Diabates of the Second Kind
October 19, 2016 9:33 AM Subscribe
I need a good book about Diabetes Type 2, one that's a notch about 'Diabetes for Dummies'.
And I need a good resource for looking up glycemic loads. Can be an app. The ones I can find online are either puzzlingly limited (Harved doesn't think I ened to know the GL of cucumbers) or have pictures of celebrities on them and seem untrustworthy.
Dr Bernstein's Diabetes Solution by Richard Bernstein
Bernstein's website has a bunch of the book online, so you can preview it, and lots of other bits and pieces.
Blood Sugar 101 by Jenny Ruhl
Blood sugar 101 website
These two are good starting points for the low-carb approach.
Basically, the low-carb approach says that:
a) the core thing diabetics must do to avoid or reverse the bad complications of diabetes is to control their blood sugar, ideally getting as close as (safely) possible to a non-diabetic's, and...
b) the best way to do that is to eat a very, very low carbohydrate diet and test blood sugar often to see how different foods are actually affecting you (since it can vary a lot person-to-person).
c) also exercise and meds/insulin. But get the diet right and everything else becomes easier.
Both books give a lot of explanation of the reasoning and the how-to aspect. Both go against the "conventional wisdom" recommendations of the American Diabetes Association, which still recommends that diabetics eat carbs and keep blood sugar numbers higher. Both have very extensive materials online, so you can really get a sense of whether you're on board with their approach and writing style etc before buying a book.
The Bernstein book has the title and cover design of something that kind of looks like a fad diet book, IMO, but don't be put off by that. There is a ton of useful information in the book about how diabetes works, little how-to tips and observations and so on. Bernstein is very opinionated and recommends a very restricted diet (very low carb), so you may not follow his program 100%, but the information is good to have so you can consider it as one point on the spectrum. IME it's useful to hear a very different line than you'll get from Certified Diabetes Educators, who have to (more or less) follow the ADA's recommendations, so they aren't likely to push for a really hardline approach.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:34 PM on October 19, 2016
Bernstein's website has a bunch of the book online, so you can preview it, and lots of other bits and pieces.
Blood Sugar 101 by Jenny Ruhl
Blood sugar 101 website
These two are good starting points for the low-carb approach.
Basically, the low-carb approach says that:
a) the core thing diabetics must do to avoid or reverse the bad complications of diabetes is to control their blood sugar, ideally getting as close as (safely) possible to a non-diabetic's, and...
b) the best way to do that is to eat a very, very low carbohydrate diet and test blood sugar often to see how different foods are actually affecting you (since it can vary a lot person-to-person).
c) also exercise and meds/insulin. But get the diet right and everything else becomes easier.
Both books give a lot of explanation of the reasoning and the how-to aspect. Both go against the "conventional wisdom" recommendations of the American Diabetes Association, which still recommends that diabetics eat carbs and keep blood sugar numbers higher. Both have very extensive materials online, so you can really get a sense of whether you're on board with their approach and writing style etc before buying a book.
The Bernstein book has the title and cover design of something that kind of looks like a fad diet book, IMO, but don't be put off by that. There is a ton of useful information in the book about how diabetes works, little how-to tips and observations and so on. Bernstein is very opinionated and recommends a very restricted diet (very low carb), so you may not follow his program 100%, but the information is good to have so you can consider it as one point on the spectrum. IME it's useful to hear a very different line than you'll get from Certified Diabetes Educators, who have to (more or less) follow the ADA's recommendations, so they aren't likely to push for a really hardline approach.
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:34 PM on October 19, 2016
(gnomeloaf's rec is probably better if you're getting just one book, especially if it's a book for someone else. The ones I mention are maybe more for the digging-in Mefi nerd.)
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:51 PM on October 19, 2016
posted by LobsterMitten at 4:51 PM on October 19, 2016
I find this to be one of the best glycemic load reference tables on the web that I've located so far.
posted by treehorn+bunny at 9:57 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
posted by treehorn+bunny at 9:57 PM on October 21, 2016 [1 favorite]
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posted by gnomeloaf at 10:06 AM on October 19, 2016 [2 favorites]