Everything changed when Jennifer Shun’s 12-year-old daughter Mia was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes. For Rancho Santa Fe, the mother of her two children, food was a big part of her family and she always loved to cook.
“No parent wants to hear that their child has a lifelong illness. It’s really hard and it really rocks your world,” Shun said. She said, “When she got her diagnosis and came home from her hospital, she realized that everything she knew about cooking and eating needed to change.”
Jennifer Shun’s “For Good Measure”
(Jennifer Shun)
Shun spent time researching and recreating every recipe in her kitchen just for her daughter. She tested healthy and delicious meals with success and started a blog to help the entire community. This network includes nonprofit organizations she supports, such as the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation and Control Diabetes.
This blog and years of recipes inspired her new cookbook, For Good Measure: A Diabetic Cookbook, which will be released on December 5th. This cookbook has everything from on-the-go snacks to easy dinners and desserts. The main feature of this cookbook is that it contains very specific nutritional information that allows people to plan meals and administer insulin.
![pecan pancakes from "for appropriate measures".](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/122330a/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3508x4385+0+0/resize/1200x1500!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F41%2F0e%2Fc49178b046028046f4ef9c0494e0%2Fpecan-pancakes.jpg)
“For Good Measure” pecan pancakes.
(Jennifer Shun)
One of the things Shun noticed about health cookbooks was that while diet-focused cookbooks were often pretty to look at, diabetes cookbooks were relegated to “sad little shelves.” She felt a mission to provide her wonderful cookbook to the 37 million Americans living with diabetes. When her first copy arrived last week from her publisher, Mango Publishing, she felt she had achieved her goal. “It’s wonderful,” she said. Encinitas photographer Lindsey Richards captured the local California scenery featured in her book, and all the food was photographed by Shun in her home kitchen in Rancho Santa Fe.
She points out that all the food was eaten there, too.
While everyone approaches diabetes from a different perspective, her recipes focus on a diet low in carbohydrates (“healthy, select carbohydrates”) and high in fiber, and eliminate unnecessary sweeteners. All removed. Each dish packs a huge amount of flavor. “We are gourmets…we don’t eat bland food,” Shun said.
Flavorful foods that are actually good for your blood sugar levels include pecan pancakes, cornbread muffins with maple butter, roasted eggplant with tzatziki, pizza with margarita cauliflower crust, and slow-cooked Moroccan chicken with saffron cauliflower. Includes dishes such as rice.
Chino Farms in Rancho Santa Fe was a partner on this book. Mr. Shun would come to the farm almost every two days to get fresh and delicious vegetables and fruits.
![cauliflower crust margherita pizza "for stupid measures"](https://ca-times.brightspotcdn.com/dims4/default/d207436/2147483647/strip/true/crop/3508x4385+0+0/resize/1200x1500!/quality/75/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fcalifornia-times-brightspot.s3.amazonaws.com%2F39%2F6a%2F93f0198148b089c596c8aca6d458%2Fmargherita-cauliflower-crust-pizza.jpg)
“For Goof Measure” Margherita Cauliflower Crust Pizza
(Jennifer Shun)
In addition to the great food and artistic presentation, this cookbook also features a foreword by Dr. Sheryl Anderson, dean of the Department of Public Health and Human Longevity Sciences at the University of California, San Diego.
“A healthy diet is essential to managing diabetes and helps prevent complications associated with diabetes.” In “For Good Measures”…recipes are creative and you’ll be introduced to new dishes and flavors while learning new techniques. can be explored and is appealing to both beginners and seasoned cooks alike,” Anderson said in a news release. “This book is important for improving the health of people with diabetes or those who want to prevent diabetes, reduce the risk of heart disease, improve overall health, and live longer, healthier lives. I will make a significant contribution.”
Mia is currently a senior at Cornell University, and when she returned home for Thanksgiving break, she took a peek at the cookbook that inspired her. When Shun read the book, she said, she thought, “Oh, I love this!” “I remember this!” she says every time she turns a page. Her favorite recipes were Chocolate Her Peanut Her Butter Her Shortbread and it was so delicious that she put down her book and said, “Mom, let’s go make it.”
Shun hopes this book will touch the hearts of everyone who picks it up. By sharing her personal story, she hopes to help others overcome the initial hurdle of a life-altering diagnosis and make it easier for them to overcome this disease.
“This book is about food-based ways to manage and prevent diabetes. There are ways, and this is to show you what works,” said Shun. “I want to inspire people living with diabetes through healthy food made from natural and simple ingredients that doesn’t have to be bland or boring.”
You can pre-order the book until its release on December 5th. Amazon . For more information about this book, please visit: forgoodmeasure.com.