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The Health Zone Newsletter
Vol 10/2006

In this issue:
Diabtese Prevention: 6 New Tips
10 Medically Proven Ways to Lose Weight

Diabetes Prevention: 6 New Tips
By Miranda Hitti, WebMD August 2006

Tweaking your lifestyle could be a big step towards diabetes prevention. The American Diabetes Association has published new diabetes prevention guidelines for people at high risk of type 2 diabetes, the most common type of diabetes. The guidelines appear in September's edition of Diabetes Care. They're accompanied by recommendations for people who already know they have type 2 diabetes.

The bottom line: Your daily habits can tilt you towards or away from developing diabetes, and it's never too late to make a positive change. Nearly 21 million people in the U.S. have diabetes. That includes about 6 million people who haven't been diagnosed, according to the CDC.

Six Tips for Diabetes Prevention

If you're at high risk for diabetes, here's your to-do list from the new guidelines:

1. Lose extra weight. Moderate weight loss - 7% of your weight - may cut diabetes risk.
2. Cut fat and calories from your diet. That should help with weight loss.
3. Skip low-carb or high-protein diets. They may not work out in the long run.
4. Get plenty of fiber. Get 14 grams of dietary fiber for every 1,000 calories you eat.
5. Go for whole grains. Make at least half your grains whole grains.
6. Get regular physical activity. Go for 2.5 hours per week (check with your doctor first).

The guidelines don't recommend drinking alcohol for diabetes prevention. Observational studies have tied moderate drinking to lower diabetes risk. But there's not enough data to recommend alcohol for diabetes prevention, according to the American Diabetes Association.

Five Tips for Diabetes Patients

Have you already been diagnosed with diabetes? There are new guidelines for you, too. The dietary recommendations for people at high risk for diabetes generally apply to diabetes patients.

Additional tips for people with diabetes include:

1. Eat healthy carbohydrates. Try fruits, vegetables, whole grains, legumes, and low-fat dairy products.
2. Limit saturated fats. Get less than 7% of your total fat intake from saturated fats.
3. Minimize trans fats. Check nutrition labels on packaged foods for trans fat.
4. Curb dietary cholesterol.Get less than 200 milligrams of cholesterol in your daily diet.
5. Eat fish at least twice weekly. Fried fish, however, isn't recommended.

Knowing about glycemic load and glycemic index, which rate carbohydrates' effects on blood sugar, may also be helpful to people with diabetes, according to the American Diabetes Association.

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10 Medically Proven Ways to Lose Weight
By Kathleen Zelman, WebMD September 2006

Try top 10 scientifically proven tips on how to lose weight and see if they will work for you.

1. Journaling Writing down your daily food intake is a way to acknowledge the importance of your weight loss mission and help you to take it seriously. Tracking your food, your emotional triggers, and daily physical activity helps you identify patterns and habits that lead to overeating and inactivity. The National Weight Control Registry says that journaling is one of the most powerful tools used by all successful dieters.
2. Daily exercise Get moving! Exercise burns calories and suppresses the appetite. The National Academy of Sciences recently set new recommendations of 60 minutes of exercise per day, up from 30. A study in the Journal of American College of Nutrition showed that you can get the same benefits from 10-minute increments as with 30 minutes of continuous exercise.
3. Kick up the calcium Recent research by Zemel and his colleagues at the University of Tennessee has shown that consuming three servings a day of calcium-rich dairy foods can speed up weight loss by 50%-70% while strengthening bones and preventing osteoporosis.
4. Protein at every meal Research from the University of Illinois reported in the Journal of Nutrition suggests that eating more high-quality protein can help a person maintain muscle mass and reduce body fat during weight loss. That's because of leucine, an amino acid, which spares muscle proteins during weight loss, so you only lose the fat and not the muscle. Maintaining muscle during weight loss is essential because it helps the body burn more calories. Choose lean protein from a wide variety of sources including eggs, fish, poultry, meat, low-fat dairy, beans, and nuts.
5. Believe in breakfast The National Weight Control Registry cites breakfast as one of the key factors to long-term weight control. In fact, studies published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition show that people who skip breakfast tend to be heavier that those who eat a nourishing meal. A healthy breakfast keeps blood sugar and hormone levels stable while your metabolism hums along at a higher level, burning more calories.
6. Never go more than 4-5 hours without food Skipping meals encourages bingeing and crushes your willpower. By making sure that you eat three meals per day you can control your hunger and manage your appetite.
7. Do it slowly The average adult gains 1-3 pounds per year, according to the surgeon general. One pound of fat equals 3,500 calories. The best and most successful approach is slow and steady, at a rate of 1-2 pounds per week. Weight lost at this rate is primarily fat and has a much better chance of remaining lost forever.
8. Buddy up Getting support from others is a great way to help you maintain your new eating and physical activity habits. Successful losers have great support systems, according to research from Brown University published in The Journal of the American Medical Association. Find someone with the same goals as you, then help one another discover those habits that led to overeating and inactivity. Then brainstorm ways to change them into new healthy behaviors.
9. Eat a rainbow of colors and plenty of whole grains Colorful produce and whole grains contain complex carbohydrates, a wealth of disease-fighting phytonutrients, very few calories, and virtually no fat. Fruits and vegetables are chock full of fiber, vitamins C, A, and K, folate, and potassium. The deeper the color, the richer the nutrients and the potential for greater health benefits. Whole grains not only provide an excellent source of carbohydrate, vitamins, minerals, and fiber, but researchers have found more phytonutrients that help fight cancer, heart disease, and prevent diabetes. Whole grains are digested more slowly and therefore are more satisfying for a longer period of time. Read the label and choose foods made of 100% whole grains. We recommend you choose a wide variety of healthy carbohydrates to get all the vitamins and minerals you need each day.
10. Reward yourself Have a list of incentives to choose from when you hit small goals such as 5 or 10 pounds of weight loss or getting regular exercise. That will boost your self-esteem, and studies say self-esteem can keep you from succumbing to emotional eating. The only warning, don't use food as a reward.

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