Customer Reviews

The Whole Foods Diabetic Cookbook

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Enhanced with information on diabetes and nutrition by Patricia Berton, The Whole Foods Diabetic Cookbook by Patricia Stevenson and Michael Cook offers an imaginative and diabetically sound approach to using whole grains, legumes, vegetables, and fruit in a culinary wealthy of meat-free recipes, each designed to help control diabetes naturally. The reader is provided with an informative overview of diabetes and how to control diabetes through diet and exercise, along with an invaluable section on meeting the nutrient needs of the diabetic including fiber in the diet, counting calories, carbs, protein and fat, as the vegetarian diet with respect to minerals and vitamins. Of special interest is the information provided on exchange lists for meal planning, as well as cooking and shopping tips. The delicious, palate pleasing, appetite satisfying recipes range from Strawberry Muffins; Tofu Potato Salad; and Vegetable Fried Rice; to Falafel; Broccoli-Mushroom Casserole; and Apple-Oat Drop Cookies. The Whole Foods Diabetic Cookbook is a strongly recommended addition to the cookbook collection for diabetics.

I am a practicing vegetarian, and purchased this book when my annual tests showed an alarming trend toward borderline pre-diabetes. Even vegetarians can develop unhealthy eating habits adn need to learn better!

I was disappointed in this cookbook, however. This is the kind of cookbook that was popular back in the 80's when American vegetarianism was all about brown rice, whole wheat flour, tofu and tempeh. These are fine and valuable components of a healthy veggie diet, but we've come a long way since in terms of aesthetics and variety.

For example, is it really necessary to make french toast with tofu instead of milk and eggs? Or to add crumbled tofu to potato salad? I have a real problem with those who take a perfectly fine, nutritious and proven food item and make gratuitious additions of tofu and tempeh, just because. And I was very surprised to note that this cookbook does not cover the proper techniques for preparing tofu for cooking, because a truly well-prepared tofu dish can be quite delicious and possess interesting texture.

The techiques and concepts in this book are just too dated and limited to appeal to today's informed cook, vegetarian or otherwise. If you are looking to add vegetarian meals to your diet or to better understand your vegetarian diabetic nutrition, you can do better than this book. I recommend the American Diabetic Association Month of Meals 'Vegetarian Pleasures' for a more up to date, equally nutritional approach.

I am not diabetic but was looking for a cook book that had recipes that were low on the glycemic index. This is an awesome book for beginning vegetarians (like me) who want healthy recipes without a lot of ingredients. I also like this book because it has recipes for a lot of foods I want to keep eating like french toast. I highly recommend this book. It is also a great way to eat if you want to lose weight. In the first two weeks of eating whole vegetarian foods I lost 5 lbs and my partner lost 8 lbs.

Be aware that this collection is all vegetarian, making heavy use of a variety of soy products. The description is a bit misleading, and neglects to emphasize this. I've made one extremely disappointing recipe, and doubt I'll be tempted to try much else.

Expeected more from this cookbook. Receipes fell flat in creativity and variety. Not worth the purchase. Would advise searching through other cookbooks with this title before even considering.

Controlling diabetes goes beyond reducing sugar intake: it also involves staying healthy by reducing fat and increasing exercise. Whole Foods Diabetic Cookbook promotes a vegetarian diet high in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans and is especially valuable for its tips on how to juggle diabetic needs with vegetarian perspectives. Recipes are simple and easy to follow.