Well, as most of you know - I love to cook, I love to eat (my excuse is my clothing has to keep on fitting me - who wants baggy pants around their lower buttucks?).  I took out this great book from the library and have been lucky enough to renew it twice - but now it's due back - as it's a new publication.

The reason I took out the book was due to it saying that it had recipes that are low in carbs.  I've been watching my carb intake more carefully since going onto the pump and reeducating myself in my eating habits.  Not that they've really changed - I still tend to eat more veggies then carbs when I sit down for my main meal.  According to this book, a diabetic should plan their meal to be 1/2 veggies on the plate, then the remaining 1/2 should be 1/2 starch and 1/2 protein.  So, I'm right on track with that.

Majority of the recipes in this book tend to be low carb - under 20g per serving - some lower (I like to eat meals under 30g of carb).  The occassional recipe is abit higher then what I would normally eat (e.g. 56g) - but again -  the serving size of the dish is for 4 people - I tend to eat a smaller amount - so when you factor that in - the carb count isn't that overwhelming.

Even better, at the back of the book it has a great explanation of the different types of diabetes, written in a form that I can understand (too technical makes my brain freeze up).  It goes into detail on how food works on our blood sugars as well as weight maintenance.  There is a daily food and health tracker along with a great meal plan for one week that you can follow if you want.

The main thing though - is the recipes are based on the CDA/ADA food exchange regime (I hate to say "diet") that most of us follow.  It shows each recipes with the nutritional breakdown - something I've become more aware of as I've gotten older and wiser .  Compared to the 2 cookbooks I've bought over the past 40 years of being diabetic - this recipe book IMHO is the best one yet - with very easy to follow instructions - ways to change the recipe to suit your taste buds - and little tid bits of information on each page.

The only thing with book that I wrote to Reader's Digest about (the publisher of the book) - is for some diabetics like myself - who weigh our food in order to get a more accurate carb count - this wasn't shown.  Just the regular "each serving provides".  That is fine - but if I eyeball that serving size portion wrong - I can end up taking too much insulin - and then having a hypo - rare for me - but it could happen to others that are like myself - counting their carbs.

I know the one recipe I really want to try out is a light rye bread recipe - that is only 15 g per slice.  I love rye bread - so this will be one of the many pages I'll be photocopying before I take the book back to the library (am currently trying to see if a friend of mine that works for Reader's Digest can purchase the book for me at a discounted rate - crossing my fingers here).

So, if you want a good cookbook to check out - diabetic or nondiabetic - you will be very surprised if you think we eat a bland and boring diet (Spiced Stir Fried Duck looks amazing - quack, quack).  The recipes in this book are something that you might find at a posh little restaurant - without all the fuss of some recipe books I've come across.  Click on this link to find out how to order it or check for it at your local library which is where I found my copy.