When it comes to managing diabetes, knowledge is power. The more you know about diabetes, the better you can control it and minimize your risk of complications. Hopefully, by reading this book and putting some ideas into practice, you will have taken the first steps toward learning all you can about diabetes.
Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) presently affects over 24 million Americans, and projections suggest that the number of diabetics will double to an astounding 50 million within the next twenty-five years. Our focus as health care professionals must be to identify the condition with its initial manifestations in order to facilitate early intervention with therapeutic lifestyle changes and hopefully delay pharmacological treatment, with its inherent side effects.
Dietary management of diabetes does not mean carb abstinence, a prevailing myth. As aptly noted, it is the reduction of carbohydrates, as well as emphasizing the consumption of more complex carbs than simple sugars, that remains imperative. The section on carbs clearly distinguishes simple versus complex carbs and represents a significant point while presenting a clearer understanding to the reader. These general recommendations are both sensible and helpful hints. As a society, we tend to supersize most of our food portions; hence, I commend the emphasis on portion control that is critically important to follow on a daily basis.
Although most people think they're familiar with cholesterol/fats, in general their know-how is rather vague when it comes to differentiating saturated versus unsaturated fats; therefore, the section on fats explicitly defines the distinction between them. This is a valuable piece of information, as in recent years both the American Diabetes Association and the American Heart Association equate diabetes mellitus to coronary artery disease. In this context, nutritional management of diabetes mellitus must and should include reducing intakes of fats, specifically saturated fats.
The hallmark of this book is its simplicity — it is easy to read, easy to comprehend, and easy to execute. While there is a plethora of dietetic information accessible to the public, this book harnesses the information for daily application. Therapeutic lifestyle change means behavior modification, nutritional balance, regular exercise, and weight reduction. Not only does this book provide valuable nutritional tidbits in the management of diabetes mellitus, it offers helpful suggestions to promote a healthier lifestyle.
C. Ranjay Nath, MD