Eat Blueberries and Prevent Type 2 Diabetes

This is the first issue of my long promised newsletter, "Nothing to Lose But Fat!" As a subscriber, you are going to learn that when your attention is on supporting your health you will be losing fat and it will stay off. I will bring you the latest breakthroughs in the science of weight management and optimum health and longevity.

The more I read about nutrition science these days the more excited and optimistic I am about the role of promoting health as the best and only way to effectively manage your weight! A study reported in the October edition of The Journal of Nutrition is very encouraging to those of us promoting healthy eating to manage weight. It was done on subjects diagnosed with insulin resistance, something I will be writing about soon on the website. Let me explain a little about what this is because understanding the role of insulin in your body is the key to healthy weight management. Too much insulin means too much fat, especially belly fat!

Eating more blueberries will help you control insulin...

Insulin is the hormone that regulates sugar metabolism. When you eat food, your pancreas releases insulin into the bloodstream to transport the blood sugar and other nutrients into your muscles for growth, development and energy. We can measure how much insulin is released by using the glycemic index. High glycemic foods cause a flood of insulin in your blood and a dramatic rise in blood sugar. This excess insulin tells the body to store the fat and use the blood glucose for fuel. Over time high blood sugar and insulin levels lead to what is called insulin resistance. Excess insulin is dangerous and causes hormonal systems to get completely out of whack and eventually leads to type 2 diabetes.

*The Pennington Biomedical Research Center (PBRC) conducted this blueberry study in a clinical trial with participants who had insulin resistance but no evidence yet of type 2 diabetes. It was conducted over a 6 week period with 36 obese subjects diagnosed with insulin resistance. Twice a day subjects were to eat either a blueberry rich smoothie or one that was nutritionally equivalent but had no blueberries. The ones who ate the blueberries had improved insulin sensitivity compared to those who ate no blueberries. According to the PBRC researcher April Stull, Ph.D, the study indicates that compounds in blueberries may help obese, non-diabetic individuals maintain healthy blood glucose levels. Stull is urging additional research be done to determine if the same effect would be found in people who already have Type II diabetes.

EAT MORE BLUEBERRIES! And eat low glycemically to increase your sensitivity to insulin. You must be sensitive to insulin to control your weight and blood sugar. Start by adding a blueberry smoothie to your food plan every day.

Blueberries, I am happy to report are the main ingredient in my favorite, low glycemic, chocolate low fat smoothie recipe.

Put 1 teaspoon of cinnamon in that smoothie and you will have the ultimate anti-diabetic drink! Here's another nutrition secret revealed: cinnamon is powerfully effective at reducing high blood sugar. And that's a subject for my next newsletter...

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