A few more endorsements for Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes to share with you today.  Needless to say, we are delighted that so many prominent diabetes educators and fellow authors find our book useful and easy to read!

“The positive, person-focused approach presented by the authors was refreshing!  Rather than starting with

‘What is diabetes?’ this book immediately guides the reader through concrete ways of identifying their very own practical

strategy for ‘taking on’ their diabetes. The authors use numerical test results as an objective approach for guiding the person with diabetes to identify what self-care behaviors to tackle first. Self-care success is measured by using these test results to define personal actions that produce outcomes of health and well-being. This book is a must read for people with diabetes, their families, and all health professionals who need to understand that diabetes is about self-care!”

— Malinda M. Peeples, Immediate Past President, AADE (American Association of Diabetes Educators)

“Worrying about diabetes complications is stressful. But keeping the results of 5 essential tests in healthy ranges

should vastly reduce your risks of developing any complications. This book will help you to understand these tests and what your goals for the results should be, as well as what you can do to get them into healthy ranges. This should reduce your stress, and that, in turn, should make your diabetes easier to control.”

— Gretchen Becker, author of The First Year^® - Type 2 Diabetes and Prediabetes

News flash!  Two more exciting endorsements that came in just this week:

"Knowledge is power. This book provides important information that people with diabetes need for making decisions and taking charge of their health."

 — Martha M. Funnell, MS, RN, CDE,

University of Michigan Diabetes Research and Training Center

“There is no need to hide in fear of diabetic complications.  ‘Know Your Numbers’ takes some rather serious and complex issues and simplifies them so that everyone can benefit.  The ‘Health Account’ concept alone makes the book a must-read!”

— Gary Scheiner MS, CDE,

Owner/Director, Integrated Diabetes Services

Author, Think Like a Pancreas and The Ultimate Guide to Accurate Carb Counting   

Well now, I suppose you know your book about diabetes is ON THE MAP when it's available via the Joslin Diabetes Center online store.  Of course, it helps that Dr. Jackson has been a fixture at that world-leading diabetes treatment

center for over 20 years. 

He is Medical Director Joslin's highly successful DO IT (Diabetes Outpatient Intensive Treatment) program -- an intensive outpatient seminar that combines teaching and training with actual on-site exercise and meal sessions. In other words, patients spend 3-1/2 days of intensive time with Joslin doctors, nutritionists and exercise physiologists getting to the bottom of their own most pressing health issues with diabetes.  There's nothing quite like it.

And Dr. Jackson always felt that the majority of patients attending the DO IT program would have been in much better shape upon arrival if they'd had early access to the info in our book, i.e. the details of the 5 key tests to monitor your health with diabetes.  This was his major incentive to write the book, he tells me.

The reason that we both care is that we both know lots of people who have feelings, ideas, and opinions about their diabetes, but don’t really know the actual status of their own health. Too often they focus one factor, like glucose readings, or food… with constant frustration... because their idea of "doing good" is very vague indeed.  But we felt there must be a better way  Because now, for the first time in history, the specific tools and knowledge you need to live long and well with diabetes are readily available.

Consider this (from our Preface):

In the past, people were essentially groping in the dark with their diabetes. The tests and methods available were so primitive that it really was like fumbling in a dark room towards the door marked "Exit Here for a Long and Health Life" that you knew was there, but couldn’t see.

Since doctors could only guess at their daily glucose levels, for example, patients were subjected to all sorts of drills—like eating the same bland food for dinner every night for years on end—in the hopes that this would keep their diabetes in control.

But now the light in that dark room has been switched on!  Improved laboratory tests and advanced tools like home glucose meters let you see where you’re going—and sometimes you’ll find there are even different paths to reach the same door marked "Exit Here for a Long and Health Life" on the other side of room. So you even have some flexibility in your health improvement choices.

That's the approach, folks.  Publisher's Group UK calls it "a brilliant idea whose time has come."

Score!!  Deb Manzella, a respected NY-based RN who writes for the New York Times Company's About.com/diabetes, has just come out giving Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes perfect marks.  Here's what she had to say:

"Cons? There are no cons. It's the perfect diabetes reference handbook."

This after she offers a meaty list of Pros for the book:

• Gives a comprehensive gameplan for managing the five most important areas of diabetes management
• Outlines the tests you need and tells you why they're important
• Gives you the science behind the numbers in easy to understand language
• Gives you the tools to bring your test results into the range you need.
• Gives additional advice about nutrition, exercise, medications, and much, much more.

"...This book is a terrific resource for diabetes management. After you learn the five most important tests, the book gives you the tools you need to keep your test results as normal as possible. Exercise, nutrition, medications, glucometers and other equipment all influence what your own personal test results will be.

"Beyond the basics, Dr. Jackson and Ms. Tenderich also address coping issues, healthcare basics, and resources to turn to for support and more information.

"Also, charts and diary pages to help you keep track of your results and your progress. This book stresses that knowing your numbers and working to improve them is the road to a complication-free life, and it gives you the tools to achieve it, too."

Read the FULL REVIEW here.

We're especially pleased with Deb's response knowing that she has extensive experience helping patients with diabetes, from teaching the newly diagnosed, to providing continuing care for diabetic patients in the hospital.  She's a strong advocate for "Knowledge Is Power" -- a lady after our own hearts...

Wow, more high praise from the ultimate source: a very knowledgeable and articulate patient.  Allie Beatty, who reports on all things diabetes over at TheDiabetesBlog.com and lives with Type 1 herself, has published a glowing review of "Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes."  Here's what she has to say:

"The book is a priceless addition to any diabetic library. It begins by explaining the five tests that are the cornerstones for monitoring your overall health with diabetes. These tests are: A1c, blood pressure, lipids, microalbumin, and an annual eye exam. You may think you know it all because you've been there, done that. But do you really know - what it tests, why it's done, and what your numbers should look like....?"

"I was impressed beyond my expectations... I was looking for a good guidebook on diabetes care. No ma'am. This book is AWESOME!"

See the full review HERE.  Thank you kindly, Allie and the Weblogs, Inc., team. 

        *        *        *

In addition, see our latest Virtual Book Tour appearances at these fine blogs:

Diabetes Notes - Rob Rummel-Hudson says "I’m not saying that your very SURVIVAL depends on you going and purchasing Amy’s book just as soon as you finish reading this. But really, why take the chance?" (~grin~)

GruntDoc - Dr. Robert Allen kindly notes, "If it at all interests you, please get a copy!"

Our Virtual Book Tour for the Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes Book has begun!

Have a look at our first stop over at Healthy Concerns.com.  Elisa Camahort reports on "health care from the patient's point of view."  She features an interview with Dr. Jackson on a variety of topics, including:

* Don't patients know the symptoms of pre-diabetes?
* Do insurers cover the basic health risk tests?
and
* What about vegetarian and vegan diets and diabetes?

Check it out!

Next stop is at the interesting and highly influential Health Care Blog by Matthew Holt. This expert on the in's and out's of the health care system was kind enough to invite me to shed some light on diabetes care and why our book represents a turning point.

It's a do-it-yourself (DIY) disease, after all. 

Commenters have some interesting things to say:

"Physician-centered chronic disease care works poorly."  Yup.

"... the actual quality measures right now mean very little in regards to the actual day-to-day care of a chronic disease. Just a big disconnect."  Agreed!

"One thing this book won't do is change the junk food crap and industrial food crap causing diabetes."  Weeelll...

I responded to that last one by saying we actually do include a big, fat chapter on dealing with food (pun sort-of intended).  It's harder, of course, when people have grown up with unhealthy eating habits and are used to overindulging.  But we're working to chip away at this epidemic with some very practical advice.

Also see my latest column on dLife.com: "Good Health by the Numbers: A DIY Approach."  This pretty well sums it up.  Stay tuned for more Virtual Book Tour. 
 

“Even those without diabetes will wish they had it just so they can use this book. Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes is written by two great authors espousing a positive and practical approach to better health. This book allows even the mathematically inept to understand their lab values and what area of their health is most important to work on. Targets for the five critical areas: A1c, blood pressure, lipids, microalbumin, and the eye exam, how to achieve them, and what order is most important to work on are presented.”

— John Walsh, PA, CDE, and Ruth  Roberts, MA, authors of Pumping Insulin and Using Insulin

Last week, Forbes reported that a good half of the estimated 21 million adult Americans with diabetes now rate themselves as having only "fair" or "poor" health, according to a new report from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC).

"People with diabetes are three times more likely than others to say their health is flagging," the CDC report found.  Which means, of course, that a great number of people in this country are headed toward a future of diabetes-related complications, including blindness, kidney failure, cardiovascular disease, and lower extremity amputation.  Ouch!!

Why should this be the case in a World Power nation like the USA?  Poor quality and in many cases poor availability of health care are certainly issues.  And perhaps more importantly, the fact that our health care system is focused on the treatment end, rather than prevention.  HMOs stand more to gain from patients once they've developed kidney disease or retnal damage than they do from educational programs to prevent these problems.  Crazy!

This brings me to why we wrote this book.  Dr. Jackson, in his decades of patient interaction at the legendary Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston, has seen thousands of patients struggling to get a handle on their health with diabetes. He has a lot of practical advice for them, starting with determining and understanding their own biggest health risks -- a simple matter of taking 5 standard lab tests.

Trouble is, many of the patients Dr. Jackson sees have had diabetes for years and have already developed complications by the time they've either discovered Joslin's program, or gathered the motivation to go there.  The damage to their bodies is already done.

How much better off these people would've been if they'd just had some very basic health instruction early on!  Why not package this golden preventative advice into a book that will serve as a hands-on guide?

Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes helps you chart and understand the 5 most important values (your personal “Essential Health Factors”) for living a long and healthy life with diabetes. That makes them pretty darn important!  They are:

·        Hemoglobin A1c—a measure of the average amount of glucose in your blood over the last several months

·        Blood Pressure—a quick, painless armband test to determine the force of blood flow through your body

·        Lipid Profile—a group of blood tests measuring your cholesterol and triglycerides (another type of fat), which is used to determine your risk of heart attack or stroke

·        Microalbumin—a urine test that is an early indicator of kidney damage

·        Eye Exam—a yearly exam that consists of dilating your pupil, allowing the doctor to see the back of your eye

Now, be honest.  If you have diabetes, or are newly diagnosed, when was the last time you had these tests? Do you know the result numbers?  Do you know what they mean?  One thing you can be sure of: If everyone tracked and acted on these values regularly, those depressing CDC results -- as reported by Forbes -- would look a lot rosier today.

Stay tuned for more tidbits from the book. 

 

So you all know we've been working on a "mystery book" for a while.  Well, it's time for the wrapper to come off! Even though the publication date is still a few months off.

I've been privileged to co-author this book with Dr. Richard Jackson of the Joslin Diabetes Center in Boston.  We're calling it the "first-ever, hands-on guide to achieving a long and healthy life with diabetes." It actually tells people in plain language what they need to do to get a handle on their own personal key health risks. 

In essence, this book is meant to address the great number of people with Type 2 diabetes who might not have access to the best information or care.  But this do-it-yourself guide can be useful for all of us, who often neglect to get our test results regularly or do anything about the numbers even when we know them.  The book also includes very useful chapters (in my no-BS style) on exercise, food, traveling with diabetes, how to scour the Internet, foot and mouth care, complementary and alternative medicine, the newest diabetes devices and more.

Know Your Numbers, Outlive Your Diabetes will appear in book stores in January 2007.

Click here to reserve your copy now.

Five Essential Health Factors You Can

Master to Enjoy a Long and Healthy Life

From our initial book brochure:

The first-ever guide to 5 crucial tests that everyone living with diabetes needs to have and monitor on a regular basis—by an MD at Joslin and Harvard Medical School and a diabetes patient-expert.

Joslin Diabetes Center and Harvard University professor Dr. Richard Jackson and diabetes patient-expert and blogger/journalist Amy Tenderich walk readers through how to:

    * understand each of these factors
    * determine which are the most important for you to focus on (based on your family history and other risk factors)
    * create a personalized treatment plan for optimum blood-glucose control, heart health, and general diabetes management and well-being.

This is a path-breaking book that will be required reading for every single person with diabetes aspiring to manage his or her condition as successfully and fully as possible.

Five tests are the cornerstones for monitoring one’s diabetes and developing a daily management plan—yet few of the more than 21 million people in the US living with diabetes know their results on all five of these. In April 2006 USA Today reported that just under 42% of adults with diabetes had had these tests.

The five factors are:

    * A1c
    * Blood pressure
    * Lipids (HDL, LDL, triglycerides)
    * Microalbumin
    * Yearly eye exam

“Often people focus on the stuff they feel guilty about (usually weight or food), when that may not even be their most critical health issue.

“What people don’t usually do is get the hard facts on where they stand in terms of their own diabetes health risks. They either haven’t had the five essential diabetes health tests, or they have no idea what the results are or what they might mean. But these five tests — your A1c, blood pressure, lipids, microalbumin and eye exam — provide the essential information you need to understand and manage your own health with diabetes.”                     — from the Preface