make a complete meal in my diet!

When I was first diagnosed with Type II diabetes, although my husband was quite supportive, his first thoughts were of how were we going to change our eating habits. So I went to Barnes & Noble and browsed through their books on Diabetes. This one had so many wonderful recipes in it that I knew I could incorporate into our lives and bring at holiday gatherings. The sweets are wonderful and many times if I don't tell people that they are diabetic, they are unable to tell. I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or knows someone who is diabetic.

One would not know that these recipes were designed for a diabetic, until they looked at some of the ingredients. These are tasty, flavorful, and creative recipes for the whole family, designed to lower the sugar/carbohydrate intake grams for diabetics. The recipes are simple, and made with the 'usual' ingredients with the exception of the sugar substitutes. And, there are handy conversion charts that show how to convert 'sugars' to sugar substitutes.

Anyone will enjoy the foods that they make from these recipe's. This is truly a 'gourmet' cookbook, with literally thousands of recipes for everyday living. There are entree and side dish recipe's, but my favorite section are the hundreds of 'dessert' recipes. You have to try those Cream Puffs!

This book is good except for some common items I use often. For instance I make cornbread often. The listings does not include cornbread at all in the main list. I finally found it in the back under restaurant foods and the portion size is not well described there.The main listing includes corn meal, uncooked. Who would even need that info? Even storebought cornbread mixes show carbs per cup of mix. What good is that? I want to know what a piece of "cooked" cornbread has in it, for heaven's sake! And for cornmeal mush it only shows cornmeal uncooked which is useless. I forget the counts constantly and have to look the same thing up again soon, so the things I use have to be in there and not something I look up on the internet and then remember it forever. That's why I bought a book to begin with. But I'm a country girl at heart, and any book that doesn't deal properly with cornbread is unacceptable, so now I have to buy another book!

After trying every diet known to God and man, I chose this book because of the flexibility of the eating regimen. It's simple and easy to maintain. Sure, when I use a recipe I should make sure the recipe itself lists the carb and calorie counts, but reasonable diligence takes care of that. I consider the item listings for carbs, calories, fat, etc to be comprehensive enough to cover most needs.

This would be a great book with a large number of food items analyzed, but it doesn't include the fiber information, something that can be very important to a diabetic since fiber can have a positive effect on blood sugar and cholesterol. I was going to return it, but it isn't worth it, so I just ordered The Complete Book of Food Counts by Corinne T. Netzer which has all the information needed.

The book is a huge help in planning meals for my husband. It is valuable in helping us eat out and be creative in our menu planning.
I would recommend it highly.

When I was first diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and had to lose weight, I was at a loss to know where to start. This book has been a life saver. It has the calorie, carbohydrate and fat count of more foods than you can imagine. The first part of the book deals with the reasons for managing your diet and how diet affects diabetes. This book has become my constant companion in the kitchen. It helps me use my favorite receipes while controlling calories and carbohydrates.

Great recipes and lots of helpful info. I may have to get another has my cousin borrowed it and hasn't given it back yet ;).

The Diabetes Menu Cookbook: Delicious Special-Occasion Recipes for Family and Friends

I love these recipes, they are easy and quick. I tried several recipes and they were great. Except I added more spice, we love spice.

I looked through this book and tried a couple of the meals....Yuck is the first word that comes to mind......since that time I have put the book out for recycling. Has to be the worst book purchase I have made

As I care for my 74 year old diabetic (former restaurant owner)mother full time -- I am always looking for meals that we both will love. This cookbook really helps. Made the Turkey Burgers last Sunday for us and guests and they were a huge hit! It's the fabulous extras like the red onion sauce in this recipe that make this book so terrific.

Diabetes doesn't mean having to say, "Never." Here is food you might have thought you could never enjoy again, but finally, someone has created a cookbook with recipes everyone can enjoy, including people who have diabetes. We all need to learn to cook and eat more healthy food and this is a great place to start. The recipes I tried were easy and turned out perfectly--I especialy loved the pork loin and the braised chicken with leeks. The desserts look tempting and surprising--can't wait to try the poached pears. The Cookin' Kid

As a person with Type 1 diabetes and someone who presents frequently to groups of people wanting to know how to control their diabetes while leading an active life, the "Diabetic Athlete's Handbook" is an excellent resource. If you want to know how to maximize your athletic ability without allowing diabetes to become a hindrance, get this book. It covers the physiology as well as the practical aspects needed to become the best you can be. I often give this book away to a lucky attendee at a presentation who always leaves with a smile.

I read the first version of this book cover to cover. Just got the newer version, and this is full of great practical information that will help my son during his middle school and high school years of playing sports (and beyond!)
This book also reinforces the message that my son can play any sport with his diabetes!
Thanks Ms. Colberg!

"Diabetic" is such an archaic word. We need to be labeling the disease "diabetes" not the person who has it. We do not call those suffering from cancer -- cancerous. As a Mom of a child with type 1 diabetes, I appreciate the authors attempt to help us manage the disease, but wish she would have put more thought into the title. Some of those suffering from this disease have had it since they were babies. I think it is very important to send the message that they have the disease vs. they are the disease.

I am waiting for a copy of this book to arrive in the mail! I look forward to the updated content and the contributions by the diabetic athletes. I have lived with diabetes almost 20 years and Colberg's book, "The Diabetic Athlete" changed my life. I was a competitive XC runner in high school and was diagnosed at age 17. At the time I was not presented with ANY resources pertaining to diabetes and athletics. It was like I was all of the sudden running blind. A handful of years after my diagnosis I found Colberg's book. The information was specific and I could read that plenty of accomplished athletes were living and competing with this disease. I was able to update my diabetes management toolbox and begin pushing my athletic limits like never before. I will post a review specific to this book once I read it. Thank you Sheri for continuing to provide updated information on this topic!

Energizing! In one word, that is how to describe this book. As a proponent of exercise for people with diabetes, I have found this book and Colberg-Ochs previous edition of it the best book out there to inspire us folks with this condition. What it is most powerful in this book is it gives real life stories and solutions to people with diabetes by people with diabetes. In our foundation, we always recommended Colberg-Ochs's Diabetic Athlete's Handbook as the "answer" book for athletes (and those who want to get active) and will continue to with this edition.

Jay Handy, Founder, Diabetes Sports and Wellness Foundation

I purchased this book for my daughter who was dealing with gestational diabetes. The recipes are simple, delicious and healthy. This book should be on every busy cook's shelf and used by anyone who wants to eat a healthy diet even if they don't have diabetes.

This book is true to its title. I loved that it listed some main "healthy" staples at the beginning of the book that everyone should have on hand. I also really liked the easy meal ideas at the beginning of the book for those nights you need recipes that will use whatever you have on hand in your cabinets. Some of the main recipes were a little more complicated than I had hoped. Still, overall this was an excellant choice and I know that I will use it for years to come.

My husband was diagnosed with Type II Diabetes last year. It was a shock and I went crazy buying cookbooks on Amazon to help me deal with his new dietary requirements.

This cookbook is awesome. I've been working my way through it and have found the recipes simple (not a huge laundry list of ingredients) and sophisticated. On occasion they need a little salt (haven't come across a recipe that asks for salt yet!).

My husband has been very pleased with everything I've done out of this one and always asks - what's next? Can we try something new out of that 30 minute book?

Buy it - for the price - it's totally worth it.

(by the way, there is nothing exotic about pumpkin seeds, peanut oil and oyster sauce - unless you live in a cave).

Unless you live in town or a city, can afford to purchase countless ingredients in Miss Webb's recipes from alternate sources such as health food stores or expensive grocery stores, don't count on finding many of these ingredients in your average run-of-the-mill grocery store in a small town. These meals may take little time to prepare, but if you're not in a higher income-bracket and you have a family to feed, you probably won't like this book.

This is a terrific cookbook to have handy, whether you're cooking for yourself, a whole family, or even for friends for a casual dinner. The recipes aren't fancy, but they put things together in a way you might not think to do otherwise, or give directions for something you've been wanting to try but haven't because the recipes you've found in other cookbooks have been too complicated. So far, I've found that if I make a recipe from this book once, it quickly becomes a recipe that I fix regularly, because it's quick and I often have all of the ingredients in my pantry already -- and even when I don't, a quick trip to the convenience store or supermarket is all that's needed, because the recipes don't call for obscure items that require hunting down in specialty stores. Even if no one in your home/family has diabetes, this is a great, basic recipe book to have around for those nights when you're feeling less than inspired to come up with something new on your own.

Yes, there are some good things in this book, you probably already know them.

Avoid refined grains during pregnancy
Avoid smoking during pregnancy
Avoid alcohol during pregnancy

The typical diet advice seems to be parroted everywhere including this book.

*Low fat diet
*Pasteurized dairy only
*Eat lots of grains

This is a diet designed to create weak and poorly nourished children. While it is better than eating junk food, it isn't going to be nourishing.

The chapter about how prenatal nutrition is vital is definitely interesting, but the nutritional guidelines laid forth are not going to accomplish the best results. The author talks about mercury in fish being a concern and sites FDA evidence that 8 percent of women have high levels of mercury in their blood. But are we to believe this is from them eating pounds of tuna every week? Or is this from mercury laden drugs, pollution, food additives and fillings as the cause? Huge studies such as one recently published in Lancet, have shown that naturally occurring mercury in fish, even if it raises the mercury in the mother's blood stream, shows NO DANGER for pregnancy.

People need healthy fats from whole foods to be healthy. Pregnant women get essential vitamins from healthy fats, that's why even this book recommends fish, and eggs for pregnancy. But then it goes on to say that saturated fats are unhealthy, which doesn't make sense.

Diets of indigenous groups across the planet, who had healthy babies, and uncomplicated births knew what to eat during pregnancy. Special foods included raw grassfed dairy, sea foods which included the organs, and fatty foods from the land and sea. Healthy people never had refined flour, or "organic" breakfast cereals or soy milk. By returning to a whole foods diet based upon generations of healthy people, we can reclaim our pregnancy health. Learn how to do it in Healing Our Children: Because Your New Baby Matters! Sacred Wisdom for Preconception, Pregnancy, Birth and Parenting (ages 0-6).

I found this book full with tips and information on what to expect through pregnancy. I think it's worth the read to understand exactly why you need to eat healthy throug pregnancy.

Kudos to Dr. Walker on the second publication (although I wish I had this one first!) on health and wellness for mothers and their babies.

This 'easy-to-ingest' book is an excellent resource for information on what to eat, what to avoid, and even includes tips on exercise and creative recipes for snack and mealtimes.

Take care of yourself, and take care of your baby!

I liked this book because it was the only book I could find with real information about artificial sweeteners. It seemed to be up to date and it gave the info understood from the most current research.

I read this book cover to cover and to be honest, I don't think I learned anything new. In fact there is surprisingly little time devoted to actually how/what to eat! It seems like most of the book is devoted to the idea that how you eat during pregnancy will affect your child's health later in life. So if you need motivation to reach for the veggies everyday, this would be a great book to read. But overall it's the same tips about what to avoid, eat from the food pyramid, etc. Having said that, I gave it four stars because even though the information isn't new, it feels good to get it from a reputable source since half the stuff you read, it's hard to tell if you can trust it. Additionally, there are some wonderful, easy, healthy recipes at the end of the book!