It is always a pleasure for authors to acknowledge the people who helped make their books possible and who have been companions along the route of conceiving, writing, editing and assembling the final works.
This book begins with our agent, Carol Mann, who brought us together with one another and with our publisher. In doing so, she also brought us to Donna Hayes, Harlequin publisher and CEO, who has been a consistent champion of our unique approach to fighting diabetes and living a sustainably healthy life.
We are grateful beyond words to our superb editor at Harlequin, Deborah Brody, who shepherded both book and authors gently through the process and offered exquisite understanding during some very difficult extenuating circumstances.
Deborah’s assistant, Alex Colon, set a new standard for organization and attention to detail. As point man for all the myriad pieces of the puzzle, he proved to be both a peerless professional and a pleasure to work with.
Also at Harlequin, we express our thanks to publicity genius Shara Alexander, who grasped our message, articulated it beautifully and saw at once how to get the word out; to product manager Amy Jones; to creative director Margie Miller; and to art director Tara Kelly, who created the design for packaging our message and oversaw its implementation brilliantly.
Production of the book was graced by an exceptional team, including the brilliant photographer Bill Milne, a man who is not only a superb professional but who also consistently went the extra mile to make this book just right. Bill was ably assisted by the very talented and gracious Paul O’Hanlon and by office manager Lisa Cichocki, who managed to juggle myriad schedules of myriad people and get all of us where we were supposed to be when we were supposed to be there.
As has been true of all of Dr. Shapiro’s books, Diane Vezza served as the food stylist for the many demonstrations that bring our message to life. Diane is sui generis in her work and calm under pressure on the job—no matter what. And kudos to Diane’s assistant, Joan Parkin, who did the food preparation that was so essential to the final result.
Phyllis Roxland, Dr. Shapiro’s longtime nutritionist, provided her expertise as always and worked tirelessly to make the book a success, while Susanna Margolis, another longtime team member, contributed her editorial skills. Dr. Shapiro would not have been able to devote the time needed to the book and run his practice without the support of assistant Alexandra Lotito, the office technology ace, who worked on the book even from her sickbed, while Gerri Pietrangolare, often assisted by Sharon Griffith, kept the office running.
Dr. Shapiro also expresses his thanks to his brother and sister-in-law, Michael and Andee Shapiro, for their support—when it was very much needed—during the writing of this book.
And Chef Franklin extends his gratitude to his parents for their ongoing support and to the sous-chefs and pastry chefs, past and present, who helped him perfect his trade and develop his diabetes-fighting recipes.
We both are grateful to all the chefs around the country who gave their time and effort and created recipes for this book.