Review: T.A.G.: A Diabetic Food System

T.A.G.: A Diabetic Food System by Mary Joan Oexmann

My rating: 3 of 5 stars



My daughter is a T1 Diabetic and we've been doing 'diabetic math' for 5 years now. On a message board I saw people reference the TAG system for calculating insulin needs. It was hard to find a copy (thank you, Amazon!) and the book is 22 years old. Once I realized the age of the book, I was really surprised that people were using it. Diabetes care has changed so much over the past two decades and I wasn't sure why outdated info would be useful.

I then read the book. And read it again. It talks about setting a meal plan, calculating insulin needs for the non-carbs in a meal, and had templates to use in calculating TAG. What it didn't do was tell me how to use it to treat my daughter. Honestly, I wondered why it was getting so much talk if it didn't do anything except set meal plans. To be fair, this makes sense because it was written in 1989...and things have changed so much.

I finally realized that the book is an explanation of the math. If you want to use it as part of a dual wave bolus plan for insulin pumps, go online and research it...then read the book...then go back to your online resources and try it. This book didn't answer my questions and it was a bit overwhelming. I've been weighing her food and calculating off of carb factors for 5 years so I'm comfortable with calculations but this book made it seem so much more complicated than it needed to. I'm glad to have a copy for reference but the most useful information is available online.



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Review: Testimony

Testimony by Anita Shreve

My rating: 2 of 5 stars



This wasn't what I expected of Anita Shreve. The different voices, the constant shifting in time, the minimal story line...it felt like a great idea for a book had been written in this context to allow the characters to show themselves instead of having to write the descriptions of them. I like the behind-the-scenes feel and it was a fun approach. Unfortunately, there were just too many characters I didn't want to learn more about. Everything tied together nicely at the end and we are left with a different view of the incident but it was still so unsatisfactory to me. The behavior, the excuses, the lack of punishment - it all seemed to gloss over the fact that three adults were involved in a sexual situation with a 14 year old girl. Mike, in particular, annoyed me. I skimmed through most of his dialogue and found that the voices I would have enjoyed reading more from were rather limited in appearance. For instance, Sienna's roommate or Owen. I think that a more developed novel would have given me the details I wanted to know.



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Review: Overcoming Dyslexia For Dummies (For Dummies

Overcoming Dyslexia For Dummies (For Dummies by Tracey Wood

My rating: 4 of 5 stars



We are in the process of having my son tested for dyslexia. This book is really useful for that "Is it dyslexia? What should I do to find out? What will happen if it is?" stage because it provides information on background, diagnosis and treatment.

Like all books in the "for Dummies" series, it provides a lot of information and presents it in easy to understand language. Reading it helped me make a plan for testing and has given me useful tips on what follow-up steps would need to happen.

I recommend this book for anyone trying to help a struggling reader. You may realize that there is something making reading difficult - and getting the right kind of help can make all the difference!



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