Diabetes Cookbook For Dummies

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 Cookbook 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 person 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 Cookbook 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