The Bottom Line
This time, his mission was to create a book that focused on eating well with diabetes and heart disease. But it's not just a cookbook. It's also the story of how he helped his wife, Treena, regain her health after a devastating heart attack and diagnosis of diabetes and heart disease. The recipes in this book were actually created by Graham for Treena, to tempt her into eating healthy, when at first, she really didn't want to.
- There are approximately 500 delicious recipes.
- It offers the traditional ADA exchange values and nutrition facts.
- Lower-carb versions of most recipes are included.
- The FPS (Food Preference Sheets) help you discover the foods you can still enjoy.
- The focus is on flexibility and personal enjoyment.
- Some recipes require advanced cooking skills.
- A few ingredients may be hard to find.
Description
- The FPS help you figure out what foods give you enjoyment and help you work those foods into your life.
- Most recipes offer both low-fat and low-carb versions.
- The FPS is an easy and fun tool to help you plot your journey to healthy food enjoyment.
Guide Review - Book Review: Charting a Course to Wellness
This is a good book to have if you don't know where to start on your journey to better health. It's not just a book of recipes. Graham and Treena tell the story of how they lived life in the fast lane for many years, with too much rich food, too much wine and just plain too much excess. The lifestyle took its toll on Treena. She suffered a small stroke, and then a heart attack. Not only was she diagnosed with heart disease but type 2 diabetes as well.
Graham felt uniquely qualified to help Treena adopt a healthy way of eating, because he makes his living preparing food. But helping Treena turned out to be a little more difficult than Graham thought. Treena didn't want to eat boring low-fat, low-calorie food and was a reluctant, if not completely unwilling, participant in her own lifestyle change.
Graham became frustrated, but not with Treena. He understood the reasons why Treena was rebelling. She felt that she could never eat the things she loved again. Graham developed the Food Preference Sheets (FPS) to help discover which tastes, textures, aromas and colors appealed to Treena the most.
The FPS consists of checklists that cover every conceivable food choice. It's designed to help you discover your own personal likes and dislikes. Ideally, the Kerrs' suggest that you use the FPS as a diabetes management tool and show it to your dietician or nutritionist, so he or she can help you incorporate it into your eating plan.
Graham's recipes are based on preparing simple but great tasting food using healthy ingredients. He also offers lower-carb versions of most recipes.
It worked for Treena. She became a happy participant in her lifestyle change and lowered her A1c, her cholesterol and her weight. She's a lucky woman. She has a husband who loves her enough to help her develop a healthy lifestyle she will stick with ... and he cooks, too!
