Diabetes Cookbook For Canadians For Dummies. Cynthia Payne

Recipes are designated as vegetarian by using a little tomato icon.

      We list the amount of carbohydrate in each recipe; this will help you as you balance out the nutrients in your diet and will be especially helpful if you’re carbohydrate counting. (The recipes refer to “Carbohydrate Choices.” Each Carbohydrate Choice consists of 15 grams of carbohydrate.) We also list the amount of sodium (avoiding excess sodium is important for everyone and especially important if you have high blood pressure), phosphorous, and potassium (avoiding excess phosphorous and potassium is important if you have kidney failure).

      We’d love to hear from you. Whether it’s to tell us you especially liked one of our recipes (please!) or, perish the thought, found some cooking instruction insufficiently clear, please do share your comments with us by sending an e-mail to [email protected]. (We apologize in advance, however, for our being unable to provide medical advice.)

      Foolish Assumptions

      We have written this book based on the assumption that you are living with diabetes (either because you have diabetes yourself or because you have a loved one with diabetes) and that, whatever your knowledge of cooking, you want to learn more. Period.

      If you know nothing about cooking, you’ll find this book enables you to readily discover the basics, and if you’re already a wizard in the kitchen, you’ll discover additional recipes and food preparation ideas to meet your needs.

      Icons Used in This Book

      Icons act as little flags or identifiers – bookmarks, if you will – that let you know what information you’re going to find in the paragraph that follows.

      

This icon signifies that we’re sharing a story about a patient. These stories have been specifically selected because they contain elements that you may well relate to. (The names and other identifiers have been changed to maintain confidentiality.)

      

This icon lets you know we’re recommending that you speak to a member of your health care team (be it your family physician, registered dietitian, diabetes specialist, and so forth), in order to get help.

      

This icon lets you know that we’re about to drop some medical jargon on you. Don’t be alarmed; we then define or explain the term before we move on.

      

When you see this icon, it means the information is essential and you would be well served to pay special attention.

      

This icon indicates that we’re sharing a practical piece of information that will arm you with a time-saving or grief-avoiding measure.

      

This book is all about creating healthy, appealing recipes. It’s also about living healthfully with diabetes. This icon means we’re discussing a critical health issue that you shouldn’t ignore.

      Beyond the Book

      In addition to the material in the print or e-book you’re reading right now, this product also comes with some access-anywhere goodies on the web. Check out the free Cheat Sheet at www.dummies.com/cheatsheet/diabetescookbookforcanadians for tips on how to eat healthy at home, or when you’re out and about. You can also find links to several web-pages to help you with everything from calculating your BMI, to understanding how to read nutrition labels.

      Where to Go from Here

      We wrote Diabetes Cookbook For Canadians For Dummies in a format that allows you to open the book to any chapter and jump right in without feeling lost. So, if as you read this paragraph you realize it’s 6:00 at night and you have to get dinner ready pronto, feel free to flip to Part III to find a recipe that suits your fancy. Same goes if you’re looking for breakfast, lunch, or snack ideas. If, however, you’re new to diabetes, and if you don’t need to rush into the kitchen, sit back and spend some time familiarizing yourself with diabetes by reading some (or all) of Part I.

      Whichever section of this book you first turn to, rest assured – there’s no “wrong” place to start your reading.

Part I

      Getting Started with Diabetes & Cooking

      

For Dummies can help you get started with lots of subjects. Visit www.dummies.com to learn more and do more with For Dummies.

      In this part…

      Diabetes is far more than “just a sugar problem.” Having diabetes means that you need to look after all of you, from your head down to your toes. In this part we explore how diabetes can affect you and what you can do to master diabetes and stay healthy.

Chapter 1

      Diabetes 101: Discovering the Basics

      In This Chapter

      ▶ Getting to know the types of diabetes

      ▶ Diagnosing diabetes

      ▶ Seeing the highs and lows of blood glucose levels

      ▶ Managing diabetes through nutrition

      ▶ Staying healthy with exercise

      ▶ Investigating the important role of medication in diabetes management

      This is a cookbook with a twist.

      This book begins not with recipes or a discussion on food handling or food shopping or the like, but rather starts right here, in Chapter 1, with a discussion on diabetes.

      Beginning this book by talking about the basics of diabetes – Diabetes 101, if you will – is in keeping with the very special nature of diabetes. Diabetes is special in many ways, but none more so than this: If you’re living with diabetes, the more you know about your diabetes and the more actively you are involved in your own health care, the more you can do to ensure you stay healthy.

      Your diabetes therapy begins anew every day when you first get up and decide what you’re going to eat. And your therapy continues all day with every morsel you put in your mouth. If you have diabetes it’s not your doctor or nurse or dietitian or any other person who ultimately makes your nutrition choices; it is you.

      Healthy eating affects diabetes in many different and crucial ways: The food choices you make will influence your blood glucose (“blood sugar”), your weight, your blood pressure, your cholesterol, your bowel habits, your sense of well-being, and much more. Indeed, we are routinely, absolutely, blown away by the dramatic improvement in the health of our patients with diabetes who carefully practise healthy eating.

      In this chapter, we look at the different types of diabetes and we explore how to manage them. Because diabetes is (as we look at in a moment) a condition characterized by high blood glucose, we look in detail at blood glucose, how high (and low) levels can make you feel, and how you can control your blood glucose through nutrition, exercise, and medication. For most people with diabetes, a combination of these therapies works best in achieving and maintaining both good blood glucose control and good health in general.

      This chapter is an overview of key elements of diabetes. For detailed information on the material we cover here, we unabashedly refer you to another book that Ian co-wrote: Diabetes For Canadians For Dummies (Wiley).

      Examining the Types of Diabetes

      Diabetes