The 5:2 fasting diet guru tackles diabetes with blood sugar diet

BBC presenter and author Dr. Michael Mosley’s 2013 Fast Diet introduced readers to intermittent fasting for weight loss and overall good health. The so-called 5:2 concept means eating as usual five days a week with two 600-calorie days thrown into the mix.

The idea proved hugely popular. The original book is now updated and sold in more than 30 languages, along with FastDiet cookbooks and Fast Exercise.

Mosley’s latest work, The 8-Week Blood Sugar Diet (Atria Books, $33.99), promises to reshape people with Type 2 diabetes — or pre-diabetes — if they follow a low-calorie, Mediterranean-style diet. Averaging 800-900 calories a day, this isn’t a go-slow approach. He suggests those who don’t want to take on such a drastic change start by introducing the diet days just two days a week.

I Quit Sugar

A quest by Australian journalist Sarah Wilson to feel better after being diagnosed with Hashimotos disease — an autoimmune condition that mainly affects women over 40 — has created a miniempire of books, blogs and an eight-week online wellness program. The I Quit Sugar Cookbook (Clarkson Potter, $35.50) is a companion to her original 2011 book, I Quit Sugar, a step she says changed her health dramatically for the better.

The cookbook moves beyond what’s going on in our bodies to what’s going on in the world. It shows readers how to eat healthy foods on a budget by buying in bulk, storing and freezing.

Drinking your medicine

Abbotsford-based food and wellness writer Jennifer Browne adds to her growing body of work with The Good Living Guide to Medicinal Tea (Good Books, $21.99) that walks readers through the herb garden to find a tea for what ails them. The simply designed book is divided into two main sections: one explaining the medicinal uses of plants like ginger and slippery elm; and another with tea recipes for specific health complaints. She has a new book on plantbased, gluten-free baby foods — Baby Nosh — coming out this spring.