The 10 Best Books on Diabetes

With diabetes becoming more of an epidemic each and every day, being knowledgeable about the disease, its effects on the body as well as ways to manage it has become essential.

Though sharing open dialogue with your doctor about the disease is vital, it should also be the responsibility of each patient to further increase their knowledge through their own research.

Below we have rounded up the ten best books on diabetes to help inform you more about the disease itself as well as ways to manage it and even potentially reverse it.

Whether you have recently been diagnosed with diabetes or are simply looking for tips to help you manage yours, the below ten books are an informative and helpful way to learn about the disease!

10 Best Books on Diabetes

1. The End of Diabetes: The Eat to Live Plan to Prevent and Reverse Diabetes

Joel Fuhrman, the director of the Nutritional Research Foundation, shows you how to live a long and happy disease-free life in his book The End of Diabetes.

A program that not only helps to combat and reverse diabetes without prescription medication, this book also offers aid to those suffering from high blood pressure and heart disease.

The key to this complete transformation comes from a diet with a high nutrient value that can be adapted to the individual's personal needs.

The End of Diabetes offers better nutritional guidelines that can help “control” diabetes, thus resulting in a reversal of the disease. This book offers tremendous information and help along with a diet and meal plan to help you on your path to reversing your diabetes.

2. Bright Spots & Landmines: The Diabetes Guide I Wish Someone Had Handed Me

Written by someone who has diabetes himself, Adam Brown shares the food, exercise, mindset and sleep patterns that have helped him manage his diabetes in his book Bright Spots & Landmines.

Brown shares his own experiences as well as effective tips, questions you may have and shortcuts that can help, including:

• What to eat to minimize blood sugar swings
• Strategies to stress less
• Simple ways to improve exercise
• Tips for better sleep

While many diabetes books focus on the “landmines” in diabetes, Adam focuses on the “bright spots” by figuring out what’s working and then striving to do those things more often.

Bright Spots & Landmines is a great book for both type 1 and type 2 diabetics as well as newly diagnosed or those who have battled diabetes for years.

3. Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution: The Complete Guide to Achieving Normal Blood Sugars

Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution is a program that was developed to help those with diabetes to keep their blood sugar levels as close to normal at all times.

Developed and written by Dr. Bernstein, who has had type 1 diabetes for over 60 years, this program focuses on a low carbohydrate diet and exercise to achieve normal blood sugar levels.

One of the first advocates of blood sugar control using blood glucose monitoring, Dr. Bernstein himself is said to be one of the first to ever monitor his own blood glucose levels.

Utilizing “The Law of Small Numbers”, Dr. Bernstein’s Solution suggests consuming small amounts of carbohydrates and small insulin injections.

This is due to the more predictable effects that they have on blood sugar levels versus foods that are higher in carbs. He recommends no more than 6 grams of carbohydrates at breakfast, 12 grams of carbohydrates at lunch and 12 grams of carbohydrates at dinner.

Whether you have been diagnosed with type 1 or type 2 diabetes, Dr. Bernstein’s Diabetes Solution can show you how to stop your blood sugar swings, steady your glucose levels and reduce your insulin intake.

4. Blood Sugar 101: What They Don’t Tell You About Diabetes

Blood Sugar 101 was written specifically for type 2 diabetics with the intention of showing them that it's possible to achieve normal blood glucose levels.

Through this they can avoid the damages caused by diabetes such as blindness, kidney failure, amputation and even heart attacks. Many of the topics covered in this book are topics that are not fully understood by diabetics, such as:

• What normal blood sugar levels look like
• What actually causes diabetes
• What blood sugar levels cause complications
• Which medications are safe
• Which diet is right for you

With this book, readers will learn how to create their own personal meal plan using:

• their blood glucose meter
• a log of their glucose test results
• nutritional food reference chart

Blood Sugar 101 also goes into depth in regards to selecting and using a blood glucose meter, blood glucose targets as well as information about carbohydrates and food, low carb diets, and tips for eating out in restaurants.

A book that is easy to read and straightforward with its information, Blood Sugar 101 is a well-researched source that can help simplify diabetes and show the reader how to achieve normal blood glucose.

5. Think Like a Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes with Insulin

A must-have book for those diabetics who utilize insulin, Think Like a Pancreas is one of the few books that focuses specifically on the day-to-day issues faced by people who use insulin to help manage their diabetes.

Easy to understand, packed with useful information, and free of technical medical jargon, Think Like a Pancreas provides the tools to master the science of matching insulin to the body, even though its needs are always changing.

Think Like a Pancreas includes information such as:

• blood glucose control and monitoring
• planning a program that best matches your lifestyle
• current information on medications and technology
• new insulin formulas and combinations

6. Unleash Your Inner Diabetes Dominator

Unleash Your Inner Diabetes Dominator is unlike any other diabetes book on this list. While most books are heavily science or facts based in regards to the medical side of diabetes, this book is more about your state of mind.

Being a Diabetes Dominator involves altering your mindset from negative to positive, allowing diabetes to be a source of strength instead of weakness.

Instead of seeing diabetes as something to battle, Diabetes Dominator shows the reader how to use diabetes as a catalyst for improving their life, focusing on what matters most in life as well as helping others.

7. The First Year: Type 2 Diabetes: An Essential Guide for the Newly Diagnosed

The First Year is a fantastic book for those who have been recently diagnosed and are looking for more information about diabetes.

Written by Gretchen Becker, who was diagnosed with type 2 diabetes in 1996, she makes sure to address important questions that aren’t always answered by health care providers.

She covers areas such as optional and necessary tests, diet, drugs, weight as well as the emotional strain of the disease and the stress it can cause. There is also a section that addresses insurance and medical bills.

With everything you need to learn about your first year with diabetes including information on new medications and supplements, The First Year covers a wide range of information including:

• Coming to terms with your diagnosis
• Choosing the right diet
• The role of exercise in diabetes management
• Daily blood glucose testing routines
• Insurance issues
• Support
• And more

8. What Do I Eat Now? A Step-by-Step Guide to Eating Right with Type 2 Diabetes

You’ve recently been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes and have been told to eat better, but just what does that mean?

What Do I Eat Now? by the American Diabetes Association addresses that question and simplifies just how you should be eating to help maintain your disease.

Written and explained clearly in a simple language that takes the mystery and guesswork out of nutritional recommendations, this book can help guide readers to make lasting changes to their diet in as little as a month. In just four weeks readers will be eating better and on their way to a healthier lifestyle while managing their diabetes.

This book will help the reader to:

• Quickly turn their diet around
• Learn what to eat
• Get simple and easy advice from diabetes experts
• Learn essential nutrition tips to help manage their disease

What Do I Eat Now takes the guesswork out of what to eat when you are living with diabetes and makes healthy eating and meal planning much more doable!

9. Reversing Diabetes: Discover the Natural Way to Take Control of Type 2 Diabetes

Being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes doesn’t have to be a life sentence.

Though you might feel as though you are now forced to follow a strict diet, monitor your blood sugar obsessively, and buy expensive medications, Dr. Colbert explains in his book Reversing Diabetes that diabetes can be managed and even treated in a safe and natural way.

Dr. Colbert stresses the use of healthy food and vitamins to manage your disease instead of relying only on prescription drugs.

This whole-body approach to your diabetes can help you to:

• Lose weight
• Repair cell damage
• Improve insulin function
• Reduce the side effects of prescriptions

A well-rounded book that helps you to break free of the confines of diabetes, Reversing Diabetes can help you to naturally manage or even reverse the disease – without the need for expensive prescriptions!

10. Mayo Clinic The Essential Diabetes Book

The Essentials Diabetes Book by Mayo Clinic contains the latest information and help that Mayo Clinic has to offer on diabetes.

With approximately 21 million adults and children currently affected by diabetes, Mayo Clinic aims to provide you with the latest medical knowledge to help you either prevent diabetes altogether or manage and control the disease you have more effectively.

In The Essential Diabetes Book you will find up to date guidelines on diabetes diagnosis and testing as well as tips for self-care. You will also learn:

• Why diabetes is so prevalent
• Discovering if you are at risk
• Seven signs and symptoms of diabetes
• Foods to eat and helpful recipes
• How to overcome obstacles that may be holding you back from achieving a healthy weight
• The latest on insulin therapy and other diabetes medication

Conclusion

Diabetes is a very prevalent disease in today’s society, with more and more people getting diagnosed daily.

Whether you have been recently diagnosed or have been living with diabetes for years, the above ten books on diabetes are the best sources out there for information, tips and tricks to successfully managing the disease while improving your overall health.