I'd love to find out your recommendations for your favorite diabetes magazines. Which ones do you regularly read, and what types of articles do you find the most interesting and helpful? Thanks for sharing your favorites.
I get and read Diabetes Forecast and that's about it. Everything else I get online. Generally, I think I get more newsflashes from DHF here and then twitter and FB although I have sort of bailed out of twitter as it's too much of a timesink to keep up with and I don't feel quite the connections I get on FB or this message board. I am also a member of diabetes daily but the board there is a bit slower.
I presume your question is about print magazines focused on the general public. There are quite a few magazines, David Mendosa lists nearly 30 in a summary he did some years ago. Magazines are all having to shift over to on-line versions and incarnations and in the future print (paid) magazines will likely taper off significantly.
I have to be honest, in my opinion, most of the diabetes magazines are filled with bad recipes and lots of people all happy and joyful that they have diabetes. I just want to burn the magazines and fire all the editors. That being said, in order of my preference
Diabetes Health – Cutting edge, no HW or MF
Diabetes Self-Management – No HW or MF
Diabetes Forecast – ADA, greatly improved under the leadership of KellyR (no MF or HW)
Diabetic Living – editors include HW and MF
Diabetic Cooking - edited by MF
A critical failing of all these major magazines in meeting my needs is that they depend on a "vetted" editing of content. And the choice of vetted content almost always is totally at odds with my diet and management strategy. Any magazine associated with MF or HW is almost guaranteed to be at odds with me. It really galls me to read a magazine filled with recipes for low fat desserts and things like that.
I actually receive DSM in print version and read Diabetes Health on-line. My library also carries Diabetic Living on Zinio. I would probably get Diabetes Forecast, but I can't bring myself to support the ADA.
Hi LynnRD. I like the first three magazines mentioned by Brian(bsc), although in no particular order.
Btw, the last Diabetes Forecast, including online, features our KellyWPA in an article about diabetes complications.
ok, maybe I need more coffee, but what is MF and HW?
Well, as a resident of beautiful switzerland, i have to say that our variety of diabetic magazines is really poor.
There are either magazines printed by pump companies like bolus by medtronic and prisma by roche. These two are mainly advertisements for their products ( i am astonished by the number of times they can praise one and the same product over an dover again).
Then there is the D-journal, released by the swiss diabetic association. I receive that one as part of my membership, but i dont read it cause they mostly talk about t2 and the horrible feet and so on… And that does not interest me. Also to mention the many many assugrin recipes they print in there which are nothing but low carb.
So most info i get over the inernet via pages like this one…
I've only looked at magazines I've seen in doctor's offices or drugstores and they were awful: only oriented to type 2 and the recipes were all low fat and substitute foods. But then I rarely find recipes in any magazine I would consider using.
Thanks for making me LOL - for a couple of minutes! Have you thought about putting together your own magazine?
A coworker gives me Diabetes Forcast after he's done with it. I enjoyed the Crystal Bowersox interview and the article about the cost and manufacture of strips.
The recipes make me see red. For instance I have zero chance of eating this double chocolate cake without having a blood sugar disaster and I suspect many other T2's would have a similar experience. It has 1/2 cup of Splenda sugar blend and 1/4 cup of light brown sugar. Is a diabetes magazine really telling me it's OK for me to eat sugar?
Since I low carb, I find these two blogs, among others, contain information I can actually use:
The authors have the professional credentials to interpret studies and understand the underlying biochemistry and physiology. They also aren't afraid to say "we don't know" when a something hasn't been studied. Since both have blood sugar issues of their own they have a little extra credibility in my book.
“I have to be honest, in my opinion, most of the diabetes magazines are filled with bad recipes and lots of people all happy and joyful that they have diabetes. I just want to burn the magazines and fire all the editors.”
Brian, thanks for the chuckle!
I used to get Diabetes Forecast, and my favorite part was the Mail Call. I didn't find many articles that were helpful, and stopped renewing it.
Currently I find it better to look for stuff on-line.
Thanks to everyone for your thoughts and suggestions. I like to have a paper magazine to read, but at the same time I also find a lot of information online. It seems like one of the biggest negatives I'm hearing about most of the traditional diabetes magazines are the recipes. Thanks for the suggestions of online sources for recipes that are a better fit for you.
Thanks, but I'd never be able to handle the business side of advertising and the insidious influence that corporations have on the content.
Yes, the recipes I have found in many mags, books, etc are not geared toward lower carb which for a T2 is necessary and it sounds like T1s benefit from a lower carb diet too. The reason this upsets me is I have been told by the medical profession that going low carb as a T2 is dangerous for my health! Also that getting below 100 bg is life threatening. If that is so, how do normals survive? At this point, I have a pretty negative image of mainstream medicine when it comes to D.
You're right that mainstream medicine often moves slowly. That's primarily because in order for new recommendations to take hold, there needs to be a large body of research that backs up the new guidelines. That takes time, and then once the research starts to show that we need to change our guidelines, it also takes time to educate everyone involved. In some cases, I think this is a good thing, because we certainly don't want to jump on something new, and then find out it's dangerous in ways we never thought of. I'll agree that this process can be frustrating. Plus, recommendations that are designed for the entire population don't always hold true for some individuals.
One of the great things for everyone here is that you have tools to test your blood sugar and figure out what works for you. You are able to use your knowledge and experience to let your health care providers know what helps you maintain healthy blood sugar levels, and what simply doesn't work for you. I always tell my clients that they know their bodies better than anyone else, and while I can teach them basic information, we'll then work together to figure out a plan that fits their individual needs.
I don't read any diabetes magazines. Tu Diabetes and just general reading online is where I get my information from. I agree with Brian- the magazines I have looked are ridiculous, bad advice for the most part and people who look airbrushed and too happy etc. as well as being corporate/big pharma advertisements for things we probably don't really want to try out... lol
You are doing a great job for your clients. I know most people in the medical profession care about their patients but many are too closed minded.
My favorite diabetes "magazine" is the website asweetlife.org, which features some new content each week.
Not a diabetes publication, but I find some good recipe ideas (& nutritional info) in Eating Well magazine. EW have quite a lot available on its website.
Similarly, great recipe ideas (many lower carb) on the New York Times' "Recipes for Health", on the NYT website.
I'm surprised no one has mentioned DiaTribe! It's online (I don't think they have a print version, although they have a PDF version you could download and print), but it's focused on research and new developments for both T1 and T2, product reviews, some information/advice type articles, no recipes at all. I really enjoy it. That and Diabetes Health (online) are the only two magazines I check out regularly.
Thanks for the wide range of suggestions for both print and online magazines/sources of information. I don't know of a magazine specifically devoted to folks with T1, but it seems like there's a need.