Diabetic-Diet Books

Recipes are intricate, difficult and call for ingredients that are not "on hand" for the average person, especially a working family.

I didn't like this cookbook because it had odd ingredients. A gourmet cook or someone dying of boredom from regular cooking might enjoy it though.

Nothing new here. Same old, same old cookie cutter advice for diabetics.

Being a fairly NEW diabetic I was looking for simple recipes to follow and this book has it all!

I have been a diabetic for several years and purchased this book simply to see what it contained. I have found several ideas for myself and a great many items that would be very usefull for a recently diagnosed diabetic who wants to get started cookin good food without haveing to worry about the fact that it ordinary food and not what the usual types of food that the doctors and Neutritionists recommend.
DiabeticAries

I keep this cookbook in the drawer next to the stove. It has been a god send. I love the last chapter on flavor enhancers. The Sweet and Spicy Texas Rub goes in all the grill meats, and the traditional barbecue sauce makes killer barbecue wings, I would put these in competition with any sugar loaded barbecue wings. My key secret is that I replace the stevia with splenda and follow the packet requirements in the recipes. The only recipe I didn't like was a recipe for Peanut Butter balls. No-Bake Cheesecake recipe I have memorized (not intentionally). I have several Lo-Carb cookbooks this is my favorite.

I was so excited to find this cookbook as I am trying to eliminate harmful chemicals from my diet. I tried more than half of these recipes, each of them a total disaster. I thought it was the quality of stevia, so I bought several different kinds. Still, each concoction had a san turn out.

NOT user friendly. The measurements are in metrics. I would not buy this book again.

Lots of recipes that only require a little sweetening, with stevia substituted for sugar. I could do that on my own. Too many of the "tough" recipes, like desserts, flopped and had to be thrown out when I tried them, and I am not usually too stupid to follow a recipe.

I would like to respond to the person suggesting the key to success for these recipes is to substitute Splenda for Stevia. Hello??!!! The whole point of Stevia is that it is a natural sweetener, not a chemical who's long-term effects ARE untested and will likely end up the way of toxic aspartame. This review did not help me decide at all whether this book is worth purchasing.

The book is very informative(so far) as a basic ingredient review, but there are glaring errors on page 114-115 (paperback version)in the section entitled 'kitchen hygiene'. While cooking food to the correct temperatures to prevent foodborne illnesses is certainly important, cooking roasts to 290 F; burgers to 320 F and poultry to 360 F, will yield a totally inedible and revolting product. Likewise, reheating leftovers to 330 F will not aid in economical use of leftovers. (The correct temperatures should be approximately 140F, 160F, 180F and 160 F, respectively). Should you need exact numbers or a specific reference, almost any other cookbook will have data on proper cooking temperatires, as will your local health department.

Despite the comments about the recipes (none of which I have tried), I liked the book - especially the organization of it, the way the foods are listed with their important vitamin/mineral/etc. I think it is a very good book to have for any mother or father, as a source of reference, even if the recipes aren't used b/c at least you know what food is providing your child with what nutrient. I checked it out at the library, read it and wanted it immediately. My mother saw it on my coffee table, read it and also wanted it just for herself.

The concept of this book was good. but the recipes are poorly written, sometimes with steps apparently left out. Even if the recipes are followed as written, the final product does not come out properly. In addition, my kids would not eat any of the recipes I made from this book. (Although my husband & I liked some of them). If you are looking for a children's cookbook I would look elsewhere.

With over 150 delicious recipes, you will want to try some of these recipes for yourself. Kids and adults alike will enjoy recipes for Berry Delight drinks or chicken patties in a soft tortilla. There are appealing and quick alternatives to fast food and non-nutritious snacks.

The authors Michael van Straten and Barbara Griggs have experience in the area of nutrition. Michael van Straten is a well-known medicine practitioner in the UK and is a practicing naturopath and nutritional consultant. Barbara Griggs has been studying and writing about complementary medicine for the past 25 years and is the health editor of Country Living magazine.

In this collection, you will find weekly menu plans for every stage of childhood, from conception to the teenage years. An interesting link between diet and allergies, behavioral problems and eating disorders is also helpful for parents dealing with these complex issues.

Nutritious food is now possible with Superfoods for Children. Delicious nourishing dishes can be made for your child to encourage healthy eating habits. There is a comprehensive guide to 130 top ingredients that form the building blocks of healthy eating for children. Vegetables, fruits, dairy products, grains, nuts and seeds, meats, fish, herbs and oils are then used in delicious recipes.

They do say that butter is better than margarine...ok, they get 5 stars just for that comment! I also appreciated the extra section on "Danger Foods." These are foods which used to be occasional treats but have now become part of our children's everyday eating. The authors explain why these foods are not healthy and in detail! I guess some of the items they discuss are not good for adults either.

Some recipes serve 4-6, while others serve 1 or 2. If you are at home cooking for your children, you will not have to make another meal for yourself. Overall, a very well organized book with some wonderful information for special food problems. With so much hyperactivity and children who find it hard to concentrate, parents might find their children become calmer after cooking for them at home and following nutritional guidelines. Studies were conducted which showed dramatic improvements in behavior within a week of being on a monitored diet.

~The Rebecca Review

Interesting book to read but recipes are complicated, time consuming and if that's not enough the 3 we tested tasted horrible. Food for little fingers is a much better book for both toddlers and youngsters.

This book is great for giving multiple option on what alternative natural sweeteners to use, as well as alternative flours, thickeners, etc. Its great for anyone dealing with unusual food allergies, as it doesn't cater to only the Top 8 allergens most allergy cookbooks do. The recipes are healthy, for the most part considering it is a book on desserts. It includes a lot of additional information, including instructions on how to make your own soy & nut milks for baking, as well as making substitution & working with a lot of different ingredients not used in typical baking, but that are common in allergy baking.

As for the other reviewer finding fault with ONE recipe calling for large amounts of ingredients, such as 4 cups dried apricots, 12 separated eggs, 6 cups ground nuts, etc, it is called a "Forbidden Fantasy Cake", so it is not something you would be making every day. And it makes 3- 8" spring form pans, which is a lot of cake; divide everything 3 and it looks like a pretty typical recipe. Many of the recipes are actually egg free and/or gluten free, and are labeled as such. I love that the author give me options, if I need to make something GF, I can make using flour x, if not, use flour z. As for listing pan size, its typically listed in the same line as preheating the oven, where it tells you to prepare x-sized pan type, so it doesn't need to be repeated when it comes to pouring batter into pan.

I'd recommend the book to anyone who is looking for way to continue to enjoy sweets while trying to avoid the most commonly used refined sugars- cane sugar, beet sugar, or corn syrup, whether due to allergies or other dietary or personal reasons. Even if you don't end up using every recipe, the book is a good reference & guide.

I agree with the other reviews that this book could have used a more discerning editor but there are some very helpful ideas in here for anyone trying to eliminate processed sugar from their diet. The sugar-free crumb toppings are a nice easy way to turn any fruit into a dessert and their are good substitutions recommended for sugar, dairy, chocolate, peanut butter, eggs and baking powder (which I hate to use). If you are a creative cook and baker and I think you will appreciate some of the authors ideas.

Healthy? Almost all of the cake and cookie recipes call for eggs -- usually a minimum of 3 and most 6 or even 12! They have to be separated, so egg substitutes aren't an option... Convenient? If you happen to have 4 cups of dried apricots, maize flour and 3 cups of ground nuts to go in the 12 egg recipe... Thorough and tested? By the way, the recipe that lists apricots as an ingredient doesn't ever USE the apricots...

I just hate wasting my time trying to make a recipe from a cook book like this. For one thing, the author says things like, "Put batter in a pan." Um, what size pan?? And she makes no recommendations for which sweetener she uses for each recipe. Well, a half cup of raspberry jam used as a sweetener is going to have a whole different taste than a half cup of rice syrup. I have made one recipe from the book and it's a disaster; there was obviously a typo, probably in the amount of flour she says to use. I don't recommend this book to anyone.

This is a good book but not enough down home recipes for the everyday family

I did not find this cookbook as difficult to use as the other reviewer. The recipes are fairly straighforward and taste good. The thing that drives me CRAZY is that this is a cookbook for people who are really trying to control what they eat and the book does not even give serving sizes! It says a recipe serves 4-6 or makes 40 cookies, then gives nutritional info per serving but never tells you how many cookies are in a serving?!

Why must most cookbooks, even one for diabetics, try to be a "gourmet" cooking experience? Stock your spice rack and pantry well before preparing these recipes and you will be rewarded for your culinary efforts. Well, maybe.

I am by no means a "meat and potatoes" person and enjoy preparing tasty dishes, but why can't someone compile a collection of healthy recipes of simple, home-style cooking. Smothering perfectly good cuts of meats with onions, adding curry to everything "under the sun" or using not-so-common spices isn't my idea of everyday recipes let alone a "best of" cookbook.

This book was given a favorable review in our local paper. After receiving this cookbook, I re-read the article to be sure they reviewed the same book. What were they thinking?

Having just been diagnosed with Diabetes I thought my life was over until I found this cookbook. It has been a lifesaver! The receipes are easy to follow and most ingredients you already have at home. I'm now purchasing for others in my family so they can enjoy it as much as I do. The layout of the book is easy to follow and very user friendly. I've thoroughly enjoyed this cookbook. I would recommend it to anyone - Diabetic or not. It's a healthier way to live and you'll feel great!

This cookbook contains recipes with very high carbohydrate counts. I follow a low-carb diet for health reasons (not vanity), and I could never eat any of the items in this cookbook. I am an excellent cook, and I've come up with some wonderful low-carb desserts; but I was hoping for something original. Instead, I found too, too, too many carbs! People with diabetes may also have carbohydrate intolerance, and they should be careful of what they eat in terms of carbs. Even their doctors may not advise them of this problem since many diabetic diets still recommend a high percentage of daily intake be in the form of complex carbohydrates. I did not prepare any of the recipes, so I can't comment on the results. I returned the book.

I tried two recipes in this book, Creamy Chocolate Mousse. p 96 and Butterscotch-Chocolate Fudge, p 24.

The mousse is the worst thing to ever have passed my lips. I don't know why all those ingredients were wasted in this recipe; because the only thing I tasted was the cream cheese and the instant coffee. It is reprehensible that one could taste this concoction and still place in a recipe book to make others ill.

The "fudge" is anything but. It never attains the consistency of fudge, turning instead, to a gellatenous mess that can't even be washed down the drain. It must be thrown in the garbage - OUTSIDE - so that it does not stink up the house.

I think Ms. Finsand, and all those who contributed to this book should be required to spend the rest of their lives eating nothing but the recipes in this book. She should at least taste every recipe in the book before publishing it.

I think the review by Kathy Anderson, who claimed that the recipes in this book have too many carbohydrates, is unfair and inaccurate. The lengthy, informative, and detailed introduction by Linda Eugene, RD, CDE, explains that "Most of the recipes do not exceed 40 grams of total carbohydrate per serving." Moreover, she discusses at length how diabetics must take a balanced and comprehensive approach to their diet, and taking a splurge on a dessert is always going to require an adjustment elsewhere in one's food intake. Last, she is very oncrete on one crucial point: "The key to including desserts in any meal plan is to focus on portion sizes.... The aim of this book is to offer dessert recipes that taste great. Serving sizes may be smaller, but your sweet tooth will be more satisfied with a small slice of something moist, creamy, and delicious that with a large slice of something dry, bitter, and tasteless." This is a book of desserts, after all--1,001 of them. I haven't made every recipe in this book, but I can vouch for the amazing variety of great recipes here--and for the fact that if you follow the book's directions regarding ingredients, meal planning, and portion control, this book can be a great complement to any diabetes-safe kitchen. Be smart, and enjoy.

I cannot understand how anyone with diabetes or a carbohydrate intolerance of any kind could eat any of these items. They are so high in carbohydrates. I follow a low-carbohydrate regimen for health reasons (not vanity), and I could safely eat none of the recipes found in this tome. I returned the book

The recipes look great, but are unrealistic for the population I work with and the geographic area I am located in. I am in a small Mid-western community without access to alot of these food items. I have been able to use some of the recipes and love those recipes I have tried. Thanks for the great recommendation.

I was VERY disappointed with this book. The Joslin quick and easy recipe book is great however. The healthy carb book is definately only for people who like thier meat still on the hoof. The recipes are unrealistic and I too, found the carb ratios are not what is recommended in the real world. I have better results keeping the Joslin bible in my head, but working with the Zone Cookbook. Be sure your dr agrees b4 you try this at home ;0

I was given this book during a diabetes education class. I'm sorry, but eating as many carbohydrates as this book recommends is not helpful to diabetics. If I ate one serving of most recipes, my blood glucose would shoot way up. I guess if you are looking to keep the pharmaceutical industry in business, this is a good way.

This is a good cookbook for vegetarians and relatively inactive ones at that. The meal plans in the back are based on about 1500 calories which would be about 700 or more deficient if you are relatively active.

If you like meat, poultry or fish seek out a different cookbook.

It does have desserts BUT many of the recipes state sugar substitute without giving any hints as to which of the many to use. Since they vary in sweetness and some are packaged as measure for measure equivalent to sucrose, having a recipe saying one packet or 1/8 tsp. may leave you under or over sweetened depending upon what variety you use.

It's clear from the previous reviewer that she didn't even TRY the recipes - in fact she said she returned the book within 10 minutes.

My only criticism of the book is that I'd like to see more recipes. I actually tried them out and was really grateful that I could eat zero-carb cupcakes that tased this good! And the pizza crust was ingenious. I already use the Palm oil in my cooking, the health benefits and the taste are to my liking. This is the same oil that's used in Skippy natural peanut butter for those that have tried it.

I suggest trying the recipes, then if you don't like them, amazon always accepts refunds. These recipes are for those that actually care what they eat, seems the previous reviewer was eating a Big Mac while briefly skimming through the pages.

4 recipes? That's all she wrote! And even forgot to proofread her "book" unless blood is now spelled blodd. Seems like something thrown together to capitalize on dieters' and diabetics' search for a miracle. This isn't one.

Since Zero stars aren't available, I'll have to give this faux, so-called 'cookbook' one. This total rip-off now makes the lack of cover and inability to download a sample understandable, since the sample would be the entire book!

There are precisely *4* recipes in this 'book,' for: Pizza, Buttermilk Biscuits, Cupcakes!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (yes, that's exactly how it's written), and Gingerbread Cookies.

As if that weren't bad enough, every single recipe calls for RED PALM OIL (yes, in caps every time), which, according to the author, will: "Clean you out GOOD!"

Erm . . . yech? Perhaps a better title for this piece would be "Drano Low Carb Recipes I Personally Love, Especially If I Get You To Pay Money For Them."

Shame on the 'author' for "publishing" this, and kudos to Amazon for refunding my purchase price five minutes after I downloaded it.

This book (small 3-ring binder), has some interesting recipes, but not very many, considering the new price of the book. The author uses stevia and malitol for sweeteners.

The biggest problem I have with the book is that there is no nutritional information provided other than the carb count per serving. Carbs are not the only thing people are keeping track of when trying to eat. Some of the recipes (such as the mashed cauliflower ones) use more full-fat dairy products than you really need. Low-Carb doesn't always have to be high fat.

On the other hand, there is enough extra space in the binder to put in some of your own low-carb holiday recipes, if you want to.

Borrow from your library first, before buying.

Thanksgiving dinner hasn't even been served yet, and already the pumpkin soup and trial-run gravy have gone down the drain, literally. The soup had the appearance and texture of wet cement and absolutely no flavor. The gravy, supposedly thickened with almond flour, was runny and gritty. Neither was fit to serve. Fortunately, I chose the rest of Thanksgiving dinner from Fran McCullough's low-carb cookbooks, which I have used with great success before. McCullough has excellent taste; John Owen apparently has none at all.