Book Review: The Little Diabetes Book You Need to Read

I was looking around on the Internet and checking out various blogs (which I will get around to posting my favourites) for books that maybe of interest to me about diabetes. In one of the sites, I came across this book by Michael A. Weiss & Martha M. Funnell "The Little Diabetes Book You Need to Read".

I really liked this book. Of course, coming from reading Berenstein's book where he is a doctor on a high horse, almost anything would have sounded more sympathic. The book opens up with a brief introduction on how the book will help you. Then it goes into the usual what is diabetes is, what caused it, and what not. It essentially outlines how you can be successful in managing this disease or condition (whatever you want to call it).

I liked this book because it essentially says that everyone is different in how they manage their diabetes. What works for one person doesn't always work for someone else (unlike Berenstien's book). They start to refer to diabetes and YOUR diabetes. Its not someone's else, because you are basically in charge of your own care. The doctors, specialists, educators and dietitians can give you the tools and advice for you. But ultimately you are the one who is responsible for how much or little you follow the advice.

The book isn't just for diabetics but there are sections at the end of each chapter for loved ones or people who care for diabetics to read. Again, its about the person who has the disease and how they deal with things. Some people can get really frustrated if their s/o constantly asks how is your blood sugar? Or nags and says, "You can't eat that ..." Other people may thrive on such demands by their loved ones, I don't. Again, its all about who you are.

I really enjoyed it and provided steps for an 'action plan' to manage your diabetes. It uses a lot of sports references in the development of the action plan, learning your enemy (diabetes), knowing your teammates (specialist, doctorb, dietitian and loved ones) and developing a plan (daily testing [glucose monitor], yearly testing [blood tests, eye exams, foot exams, etc ...]). It tries to make the disease more of an ongoing experiment on what works for you and what doesn't. Change plan, experiment, check results and tweak plan.