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If you have diabetes, or you cook for someone who does, you probably own a cookbook or two that ended up at the back of the shelf. The recipes were safe enough, but nobody wanted to eat them twice.

So when a cookbook calls itself "ultimate", it is fair to ask what is actually in it. This review sticks to the facts: what The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook is, who wrote it, what you get, what it costs, who it suits and who should give it a miss.

The short version

• What it is: a 297-page digital cookbook (eBook) with more than 250 diabetic-friendly recipes.
• Who wrote it: Denise Campbell, who has lived with diabetes for 20 years.
• Who it is for: people with Type 1, Type 2 or gestational diabetes, and the people who cook for them.
• Price: $37, one payment, with three bonus guides included.
• Guarantee: 60 days, no questions asked, 100% satisfaction or your money back.

Who is Denise Campbell?

Denise wrote the book because she could not buy it. For years she looked for a cookbook with quick, easy meals that tasted great and were still right for her. She searched online, in bookshops and in libraries, and she asked dieticians, chefs and restaurants for recipes. In her words, she "was met with more closed doors than I care to remember".

So she made it herself. Over three years she worked with a team of dieticians, chefs and food lovers, and the recipes were tested in their test kitchen before they went in.

What's inside

The recipes cover a whole day of eating, plus the parts of life that most diabetic cookbooks skip:

• Soups and stews: more than 25, including the Fresh Garden Stew and the Morning Harvest Soup.
• Salads and vegetables: 25+ fresh salads and veggie combos.
• Meat, chicken and fish: over 80 recipes.
• Grains, legumes and pastas.
• Snacks: a whole host of them, for everyday and for guests.
• Drinks: dozens, hot and cold, with and without alcohol, mojitos included.
• Desserts: more than 25, such as Melting Peach Crumble, Apple Cranberry Pie and Grilled Angel Food Cake, plus rich chocolate soufflés and almond apricot biscotti.

Around the recipes there are three practical sections that save a lot of head-scratching. The exchanges and conversions are already done for you. There is a guide to turning your favourite pre-diabetic dishes into ones you can still enjoy. And there is a list of staple ingredients to keep in, so you can make something good even when you have not been to the shops in days.

The three bonuses

• "177 Ways To Burn Calories Safely For Diabetics", an eGuide of ideas for staying active, written for people with diabetes.
• "Insiders Guide To Living With Diabetes", a 63-page eBook in plain English that follows a normal day of meals and explains why each one is put together as it is.
• "The Diabetics Guide To Lowering Your Cholesterol", an eManual on what cholesterol is and what your options are, so you can have a better-informed talk with your own doctor.

How you get it

It is an eBook, so there is nothing to wait for in the post. You download it a few minutes after you order and read it on your screen. You can print any recipe as often as you like, which is handy for the pages that get splashed while you cook.

Who it suits

• People who are tired of plain, careful food and want variety: soups, proper dinners, snacks, drinks and desserts.
• Anyone who cooks for someone with diabetes and would rather make one meal the whole family eats than two separate dinners.
• Cooks who find the sums stressful. With the exchanges and conversions done, you can simply follow the recipe.
• Beginners. Denise wrote the recipes so that anybody can follow them, even if you rarely cook today.
• Families with favourite recipes they do not want to give up, thanks to the section on adapting pre-diabetic dishes.

Who it doesn't suit

• Anyone who wants a printed, bound book. This is an eBook. You can print the recipes yourself, but nothing arrives in the post.
• Anyone looking for medical advice. It is a cookbook. It does not replace your doctor or dietician, who know your own needs, and it says nothing about your medicine.
• Anyone who wants every day planned for them. With more than 250 recipes, you build your own daily and weekly meals from the book rather than following a fixed plan.

Price and guarantee

The cookbook and all three bonuses cost $37, as one payment. The order is covered by a 60-day, no-questions-asked, 100% satisfaction guarantee. If the recipes are not what Denise promised, you ask for your money back within the 60 days.

The verdict

If dinner has turned into something you get through rather than something you look forward to, or you cook for someone with diabetes and want one meal everybody enjoys, The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook is well worth a look. It covers far more than the usual handful of safe meals, it is a single payment of $37, and the guarantee gives you two months of cooking to decide.

Click here to see The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook on the official site and look through the recipe list for yourself.

This article is general information about cooking, not medical advice. Everyone's needs are different, so talk to your doctor or dietician about what suits you, and never change your medicine without their advice.

Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

Ask anyone who has lived with diabetes for a while about the recipes they were given after diagnosis, and you will often get the same face. A polite smile, and then a word like "fine" or "safe".

Hardly anyone says "delicious".

Denise Campbell, who has lived with diabetes for 20 years, put it more bluntly. She says most diabetic recipes are "about as tasty as the paper they're printed on". Here is why that happens so often, and six simple ways good cooks bring the flavour back.

Why the recipes end up so dull

Most diabetic recipes start from a list of things to take out. Out goes this, down goes that, and very little goes back in to replace it. The recipe ends up safe on paper and empty on the plate.

Denise noticed the same pattern when she went looking for a better cookbook. In her experience, doctors were more interested in telling her what she could not eat than what she could, publishers did not seem to think there was enough demand to bother, and most of the food world was happy to repackage the same old recipes that had been around for decades.

The result is food written around fear rather than flavour. The good news is that flavour does not have to come from the things you are cutting back on. Good cooks have plenty of other ways to make a meal taste wonderful.

1. Roast and grill instead of boiling

Boiling and steaming are gentle, which is exactly the problem. Roasting vegetables in a hot oven, or grilling chicken and fish until they take on a little colour, gives you browned edges and a deeper taste. The difference between a steamed carrot and a roasted one is enormous, and it costs you nothing but a few extra minutes.

2. Let herbs and spices do the heavy lifting

A handful of fresh parsley, basil or coriander, a pinch of smoked paprika or cumin, a little garlic and black pepper: these are the cook's best friends. Add hardy herbs and dried spices early so their flavour cooks into the dish, and scatter soft fresh herbs over at the end so they stay bright.

3. Finish with something sharp

When a dish tastes flat, it rarely needs more of anything heavy. It usually needs a squeeze of lemon or lime, or a splash of vinegar, right before it goes on the table. A little sharpness wakes up every other flavour on the plate.

4. Think about texture as well as taste

A lot of dull food is soft all the way through. A scattering of toasted almonds, a few crisp salad leaves or a crunchy topping on a baked dish makes a meal far more satisfying to eat, even when the ingredients are simple.

5. Make soups and stews a regular thing

Soups and stews are one of the easiest ways to eat well. Their flavour builds as they simmer, they are happy to wait if dinner runs late, and a big pot feeds the whole family, with leftovers for lunch the next day.

6. Use recipes that were written for you

The hardest part of cooking with diabetes is often the guesswork: converting an old family recipe, swapping ingredients and wondering whether you got it right. It is far easier to start from recipes that were built for people with diabetes in the first place, so the work is already done.

The cookbook Denise made

That last point is exactly why Denise Campbell wrote The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook. After years of finding nothing worth cooking from, she spent three years working with a team of dieticians, chefs and food lovers to build it, and tested the recipes in her test kitchen.

It runs to 297 pages and more than 250 recipes, including more than 25 soups and stews such as the Fresh Garden Stew and Morning Harvest Soup, over 80 meat, chicken and fish dishes, salads, snacks, dozens of drinks and more than 25 desserts, from Melting Peach Crumble to Grilled Angel Food Cake. The exchanges and conversions are already done, and there is a section on turning your favourite pre-diabetic dishes into ones you can still enjoy.

It costs $37, comes with three free bonus guides, and is covered by a 60-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.

Click here to see The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook and find out what is cooking in Denise's kitchen.

This article is general information about cooking, not medical advice. Everyone's needs are different, so talk to your doctor or dietician about what suits you, and never change your medicine without their advice.

Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

When someone you love is told they have diabetes, the kitchen often changes overnight. Suddenly every meal comes with questions. What can they eat? What should you avoid? Is that pudding a good idea?

A lot of home cooks deal with it by making two dinners: something careful for the person with diabetes, and the usual meal for everybody else. It is kind, and it is exhausting. And it can leave the person you are cooking for feeling like a guest at their own table.

Here are seven ways to make one meal the whole family enjoys.

1. Ask them, and let the experts guide the details

Before you change anything, talk to the person you are cooking for. What do they miss? What have they been told by their doctor or dietician? Their own care team knows their needs, so let that guide the details, and let your cooking take care of the flavour.

2. Cook one meal, not two

Good diabetic-friendly food is simply good food. A big pot of stew, a tray of roasted vegetables, grilled fish with a fresh salad: there is nothing on that table that only one person can eat. Cooking one meal saves you time, and it tells the person you love that they are part of the family dinner, not a special case.

3. Start from recipes where the work is done

Converting recipes yourself means working out exchanges, swapping ingredients and hoping you got it right. Starting from recipes written for people with diabetes takes that worry off your shoulders, so you can concentrate on cooking.

4. Keep the right staples in the cupboard

Most stressful dinners start with an empty fridge and no plan. A short list of staple ingredients that you always keep in means you can put together something good on a busy evening, even if you have not been to the shops in days.

5. Hold on to the family favourites

Every family has dishes that mean something: a birthday dinner, a Sunday roast, a grandmother's pie. You do not have to retire them. Many favourite recipes can be adapted, and keeping them on the table matters more than people expect.

6. Remember the treats and the drinks

Gatherings are where people with diabetes most often feel left out. Everyone else has dessert and a festive drink, and they get a glass of water. Plan a dessert and a drink that everyone can share, and the whole occasion feels different.

7. Let food be a pleasure again

Try not to turn every meal into a conversation about diabetes. Put the food down, enjoy it together and talk about something else. Very often the kindest thing a cook can do is make dinner feel normal.

A cookbook built for exactly this

If you would like a single book that covers all of this, have a look at The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook by Denise Campbell. Denise has lived with diabetes for 20 years, and she writes about how friends and family often don't know how to cook so-called "diabetic food", so the meal ends up tasting "more like cardboard than something edible". So she spent three years with a team of dieticians, chefs and food lovers building a cookbook that the whole family would want to eat from.

It has 297 pages and more than 250 recipes: soups and stews, over 80 meat, chicken and fish dishes, salads, snacks, dozens of drinks and more than 25 desserts, such as Apple Cranberry Pie and Melting Peach Crumble. The exchanges and conversions are already done, there is a list of staple ingredients, and there is a section on turning favourite pre-diabetic dishes into ones everyone can share.

It is an eBook, so you can download it straight away and print the recipes you like. It costs $37 with three free bonus guides, and it comes with a 60-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.

Click here to see The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook and find your family's next favourite dinner.

This article is general information about cooking, not medical advice. Everyone's needs are different, so talk to your doctor or dietician about what suits you, and never change your medicine without their advice.

Disclosure: this article contains affiliate links. If you buy through them, I may earn a commission at no extra cost to you.

You have invited friends round, the menu is half planned, and then you remember that one of your guests has diabetes.

Suddenly the easy parts of hosting feel complicated. What do you serve with drinks? Is dessert a bad idea? Should you make them something separate? Most hosts mean well, and a lot of them end up doing the one thing their guest dreads most: handing them a special plate that looks nothing like everybody else's.

Denise Campbell, who has lived with diabetes for 20 years, describes what that feels like from the other side. Friends and family often don't know how to cook so-called "diabetic food", she writes, so the meal ends up tasting "more like cardboard than something edible". Here is how to make sure that never happens at your table.

1. Ask, quietly and early

A short message a few days before is all it takes: "I'm planning the menu, is there anything you'd like me to know?" Your guest knows their own needs, and their doctor or dietician has already talked them through the details. Asking privately means they are not explaining their health in front of the whole room.

2. Cook one menu, not two

The kindest thing you can do is serve a meal everybody can eat. A big pot of stew, a platter of roasted vegetables, grilled fish with a fresh salad: nothing on that table needs a label. Your guest gets to be a guest, not a special case.

3. Put out snacks worth arriving for

The first half hour of a party is often the hardest for someone with diabetes, because the bowls on the table are full of things they would rather skip. Plan a couple of savoury snacks that everyone will reach for, and nobody has to hover by the door with an empty hand.

4. Make the drinks interesting for everyone

Nothing makes a person feel left out faster than being handed a glass of tap water while everyone else raises something festive. Have at least one good drink ready, hot or cold, and make sure there is a non-alcoholic choice that feels like a treat rather than an afterthought.

5. Don't skip dessert

Dessert is where many people with diabetes quietly sit out. Plan a dessert that everyone can share, and serve it the same way to every guest. If you are unsure, your guest will tell you what suits them, and they will notice that you thought about it.

6. Then stop talking about it

Once the food is on the table, let it be food. Talk about the holiday, the football or the new kitten. A good host makes dinner feel normal, and that is the part your guest will remember.

A cookbook that covers the whole party

Most diabetic cookbooks stop at the evening meal. The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook by Denise Campbell keeps going. Alongside more than 25 soups and stews and over 80 meat, chicken and fish dishes, it has a whole host of snacks, dozens of drinks, hot and cold, with and without alcohol (mojitos included), and more than 25 desserts, such as Melting Peach Crumble, Apple Cranberry Pie and Grilled Angel Food Cake.

Denise built it over three years with a team of dieticians, chefs and food lovers. It runs to 297 pages and more than 250 recipes, the exchanges and conversions are already done, and there is a list of staple ingredients so you can put something good together even at short notice.

It is an eBook, so you can download it today and print the recipes you want for the weekend. It costs $37, comes with three free bonus guides, and is covered by a 60-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.

Click here to see The Ultimate Diabetic Cookbook and plan a menu that every guest can enjoy.

This article is general information about cooking, not medical advice. Everyone's needs are different, so talk to your doctor or dietician about what suits you, and never change your medicine without their advice.