Deal With Your Diabetes

The latest scientific research confirms that you can live well and long with diabetes without suffering from its more devastating health complications. Whether you have type 1 or type 2 diabetes, you have the ability to improve the quality and length of your life through physical activity, a positive mental outlook, and certain diabetes tools and medications. Now, the longest living people with type 1 and type 2 diabetes share the secrets that have helped them achieve longevity and wellness.

From interviews with more than fifty people who have thrived with the condition for as many as 84 years, diabetes authorities Drs. Colberg and Edelman distill their lifelong habits into fifty user-friendly, easy-to-adopt secrets. Featuring profiles of ten people who have each lived an average of 65 years with diabetes and practical advice for incorporating each secret into your daily life, this invaluable resource will inform, inspire, and motivate you to live well—and fully—to 90 and beyond.

Find out what some of the secrets are:

• Live first and be diabetic second
• Know your numbers and assume nothing
• Have kids if you want to
• Erase your mistakes with exercise

No matter what type of diabetes you have, you control the ability to escape serious complications (or control the ones you may have) and add years, if not decades, to your life.
 

We are a diabetic nation: according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, one in three Americans born in this century will become diabetic. James Hirsch’s myth-shattering blend of history, reportage, advocacy, and memoir will speak for, and to, the 20 million Americans who live with this disease. Cheating Destiny offers revealing views of the diabetic subculture, the urge toward secrecy that many diabetics feel, the glycemic rollercoaster they ride constantly, and the remarkable perseverance—even heroism—required for survival.

Hirsch is uniquely qualified to write this book. An award-winning journalist and best-selling author, he has lived with type 1 diabetes for twenty-five years. His brother Irl, also a diabetic, is one of the country’s leading diabetologists. Most poignantly, he knows firsthand the toll diabetes can take on parents: his three-year-old son was diagnosed with the disease while Hirsch was writing this book.

Hirsch draws on all this expertise to craft an incisive, surprising portrayal of the fascinating science behind the disease and the skyrocketing impact of diabetes on our economy and society. Most striking is his candid, authoritative writing about the psychological and emotional hurdles that diabetics confront every day. Anyone who lives with diabetes—or loves a diabetic—will find here an empowering voice of empathy.