The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes

by Janis Jibrin, Bob Greene, John J. Merendino Jr.

Book Overview

Bob Greene has helped millions of Americans become fit and healthy with his life-changing Best Life plan. Now, for the first time, Oprah's trusted expert on diet and fitness teams up with a leading endocrinologist and an expert dietitian to offer a Best Life program tailored to the needs of people with diabetes and pre-diabetes. Coping with the unique challenges of living with these conditions can feel like a full-time job. That's why The Best Life...

• Format: Hardcover
• Language: English
• ISBN: 1416588388
• ISBN13: 9781416588382
• Release Date: November 2009
• Publisher: Simon & Schuster
• Length: 371 Pages
• Weight: 1.62 lbs.
• Dimensions: 1.3" x 6.4" x 9.5"

Customer Reviews

lots of good info

a good book that someone like myself can benefit from having polycystic ovarian syndrome aka insulin resistence as well as type 2 diabetes. chuck full of good info on diabetes and managing it as well as prediabetic/insulin resistence problems. has a good section on the glycemic index and foods as well . i find it to be a very helpful and useful book for my conditions i have and will use it to reference back to it from time to time now that i have it.

A Great Book on Understanding and Living With Pre-Diabetes and Diabetes

I picked up this book because two of my friends have diabetes and unless I lose weight and exercise my doctor thinks I am a very likely candidate for it as well. This book offered me the best explanation of what diabetes and pre-diabetes is and how to prevent pre-diabetes and better live with diabetes. It also offered me a practical guide on how to prepare foods for my friends who have the disease and what to eat so I won't come down with the disease. Four criteria are important to me when I pick up a health book like this. I want it to be up to date when it comes to information, I want to explain things in a thorough but understandable fashion, I want it to be interesting enough to finish and I want it to give me practical advice on what to do to prevent or address my health problem. This book successfully addresses all the criteria. The book has seven chapters all which lead to the next. All flow well together as a whole. The chapters are thorough so while I will attempt to summarize them I know I am leaving things out. Chapter one looks at diabetes and pre-diabetes. It looks at everything from the causes of the disease to how it is diagnosed and talks about how both are managed. People with Pre-diabetes can, in many cases, stop the disease with simple lifestyle changes. The chapter leads directly to the second, third and fourth chapters. Chapter two is titled "Phase One: Taking Control of Your Blood Sugar". It looks at ways of measuring blood sugar as well as ways of controlling blood sugar through eating and exercise. It explores foods that are good to eat and examines subjects like artificial sweeteners and when to eat what food. Chapter three is titled "Phase Two: Fine Tuning Your Diet". It is a chapter that is good for anyone who wants to understand nutrition and how it affects the sugar levels in your body as well as what foods are less likely to lead to weight gain. It looks at carbohydrates, proteins and fats. It talks about vitamins and different types of grains. It is thorough but easy to understand. Chapter four is titled "Phase Three: Living Your Best Life". It gives practical advice about working with your doctor. It also addresses concerns about the disease such as depression or concerns that a person can't control their diet. Most importantly, it lets the reader know that diabetes will not ruin your life. Chapter Five looks at the drugs used to treat diabetes. It looks at cost, how the drugs work and what side effects may occur from them. Chapter Six looks at Diabetes Friendly Meal Plans and is full of recipes that even non-diabetics can enjoy. It has some great easy recipes. The book has three appendixes that include a diabetes management log, a list of carbohydrate counts and a 12-week fitness plan. There is also a book index and a recipe index. I don't have diabetes and if I learn from this book I will not get it. When my diabetic friends come over I will now be able to offer them meals and treats that wil

Awesome even if you are not at risk

I do not have a sugar problem, but some of my relatives have Type II diabetes. My wife avoided gestational diabetes with our first child, and so far she's okay with the second child. Of course my relatives living with diabtes ate without thinking and rarely excercised. I did not know that Bob Greene is involved with the Best Life plan. However, I have seen the best life on certain foods I buy. That being said, this is a robust 'bible' of the who, what, when, where, how and why. I must be honest, I am familiar with how to help reduce my risk for diabetes. In the past, I have read up on low glycemic foods. But I wanted to drill down more into the diet and science behind it. Of course having a meal plan is great too. Despite my background knowledge, I still found his charts and plan to be great. This is a roadmap that we can all learn from. As a sidebar, you should Google Steven Burd of Safeway supermarkets. Read how they cut their healthcare costs based on lifestyle changes. Notice what he said about diabetes. Update... My mother-in-law tried to take the book from me. She's not at risk, but knows way too many people with Typee II diabetes.

Useful for non-diabetics too

It's routine that my mother and I go to the Taste of Chicago every year, but the first time we went after she found out she was diabetic, she burst into tears realizing how much she could not eat. I was completely blown away. Diabetes is hereditary on both sides of my family so I didn't understand why she was so surprised she got it. But watching her and her reaction made me rethink my own beliefs: Why should I act like people should expect to get it even if it does run in the family? From then on, I started paying more attention to my own diet and weight. Strange enough this was also the time I was contemplating being a vegetarian. So a mix of the interest in healthy eating and trying to avoid diabetes makes me pay far more attention to health than I used to during my high school and college years. Although this book is about managing diabetes, I think it's beneficial for anyone who wants to learn how family members and friends deal with diabetes. People without diabetes (including myself) have a habit of becoming unlicensed doctors and always want to tell other folks how to eat without actually understanding diabetes. This book ran it down for me so I finally understand how insulin and glucose work together, and I wasn't bored to death by the time I read the full explanation. As a five-year vegetarian with a clean bill of health, all the food suggestions are things I already eat on a regular basis (I love BBQ tofu), but I never knew much about the vitamin end. I took multivitamins because my doctor told me to since I was getting weak from not eating meat (Vitamin B12 is in it), but I never really understood the point especially when vegetables should do the same thing. The vitamin chapter was helpful for me. I'm going to share this book with family members because it was such a useful and educational read. And the parts about pre-diabetes were extremely helpful because I've had this argument time and again that pre-diabetes does not automatically mean you have diabetes. Now I have a reliable book to back it up for another family member who swears it's true.

Pleasantly Surprised--Good for Pre-Diabetics, GD, or Type 2

I've read a few of Bob Greene's other books, so I thought he'd basically be packaging the same info. I was pleasantly surprised (perhaps because one of his co-authors is a prominent endocrinologist). As a side note, I had insulin-dependent gestational diabetes for three pregnancies, which did not resolve after the last one (so I have type 2). I've kept my HbA1C The first chapter does a really good job in explaining HbA1C, blood glucose monitors, and testing. There's a good chart which shows what a HbA1c translates into in terms of average blood glucose. The best part is that Bob acknowledges that testing strips are wicked expensive--and recommends focusing on a different meal each day for testing. Basically, you end up doing two testings per day rather than 5 or 6. So, Day 1 you might do your fasting a.m., and 2 hours after breakfast. Day 2, before and after lunch (2 hours post prandial). Day 3, before dinner and post-prandial. Etc. There's also a great chart on how to interpret your highs and lows (p. 46). Like Bob's previous books, he believes in small changes. The difference is you won't have a month of getting ready/mental prep type stuff. You have diabetes (or are pre-diabetic)... your body really can't stand another month of sky rocketing blood glucose levels. Still, he starts out gentle. The basic diet plan is a carb controlled...looked at low-GI foods whenever possible. The first 4 weeks, phase one, you're supposed to focus on blood glucose testing (see above), watching carbs, and a gradual increase in exercise. Food-wise, phase one, we're talking three meals and two or three snacks (depending on your calorie level). There are four calorie levels with corresponding carb levels: 1500 (144 g.), 1700 (154 g.), 2000 (191 g.), and 2250 (212 g.). Bob breaks the carb levels into meals and snacks so that you're not over-consuming at any one meal. Like Bob's other books, he's against night-time eating...so no eating two hours prior to bedtime (probably a good idea to help prevent a high a.m. fasting.) He also says cut out alcohol in phase one as well as sweetened beverages. Exercise-wise, phase one and if you're a couch potato, he's hoping to get you moving. Something aerobic, 15 minutes, 3x/week ideally. Add 2 minutes each week until you hit 30 minutes. If you're already exercising, then you'll add strength training. One surprise is that it is recommended that you get a stress test if you're over 40 and diabetic. Period. Phase two is about fine-tuning your diet. Increasing your exercise another notch (optional, but recommended), looking more at high quality food on your plate (low G.I., low refined, high quality protein, healthy fats), and adding vitamins. The book also has chapters on diabetes drugs as well as drugs diabetics often take... including statins and ACE inhibitors. The last part of the book includes some meal plans and recipes... as well as charts you can use to track carbs, blood sugar, etc. Two