Just Been Diagnosed With Diabetes? Now What? New Book

Main Category: Diabetes
Article Date: 07 Oct 2008 - 1:00 PDT

email to a friend   printer friendly   view / write opinions

"Diabetes is a balancing act and much more than a numbers game. It is a disease that requires paying attention to detail, while trying to maintain a positive attitude. . .Diabetes can also be overwhelming. This book provides you with easy-to-digest information you can use through the next year," says Theresa Garnero in her new book, YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH DIABETES: What To Do, Month By Month. An award-wining Certified Diabetes Educator and Advanced Practice Registered Nurse, Garnero offers detailed advice, tips, and tricks geared towards making small, attainable lifestyle changes in the hopes of transforming diabetes into a manageable disease instead of a debilitating one.

With day-by-day advice for the first twenty-eight days as well as week-by-week guidelines for the rest of the year, each chapter of YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH DIABETES focuses on helping people understand what diabetes is and the changes they need to make in order to lead a normal and healthy life. From eating a balanced diet to controlling glucose levels, from understanding the spiritual benefits of yoga to using proper footwear, Garnero explains how to manage the far-reaching effects of diabetes. She also delves into such seldom-discussed topics as sexual health and intimacy as well as the importance of joining a local support group.

Below are some of the issues that Garnero addresses when people are first diagnosed with diabetes:

- Day 1: Mind Matters explains how to mentally approach a diagnosis of diabetes by re-framing one's mindset.

- Day 2: Diagnosis: Diabetes clarifies the various types of diabetes and the physiological implications of each on the body.

- Day 3: Eat Wisely emphasizes the importance of a healthy diet and covers the fundamental rules of eating well.

- Day 4: Get Active discusses the role and value of exercise to help manage diabetes.

- Day 5: Check Glucosedescribes the different kinds of glucose tests available, how they work, and how to chose which one might be appropriate.

- Day 6: A Tough Pill To Swallow addresses the initial decision to take medication in order to manage diabetes and its basic role on a day-to-day basis.

- Day 7: Your Safety Net encourages the reader to establish a preliminary network of support people to help share the burden of diabetes.

Each day or week closes with an interactive checklist that helps track one's progress. At the end of each month, there is a review sheet for summarizing the lifestyle changes that have been successful and those that have not, thus helping readers re-focus goals and progress throughout the year.

Filled with charts, illustrations, and hundreds of questions and answers, YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH DIABETES offers the comfort, inspiration and, above all, the easy-to-understand advice needed to handle and manage the realities of diabetes on a day-to-day basis.

About The Author

Theresa Garnero is an award-winning Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) and Advanced Practice Registered Nurse (APRN), with Board Certification in Advanced Diabetes Management (BC-ADM) and a Master's of Science in Nursing (MSN). She is a former national educator of the year, a cartoonist, and the 2008 global recipient of Inspired by Diabetes.

The American Diabetes Association is the largest publisher of consumer books for people with diabetes and of books about diabetes treatment for healthcare professionals. In the United States, 23.6 million people - 7.8 percent of the population - have diabetes. While an estimated 17.9 million people have been diagnosed, unfortunately, 5.7 million people are unaware they have the disease. Founded in 1940, the American Diabetes Association is the nation's leading voluntary health organization supporting diabetes research, information and advocacy. Its mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and improve the lives of people with diabetes.

-- YOUR FIRST YEAR WITH DIABETES is available at http://store.diabetes.org, at bookstores nationwide, or by calling 1-800-ADA-ORDER

-- Details about the book at Amazon.com

American Diabetes Association