I was happily surprised to discover that there was a new edition available. The original Think Like a Pancreas is on my all-time best books list and should be required reading for anyone that spends a lot of their time masquerading as a pancreas. Several of the lightbulb moments I’ve had since I started pumping insulin last year can also be found in this book. Think Like A Pancreas: A Practical Guide to Managing Diabetes With Insulin (3rd edition) was named the “Best Diabetes Book of 2020” by Diabetes Self-Management magazine in their November/December 2020 edition.

It went so much further than simply talking about diabetes. It gave me practical, actionable tips to better navigate my way through the daily diabetes challenges, helping me to ultimately see more in range blood sugar levels. In “Unleash your Inner Diabetes Dominator” Daniele aims to change your mindset by using her own experience as a person living with diabetes. Her message is that instead of diabetes being perceived as a weakness or a curse, diabetes can actually be a great source of strength if we choose to let it. She shows how diabetes can be a catalyst for improving our lives, by paying closer attention to what matters most in life and being of service to others.I recommend reading the book one chapter at a time. There's a lot of information in each chapter, so give it time to sink in before moving on to the next chunk. The all-in-one, comprehensive resource for the millions of people with diabetes who use insulin, revised and updated. This e-book is a collection of all the most important articles on exercise and diabetes that you’ll find here on Diabetes Strong (plus additional workout and meal plans). Phil Graham is a bodybuilder, nutritionist, and lives with diabetes himself. His book is excellent for anyone living with diabetes who’s focused on increasing strength and improving their health. It’s a straightforward guide that gives you the steps and tools to get started and achieve results. For a full review of the book, see this post on Diabetes Strong. Ginger Vieira and Jennifer Smith, CDE & RD, guide you through preparing for pregnancy – from conception to birth and through the challenges of managing your blood sugars during postpartum. It’s the only book on the market today dedicated entirely to pregnancy with type 1 diabetes (that I know of) and Ginger’s own experience as a mother living with diabetes shines through.

Many of the little intricacies and quirky things I’ve learned about my diabetes over the past six years are covered in this book. I had read the second edition of this book in 2015, I felt then that I had been spending 13 years in the dark. Now reading this latest edition in 2021, I still feel that I haven’t been up to date. There were certain situations I thought to be unsolvable like post-meal meteoric spike and an alarming fall two or three hours later. Gary Scheiner has a solution for everything. He is like a coach, guiding you with his arm around your shoulder to face whatever the challenge awaits. More than once he states that having diabetes shouldn’t limit your life in any way, I strongly agree with that. Yes, I loved those Billy Joel references as well.With detailed information on new medications and technologies — both apps and devices — surrounding insulin, as well as new injection devices, and dietary recommendations, Think Like a Pancreas is the insulin user’s go-to guide. I also credit this book with my contemplation of a new insulin regimen. My daughter is MDI'ing again (she hated the insulin pump) and we've spent the last 8 months fighting against a growing dawn phenomenon problem. Our best solution so far has been waking up at 5:30 and doing a correction so that breakfast numbers can be closer to target. I'd love to eliminate that and I was fascinated in the basal section on the idea of adding NPH to our plan. We could do Levemir in the morning, Novolog for bolusing and NPH in the evening. It's on my list of requests for our next endo visit and I would never have known about it without this book. Dr. Sheri R. Colberg’s latest book on exercise and diabetes (she also wrote the Diabetic Athlete’s Handbook) is a very comprehensive beginner’s guide for anyone wanting to learn more diabetes, exercise, and nutrition. Dr. Colberg lives with type 1 diabetes herself and is a professor emeritus of exercise science from Old Dominion University so she definitely knows what she’s talking about. Sugar surfing is based on the concept that our diabetes management should be individualized, and it teaches how to manage diabetes in a dynamic way following a course of self-experimentation. Dr. Ponder is an endocrinologist and lives with diabetes himself so he gets it! The book teaches you how to utilize the available diabetes technology (CGM and insulin pumps) in your self-management. Books on diabetes management have been around for a while and you might even have been given one when you were diagnosed. Some focus on explaining diabetes and blood sugar management, while others, like Dr. Bernstein’s diabetes books, lay out a whole paradigm for how to live your life with diabetes. Think Like a pancreas – Gary Scheiner (I)

All in all, I think this book will save you a lot of time at the doctor's or endocrinologist's office because you will cease being the ignorant patient who just wants a list of things to do and medications to take and, instead, will become an informed partner in your Diabetes treatment plan. You can ask educated questions and even bring up reasonable arguments why you question a doctor's recommendations. Although I don’t follow Dr. Bernstein’s approach myself, his book is among the most influential diabetes books for anyone wishing to support their diabetes management by following a low carb diet.If you use insulin to treat diabetes, and you're only going to read one book about how it works, this is it! Insulin can give a person freedom, independence, and a really good life. However, there's more to living with insulin then knowing how to give an injection. Once you master how insulin works, you can get on with living your life.