The Word Diabetic in Cookbook Titles

This is one person that I totally agree with as she has discovered what I have and I wish she would have been around when I went out and bought three, yes, three diabetic cookbooks shortly after being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes. I have blogged about this before, and I have not changed my mind. Do not buy them, repeat; DO NOT buy them if they have the word Diabetic in the title.

Katherine Tomlinson who writes at Type 2 Nation and other places, has type 2 diabetes and I have read her articles (blogs) a few times, but this one really made me sit up and take notice. She says, “Now that I have diabetes, I look at cookbooks with a different perspective. I don’t expect the average cookbook concern itself with carbs and calories and fiber and nutrients—that’s not really the author’s job. But when the cookbook in question is specifically targeted toward “the diabetic,” I tend to get critical.”

And she does get critical when she says, “Unfortunately, a lot of what’s out there that’s specifically targeted to the diabetic cook, is completely useless. Too many of these cookbooks sloppily convert standard recipes into “diabetes-friendly” recipes, even though it’s clear the author hasn’t had to check his or her blood sugar once in their pastry-eating lives.”

To get you to read what she says, here are 5 warning signs that a cookbook is going to be useless for a person with diabetes:

1. The first recipe calls for a cup of artificial sweetener.
2. The recipes call for a lot of processed ingredients.
3. The recipes include a lot of meaningless substitutions.
4. The recipes are filled with low-fat ingredients.
5. The cookbook’s author has no credentials.
   

She has some very convincing explanations with each item above and I must say I had not thought of some of them. But that is why she writes about cookbooks and I don't, except cookbooks with diabetic(s) in the title.

Apparently, some of the authors of cookbooks for diabetics are getting smarter, as I have not looked at these since my first few years with diabetes. Back then, I stated that these cookbooks were written to separate new people with diabetes from their money. Yes, I still believe this, but they are a little more careful about the recipes they use today.

I would still warn people recently diagnosed with diabetes to avoid purchasing “diabetic cookbooks.”