Fruits provide significant protection to the body because they contain essential minerals and vitamins as well as fiber. It is believed a diet rich in fruit lowers the risk of unceasing illnesses, including cancer.

Fruits contain dietary fiber, which keeps the intestinal and digestive tracts working optimally. If constipation is an issue, eat more fruit. Fiber also protects against heart disease and diverticulitis.

Fruit smells good. Take a whiff of a squeezed lemon or peeled orange. You are smelling phenols, which are smell-good compounds. The phenols possess potent antibacterial and antiseptic properties, along with serving as a stimulus for the immune system and nerves. Folic acid is especially necessary for women in their child-bearing years because it enhances red blood cell productions. Red blood cells carry oxygen through the body, which is particularly crucial for a pregnant woman. Folic acid is abundant in fruits.

Human bodies are always under attack from free radicals that lead to cell damage. Fruits contain antioxidants that give protection against oxidation damage the free radicals cause. Antioxidants also promote eye and brain health as well as heart health while inhibiting the age process.

A potassium deficiency can lead to health problems. Eating bananas, drinking orange juice or prune juice, consuming cantaloupe, apricots, honeydew melon, peaches and prune is a perfect way to keep your potassium level in check. Potassium produces electrolyte action, and this enables muscles to keep proper fluid levels while also prompting metabolism.

We all need adequate amounts of vitamin C because it promotes tissue increase and restoration. Cuts and wounds heal faster when a person gets the accurate amount of vitamin C in their diet, which is obtained through citrus fruits. Want to keep your teeth and gums in good shape? Take vitamin C supplements or eat foods that contain it.

For the most benefit, the best way to eat fruit is alone. Why? The sugar in fruit requires time to be fully absorbed body the body, which is easier achieved when the fruit is eaten alone. When fruit is eaten with other foods, it stays in the stomach too long. This leads to fermentation in the gut and can result in heartburn, indigestion, belching and burping and other digestive distresses. Eat fruit in between your three regular daily meals. Ideally, consume it 60 minutes before a meal or two hours after.

Fresh fruit is the most effective when it comes to cancer- warfare payback. Fresh fruits contain the most fiber.

Studies show eating the daily recommended amount of fruit actually improves a person’s skin color and tone. Those who eat the right amount of fruit have a golden, vigorous glow to their skin, while those who don’t have less healthy and attractive skin.

We need antioxidants because they provide anti-aging benefits. Lemons are rich in antioxidants as are blueberries. When a fruit or food is dark-color, this means they have potent antioxidant components in them.

Acai, a fruit found in the rain forests of South America, may be the most antioxidant-rich fruit of all.

There is sugar in fruit so it can increase your energy. You may not want to eat it right before you go to bed because of that.

Incorporating more fruit into your daily diet is a no-brainer. It’s easy to do and the payback is enormous.

Joanne Hembree is a corporate health expert, helping businesses large and small to keep their workforce healthy with fruitfuloffice.co.uk fruit delivery.

Being diagnosed with diabetes may seem like a death sentence but life doesn’t have to be so bleak, there are things you can do to change and improve your health and quality of life.  Staying optimistic and positive is very important for helping you to find a plan for managing or even reversing the effects of diabetes on your system.

Learning Stress Management

One of the biggest changes you can make is to learn to manage your stress levels.  While everyone is stressed at some point, prolonged stress can lead to an expanding waistline and can prevent insulin from working.  Both of these things can cause diabetes or aggravate them if already diagnosed.  Making changes to your schedule and workload and learning stress management techniques are good for everyone.

Get Active

The less exercise you get, the higher your chances are of being diagnosed with diabetes.  Moderate exercise works to help regulate your blood sugar.  If you are in the prediabetes stage, getting regular exercise can actually turn back the clock and prevent the disease from progressing into full diabetes.  If you already have diabetes, getting active can help manage your diabetes through better blood sugar control and prevent going to the next stage.  In any event, getting off your butt and start moving not only helps you to lose weight and control your blood sugar, but it helps with stress levels as well.  Try to get at least 30 minutes of moderate exercise 6 to 7 days a week and do a mixture because it’s more effective than just one type of exercise.

Eating Healthy

We all make New Year’s resolutions that we are going to eat healthier and manage our weight better.  Well if you’ve been diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes, then you have a reason to keep those promises.  It’s time to learn how to eat right, so that you can slow down or stop the effects of the diabetes.  Start thinking whole foods and plenty of color.  Fruits, veggies, beans, whole grains and get rid of the processed foods.  It’s also time to ditch the sodas and start drinking water.

Losing Weight

Many of the people diagnosed with either prediabetes or diabetes are overweight or obese.  You might think we covered this with the getting active and eating healthy, but you can still do those things and not get rid of the weight.  Just losing 5 to 10 percent of your body weight can reverse your diagnose if you are in the pre-stage or help you to manage the disease much more effectively if you already have it.  Getting enough exercise and eating right, along with proper sleeping habits, stress management and portion control are all great ways to help lose weight.

Better Sleeping Habits

Sleeping plays a huge part in staying healthy.  Getting enough sleep helps you to be more motivated to exercise and eat healthy.  It’s also better on your stress levels because when you get tired, your stress rises.  Studies have shown that people who get enough sleep also tend to weigh less.  So pay attention to what you need to do to get enough sleep to help manage your diabetes.

Education

Education is the key to many things in life.  You need to understand what exercises to do, how to eat right, or just understand what diabetes is, and how to manage it in order to help solve the problem.  While you might not ever be able to reverse the disease entirely, you can learn to slow it down and manage it properly.  Educating yourself on what those things are is the best way to help yourself because you are the only one who can truly help you.  Everyone else can only give you assistance, it’s up to you to make the changes and keep them.

All is not lost if you are diagnosed with diabetes, but it certainly is the time to get into action.  Make a plan and stick to it and you can be living a healthy life with the diabetes through proper management.

Greg Young writes for Portable Nebs, an online retailer of nebulizers, pulse oximeters and Omron blood pressure monitors.

For years, people have been substituting artificial sweeteners for sugar in an attempt to cut down on sugar consumption and lose weight. There are both advantages and disadvantages when it comes to ingesting sugar substitutes and artificial sweeteners, and you need to be aware of both.

Any sweetener used rather than traditional table sugar is considered a sugar substitute. Even though imitation sweeteners are synthetic some are drawn from herbs and sugar, which are biologically occurring substances.

The mock sweetener doesn’t add calories to your diet, which is why people opt to use them. When consuming artificial sweeteners the body does not totally absorb them, which means the body doesn’t completely absorb the limited number of calories contained in the sweetener, and this is why the person loses or maintains his weight. When ingesting a low-calorie sweetener, also referred to as polyols or sugar alcohols, they are absorbed incompletely and unhurriedly by the intestine and this is why weight is not gained.

Other advantages include not contributing to cavities and tooth decay. However, there is evidence that artificial sweeteners may actually result in weight gain. Dr. Marie Savard, ABC News’ medical contributor, reported in 2008 diet foods, including diet drinks somehow alter a person’s brain chemistry and metabolic threshold, which lead to weight gain.

A study conducted on rats revealed those fed fake sweeteners appeared to encounter a physiological association between calories and sweet tastes, which prompted them to eat even more.

It could be the intake of fake sweeteners results in a salient orosensory stimulus which forecasts a person is about to consume a high number of calories. The body’s ingestive and digestive reflexes get ready for the influx of calories, but it does not happen because the mock sweetener does not provide the expected calories. This may confuse the body, and the person may eat more as a result.

Another theory is people develop a monumental sweet tooth because the imitation sweetener is 300 times sweeter than sugar, which leads to cravings.

The foremost supposition drawn from the rat study done in Italy is rats and humans are both more liable to acquire malignancies toward the latter part of their lives. Consequently, it makes sense to study older individuals since this is the time in life in which cancer tends to crop up.

There are those who maintain imitation sweeteners lead to cancer.  However, the National Cancer Institute, along with various health agencies, maintains they are safe when consumed in limited amounts.

Those with diabetes may select mock sweeteners because they don’t augment blood sugar levels, and because they are not carbohydrates.

If a person consumes too many artificial sweeteners, this can result in diarrhea and gas.

Another drawback is the aftertaste that often results when using mock sweeteners.

Have a discussion with your physician about the benefits and drawbacks of ingesting fake sweeteners. If you find that you are actually eating more sweets as a result, the imitation sweetener has backfired on you and defeated your purpose of losing or maintaining your weight.

Tom White is an experienced wellness coach, owner of a popular cleansing website and an Independent Associate with Isagenix International. Visit Tom’s website to learn more about the Isagenix diet, take the “Are You Toxic” quiz and get advice on creating a clean, lean and healthy body

Every so often, your coffee maker stops efficiently making coffee so vinegar has to be run through it to clean out the sledge, which allows the machine to work optimally. The same goes for the human body. Over time gunk, including dangerous toxins, builds up in the system. When harmful substances remain within the body, it’s not good. They need to come out and the sooner, the better.

A good way to detoxify the body is by eating foods that naturally perform this function.

Lemons

Make some lemonade out of real lemons and drink it. Lemons affect enzymes, prompting their discharge. When this happens, toxins are changed into the water-soluble form, which are far less difficult to expel from the body than is the solid form. Add some lemon to water and drink up. This counteracts any acidic foods you have eaten because lemons are alkaline.

Apples

Apples help clean the liver, removing toxins through the bile because apples assist in motivating bile production. Because apples contain fiber pectin, this assists in removing food additives and metals from the body.

Fruit in general

Because of their high liquid content, fruits wash out toxins. Eat some fruit every day.

Garlic

Garlic is certainly smelly, but it should be a part of a detox plan because it is a compelling antibiotic, antiseptic and anti-viral agent.

Tea

Green tea has long been hailed as a powerful antioxidant. That’s because it consists of catechins, which, among other things, reduces body fat. Drinking green tea improves liver function.

Cabbage

Cabbage protects against colon cancer as well as prompts the detoxifying enzymes hosted by the liver to spring into action.

Dandelions

As crazy as it may sound, dandelions, those pesky, yellow flowers that crop up on your lawn every summer, are considered one of the finest antioxidants, offering superior support for the liver and purification of the digestive system. Dandelions are rife with phytonutrients and minerals. Put some dandelion leaves in your salad.

Think green

Foods that are green and leafy, such as arugula, chard, spinach, kale and alfalfa provide a chlorophyll- enhancement to the digestive system, which is good because chlorophyll is instrumental in getting rid of toxins as well as helps the liver detoxify.

Broccoli is green and quite beneficial for your health. Broccoli sprouts are more effectual than the completely grown vegetable. Broccoli is an antioxidant and when eaten the sprouts prompt detoxification enzymes in the digestive region.

Artichokes may not be something you eat regularly, but you should consider doing so. This food prompts removal of toxins as well as serves as a mild diuretic (e.g., water pill) as well as stokes bile production and safeguards and purifies the liver.

Beet roots are considered invaluable when it comes to detoxing because when eaten, they hasten detoxification as well as elimination and safeguard the health of the liver and gall bladder, the two organs that are crucial when it comes to breaking down and removing toxins.

When detoxing it is beneficial to eat olive oil, avocados, flax seed oil or hemp because these items lubricate the walls of the intestines. The oils absorb the toxins and are then expelled by the body.

Ideally, an individual should consult with his physician before undertaking an all-out detoxification process because there can be some negative side effects. If detoxing for long periods this leads to fatigue because protein production is inhibited. Mineral and vitamin deficits crop up when long-term fasting occurs. When a person opts for colon cleansing this can result in nausea, bloating, cramping, vomiting and dehydration so keep this in mind.

You do not have to ‘fast.’ Just eat the foods listed above and drink lots of water so you remain hydrated. Stay away from chemical additives and processed foods.

For the past 10 years, Mountainside Medical Equipment Inc. has been a leading provider of medical supplies and medical equipment as well as a veteran-owned small business. They also serve the local community in their convenient Marcy, NY medical supply outlet store.

A flat and lean stomach is the dream of many. The burning question is how to prevent belly fat? Other than aesthetics purposes, belly fat is one of the most dangerous type of fat. Losing belly fat can help reduce the chances of developing health issues such as heart disease and diabetes. The way to have a healthy lifestyle and body is actually an ongoing process and lifestyle with long term changes in an individual’s exercising and eating habits.

These are the foods to avoid for a flat belly.

1. Sugar Intake

To fight that belly fat, try to cut down on your intake of sugary and junk food like chips and ice cream. Sugar is the main culprit for many people who have belly fat problems. Reducing your intake does not mean that you are not entitled to these treats at all. Learn how to limit them to small quantities or leave them for that special occasion.

Introduce more healthy food like wholegrains, vegetables and fruits into your diet. A good way to reduce calorie intake is to find alternatives for the foods that are high in calories. For example, instead of drinking whole milk, go for skimmed milk as a alternative.

Try to opt for a high fiber and high protein meals to keep you energized. Food like eggs and fresh fuits take a long time to process hence keeping you satisfied throughout the day. If possible, avoid having sweet cereals, pancakes and waffles as they contain refined sugars which will make one fat. The little things and effort will influence your health in the most positive manner.

2. Transfats

Avoid trans fats foods like crackers and chocolate, they are the ones that make your body accumulate belly fat. Instead, get rid of belly fat by eating more fats. It takes good fats to burn away fats.
Introduce foods that have good fats like Omega 3 and monounsaturated fats in them. Some of these foods include walnuts, salmon, avocados and soybeans. They have nutrients to keep you full throughout the day and can help you fight belly fat.

3. Inadequate Vitamins

Increasing your food intake rich in vitamin like oranges and kiwi can help you battle belly fat. Vitamin C can help you balance the hormones that are released when you are under extreme stress. Stress can also cause you to put on the pounds. Vitamin C can help your body to turn fat into fuel, so make this vitamin your best friend today!

There is no quick solution to losing belly fat. Other than cutting down on the food that makes you fat, healthy weight loss is all about balancing physical activity with food intake. Diets that lack certain nutrients and vitamins will trigger side effects for your body, causing you to feel restless and lethargic. Crash diet can also lead to drastic fluctuations in your weight. You could lose a lot of weight in a short period of time but gain them back in the same amount of time, you could end up in a vicious cycle. If you want to attain a flat tummy the healthy way, the best way is a lifelong commitment and combination of moving more and eating in moderation.

This article has been written by Denis who loves to write about health topic. You can have a look at his site where he talks about 6 pack abs.

It is generally common knowledge that diabetes is linked to other serious health risks including things like heart disease; it also runs the risk of other serious complications such as nerve damage or could even result in the loss of limbs. What some people are unaware of is the fact that diabetes can also affect a person’s visual and dental health.

In an American study by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), it was discovered that one in two Americans aged 30 or older has periodontal gum disease. This disease is an infection that can harm the tissue and bone that hold a person’s teeth in place, and can result in abscesses, tooth loss and bad breath. This risk is increased even further for those living around the world living with diabetes.

Gum disease creates difficulty in that it makes it harder to control blood sugar levels and increased or improperly controlled levels of glucose in the body can make mouth infections more severe than normal. This is a vicious cycle that can cause very painful gums for sufferers and can eventually result in tooth loss. Gum disease can often be a strong indicator that a person isn’t in proper control of their blood sugar levels. For those who are unaware that they may have diabetes, certain signs and symptoms and be uncovered during regular trips to your doctors, dentist and opticians and it is important that you do make an effort to arrange these appointments now and again.

Good dental and visual health and well controlled blood sugar levels play a vital role in the management of diabetes in order to avoid any serious complications that could occur. Unmanaged blood sugar can lead to difficulties and make it hard to manage infection properly, leading to potentially serious gum disease. The problem with periodontal disease is that it is generally painless and you may not know about the damage until it’s too late.

As well as dental health, diabetes can also lead to complications with a person’s visual health. Diabetic retinopathy is one of the leading causes of blindness amongst sufferers of both type 1 and type 2 diabetes. The national Eye Institute in America believes that between 40-45% of diabetes sufferers are living with some form of retinopathy. As well as retinopathy, diabetes sufferers are also at an increased risk of developing glaucoma and cataracts as a result of their health problems.

In order for a diabetes sufferer to stay healthy, there are a number of things they can do. The first is to check your blood sugar often to ensure you are managing your levels effectively. You should also organise regular trips to your dentist and optometrists to look for any warning signs; it is also important to tell these professionals about your diabetes to help them diagnose any problems. You should also make sure you take your normal medications before visiting your dentist and optometrist unless specifically told to do otherwise. Regular oral care should also be taken, brushing twice a day and using floss and mouthwash to remove the most plaque possible.

Gareth writes regularly on health and nutrition topics on behalf of AXA PPP healthcare providers of private dental care and medical insurance.

You Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes Onset with 3 Basic Tips

Have you recently been diagnosed with pre-diabetes and told you are also at risk to develop type 2 diabetes? Millions of people get this diagnosis every year. Is it possible to prevent type 2 diabetes? The answer is YES! But only if you take action in these 3 critical areas of your life. The consequence of doing nothing will very likely mean that you will be a type 2 diabetic within 10 years or less.

You have to take a diagnosis of pre-diabetes as a warning sign that you cannot ignore. The natural progression of diabetes will affect all you bodily systems over time so it is critical that you take action early on and instead turn this into an opportunity to make some positive changes that will last a lifetime.

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Tip #1 is Lose Weight

Many people especially as we age tend to put on a little excess weight. Losing weight can contribute a lot to reducing your glucose or blood sugar. This is not always the case because many skinny people have diabetes also and it can be contributed to other factors like family history genetics.

Carrying around excess weight can make it more difficult for your body to use your insulin effectively. Diabetes over time will have a bad effect on your heart, blood pressure and cholesterol, so by losing excess weight you not only improve glucose levels but improve other health indicators in a positive way too.

The time to start losing weight is NOW! Losing fat around the middle or belly fat can improve how your body uses insulin. The best way to do this is with diet and exercise which are the next two critical tips.

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Tip #2 is Eat Right

We are surrounded by all the wrong food every where we turn in modern society to today. Most of the readily available, quick and convenient foods today are loaded with sugar, saturated fat, high carbs and super high calories that your body quickly converts to sugar.

There are dramatic improvements to be gained by a complete reassessment and change in diet to one that is low fat, low complex carbs, low in sugar and low in saturated fat. To really get a handle on this you need to learn and become your own nutrition expert.

Start immediately to avoid all things made with white flour because it readily converts to sugar in your body-white bread, rice, pasta, chips. Start eating whole foods that grow out of the ground especially dark leafy greens, fruits and vegetables. Getting a handle on your diet will make a huge difference.

Type 2 Diabetes Prevention Tip #3 is To Exercise

Fitness and exercise has great benefits no matter what your situation is, with or without diabetes. Exercise uses blood glucose, utilizes insulin better and will improve your blood pressure and cholesterol levels. The thought of exercising may be a big step for some, however this is a critical step if you wish to prevent type 2 diabetes.

Don’t let it be a hurdle. You can start out by just walking and keep increasing up to power-walking and get your heart rate up for a sustained period of time like 30 minutes or so. The more you add the more benefit you will see. Resistance and cardiovascular training have huge benefits in lowering your glucose. Try to shoot for some kind of physical activity every day.

 Yes You Can Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

It takes commitment, effort, knowledge and motivation. By combining all three of these tips it will reduce your weight, lower your glucose, improve your metabolism, use insulin more effectively that your body produces, improve blood pressure and reduce cholesterol.

The best part is that you will feel healthier than ever, have more energy and feel good about taking charge of your own health. You have everything to gain and nothing to lose, it is Win-Win! So embrace the change and start living your best and healthiest life now and prevent type 2 diabetes. You can do it!

What Should You Be Looking For if You Think You May Have Diabetes?

The symptoms of diabetes are not easily recognizable.  You could have diabetes for years and not even know it.  Type 2 is especially hard to recognize.  There are about 6 million people in the United States who don’t know they have diabetes.  These are a few symptoms that you should look for if you think you may have diabetes:

-Frequent Urination and Excessive Thirst

When you have high blood glucose levels, the kidneys have to work harder sending the sugar to your urine.  This causes you to urinate more, which leads to dehydration.

-Fatigue:

This is caused from dehydration.

-Weight Loss

As you lose sugar through your urine, you lose calories as well, and in other instances diabetes can keep sugar from going to your cells making you hungrier.  If you have Type 1 diabetes, this may affect you more.

-Vision Distortion

High blood sugar pulls fluid from all your tissues, even your eyes.  This needs to be treated relatively quickly because you can start developing more nerves in the retinal area, and other nerves will start to be destroyed

Myths Associated With Diabetes

-Diabetes is not serious

Diabetes kills more people every year than Breast Cancer and HIV/AIDS combined.

-Eating Too Much Sugar Causes Diabetes

This is not true.  There are many factors that trigger diabetes from genes to environment.  If you have a family history of diabetes then you should be more cautious in your daily routine of eating and exercising.

-People with diabetes need special food and cannot eat sweets or starchy foods

Again, this is false.  The diet of a diabetic is no different than anyone else.  It should consist of a diet low in fat, low in sodium, with whole grains, vegetables and fruit.  While eating starchy foods is allowed, it is important to eat smaller portions, and the same goes for sweets.  Proper exercise in conjunction with a healthy diet can control your diabetes.  Special meals geared toward diabetics are not necessary because they still cause the blood sugar to rise and are too expensive.

-People with diabetes get sick more often than people without

It may be more difficult for someone with the disease to recover from the flu or a cold, but diabetes does not make you more apt to a particular sickness.

-People with Type 2 diabetes who start taking insulin are not doing the right things to control it

If you have Type 2 diabetes, and the doctor starts prescribing insulin for you does not mean that you are doing something wrong.  Once in a while the body stops producing insulin, no matter what precautions you may be taking to control your diabetes.  Using insulin to make sure your blood glucose levels are normal is healthy.

Victoria Kunze writes about battling insulin dependent diabetes.

By Beverleigh H Piepers

Diabetics know all too well the importance of exercising. Most often, people who have been diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes are instructed to do aerobics or some other form of low-impact exercise… such as swimming or walking. But research shows another type of exercise can offer diabetics even more benefits. What is this other type of exercise? Strength training.

Sometimes referred to as muscle training, strength training involves working out with weights. For those who do not have access to weights and are not interested in purchasing them, this type of training can also be accomplished by working out using your own body weight as the resistance. An example of this would be push-ups.

Strength training offers a multitude of benefits. Besides building strength, it improves your blood sugar levels and allows your body to burn excess sugar much more efficiently. This helps you to lose weight which, in turn, lowers the risk of many other medical conditions, such as heart disease and stroke.

Research shows this particular type of training offers virtually the same level of physical benefits as aerobic training. Studies also show strength training can help individuals to control their blood sugar as well as most medications prescribed for the same purpose.

One great thing about using strength training is it doesn’t have to be about bulking up your muscles. This particular type of training also involves trimming and toning. Instead of using heavy weights for building bulk; strength training for diabetics would employ more repetitions of lighter weights. This accomplishes the same goal of building muscle, just not at such an extreme volume.

As with any other type of exercise, it is important to remember a few key rules:

• always warm up properly before starting your exercise session. This can involve jumping jacks, stretching, light jogging in place, etc.
• make sure you have plenty of water on hand and drink throughout the workout, even if you don’t feel dehydrated.
• make sure you start out slowly and work your way up in intensity and weight. This is especially true if you are completely new to weight training.
• always check your blood sugar levels before starting, after completion and at any time during the workout when you are not feeling well.
• make sure to say well fueled by consuming the right amount of the right kind of proteins.

Make sure you clear any weight training program with your doctor before beginning, and inform them as soon as possible if you begin to experience any side effects or complications as a result of it.

Type 2 diabetes is no longer a condition you must live with. It need not slowly and inevitably get worse. Now is the time to take control of the disease… try some strength training and see the difference it makes to your life.

For nearly 25 years Beverleigh Piepers has searched for and found a number of secrets to help you build a healthy body.

The answer isn’t in the endless volumes of available information but in yourself.

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Beverleigh_H_Piepers
http://EzineArticles.com/?Type-2-Diabetes—Why-Diabetics-Should-Consider-Strength-Training!&id=7256569

See this article for information on reversing diabetes and for a great workout program check out kettlebell exercises.

You Can Reverse Prediabetes if You Take Action Early

Prior to developing type II diabetes it is just about certain that prediabetes has been present for several years and many times without knowing it. People can be prediabetic without realizing what the symptoms are. Prediabetes means that your blood sugar or glucose is elevated between 100 – 125 mg/dl.

To reverse prediabetes you need to first realize that you have it. During the years of prediabetes leading up to type II diabetes there is silent damage taking place causing long term damage to the heart and circulatory system.

The good news is that you can do a lot to reverse prediabetes at this very treatable stage or at least push out developing type II diabetes for many years.

While certain races and groups can be predisposed to a higher risk of diabetes the vast majority of prediabetes and type II diabetes is directly a result of a lifetime of poor eating habits, especially high fat, highly processed foods, sugar addiction and lack of exercise.

To reverse prediabetes you need to recognize the signs, symptoms and risks. Some of them are:

• Genetic family history
• Being obese
• Smoking
• Lack of exercise and inactivity
• High blood pressure
• High cholesterol
• Older population

Find out very easily if you are at risk

There are several tests your doctor can do to tell where your blood sugar levels are at. Each test will measure it in a different way. Here are three different tests:

• Hemoglobin A1c test
• Oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT)
• The fasting plasma glucose test (FPG)

The fasting plasma test also known as a fasting glucose test is one of the most common tests your doctor will do. You just need to fast overnight for 12 hours and then go into the doctors and get a blood test. These results will tell you what your blood glucose level is. More on glucose tests here.

Having prediabetes does not have to progress to type II diabetes

It is very possible to reverse prediabetes if you address it early on. You need to realize that it will require a change in lifestyle and a different relationship with food. You want to avoid having full blown type II diabetes and all the health complications that come along with it. The good part it that this is for the most part avoidable.

Here are the five most important tips to reverse prediabetes:

Weight Loss

If you can reduce your body weight by 5-10 percent it will lower your risk considerably. For someone that is 200 pounds it will mean reducing by 10-20 pounds. For someone weighing 150 pounds it will mean reducing 7-15 pounds. Keep in mind also that most of the time being overweight is a result of the prediabetes and it will be easier to control when you begin to control your blood sugar.

Quit Smoking

Smoking is a very unhealthy habit for many health reasons besides prediabetes so take charge and face it head on. Get some help to quit, start a program, get support you can do this. It is said that it takes 30 days to form a now habit with repetition. Replace smoking with something healthy and get past smoking for your health’s sake.

Eat the Right Food

This is so important and cannot be emphasized enough. A lifetime of poor eating begins to really show in your 30’s and 40’s and is leading to massive prediabetes in the general population. Eat food that comes out of the ground. Vegetables, fruit, nuts and whole grains. Stop drinking all those sweet sugary drinks. Even the so called healthy sports and energy drinks are loaded with sugar. Many are addicted to sugar and don’t even realize it. One of the most important things to avoid is all things made from white flour. This all converts quickly into blood sugar.

Exercise and Activity

You cannot lead a sedentary life and be healthy. It is critical to get a little exercise every day, at least 30 minutes, the more the better. Start a gym program, walk to the store instead of driving, and take the stairs instead of the elevator. If you seek out everyday ways to get in some physical activity it will do a lot to help your heart, lower your blood pressure and cholesterol and it will help to use up blood sugar which is the energy that your body uses for fuel.

Take Prescribed Medications

If your doctor has given you medication to lower your blood pressure or cholesterol be sure to take it but do it with the thought that by taking control to reverse prediabetes you may be able to get off of these medications. If your doctor wants to give you medications for prediabetes ask if you can first try to reduce your blood sugar on your own first. By following the tips outlined you can see a dramatic drop in blood sugar within 1 month. Ask your doctor for another appointment in 30 days to get another glucose test and then access if you should be on diabetic medication. Please listen to your doctor’s advice.

Following these 5 tips will help a lot to reverse prediabetes and set you on a much healthier path to good health and long life and prevent you from many of the health issues from type II diabetes. Good luck and good health!