This simple piece from the Los Angeles Times, busting a few myths about diabetes, is worth posting on its own–in full.
Learning about Type 2 diabetes and the risk factors involved can help a person detect the disease early or know what he or she needs to do to minimize their risk. Type 2 diabetes, which used to be called adult-onset diabetes, is becoming more common, especially in children and young adults. Here are common myths associated with Type 2 diabetes:
1. Type 2 diabetes is not a serious disease.
Because Type 2 diabetes tends to develop slowly over time, many people believe it is not a serious disease. According to the American Diabetes Assn., diabetes kills more people each year than AIDS and breast cancer combined.
2. Only overweight people develop Type 2 diabetes.
Though being overweight or obese is a risk factor, it is not the only one. There are other risk factors to consider, such as family history. If you have immediate family members who have developed Type 2 diabetes, you have a greater risk of developing it.
Ethnicity also plays a role. African Americans, Hispanics and Native Americans are more likely to develop Type 2 diabetes than Caucasians.
3. There’s only one dangerous kind of diabetes.
Not true. Diabetes refers to a group of diseases — all of which require serious attention — that have in common the body’s inability to properly convert glucose from food into energy, leading to a high level of sugar in the blood. The main types of diabetes include Type 1 (formerly known as juvenile-onset diabetes), Type 2 and gestational (which occurs only during pregnancy). Managing any type of diabetes requires balancing food, physical activity and, if needed, medications.
4. People with diabetes must eat a special diet.
A healthful diet for someone with diabetes is the same as a healthful diet for anyone else. A good meal plan is based on whole-grain foods, lean protein, vegetables and fruit. Such a diet is low in fat (particularly saturated and trans fats), salt and simple sugars.
5. Only older people develop Type 2 diabetes. Type 2 diabetes used to be an adult disease, developing primarily in people over 40 who were overweight or obese. Sedentary lifestyles, combined with being overweight, have led to an increase in the diagnosis of Type 2 diabetes in children as young as 10.If you would like to learn more about diabetes, go to http://www.diabetes.org.
Robin Ellis 
For a while now I wanted to say thank you for the work you do to raise awareness of diabetes. Definitely I know more about the disease now that I knew few months ago when I started reading your posts. Although none in my family is diabetic, we have so many issues with the way we eat here in the States, we could use some healthy diet recipes.
Congratulation for the book, can’t wait to get it from Amazon on November 1st.
Thanks Carmen.
The publisher has told us it will be available early October.
Dear Robin,
I wholly endorse Monica’s sentiments in wishing to acknowledge just how much you have done to raise the profile on Type II Diabetes, and to thank you. My boyfriend has been diagnosed Type II and by following a diet based largely on your wonderful book, he has managed to lose 1 stone (and I have too!) and is feeling a great deal better, and his cholesterol levels have also dropped dramatically. I have also given your book to a girlfriend so that she and her husband can also draw dietary inspiration from your recipes. We now follow this sensible way of eating as a matter of course and feel a great deal better for it. Autumn is now coming to England (although we have been promised an Indian Summer) and good, low-cholesterol goodies such a partridge, pheasant, venison will be a feature of our dinners, along with home-grown vegetables and tomatoes.
Have a great Autumn, and further thanks,
Best wishes
Kim Hammill
Bath and London, UK
Congratulations, Kim–I’m thrilled to hear that.
I’m looking forward to the change of seasons too, though partridge, pheasant, venison is not so available here except to the hunters who are out in the fields at the weekend already. Plump little quail are farmed here and are a delicious alternative to chicken.
Tremendous news–well done!
Thanks for the continued education on diabetes. There’s a history in my family, and I have seen up close how serious it can be. I also have a former student, a beautiful talented young writer with type 1. Here’s a little bit of her story at: http://www.justtheplanet.com/round-the-world/travelling-with-diabetes/bridget-mcnulty.php.
I am excited to learn that the cookbook will be available sooner in the US. I hope you will be promoting it here. Can’t wait to try more recipes (next up is the white bean and parsley soup), even though my beloved husband and daughter joke about pizza and cheeseburgers as the two main food groups. I try to practice “stealth healthy” with them. 🙂
Stealthy health is good–but you never know it might creep up on them and they’ll start to like it!