Book excerpt: Provides dietitians and other health care professionals with the information they need to provide comprehensive diabetes care and self-management training. Topics covered include understanding diabetes (pathophysiology, complications of diabetes); setting and achieving management goals (medical nutrition therapy, nutrition assessment, diabetes medications and delivery methods, exercise benefits and guidelines, comprehensive monitoring, blood glucose monitoring, preparing and evaluating diabetes education programs, counseling skills); selecting a nutrition approach (expanding meal-planning approaches, the exchange system, carbohydrate counting, weight reduction, cultural considerations); macronutrient influence on blood glucose and health (complex and simple carbohydrates in diabetes therapy, identifying protein needs, lipid metabolism and choices, issues in prescribing calories, low-calorie sweeteners and fat replacers, fiber metabolism); making food choices; life stages (children and adolescents, pregnancy and diabetes, caring for older persons); and nutrition and specific clinical conditions (renal disease, hypertension, eating disorders, surgery, gastrointestinal issues, dental care, HIV/AIDS); etc.