Member Reviews
This book has been a great listening experience. Thanks to the author and the publisher for bringing this book to life.
I picked this book to do a review of because my father was recently diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes and we have had many family members with it too. So I felt the more I know about it the more I can help him understand the diagnosis and help him live a full life still. I did learn a lot of little bits of knowledge. This book is full of knowledge for Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes. The beginning starts out by telling you what is happening in your body when you have diabetes. then there is diet and how to find the right diet for you. ( mostly whole foods and less processed foods), he goes over how exercise can help and how to do it safely. The last chapter is about the medications and devices for diabetes. I enjoyed that he wants to help you with the right diet and exercise plan to help you use the least amount of medication. To not say "I can eat whatever I want because I am on medication" is a myth and we should use the least amount of medication as possible. I do recommend reading the book versus listening to it. They spell out references and can be better taken in by looking at some of those then hearing them.
This book contains tons of information about managing diabetes, ideally without pharmaceuticals. However, the author's opinions on high fat low carb diets are somewhat controversial, and I'd recommend reading other sources before taking that opinion as gospel. The tone of the book was a bit dry, and I wished that I'd read the physical copy instead of listening to the audiobook as I found myself wanting to highlight portions and look at the resources listed. Overall, I think this is a very useful read for anyone managing diabetes, but I would recommend balancing this content with books by other physicians and diabetes experts and definitely get input from your personal doctor in order to tailor a plan that will work for you.
I was given the opportunity to review the audio book Doing Diabetes Differently via NetGalley. I enjoyed the narrator's voice, however there were a lot of references and footnotes that did notwork well as an audio book. I tended to space out during that portion of the chapter and it took a bit to realize when Chad was back to his main topic. He stated that there would be things in the book that I may not agree with. I found that to be the case, but I tried to listen with an open mind and that warning helped me not to stop right then and there, There were also things in the book that I did agree with and I even learned some new items. Again Chad warned not to give this book to those who where newly diagnosed or going through control issues with their diabetes. That warning was helpful as well. Occasionally, especially when talking about some diets that might be helpful, Chad's tone because a bit prescriptive, in my opinion. I did appreciate that Chad was aware that one way does not fit all diabetics. I am not a diabetic, but I do have a loved one who is. Chad was clear in describing his points and did not cloud it with a lot of medical jargon. He did a good job of making a difficult and technical subject approachable by a non-expert. I will probably go back and actually read his book so I can look into some of the references he provided.
I really liked this non-fiction book about how to deal with diabetes in a new and more holistic way. I thought there were some really good suggestions on how to think about diabetes and comparing a diabetic to an alcoholic. You wouldn't tell an alcoholic it's okay to drink just drink in moderation; however, diabetics are often told it's okay to eat sugar as long as you do it in moderation. And I was amazed to hear that more money is going to something like AIDS than diabetes research, even though diabetes causes more deaths. I want to thank the author, the publisher, and Netgalley for giving me an e-copy of this book, in return for an honest review.
Thanks NetGalley for thé copy of this novel in exchange for an honest review.
While I’m not an expert in diabetes I do have experience in managing both type 1 and type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes and the education I (or my child) was given or not given throughout the years.
That said- this book is not necessarily telling us anything new or original. But this book did give facts and statistics and referrals on information that is useful. That being it was a useful tool, but as the author suggests - this is all information that could be useful to patients. Lifestyle, health management, rather than just prescribing medications and then medications to offset the side effects of those medications or something else when that one isn’t working.
So- this book could be helpful if you are researching diabetes. But it’s not an easy read with pages of references and footnotes.
I actually only got about 5% into this audiobook. As soon as he said "fat shaming is generally bad, HOWEVER..." I WAS DONE! There is no HOWEVER about it, fat shaming is bad. Full stop.
Some reviewers expressed dissatisfaction with the number of times resources are listed off, and that's a valid complaint for the flow of this book. However, do not let that prevent you from reading this wonderfully woven together resource of information on how to do things differently around managing (or preventing) diabetes. I came to this book from a prevention perspective, as three of my grandparents had T2D and I'd like to prevent developing it myself. While the annotated bibliography mixed into the narrative was a tad annoying at times, I do appreciate the "don't take my word for it just because I published a book" mindset of inviting the reader to double-check the interpretations of the data from the primary sources. I will be recommending this book to some friends I know are struggling with diabetes issues.
This was super dry and difficult to stay focused on.
The majority of this book is the author referring the reader to other books, websites, phone numbers and just other resources in general. This can sometimes be helpful, especially if it is a source book for something they can't delve as deep into as they would like.
In this case it just felt like filler. The constant referral to other books, a lot of the time, without any reasoning as to why you would need to read it other than "a good source of information".
I thought that's what I was reading your book for?
There was a section where they read a list of book titles & authors for more than 9 minutes.
Just nine minutes of reading a list of books with no other conversation of reasoning. It felt like a list of things to do or a grocery list being read off, only less exciting.
I wanted to read this book for a unique perspective on diabetes health, but there was maybe 7% of the book where that happened. The majority of it is regurgitated statistics and listings of medications your doctor could or might put you on and the side effects if they do, along with all the horrible things that can happen to you if you don't manage your diabetes correctly. There is not a lot of straight line help here, just more listings for further research.
None of this was overly helpful, and it made the book slog.
This book is only about 5 hours long, but it felt infinitely longer. If you go into this book as a starting point for research into diabetes you will likely get a lot of other (hopefully) more informative books from this.
The most helpful bit here was to look for a diabetes support group in my area so I could lean on and learn from other diabetics. This I will be doing.
Thank you(?) to NetGalley and Greenleaf Audiobooks, River Grove Books for my ALC.
The stand out thing for me in this book was the encouragement for people with diabetes to not just accept it or to just manage it with medication. The author highlights many ways to manage and improve your health by making some key, and often simple, changes such as keeping to a routine as much as possible and regular, but not necessarily rigorous, exercise. More examples of diet and recipes would have been a welcome addition. Thank you to Net Galley for an arc in exchange for an honest review.
As a naturopathic doctor, the content of this book wasn't really a surprise.
In my opinion, what lacks in this book is a more down to earth explanation, with examples of meals and even recipes.
I also felt that the author was somewhat redundant and repetitive.
This being said, it's really positive to know that this important information is being spread for those who have diabetes and need to know more about other, and more natural, approaches, instead of just medication.
Doing Diabetes Differently was full of great information that all those with Diabetes can benefit from (Whether it be Type 1, Gestational, LADA or Type 2). Of course that being said always discuss with your medical provider, but Lewis lays out a very reasonable approach to managing diabetes with the goal of minimalizing the use of pharmaceuticals and extreme diets. Lewis includes many of his own personal successes following his 12 step program for managing his diabetes. His voice is very calming and empowers the reader to believe or at least begin believing that they too can achieve normal A1C levels and increase insulin sensitivity.
I enjoyed the layout of the book where he addresses his steps in a methodical approach.
The only part that felt too “opinionated” were his extreme praise for high fat low carb way of eating. He planted a few seeds of doubt in readers that carbs are bad. There is an important distinguisher that should be pointed out. Yes some carbs are worse than others. On average Americans consume 7 oz of grains per day, however only 1 oz of those are whole grains. It is the refined grains that are more of the issue, not the fruits/vegetables and whole grains. There is a Grand Canyon between an apple and apple jacks cereal. Lewis touches this but I believe could delve a bit deeper.
I enjoyed his approaches to exercise and found it to be very attainable doable and motivating.
He has a lot of sound evidence and I think many will benefit from this book.
Thank you Net Galley for granting me the access to this advanced copy read. Many thanks to the author and publisher for the opportunity. I was not influenced or paid in exchange for my honest review.