Diabetic-Diet Books

One of the most appreciated aspects of the American Diabetes Association is the publishing of cookbooks specifically designed for the needs of diabetics and pre-diabetics who must transition from unhealthy diets to healthy ones. Now in a newly updated and expanded second edition, "The Complete Quick & Hearty Diabetic Cookbook" continues their outstanding series of culinary compendiums by showcasing more than two hundred delicious, low-fat recipes that are thoroughly 'kitchen cook friendly' in their preparation (especially when under time constraints for today's busy schedules) while highlighting 'old-fashioned good taste'. Ranging from English Beef Stew; Linguine with Garlic Broccoli Sauce; and Oven-Baked Chicken Tenders; to Grilled Salmon with Dill Sauce; Artichokes Parmesan; and Griddle Corn Cakes, "The Complete Quick & Hearty Diabetic Cookbook" is an enthusiastically recommended compendium of palate pleasing, appetite satisfying, diabetes compatible dishes. Another also very highly recommended additions to diabetic friendly cookbook collections from the American Diabetes Association is their new edition of "One Pot Meals For People With Diabetes (9781580402637, $14.95) presenting more than 125 quick and easy recipes for soups, stews, casseroles, and more. Also not to be overlooked in a newly expanded second addition is the American Diabetes Association's "Quick & Easy Diabetic Recipes For One" (9781580402644, $14.95) which in addition to a culinary wealth of delicious dishes, includes helpful tips on meal planning, shopping, food preparation, and food storage for diabetics living on their own.

I received this book for Christmas and it a major disappointment. I am a diabetic and very concerned about carbohydrates and associated glucose. This book strives to make every recipe as low-fat as possible, which is good as far as trying to reduce calories and aid weight loss; however, if you are diabetic and concerned with carbohydrates and glucose, it can do more harm than good. The majority of the recipes are laden with high carbohydrates such as bread crumbs, rice, potatoes, high-sugar fruits, and other items. Of the over 250 recipes, there are only 51 that I would even consider for my own use. The others are so outrageously high in carbohydrates that they could possible harm someone. The sad part is that since this book is by the American Diabetes Association, some people will think they can use any recipe in this book and be OK. In this day and age it is unconscionable not to take the total carbohydrate grams of a serving into account when compiling such a book. In my opinion, only one-fifth of the book is of value in that respect, and the other recipes could result in hyperglycemic conditions and should not be used.

I am pre-diabetic. That means my blood sugar lab result is close to full-blown diabetes. I'm trying to avoid the full-blown. So, I bought this book. I'm so glad I found it! I love the familiar, homestyle recipes. I haven't yet tried fructose, an ingredient used. But Splenda has a 50/50 product, half sugar-half Splenda that I'm using. There is a wonderful lowfat, low sugar recipe for scones. Helpful black and white photographs are included. The print is large. Each recipe only takes up one page. There are no extraneous health tips which I don't need in a cookbook. The recipes are mouth watering. I highly recommend this book! I just hope it never goes out of print.

My husband was told he's prediabetic and needed to get his house in order so to speak. I checked this book out from the library along with several others and this is the one I'm buying. All the recipes are tasty and low in fat. They seem to balance the carbs and the protein so I don't have to worry about that aspect of cooking. I'm amazed at the things I can cook that I would normally think are verboten to someone watching calories. The mac and cheese was as good as full fat versious I've had. We've also tried the Spicy Gumbo and thought it was very tasty and all the recipes are quick with not too much preparation. I noted that one review said there were too many carbs, my husband is supposed to eat between 25 and 40 per meal so for us this was perfect.

Nicely organized cookbook. Not hard for the newly-diagnosed diabetic to follow. Has good info in it for the diabetic, and what recipes we've tried so far have been tasty. Wish it had pictures of the prepared food, though.

Fix-it and Enjoy-it! Diabetic Cookbook: Stove-Top and Oven Recipes-for Everyone! (Fix-It and Enjoy-It!) We ave purchased the book, but we have not prepared any of the foods in it. When we return home, my wife is very excited about preparing some of the recipes she has seen in the book. Ingrid & Bob Forcier

A very good cookbook for a Diabetic! Easy, good, and quick recipes for all kinds of meals!

I have purchased several diabetic cookbooks in the last year and this one is a major disappointment. Every baked goods recipe that I have tried has been way too dry and the meat recipes have been humdrum. Save your money and buy the Marlene Koch Splenda recipe books instead. They have all been fantastic.

This well-organized cookbook has been very helpful to me. I have owned this book for nearly a year, and I still use it fairly often. It contains great recipes using ingredients I can find easily in local grocery and health food stores. My family enjoys the dishes without feeling deprived, and we have all lost weight.

I had no idea as to how to begin making the changes to a low carb lifestyle. This book has guided me in making healthy changes in my diet and that of my family with advise, a variety of recipes, from breads to entrees to desserts. We are now cooking with whole grains, more fiber and healthier carbs and better understand the importance of making low glycemic food choices. Unlike a previous reviewer, I know how tricky it is to substitute whole grains for white flour. Whole grains are more nutrient rich than the refined flours, and many of the recipes in this cookbook have added fiber like oat and wheat bran. Although alternative sweeteners can often be substituted for sugar to achieve the same sweetness, the resulting dish can be a disappointment. This book contains recipes that combine sweeteners like granular alternatives, fructose, and agave, maintaining good taste and a decent texture in the recipes. I appreciate having recipes where the glitches have been worked out of this time-consuming substitution process.

The Shake Off the Sugar Cookbook has helped me to focus on the amount of fiber that is in the foods I choose. The simplified, straightforward suggestions for following a low glycemic diet, as well as the handy glycemic index of carbs, is also a nice resource to keep in the kitchen. Each recipe has nutrition counts, even food exchanges for diabetics. I highly recommend this book.

I love this cookbook and am mystified by the negative review. The recipe instructions are easy to follow and the results are delicious, healthy dishes. This book has helped me to focus on all the wonderful foods I can have on a low glycemic diet, and I no longer feel deprived of great tasting foods. Even better, I no longer crave sweets after following the author's easy-to-understand advice. In fact, many sweetened foods now taste unpleasantly sweet to me. In addition, my triglycerides and cholesterol are down and I feel better than I have in years.

The whole family can enjoy and benefit from these recipes without feeling they are on a "diet". No need to cook separate dishes for yourself. Even my daughter, who is in college and suffers from PCOS, has learned to choose her foods more carefully by reading the first part of this book. She is losing weight and received improved results from her last blood tests.

I like the variety of recipes, from appetizers to desserts. The meat recipes are interesting and varied, and every one I have tried has been delicious. The whole wheat cheese bread is especially good - better than other whole wheat bread recipes I have tried. I also love both the cheese and nut pastry recipes that make a super substitute for pastry with refined flour.I highly recommend this cookbook. This cookbook doesn't sit on my shelf. I actually use it!

This book seemed promising. It was in fact very disappointing. The glycemic index chart is one column down the center of one page and halfway down a second. There is more comprehensive information on the glycemic index available on the internet.

There are a few pages of shopping information which really didn't teach me anything.

Her favorite substitute for sugar is Splenda. You don't need a cookbook for that. The substitution ratios are on the back of the Splenda box last time I looked. I was disappointed in this aspect of the book. It seemed lazy. I was expecting something healthier and more creative than just substituting the newest chemical for sugar.

As far as recipes go I have the most trouble finding healthy alternatives for sugar in desserts, cookies, quick breads, puddings. There wasn't a lot in this book to help with that. Beside the rather lame advice to use whole wheat flour in place of white flour (they cause almost the same glycemic reaction) she didn't offer much. The recipes that make up most of this book were for things that don't contain much in the way of sugar to begin with. If you substitute the flour and Splenda there wasn't much difference between her recipes and anyone elses. Besides, how much trouble do you have with the sugar content of your Veal Piccata?

Save your money and skip this book. You can find more and better information just from surfing the internet.

After using the wonderful recipes on the website, I decided to order the Shake Off the Sugar Cookbook. I like the larger size of the book, which makes it easy to read while using it in the kitchen. This book includes many delicious everyday recipes, but also contains recipes for entertaining. You can have a lovely dinner party using this book, and every guest would enjoy their meal. The yummy recipes often use whole grains, healthy fats and are formulated with extra fiber. It is also nice to have the glycemic index handy, along with all the other helpful information about how to follow a nutritious low glycemic or low carbohydrate diet. Some of the tips and advice are written as lists, making them easy to read and understand. I highly recommend this cookbook for anyone wanting to improve his or her diet.

This book has really helped me find a way to live comfortably with the limitations put on my diet by this disease. It even includes information on the use of stevia--a new, natural (non-chemical) sugar substitute readily available in health food stores. I would recommend "What to Eat" to anyone with diabetes, whether Type I or Type II.

I was very excited to receive this book, but was disappointed upon reading it. I am a librarian who specializes in biological information, and I found this book to be full of both scientific and editorial errors.

The authors can't decide if there are 9 or 11 essential amino acids (most authorities say 8 or 9), and they sometimes mix up amino acids with fatty acids. These and most of the other biological errors are so basic that a high-school biology student should know better. As for the writing, I found non-sensical sentences and entire paragraphs misplaced (such as two paragraphs on legumes under the heading of fruit, instead of the previous heading of legumes where it clearly belonged). It appears that the text was not actually reviewed by a professional editor before it was published.

These scientific and editorial errors are extensive and can make the information presented somewhat confusing. Even worse, it indicates a lack of quality that makes all the information presented highly questionable. This is particularly bad because the authors often push very controversial points of view, which really need to be backed up by a high quality review of good science.

If you do read this book, I highly recommend that you also read books by other authors to get a more balanced view of how to live with diabetes.

"What to Eat If You Have Diabetes" is a great resource for anyone with diabetes, their family members and friends. This book covers everything from the physiology of our bodies to dietary plans. It gives detailed explanations of how diabetes effects the body and what role diet and medications take in the battle against this disease.

There are chapters on exercise and how to eat smart while traveling.

The authors have also included a "suggested reading materials" list.

This book has two main sections. Section one explains the phisiology of diabetes and of certain foods. If you ever wanted to know exactly how certain food groups effects your body's responses, read this section. It is fascinating. The authors themselves tell you to skip this section if you have no interest in it.

Section two describes exactly what foods & supplements are beneficial to eat if you are diabetic and why. It also lists foods in the category (ie: high fiber foods). That is the beauty of this book. many books tell you to eat complex carbohydrates, more fiber, etc but they hardly indentify the foods. The authors also talk about the Glyclemic index which rates foods according to how fast they convert into glucose in your body.

Rapaport spends a few hundred pages telling us things that we already know. When somebody is going through a difficult time they will be emotional and will need the support of those who are important to them. This support will take many forms in different circumstances. There. I just saved you the knowledge you'll glean from reading the entire work. Perhaps a specific situation could be discussed with the author and she would be able to provide helpful pointers. However, for a general text it seems to boil down to nothing more than common sense.

This guide to emotional health focuses on families learning to cope with diabetes--but it is far more than that. The practical advice, tools for learning new coping skills, and stories about real people's struggles to adapt to their disease is inspiring for everyone dealing with the stress of illness. Dr. Rapaport synthesizes psychological strategies from her decades of research and practice to provide clear, straightforward, common-sense advice for the entire family to use everyday. Best of all, her style is breezy, often funny, and full of compassion and insight. She knows not only because she has academic credentials but because she has been there hereself.

This book is for anyone who lives with, is related to, is a friend of or knows someone with diabetes as well as for the person with diabetes. Some may think this book is for a nuclear family with one person who has diabetes but, the author covers many different realtionships like older grandparents and how their children or even grandchildren can relate to them. The book contains cited resources for further reading and many personal vignettes from the author's professional and personl experiences. Dr. Rapaport goes beyond describing the usual exercise, diet and medication management aspects of living with and coping with diabetes. She includes instruction in stress reduction, relaxation techniques, practical examples in assertive communication and other perspectives about living with diabetes. Attitiude and how it impacts on diabetes care and relationships is explored at length. For example, if one views diabetes as a psychosocial and spiritual condition with the medica! l complications the focus of treatment is on the lifestyle and relationships in the person with diabetes life.

I normally turn my nose up at these psycho-babble type books that pretend to know what it is that I'm going through as a person with diabetes for over 20 years. I was pleasantly surprised to find that this book was real. Dr. Rapaport hits a lot of familiar chords, and knows her subject inside and out. She is not patronizing, and her style is clear and easy to follow. I found that I was able to apply her method of positive reframing not only to my diabetes related situations, but to my every day life situations as well. I strongly recommend this book for anyone living with diabetes, for the patient herself, or family, friends and significant others. I hope to see more of Dr. Rapaport's writing in the future. Thanks to her for giving me an improved way to deal.

I have 2 shelves of cookbooks and this one is the one I turn to most often. The recipes here are clean enough that they work with my somewhat capricious-seeming system, and my husband loves the food, too. Mary and Chris's book has lots of fairly easy, very tasty main dishes. For me, having had to move to a fairly focused diet centered on vegetables and light meats, this book provides diversity and fun!

According to Mary Hale her diet therapy for CFIDS will help everyone but I don't agree. It is very strict and punishing and according to her you must eliminate any kind of fruit from your diet because it contains sugar. According to her sugar is a no-no for people with CFIDS but that has not been proven beyond a shadow of a doubt. No two people who have CFIDS are the same and she makes it sound like everyone is. Just remember this, check with your doctor before starting any kind of diet.

I have 2 shelves of cookbooks and this one is the one I turn to most often. The recipes here are clean enough that they work with my somehat capricious-seeming system, and my husband loves the food, too. Mary and Chris's book has lots of fairly easy, very tasty main dishes. For me, having had to move to a fairly focused diet centered on vegetables and light meats, this book provides diversity and fun!

Very helpful tool for diabetics and non-diabetics. Being a grad student in nutritional science, I used the chocolate chip cookie recipe in here for a presentation on healthy baking for diabetics. Surprisingly tasty. The introduction has some excellent tips on how to cut back on fat and sugar while keeping your blood glu levels on target. Well written!

Some of The recipies in this book have super expensive ingredients in them. Some of the recipies are very good. I wish that the book had more of the things that real people can afford. Overall this is a nice book for diabetic cooking.

Forbidden Foods: Diabetic Cooking presents 150 recipes for diabetics and other health conscious eaters. Many traditional comfort foods are transformed to great tasting, flavorful, lower fat versions that are healthful and delicious. Full counts of dietary exchanges, calories, fat and fiber are included with each recipe, as well as prep and cooking times and serving sizes. The introduction contains suggestions for ways to reduce fat, sugar and salt and how to increase flavor. Recipe categories include beverages, snacks, sauces and dressings, faux fried, favorites, pizza and pasta, bread and muffins, and multiple delicious desserts, pies, cookies, puddings and cakes.

It is hard to believe that you can make Eggplant Parmigiana, Banana Cream Pie, Cheesecake, Oven Fried Chicken, French Fries, Buttermilk Biscuits, and salad with Thousand Island dressing and still stay on a balanced reducing or maintainence diet, but you can according to Forbidden Foods. Of course the desserts are fabulous, but it is certainly comforting to know you can have Spaghetti and Meat Balls or Raisin Scones, or Enchilada Casserole in your daily menu. A cookbook like this encourages everyone to find a way to prepare their favorite foods that is within acceptable healthful eating limits.

Being myself a diabetic, I highly recommend Forbidden Foods.

Nancy Lorraine, Reviewer

While the book provided some good information, I was expecting more judging by the title. (I was also surprised at how small the book was given its cost.) Bottom line? There is much more specific and far more up-to-date information available for free on the internet. A quick search under "diabetes mellitus and pregnancy" will provide a wealth of it, including specific (and current) rates of birth defects at what blood sugar levels and which tests should be conducted during which trimester.

I think the problem may be that it's trying to do too much. The introduction states that the book is designed to "present to the clinician a complete package of protocols." Given some of the very basic information, I hope there are no clinicians who don't know some of this stuff.

The first chapter discusses the fact that it's a good idea to talk to women before conception about the importance of good blood sugar control (does anyone not know that?) and lists the doctors one should see and some of the tests that should be conducted. It basicaly suggests a thorough exam for all the diabetic trouble spots--eyes, kidneys, A1c levels, thyroid, etc. All good sense. However, the second chapter is on contraception, which seems unecessary and out of place. Worse, the first chapter boldly states that if the woman has "clinically proven" cardiac disease, she should not only be counseled against pregnancy, but "should be asked to consider permanent sterilization"(!). No discussion about risk factors or degrees of severity--just any cardiac disease equals sterilization. If the book is only geared toward "clinicians," perhaps that's acceptable. But a discussion of birth control, and a list of what kinds of insulin exist and their duration seems geared toward the completely uninitiated. I found it shocking.

A large problem I had was with the graph of birth defect rates, something I was very, very concerned with. It doesn't seem to be labeled accurately. It says it measures number of spontaneous abortions, major malformations and no major malformations in conjunction with HA1c levels in the first trimester. However, above the HA1c levels it says "Mean + SD (standard deviation)." You can't tell what the SD refers to, and it reports some pretty high numbers. I contacted the ADA (publisher) about this since it suggests that an A1c between 7.7 and 9.3 has fewer incidents of major malformation than an A1c below 7.7. The person I corresponded with was very nice, and told me a few times they would get back to me. They finally said I should check with my doctor if I'm pregnant, which did NOT answer the question. I checked the source material listed at the end of the chapter--this graph is based on information from "reference 13," which was an article published in 1979. I found much more current info on my own with a simple internet check.

There was information about the fact that insulin requirements will increase as the pregnancy progresses, but my doctor has a chart that shows you the typical increases. Further, the book Pumping Insulin has a good chapter on pregnancy and what to expect in dosage increases, diet breakdowns and blood sugar goals pre- and post-meal.

Much of the rest of the book seems like common sense, things you could find in almost any book on pregnancy or in some other book designed for the lay person written from the diabetic's point of view rather than the clinician's.

Overall, I wish someone had steered me toward better information. Given the title, I was expecting it to be sort of a "one-stop shop" where I could get all the factual information I would need. Perhaps I expected too much.

I am a pregnant diabetic woman with no medical training, and I highly recommend this book to others like me who want some good information on pregnancy and diabetes. It is appropriate for type I, type II, and gestational diabetes.

It has great facts such as a graph of 1st trimester HbA1c's vs. number of congenital malformations and a table with each congenital malformation and the associated factor of increased risk. Those two things right there were worth the price of the book for me. It also serves as a guide for your entire pregnancy from pre-conception through breastfeeding. It explains the tests that should be performed throughout your pregnancy, how your diabetes should be treated during labor and delivery, and how your baby should be treated after he/she is born.

There were a few small downsides to this book. I did not understand about 5% of it, although I was almost always able to get the gist of it. Another 5% was just more information than I needed or wanted. Also, it sometimes gave perfect-world recommendations that didn't seem practical given the real-world limitations of time, money, and the fact that pregnant diabetic women are humans, not machines!

If you want an informational book on pregnancy and diabetes and you aren't scared off by medical terminology, this is the one to get.

This is a book for diabetic women planning or in pregnancy. It is very detailed and some of the language may be difficult for the lay person. However it goes into great detail about diabetes managment and reducing the risks of complications in the pregnancy. You will learn more here than in any doctor's office. If you are not medically inclined, get the book, read it then ask your doctor or nurse to explain questions that the book evokes about your situation.

I was hoping for a book that gave me fun creative ways to make yummy food for my diabetic son. He gets sick of the same old things all of the time. I really wanted some recipes he would enjoy that were good for him too. There were maybe two recipes in this book that were worth the purchase. The rest of the book was packed full of stuff that most kids wouldn't want to eat. I think it would be a great book for an adult diabetic, but nothing exciting for kids.

This book provides fantastic recipes for children of all ages, and not just those with diabetes. It offers great ideas about how to manage eating, plan meals, and be mindful of food intake, all with easy recipes that produce delicious results. I'll be giving it to many of my friends (both those with and without children)as a gift for the holidays.

This uniquely designed menu book is a breakthrough in our understanding of healthy meal preparation for kids with diabetes, while at the same time promoting healthy eating for all kids. The colorful illustrations make cooking easy and fun. The recipes are attractive and appetizing and include menus for lunch, snacks and parties. This is a must for every family, including camps, hospitals, schools and youth organizations. What a treasure!
Beatrice W. Welters
Founder
Camp Dogwood Summer Academy

Betty Crocker has put together another wonderful and easy-to-follow cookbook. The meals are healthy and tasty. Simple recipes for all "chefs". Worth the purchase and you will not be disappointed.

As a vegan with a diabetic husband I was hoping there would be more vegetarian recipes in the book. As someone who gets sick at the smell of any meat, I simply cannot cook anything with meat in it. So I was a little disappointed that there were not more veg. recipes.