Your First Year with Diabetes: What to Do, Month by Month

Your First Year with Diabetes:  What to Do, Month by Month
by Theresa Garnero, APRN, BC-ADM, MSN, CDE

Reviewed by Leigh Anne Bowen, University of Florida Doctor of Pharmacy Candidate

Your First Year with Diabetes:  What to Do, Month by Month is a well-organized, comprehensible guide to help people  manage their first year with diabetes.  The author, Theresa Garnero, a Certified Diabetes Educator (CDE) who is Board Certified in Advanced Diabetes Management (BC-ADM), states in the introduction that “[D]iabetes is about change—changing your life from the way it was and bringing changes to your mind, body, and spirit.”  She believes that incorporating humor into diabetes management helps by adding a different perspective and builds confidence to aid in coping with diabetes.  Also, as most people newly diagnosed with diabetes tend to be overwhelmed with information, Garnero incorporates small, attainable lifestyle changes throughout the pages of this book.  Published by the American Diabetes Association (ADA), Your First Year with Diabetes:  What to Do, Month by Month provides comprehensive information to make these changes through an incremental approach by introducing concepts with day-by-day advice for the first 28 days and then weekly for the following eleven months. 

Garnero organized the book by highlighting diabetes self-care behaviors to follow, adapted from the American Association of Diabetes Educators (AADE) 7 Self-Care Behaviors, throughout the daily and weekly chapters.  The self-care behaviors are categorized as:  eating wisely, being active, checking numbers (monitoring blood glucose/A1C, blood pressure, cholesterol, and weight), reducing stress, understanding medications, avoiding problems, reducing risks, and adding humor.  Some of the numerous topics covered include:  dispelling myths about diabetes, exploring the food pyramid, counting carbohydrates, how and when to check blood glucose, hypoglycemia, physical activity, weight loss/control, foot care, eye care, dental care, skin care, medications (oral, insulin, other injectables), dietary supplements, what tests to ask your doctor to order, what to do for travel and holidays, forming a support network, depression, illness, and sexual dysfunction.  In addition to the more serious side of diabetes management, cartoons greet each month and humorous messages are dispersed throughout the book.

Each of the chapters for the 28 days and the weeks that follow end with an interactive checklist of personal goals to help the reader track his/her progress.  At the end of each week during the first 28 days is a page to review personal goals and to determine which were successful.  Reviews of personal goals are also found at the end of months two, six, and twelve.  The reader will be able to refocus goals depending upon which lifestyle changes were and were not successful.  The ultimate goal is that the reader will find personally acceptable methods to implement changes that will have a positive impact toward the management of his/her diabetes.  For example, one might prefer to walk 20-30 minutes each morning around the neighborhood on most days of the week versus joining a gym to acquire essential amounts of physical activity. 

I recommend this book for anyone who is interested in making positive changes toward living a healthier life.  Your First Year with Diabetes:  What to Do, Month by Month is not only for those newly diagnosed with diabetes, but can be used by others with diabetes who need a good review of the diabetes self-care behaviors in order to set manageable goals.  Almost any topic one can think of regarding diabetes self-care is covered in this comprehensive, 308-page book.  This collective material is more than just a cover-to-cover read; it should be used as a reference for the years to follow.  Simply stated, this book provides a proactive approach toward healthy living.