Conquering Diabetes

Here’s a book you should definitely get if you have diabetes: 50 Diabetes Myths That Can Ruin Your Life – And The 50 Diabetes Truths That Can Save It. This book really can save your life! (In the interest of full disclosure, I have been in contact with the author for about a year and received a complimentary advance copy from her publisher. I haven’t been and won’t be compensated in any other way for sharing my opinion of this book.) Riva Greenberg, who has lived with diabetes for 37 years, provides a first-class tour of the diabetes facts that matter most. You may think you know a lot about diabetes, but I guarantee this book will take your understanding to new heights.

The format is clever. Each of the 50 chapters opens with a myth like “I can’t have diabetes because I have no symptoms”, “People with diabetes can’t eat sugar”, or “When I feel symptoms of low blood sugar I should keep eating sweets until I feel better”. And then, by the time you say to yourself “of course you can’t eat unlimited sweets until you feel better” you’re hooked, because you immediately recognize that the next 3 minutes of reading will make you an expert on exactly how to quickly, safely, and easily recognize and correct low blood sugar without the dreaded overcompensation that leads to drastic high blood sugar levels an hour or two later. By organizing the book into such highly digestable little bites, each of which is a tasty morsel of highly seasoned information, the reader is treated to a gourmet self-education experience.

Riva Greenberg’s information-packed book is nicely written, factually up-to-date, and relevant. Myths about nutrition, weight loss, exercise, medication, complications, and others are debunked and replaced with the information you need to life your best life. Riva is an excellent communicator, and she knows exactly which topics to highlight. Thank you Riva for providing such an important contribution to patient education.

- Michael Dansinger, MD

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