Cooking with Diabetes: 5 Inspired Cookbooks

Fix-It and Forget-It Slow Cooker Diabetic Cookbook: 550 Slow Cooker Favorites-to Include Everyone!, by Phyllis Good
The slow-cooker is the favorite appliance of those living a fast-paced life. Like the slow and steady turtle from the story of the tortoise and the hare, it takes its time percolating, and is ready with a meal at the finish line once the hare is done rushing through its busy day. Author Phyllis Good collaborated with the American Diabetes Association to present the recipes, crisply and clearly explaining how to plan meals, giving detailed daily meal plans, and including thorough nutritional information with each dish. With 550 recipes to choose from, this diabetic recipe guide has a meal for every busy day of the week. Many recipes focus on meat-centric stews and soups, Herbed Lamb Stew or Easy Hamburger Vegetable Stew, but the collection also features plant-based recipes, like Smothered Lentils.

Italian Diabetes Cookbook: Delicious and Healthful Dishes from Venice to Sicily and Beyond, by Amy Riolo
When one thinks of Italian food, carb-loaded delights come to mind: risottos, calzones, paninis, and of course, an array of pastas. But fortunately, Mediterranean food expert Amy Riolo has got diabetics covered. Having grown up in an Italian family with a diabetic mother, Riolo puts a personal passion into this book. It’s said that the most important ingredient to cook with is love, and each recipe here has a healthy serving of that. Riolo shares nutritious and delicious recipes that are quintessentially Italian: Chargrilled Asparagus with Balsamic & Parmesan, Swordfish with Olives, Capers, Herbs, & Tomatoes, and Umbrian Frittata Skewers with Chickpea Dipping Sauce.

Real Food for Gestational Diabetes: An Effective Alternative to the Conventional Nutrition Approach, by Lily Nichols
Pregnancy can be a roller coaster ride, with ups and downs, thrills and worries. One of the tests pregnant women have to go through in their third trimester is the dreaded the glucose tolerance test. Those diagnosed with gestational diabetes can feel as though their culinary lives have been turned upside down. And let’s face it, it’s not fun to be ravenous and still have to watch everything you eat. But Registered Dietician and Nutritionist Lily Nichols, shares her personal journey through gestational diabetes in an uplifting and inspiring way. The book focuses less on what to cook and more on how to eat, making it more of an empathetic cooking guidebook than a cookbook.

The With or Without Meat Cookbook: The Flexible Approach to Flavorful Diabetes Cooking, by Jackie Newgent
One assumption many make when they think of cooking for diabetics is that meals are meat-centric. It’s likewise widely assumed that a vegetarian diet must be filled with carb-centric meals. While the diabetic and vegetarian rules may seem incongruous with one another, their intersection actually yields an original and delicious cuisine. Chef, nutritionist, and cookbook author Jackie Newgent has a couple of diabetes cookbooks under her belt. This one is great because they can be tailored for a household that includes both vegetarians and omnivores. Enjoy the Curry Chicken Salad Platter, Grecian Kebabs on Quinoa, and Roasted Cauliflower Florentine, each with a non-meat substation provided.

Diabetes Snacks, Treats, and Easy Eats for Kids: 150 Recipes for the Foods Kids Really Like to Eat, by Barbara Grunes, with Linda R. Yoakam
Getting food ready at the end of the school day is already a challenge. Convincing kids to eat healthy snacks doubles that challenge. Making yummy AND nutritious snacks for kids at risk of diabetes—the challenge is ten-fold. So bravo to those facing it daily. This cookbook, Diabetes Snacks, Treats, and Easy Eats for Kids, helps parents along the way, offering 150 ideas for snacks that children will actually want to eat. With sneaky cooking, kids will be clamoring for Peaches in a Blanket, Ants on a Log, and best of all, Wiggly, Slimy, Wormy, Gelatin.
What are your favorite diabetic cookbooks?