33 of 37 people found the following review helpful:
2.0 out of 5 stars
Great potential but falls short., February 28, 2009
This review is from: The Ultimate Diabetes Meal Planner: A Complete System for Eating Healthy with Diabetes (Paperback)
This is a cookbook I was really looking forward to because it is written by a diabetic, not just an educator who has studied about diabetes. The author freely shares that she is type 1 and how she has to work hard to manage it. In the many cookbooks I have read, it is very rare to have one actually written by a diabetic.
And her insights into what it means to try and meal plan as a diabetic are priceless. To me that is one of the greatest strengths of this book. Unfortunately the actual book didn't measure up, or give her the chance I feel she needed to shine.
THE PROS:
Larger font and layout makes it easier to read the recipes - this should be a standard for all diabetic books.
Many meal plans and calorie levels to choose from.
THE CONS:
No pictures at all - I realize that it adds to the cost to put in color pictures but that's an expense I would be willing to pay. Without any pictures it is a very text heavy book.
Recipes have VERY Misleading Names-
For example, take the recipe on page 288 titled, "All Natural High Fiber Peach Squares" But, it is made using Splenda which is artificial and anything but "natural". The fiber is only 2 grams which is not high fiber at all. A high fiber rating needs be 5 grams or more which, as diabetics know, anything over 5 grams can be subtracted from the total carbohydrate count - thus lowering the amount of impact the carbs will have on the blood sugar.
Not enough of the author in the book-
Ms. Higgins does share some from her personal experience in a few pages at the front of the book, but I feel she should have had many more pages of advice and insight scattered throughout the book. I personally wanted more of her advice about the recipes and how to keep motivated as a diabetic; after all it's my understanding that this book came about from the many requests of the people who attended her classes at the fitness club.
OVERALL
I gave it two stars for those reasons, but still if you really need somewhere to start in your meal planning journey this is a good place. And maybe we'll be seeing more from her in another book soon, make no mistake her story is very inspiring!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Wonderful Book., June 3, 2009
This review is from: The Ultimate Diabetes Meal Planner: A Complete System for Eating Healthy with Diabetes (Paperback)
Whether you have Diabetes or not, you can enjoy all of the recipes. I have tried all of the winter and spring recipes and a few of the summer recipes. A few of our family favorites so far are the Macaroni and Cheese, Chicken Piccata, Potatoes Au Gratin, Peach Cobbler, Splendid Blueberry Crisp, and Buttermilk Biscuits. I love the convenience of the grocery lists and weekly meal plans.
Have your children cook with you and they will more likely to try new things. My 3-year old daughter has become my lil Sous Chef. Teaching children good eating habits at a young age will help them become healthy adults.
Hopefully someone will come up with a more natural alternative to the Splenda and other sugar substitutes.
I highly reccomend this book to everyone!
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11 of 12 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Great Book, February 11, 2009
This review is from: The Ultimate Diabetes Meal Planner: A Complete System for Eating Healthy with Diabetes (Paperback)
This is by far the best diet-meal planner book I have seen. It gives you an enormus amount of information and makes your planning a breeze. Just pick your calorie intake and go. shopping list and all. This book is a great tool for anyone not just those who have diabeties. I recommend this book to everyone, you can't go wrong with this book. This lady knows her stuff she should do a DVD next.
Linda in ME
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