How to Prevent Diabetes
By The Wholefood Pharmacy

If it was an infectious disease, passed from one person to another, public health officials would say we're in the midst of an epidemic. This difficult disease is striking an ever-growing number of adults. Even more alarming, it's now beginning to show up in our teenagers and children.

18 Million Americans have it
20% of those over 65 have it
1 in 3 people who have it don't know they have it
90% of those cases are PREVENTABLE
It costs $132 Billion dollars a year to "treat" it
Of people who have it, 98% die

Glucose (a.k.a blood sugar) is the fuel that provides energy to the 10 Trillion cells that make up a human being. When we eat, carbohydrates are converted into glucose, the glucose then moves through the bloodstream to feed the cells. Anytime your glucose levels spike up rapidly, your brain tells your pancreas to produce insulin, a chemical messenger that rings the “dinner bell” for your cells. When the “dinner bell” rings, your cells come running to get their glucose.

Carbohydrates come in two forms natural (complex) and man-made (simple). The man-made carbs are found in processed foods such as white table sugar, candy, sodas, high fructose corn syrup, and white bread. Eating man-made carbs causes sudden and sustained spikes in your glucose levels. The brain interprets this enormous rush of sugar as trauma and signals the pancreas to produce insulin. This constant over-stimulation of the pancreas, year after year after year, causes your “machinery” to wear out. In some cases, the pancreas gets tired and cannot produce enough insulin. In other cases, the “dinner bell” rings so often that the cells get tired of hearing it, and stop running to get their glucose. Either way, when this happens, the health care industry declares that you have Type 2 Diabetes.

Natural sugars, like the sugars found in fruits and other whole foods, are known as complex carbs. Your body was designed to ingest them. They are much larger molecules and cross the blood brain barrier very slowly. They do not cause those sudden spikes in glucose levels, so your “machinery” can last a lifetime. It really is that simple.

Avoid Aspertame sugar replacements. These neuro-toxins actually stimulate the appetite for sweets increasing your chance for over-eating, obesity and Diabetes. Use Stevia, a natural sweetener, instead.

According to the Harvard School of Public Health, making a few changes can dramatically lower your chances of developing type 2 Diabetes. The same changes can also lower the chances of developing heart disease and some cancers.

Control your weight. Excess weight is the single most important cause of type 2 Diabetes. Being overweight increases the chances of developing type 2 Diabetes seven-fold. Being obese makes you 20 to 40 times more likely to develop diabetes than someone with a healthy weight. Losing weight can help if your weight is above the healthy-weight range. Losing 7-10% of your current weight can cut in half your chances of developing type 2 diabetes.

Get moving. Inactivity promotes type 2 diabetes. Every two hours you spend watching TV instead of pursuing something more active increases the changes of developing diabetes by 14%. Working your muscles more often and making them work harder improves their ability to use insulin and absorb glucose. This puts less stress on your insulin-making machinery. Findings from the Nurses' Health Study and Health Professionals Follow-up Study suggest that walking briskly for a half hour every day reduces the risk of developing type 2 diabetes by 30%. Walking, benefits your entire body.
Walking before meals wakes up your system and burns stored calories. Walking 10 minutes after eating prevents your blood sugar from spiking, using the calories you have eaten to burn for energy.

Tune-up your diet. Two dietary changes can have a big impact on the risk of type 2 diabetes.

1. Choose whole grains & whole-grain products over highly processed carbohydrates.

2. Choose good fats instead of bad fats. The types of fats in your diet can also affect the development of diabetes. Good fats, such as the polyunsaturated fats found in tuna, salmon, liquid vegetable oils, and many nuts, can help ward off type 2 diabetes. Trans fats do just the opposite. These bad fats are found in margarines, packaged baked goods, fried foods in most fast-food, and any product that lists "partially hydrogenated vegetable oil" on the label. If you already have diabetes, eating fish can help protect you against a heart attack or dying from heart disease.

If you smoke, quit. Smokers are 50% to 90% more likely to develop diabetes than nonsmokers.

The bottom line? The key to preventing type 2 diabetes can be boiled down to five words:
Stay lean and stay active.