These power foods go above and beyond to help protect your body from diabetes.
By Janis Graham
If you develop diabetes, you can expect it to steal years from your life. Sound like a bad deal? To protect yourself, start with a well-balanced diet, of course, but add these superfoods. New research shows they're especially effective in preventing the disease.
• Milk. Drinking eight ounces or more daily reduces the risk of developing
diabetes by 40 percent, thanks to milk's calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D, which boost your body's ability to use insulin correctly. Just choose skim or 1 percent -- saturated fat may cancel out the benefit.
• Coffee. Pour it on: In a recent study, people who downed four cups daily had a 30 percent lower risk of diabetes. Decaf is just as good, says Rob M. van Dam, PhD, assistant professor of nutrition at Harvard University, but choose filtered coffee -- unfiltered preparations (such as French press) may hike cholesterol.
• Nuts. In a recent study of more than 64,000 middle-aged Chinese women, those who ate peanuts every day cut their risk of developing diabetes by as much as 21 percent. Other nuts are just as effective, studies suggest; try an ounce a day of walnuts, almonds, or cashews. (Research shows that amount won't pack on the pounds.)
• Cinnamon. This fragrant spice seems to dampen blood sugar swings that can contribute to the development of type 2 diabetes, according to a new study. As little as a half teaspoon a day -- sprinkled on cereal, yogurt, or fruit -- has been shown to help keep blood sugar levels healthy.
From Reader's Digest - June 2009
Tuesday, August 18, 2009
Tuesday, August 4, 2009
Achieve Real Results With Fiber
Fiber's benefits range from lowering cholesterol to controlling diabetes to losing weight.
One of the most striking differences between the caveman's diet and our own is the amount of fiber our ancestors ate: about 100 grams a day, the amount some people in rural areas of the developing world still get.
The average American, on the other hand, consumes only about 15 grams of fiber per day, well below the recommended 25 grams. The cavemen didn't know it, but all of that fiber had countless health benefits, from lowering cholesterol to helping control (or maybe prevent) diabetes.
There are two types of fiber. Insoluble fiber, such as wheat bran, helps prevent constipation and may protect against colon cancer. It also fills your stomach, helping to quench hunger without calories. Soluble fiber, found in foods such as fruits, oats, barley, and peas, has more to do with lowering cholesterol. Soluble fiber forms a kind of gel in your intestines that helps reduce your body's absorption of the fat you eat. And if that fat never makes it into your bloodstream, it can't do its damage by raising your blood cholesterol levels.
Studies find that eating 10 to 30 grams of soluble fiber a day -- much more than the average American eats -- reduces LDL about 10 percent. (Remember, Americans average 15 grams of fiber, including both soluble and insoluble.)
One analysis of 67 different studies concluded that for every gram of soluble fiber you add to your diet, you can expect an LDL decrease of 2.2 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). So if you added just 10 grams a day -- less than a cup of baked beans -- you could see your level drop 20 points.
The best fiber-rich foods? Here are our top 10:
1. Dried beans, peas, and other legumes. These include baked beans, kidney beans, split peas, dried limas, garbanzos, pinto beans, and black beans.
2. Oatmeal and bran cereals.
3. Vegetables. Top contenders are fresh or frozen lima beans and green peas, sweet corn, broccoli, green snap beans, pole beans, broad beans, carrots, and Brussels sprouts.
4. Dried fruit. Figs, apricots, and dates top the list.
5. Fresh fruit (with skin). Particularly raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, plums, pears, apples, and cherries.
6. Whole wheat and other whole grain products. These include rye, oats, buckwheat, and stone-ground cornmeal, as well as bread, pastas, pizzas, pancakes, and muffins made with whole grain flours.
7. Baked potato with skin.
8. Greens. Some of the best include spinach, beet greens, kale, collards, Swiss chard, and turnip greens.
9. Nuts. Especially almonds, Brazil nuts, peanuts, and walnuts.
10. Bananas.
Source: Reader’s Digest
One of the most striking differences between the caveman's diet and our own is the amount of fiber our ancestors ate: about 100 grams a day, the amount some people in rural areas of the developing world still get.
The average American, on the other hand, consumes only about 15 grams of fiber per day, well below the recommended 25 grams. The cavemen didn't know it, but all of that fiber had countless health benefits, from lowering cholesterol to helping control (or maybe prevent) diabetes.
There are two types of fiber. Insoluble fiber, such as wheat bran, helps prevent constipation and may protect against colon cancer. It also fills your stomach, helping to quench hunger without calories. Soluble fiber, found in foods such as fruits, oats, barley, and peas, has more to do with lowering cholesterol. Soluble fiber forms a kind of gel in your intestines that helps reduce your body's absorption of the fat you eat. And if that fat never makes it into your bloodstream, it can't do its damage by raising your blood cholesterol levels.
Studies find that eating 10 to 30 grams of soluble fiber a day -- much more than the average American eats -- reduces LDL about 10 percent. (Remember, Americans average 15 grams of fiber, including both soluble and insoluble.)
One analysis of 67 different studies concluded that for every gram of soluble fiber you add to your diet, you can expect an LDL decrease of 2.2 milligrams per deciliter (mg/dl). So if you added just 10 grams a day -- less than a cup of baked beans -- you could see your level drop 20 points.
The best fiber-rich foods? Here are our top 10:
1. Dried beans, peas, and other legumes. These include baked beans, kidney beans, split peas, dried limas, garbanzos, pinto beans, and black beans.
2. Oatmeal and bran cereals.
3. Vegetables. Top contenders are fresh or frozen lima beans and green peas, sweet corn, broccoli, green snap beans, pole beans, broad beans, carrots, and Brussels sprouts.
4. Dried fruit. Figs, apricots, and dates top the list.
5. Fresh fruit (with skin). Particularly raspberries, blackberries, strawberries, plums, pears, apples, and cherries.
6. Whole wheat and other whole grain products. These include rye, oats, buckwheat, and stone-ground cornmeal, as well as bread, pastas, pizzas, pancakes, and muffins made with whole grain flours.
7. Baked potato with skin.
8. Greens. Some of the best include spinach, beet greens, kale, collards, Swiss chard, and turnip greens.
9. Nuts. Especially almonds, Brazil nuts, peanuts, and walnuts.
10. Bananas.
Source: Reader’s Digest
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