Amy Stockwell Mercer - The Smart Womans Guide to Eating Right with Diabetes: What Will Work

Praise for The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes

we can't think of a better researched guide to the nuanced life of a woman with diabetes than Amy Stockwell Mercer's new book The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes.

DiabetesMine

This is not a very large book, but I was surprised how complete and comprehensive it is. It feels as if you are chatting with a group of friends who truly understand what it is like to live as a woman with diabetes and it does not get boring or become a chore to read. I highly recommend this one.

Elizabeth Woolley, about.com Type 2 Diabetes Guide

Imparting critical information for diabetic women in pursuit of a healthy and fulfilling life, Mercer covers a range of topics, including finding the right medical team, gaining control through information and communication, managing adolescence, diet, and exercise. Special attention is given to eating disorders and body image; dating, sex, and marriage; pregnancy and motherhood; and telling others about one's condition. An excellent resource for those seeking information about the impact of diabetes on women's lives; the many personal stories lend warmth and accessibility.

Library Journal

Well worth a look, it presents a wide variety of experiences, viewpoints, and approaches to diabetes management. This is the greatest strength of this book, making it of most use to recently diagnosed women (whatever stage of life they may be) who are trying to navigate unfamiliar thoughts, feelings, and concerns about themselves, their health, and their safety.

Emily Coles, tudiabetes

Amy Stockwell Mercer calls her new book, The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes, a labor of love. It covers aspects of women's lives ranging from eating to dating to raising children, all while coping with diabetes.

Diabetes Forecast

Amy's book covers every aspect of being female and living with diabetes, beginning with a diagnosis at any age. She covers schooling, relationships, exercising, eating, traveling, pregnancy, parenting, menopause, and more. This great guide is packed with solid wisdom, advice, and guidance that will help any woman with this condition live a happier and healthier life.

Cheryl Alkon, Author of Balancing Pregnancy With Pre-Existing Diabetes: Healthy Mom, Healthy Baby

Having had type 1 diabetes for more than 25 years and having written 2 books on the subject, I enjoyed reading Amy Mercer's book very much. It is well written and covers every aspect of living with diabetes across the life span from a woman's perspective. I especially liked the chapters on diagnosis, pregnancy, travel, and aging gracefully. It is worth reading for women living with diabetes at whatever stage in life they are and for the family and friends who love them.

Rita G. Mertig, MS, RNC, CNS, DE, Author, What Nurses Know Diabetes and Guide to Teaching Diabetes Self-Management

a heaping dose of wisdom for dealing with diabetes on any front of one's life and living well through it all. Dealing with the many potential complications of life with grace and wisdom, The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes is a thoughtful and useful read for anyone making the most of their lives in spite of diabetes.

Midwest Book Review

The Smart Woman's Guide to
Eating Right with Diabetes

What Will Work

Amy Stockwell Mercer

Visit our website at www.demoshealth.com

ISBN: 9781936303373

e-book ISBN: 9781617051241

Acquisitions Editor: Noreen Henson

Compositor: diacriTech

2013 by Amy Stockwell Mercer. All rights reserved. This book is protected by copyright. No part of it may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the publisher.

Medical information provided by Demos Health, in the absence of a visit with a health care professional, must be considered as an educational service only. This book is not designed to replace a physician's independent judgment about the appropriateness or risks of a procedure or therapy for a given patient. Our purpose is to provide you with information that will help you make your own health care decisions.

The information and opinions provided here are believed to be accurate and sound, based on the best judgment available to the authors, editors, and publisher, but readers who fail to consult appropriate health authorities assume the risk of injuries. The publisher is not responsible for errors or omissions. The editors and publisher welcome any reader to report to the publisher any discrepancies or inaccuracies noticed.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Mercer, Amy.

The smart woman's guide to eating right with diabetes : what will work / Amy Stockwell Mercer.

p. cm.

Includes index.

ISBN 978-1-936303-37-3

1. Diabetes in women--Popular works. 2. Diabetes--Diet therapy--Popular works. I. Title.

RC660.4.M466 2013

616.4'620654--dc23

2012030116

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Printed in the United States of America by Bang Printing.

12 13 14 15 / 5 4 3 2 1

This book is dedicated to the four men
in my life: my husband Dale,
and my three amazing sons:
Will, Miles, and Reid.

Foreword

Diabetes makes a terrible dinner date.

It asks for all the sauces on the side. It second-guesses whatever it just ordered, then it fiddles with a needle or a pump under the tablecloth. Diabetes asks for juice when the salads are delayed. When the salads arrive, diabetes picks out the carrots because carrots have a high glycemic index. Then it chatters on about the glycemic index as if that's interesting dinner conversation.

Diabetes skips dessert. Or it has dessert but then feels bad about it all night long. Diabetes' nightcap is a bolus. Its goodnight kiss tastes like a glucose tablet.

I've been taking my diabetes to dinner for eighteen years, since my diagnosis at age twenty-five when I was smack at the beginning of my career and wanting very much to fit in with my colleagues at business lunches and office potlucks. Diabetes was a clumsy companion I wanted to ditch at the door.

The only way I could do that was to pretend I'd already eaten, or pretend that of all the appetizers on the buffet, I truly and only loved plain celery. That kept my diabetes a secret, but after a potluck or two, it made me seem anorexic-ish. Which I probably actually was. Disordered eating is an easy side street down which many of us tiptoe in pursuit of better A1Cs and smoother dinner dates.

Fortunately, there are better strategies. Amy Stockwell Mercer is on to a lot of them. And fortunately, she wants to share them with us, as she did in The Smart Woman's Guide to Diabetes and as she does so well online at www.amystockwellmercer.com.

In The Smart Woman's Guide to Eating Right With Diabetes, Amy gives us plenty of honest truth from her own experience and from the interviews she's conducted with men and women who have discovered new, surprising, unconventional, and often simple means of eating right. Amy also shares clinical research with clarity and compassion. And through it all, she threads a unique and welcome brand of encouragement.