If you or a family member has diabetes, food preparation may seem like a chore or a deprivation. What can you cook that tastes good and fits the diabetes guidelines? The authors of
Diabetes cook book for Dummies, diabetes expert Alan Rubin (who also wrote
Diabetes for Dummies) and registered dietician Fran Stach, have come up with dishes that will please not just the human being with diabetes but the whole family. The diabetes diet is healthy for all of us, and if we can make it taste good, we all benefit.
That's where this book shines. The 112 recipes are as creative and tasty as they are healthy, yet most take a half hour or less of preparation (plus cooking time). Recipes include Soy Waffles, Crispy Corn French Toast, Portobello Paté, Carrot Soup with Leek and Blood Orange, Mango Tortilla Salad, Oriental Beef and Noodle Salad, and Spaghetti Squash with Fresh Basil, plus a variety of fish, meat, and
poultry entrées. Some of the recipes were created by chef Denise Sharf; others were contributed by gourmet restaurants. All recipes include nutritional information: calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat, saturated fat, cholesterol, fiber, sodium, and exchanges.
Diabetes cook book for Dummies is more than a compilation of recipes. The book also gives guidelines for "what, when, and how much" to eat, including tips for visualizing portions (an ounce of
meat is the size of a matchbox; an ounce of cheese is the size of a domino; a medium potato is the size of a computer mouse). You'll get shopping and cooking tips and illustrated food-preparation steps to help novice cooks.
Like the whole For Dummies line, the style is simple, friendly, clever, and sometimes laugh-out-loud funny, such as, "Don't go to a paint store and expect to get thinner there."
-- Joan Price
--This text refers to an alternate
Paperback
edition.
Reader Reviews
This review is from: Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies (Paperback)
When diabetics think of diet, the word that comes to mind is restriction. As you read and work with this volume, which is much more than a cookbook, you'll lose the negativity that governs so many diabetics' thinking, and feeling, about food. It's a liberating volume. Plus the recipes are easy, interesting, and exciting. For the recipes that I've tried, I found all the ingredients readily available in any supermarket. Preparation methods and times are keyed to busy lifestyles. Most take a half-hour or less. But more importantly, the information about food and meals is presented in such an engaging way that I found myself excited about working on my diet. Believe me, until I read this book, about the last thing I wanted to do was read a diabetic cookbook. To me the very idea of a diabetic cookbook previously had been one of rules, restrictions, no-nos, and dullness. From the very first page -- on which Dr Rubin and Ms Stach help you figure out exactly and specifically what your daily food intake ought to be, given your own individual condition, -- the authors are intent on making eating fun, and a positive, integral element in controlling your diabetes. Dr. Rubin clearly presents information on such recent developments as the glycemic index and on how to time medications around meal times. His insights on how to deal with medications when eating out are enormously helpful. This a modern book, keyed not only to science and nutrition, but also to our lifestyles. The authors don't utter instructions - they walk you through typical experiences. I travel a lot and learned a lot from the "road trips" in the book where in the authors actually sit you down in restaurants as varied as McDonald's, Denny's, and even the Ritz Carlton. "Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies" is full of real-life insight, and is written in a friendly, companionable fashion. As a diabetic, thinking about diet used to just give me a headache. Now, as a result of having read and absorbed so much of the information in Dr. Rubin's "Diabetes Cookbook for Dummies", diet is no longer a pitfall and a burden, but fun, and a powerful tool in controlling my diabetes. This is the one food book a diabetic needs. It's the food book every diabetic should have. Really terrific.
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