Have you ever heard yourself say, "I know exactly what I need to do to manage my diabetes, but I can't make myself do it?" If so, this book is for you. When you are diagnosed with diabetes, you are asked to make multiple changes to your lifestyle (eating well, exercising regularly, monitoring blood sugar, and sometimes taking medications or insulin). Individuals with diabetes often acquire all of the knowledge about how to manage their blood sugar, but not surprisingly, they soon find that knowledge is not enough. There is another ingredient that is essential to help you improve your health habits and optimize your ability to cope with diabetes: motivation. Motivation is the fuel that you need to propel yourself toward a healthy life. In this book, Dr. Beckman writes about the well-tested willpower techniques that enhance motivation. She writes about the process of change and helps you find the unique way that you can modify your diabetes habits, one habit at a time. Based on research from the field of health psychology, the techniques in this book have the power to transform the way you think and behave in relation to your diabetes and the power to ensure good self-care well into the future.


Dr. Heidi Beckman is a licensed clinical psychologist who works in the specialty area of health psychology at a large academic medical center. She is passionate about understanding what helps people change so that they can lead lives that are physically and emotionally healthy. She reads the research literature on motivation, persistence, and impulse control and then applies it to everyday problems. Over the past fifteen years, she has delivered numerous presentations on willpower and personal change to medical patients, members of the community, and professional audiences. She has designed and led a number of psychotherapeutic groups that help individuals adjust to specific chronic medical conditions.