Diabetes Books

This book has very few recipes. It is a paper pamphlet, of the type put out by county extension organizations and definitely NOT worth the money(it's from the American Diabetes Association--you could probably get it for a much lower cost, if not for free, from them) However, it does give some interesting historical background of Cajun and Creole culture, as well as a pretty good definition of the differences between the two.

Dr. Shane-McWhorter does a good job of reviewing most of the major supplements people with diabetes sometimes take. Unfortunately, her concluding comment and recommendation for many of them is to proceed cautiously and avoid most of them. This isn't to say she's wrong; the research on the use of supplements with diabetics is thin at best. Even so, her review of the research focuses almost exclusively on diabetes and fails to take into account the ways various supplements have been shown to assist with different conditions. The book does offer good food-for-thought, but it falls along the lines of those doctors who say, "Just take your medication and maybe a multivitamin, but nothing more."

It wasn't what I expected. Outdated, which I hadn't realized at first. There are better books out there. It has some good info.

The book's recipes are like what you would find in England, not in the States. Also the carb counts are very high for the main meals. For example "Fish Stuffed Baked Potatoes" has 230 carbs and 1170 calories? Too much for me and I have never heard of this. I did not like the book at all and will be getting rid of it shortly.

I was not impressed with this book. There are a lot of resturants that I have never heard of before and it was not user friendly.

Dramatic story of diagnosis, and then unfortunately out of date. Treatment of type 1 diabetes is rapidly improving and changing. This means books have a short shelf life. Look for something more recent.

If you are going to only buy one book on pumping, buy "Pumping Insulin", not this book. This book is very small (60 pages, and 5 1/2"x4") and doesn't fully explain all the concepts it goes into. (For example, it mentions the 1800/1500 rule, but doesn't explain when you would use either number.) It does have some good suggestions on where to wear the pump, and similar issues. My suggestion, if you can get this book for very cheap, and you already know the basics, pick it up. Otherwise, I wouldn't bother.

I love soup cookbooks and have over 30 of them. This collection is published by the American Diabetes Association as part of their Healthy Selects series - oddly, that information is not anywhere on the product page here. "Savory Soups and Salads" is obviously inexpensive, but it's not a particularly good buy overall. Specifically, the cookbook contains surprisingly few soup recipes - 22. The remainder of the book consists of salad, bread, and salad dressing recipes.

The soup recipes that are included, though, are fairly good although basic, including Italian Minestrone, lentil soup, beef stew. In addition, extensive nutritional information is included for each. However, the book is rather skimpy with no pictures and minimal text, barely a notch above those "cookbooks" you can purchase in the grocery store check-out line. Unfortunately, "Savory Soups and Salads" is my first major disappointment from this site.

Both clinicians and patients have a need for accurate information about adult-onset Type 1 diabetes (both rapid onset and slow onset). Although this new book, Type 1 Diabetes in Adults: Principles and Practices, contains some good information, the book also continues to promote myths about Type 1 diabetes that are disputed by sound scientific research that is published in peer-reviewed medical journals, and the book does not address critical issues facing those who acquire Type 1 diabetes as adults.

Probably the most significant problem faced by people with adult-onset autoimmune diabetes is being misdiagnosed as having Type 2 diabetes, and not being treated with exogenous insulin at diagnosis, which is the standard of care for those with Type 1 diabetes. This book does not address that problem nor provide any solutions to that problem. Misdiagnosis typically results in substandard treatment, where doctors try to use oral medications (without insulin) to control blood glucose levels, and the substandard treatment often results in early onset of diabetic complications (potentially within months of misdiagnosis) and needless suffering on the part of the person with Type 1 diabetes.

Unfortunately, discrepancies and wrong information about adult-onset Type 1 diabetes abound in Type 1 Diabetes in Adults. The book states at least three different figures for the numbers of people with Type 1 diabetes in the U.S., yet every single one of those figures comes from studies that excluded those with slow-onset Type 1 diabetes in adults, who according to two of the authors represent two to three times the numbers of childhood-onset Type 1 diabetes (p. 27). Then, Chapter 13 ("Psychological Aspects of Type 1 Diabetes in Adults" ) states that "most adults with Type 1 diabetes are diagnosed as children or adolescents." Again, it is no wonder that the myth that Type 1 diabetes is a childhood disease lives on, when such wrong information is presented.

In Chapter 2 of the book, the authors state that "The relatively high incidence rate of Type 1 diabetes in adults is often not appreciated, probably because of the more than 10-fold greater frequency of Type 2 diabetes in this age group." I would propose that misinformation spread by those in the medical community leads to the lack of acknowledgement of the true numbers of adult-onset Type 1 diabetics. For example, the Type 1 diabetes TrialNet website states, "5 to 10 percent of all people with diabetes have type 1 diabetes" and "this type of diabetes occurs more often in children and young adults." The Joslin Diabetes Center website states that, "People may develop type 1 diabetes at any age, but it is frequently diagnosed before adulthood. [Type 1 diabetes] accounts for about 5%-10% of all diabetes cases." Yet those percentages exclude those with slow-onset Type 1 diabetes, and in fact Type 1 diabetes represents about 15-25% of all cases of diabetes if all Type 1 autoimmune diabetes cases are included in the percentages. If institutions such as NIH/NIDDK and Joslin provide such incorrect information about Type 1 diabetes, it is no wonder that the high incidence of Type 1 diabetes in adults (two to three times that of childhood-onset Type 1 diabetes, according to the book authors) is not appreciated.

TrialNet, a large ongoing study of Type 1 diabetes, excludes people based on age, not type of diabetes. The TrialNet website states TrialNet "is dedicated to the study, prevention, and early treatment of type 1 diabetes." If that is the case, why are newly diagnosed Type 1 diabetics with age of onset over age 45 excluded from the prevention studies? Why is it that relatives of a Type 1 diabetic are excluded from the family history studies if the diagnosis of Type 1 diabetes was after age 40? For the TrialNet Type 1 Diabetes Genetics Consortium study, relatives of someone with Type 1 diabetes are excluded from the study if the Type 1 diabetic was diagnosed over age 35. Because TrialNet is excluding a huge number of people with Type 1 diabetes because of their age at diagnosis, the studies are not truly representative of Type 1 diabetes, only Type 1 diabetes below a certain age.

What is actually needed for those with adult-onset Type 1 diabetes?
1) Correct diagnosis (i.e., not misdiagnosed as Type 2)
2) Immediately initiation of intensive insulin therapy, to preserve remaining beta cell mass
3) Appropriate Type 1 diabetes education geared towards adults
4) Inclusion in clinical trials and studies
5) Inclusion in percentages of Type 1 diabetes.

This book is useful in some respects but does not address key issues for those who acquire Type 1 diabetes as adults. I do not believe that a definitive book on Type 1 diabetes in adults has been written yet.

This book takes a somewhat unconventional approach to diabetes management based on the author's experience working with diabetes patients. She is somewhat like the famous Dr. Bernstein in that she rightly maligns the food pyramid given to diabetics that overfeeds them carbs. Instead the author says that vegetables should be the base of the pyramid, encourages low carbohydrate consumption, and says some protein should be eaten at every meal. Besides the common sense advice on exercise, the only really unique facet of this book is that the author says that diabetics should never consume caffeine since she believes that diabetes is an adrenal gland disease and that caffeine throws the adrenals into chaos. She has some interesting data to back up her claims, but that is about it on the content of the book. It definitely is not worth any more than twenty dollars. If you can find it for less than that it might be worth it. I give this book four stars on content, one star on overpricing, and I rounded down to two stars based on the fact that the book is not just overpriced, it is very overpriced.