American Diabetes Association Complete Guide to Diabetes

We purchased this book on the recommendation of my husband's physician, and have found it thorough, informative and helpful in understanding the disease and what he can do to keep it under control.

I have had diabetes for quite a few years, but recently was promoted to insulin status. I have been searching for a single source of information that was both simple and yet included more technical details of what was going on.

The book does a very credible job of both for many aspects of diabetes. As an example, it provides a description how insulin works at the body and cell level, the effects of exercise, diet, timing, lifestyle, and many of the other factors that affect blood glucose levels. The descriptions start at a high level (e.g. exercise uses glucose in the blood, so levels tend to drop) to a more theoretical discussion of insulin interacting at the cellular level within your body and how your liver and other organs react.

The same type of treatment is also provided for other subjects, ranging form what to do when you are sick; sex and libido issues; diet; types of insulin; managing diabetes around sports, exercise, work, travel, stress, family, entertaining; interaction of factors; complications of high and low sugars; and a bunch more.

In short, there are no doubt books which cover individual aspects of any part of diabetes with more detail and rigor, but if you want one book that does a very credible job on most of the topics, this is a good choice.

PROS:
Very readable.

Well organized- individual topics are fairly well indexed and broken down by topic, and for each topic, the discussion breaks down how this might affect different portions of the population (e.g. Type1, Type2, Gestational).

Seems to be written by people who both have actual experience as diabetics and real medical knowledge. Does not have the latest fads.

Reasonably up-to-date

A lot of info for less than $10

CONS:
My guess is that different sections are edited by different people, so the same information can be repeated multiple times. Still, it does serve to make each section self-contained.

Some of the stuff is a little obvious- such as the tip to shop around for best prices on insulin. Still, my guess is that no matter how obvious, someone probably never thought of it.

Sections on health care coverage are so general as to be useless

I would have liked to see more references included for nerds like myself who would like to read more technical reference on the subject. Sure, you can go hunt for them, but the authors no doubt had them at their fingertips.


SUMMARY:
An outstanding value, lots of good info. I had confidence that the material was good information, not someone's opinion

A lot of outdated thinking.
The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle is more effective at controlling diabetes, and will help you develop a much healthier lifestyle. Look:

The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle: Lifestyle Center of America's Complete Program to Stop Diabetes, Restore Health,and Build Natural Vitality

The 30-Day Diabetes Miracle Cookbook: Stop Diabetes with an Easy-to-Follow Plant-Based, Carb-Counting Diet

This is a great book that is very informative. It gives a complete look at diabetes! There are times that the read was dry & technical, but easy to understand.

This is a very clear, direct book about the types of diabetes. It is also a helpful book for people who may be in danger of developing diabetes. A very supportive reference.