In Which I Review a Book with Valuable Advice That I Sometimes Halfway Follow

Disclaimer: I purchased this book with my own funds and have not in any fashion been reimbursed for this review. All opinions are my own.

Because Mr. Engineer and I are consummate researchers, we scoured Amazon for diabetes books after Kittygirl was diagnosed. I've already reviewed two of the gems we found that had a huge effect on how we've chosen to manage Kittygirl's condition. Today I'll review a third, which is well written and contains a lot of good advice, most of which we don't really follow, for one reason or another.

Adam Brown was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a teenager. He was told that he didn't need to change anything about his diet as long as he took insulin for everything he ate, and he continued his high carb eating lifestyle into young adulthood.

This lifestyle caused him to have huge blood sugar swings, from lows of 45 all the way up to highs in the 300's. Though he didn't like this, he doesn't blame his mother or the medical practitioners who treated him back in 2001. He views them as all being victims of a lack of knowledge.

In 2010 three things changed in Adam's life, which eventually compelled him to write his book Bright Spots and Landmines: The Diabetes Guide I Wish Someone Had Handed Me. First, he learned about nutrition and moderating carbs to reduce blood sugar swings. Second, he became involve in the diabetes community, including writing a column for Diatribe, which published his book. Third, he began using a CGM which opened a window into how everything in his life affected his blood sugar. The final result was his book, which was released in 2017.

Adam does not have a medical degree, diabetes related or otherwise, and does not write as if he does. He speaks as a person living with diabetes speaking to other people living with diabetes. His book is aimed at everyone living with diabetes, not just those with type 1 or who are otherwise insulin dependent. In fact, though I don't have diabetes myself, I found some of his advice actionable in my own life as I strive to eat healthier, be more active, and lose weight.

The book begins with an introduction in which Adam shares his story and the methodology behind his book, continues with four sections (on food, mindset, exercise, and sleep), and ends with a section tying it all together.

In each section Adam shares his diabetes bright spots (that is, things he has learned to do right and wants to replicate as often as possible) and landmines (that is, mistakes that push his blood sugar out of range or otherwise make his life difficult). He includes specific details. According to the book, each bright spot or landmine must be "Specific and Actionable", "Realistic and Sustainable", and "In My Control and Attainable."

In addition to specific examples of bright spots and landmines from his personal experience, Adam ends each chapter with a series of questions for readers to ask themselves. The purpose of these questions is to help readers find their own bright spots and landmines.

Though Adam advocates pretty low carb eating (no more than 30 carbs at one sitting), he doesn't position himself as the low carb police as some in the diabetes community do, and he doesn't advocate a particular diet. What he does do is give specific examples of things he eats which raise his blood sugar slowly and not very high as well as suggestions of small changes readers can make to eat in a way that will keep their blood sugar in range and make them feel healthier and happier. He even shares his CGM graphs after eating meals and snacks he suggests.

The section on exercise is pretty straightforward. It's not secret that exercise lowers insulin resistance and that sometimes exercise alone is enough to start your blood sugar in a downward direction. Again in this chapter, Adam gives tips about how to stay active despite a busy lifestyle. One of his favorite tips of mine was to adopt a dog, which will compel you to take it for walks and thus stay active. Somehow, even that wasn't enough for me to convince Mr. Engineer to get a dog, however :).

The sections on mindset and sleep are the most groundbreaking.  As I've discovered even as a diabetes parent, having the right mindset is a big part of the battle when it comes to living well with diabetes. We need to remember that blood sugar values are data to work with, not "good" or "bad", and we need to focus on how our choices affect those around us as well as reaching out to our community (in the diabetes world and out of it) for support. However, none of these things are normally covered with newly diagnosed diabetics or the parents of newly diagnosed children.

The section of sleep cities studies that at least 7 hours of sleep every night leads to lower average blood sugar. It gives advice on things such as what to eat for dinner and when to eat it to best avoid overnight high and lows. It also advises the best way to treat overnight lows to avoid overeating, which is a common problem especially among adults with diabetes living alone. It even addresses the fear of overnight lows, and how to address them without overeating before bed and causing overnight highs.

Ultimately, I found this book to be well-written and a quick and easy but not truly light read. Adam's advice has helped us with Kittygirl in a few ways. We make more conscious choices in what we feed her and have moderated her carbohydrate consumption (though not to the point recommended in the book). We do our best to give her lots of opportunity to be active and try to our best to allow her enough sleep at night. Attitude is still a growth area for us. All too often I still refer to out of range blood sugar as bad.  However, I'm working on it and have improved quite a bit since the beginning.

However, we haven't fully applied all of Adam's suggestions. This is partly because of Kittygirl's picky and stubborn eating habits. We manage to keep her meals under 30 carbs sometimes, but she's not willing to eat meat or cheese, berries, and peas for every meal, quite understandably. Sometimes it's simply not possible to follow Adam's advice, particularly regarding low carb eating, with our particular kid and end up with a happy kid who doesn't hate her parents or diabetes.

Even if you ultimately don't follow all of the advice in this book, I still recommend checking it out. Just following the book's suggestions here and there and looking for your own bright spots and landmines in the four areas could make a big difference in your or your child's diabetes management.