Diabetes is a condition where there is an absence or inadequate secretion of insulin. Insulin is a hormone made by our organ called the pancreas. The function of the insulin is to absorb the glucose from our diet and turn it into energy. In a diabetic patient, the pancreas does not produce enough insulin or the available insulin is blocked or inactivated by other substances thus preventing it from performing this function. This causes excessive glucose in the blood and after a period of time it can lead to serious complications.

The most common symptoms are: 1] excessive urination 2] tiredness 3] constant thirst 4] frequent hunger and strong appetite 5] weight loss despite the heavy appetite 6] frequent fungal infections especially in the genital areas and 7] blurred vision.

There are two types of diabetes:

1] Type 1: It is insulin dependent diabetes mellitus (IDDM). No insulin is made in the body and can occur at any age but especially in the young. Treatment is in the form of dietary controls and injections.

2] Type 2: It is non-insulin dependent mellitus (NIDDM). This accounts for 90% of all cases. In type 2, the pancreas produces insufficient insulin. It usually occurs in people over the age of 40 and very often other members of their family also have it.

Additional demands on the pancreas can also cause some pregnant women to develop diabetes. This is gestational diabetes (GDM). About 20% - 50% of GDM patients will develop diabetes in later life.

Diabetes patients should be aware that low blood sugar could occur with the use of tablets or insulin. This condition could be due to: 1] eating too little or too late 2] too much insulin and 3] not enough food before exercise.

Adjustments need to be made if there are variations in the diet or amount of exercise done by the diabetic patient as this can lead to too little glucose in the bloodstream and excess of insulin, thus giving rise to hypoglycaemia (low blood sugar).

Symptoms of hypoglycaemia include: 1] lack of concentration 2] sweating 3] irritability 4] blurred vision and 5] shaking and weakness.

The treatment is to promptly take sugar by mouth (in the form of glucose tablets, sugar lumps or glucose drink). Recovery is usually very fast. Occasionally, unconsciousness can occur and hospital treatment is necessary.

Both insulin dependent and non-insulin dependent diabetes are susceptible to complications. Many complications may be serious and can affect almost every part of the body. Long term damage to the feet, eyes and blood vessels are perhaps the most devastating complications to the diabetic patient. Although early detection helps, it can be difficult because many of these complications do not show

Being a diabetic is not simply a matter of suffering from a disease, it involves an entirely different way of life. In general, the diabetic has to plan activities more carefully than a normal person and to do this successfully needs to learn as much as possible about the disease. He has to understand how the body controls blood sugar and the effects not only of insulin and other drugs, but also of exercise, illness and different foods. Nevertheless, it is important that diabetics do not let the condition rule their lives. Provided they follow the simple rules and procedures they have been taught, few activities will have to be restricted and they will be able to follow active and productive lives.

If you are a diabetic, the following guidelines should prove useful to you in coping with your disease so that you can lead a normal life.

1] If you plan to go on a long walk or partake in some vigorous sport, you need to make sure by eating extra food beforehand that your blood sugar level does not fall low that you pass out.

2] Regular mealtimes are important: if you miss a meal or a meal is delayed, eat some sugar or a biscuit to restore blood sugar level. It is useful always to carry sugar lumps or sweets with you. Your blood sugar level may also fall if you have taken too much insulin by mistake and again some sugar will restore it to normal.

3] Make sure that friends and associates know that you are diabetic and understand that you cannot take irregular meals or drink or go on binges. They should know, too, the symptoms of low blood sugar (hypoglycaemia), faintness, sweating and paleness, unsteadiness and disturbed behavior that may resemble drunkenness, so that they offer sugar and sent for medical help should your blood sugar level drop.

4] Avoid operating machinery or driving unless you have eaten in the previous two hours.

5] Children and those particularly prone to hypoglycaemic attacks should carry or wear a bracelet giving details of their conditions and instructions for treatment in an emergency.

Diabetes currently affects 7% of the United States population, or 20.8 million Americans, and more than half are women. Diabetes is the 6th leading cause of death today, and a large percentage of diabetics don't even know that they have the disease.

Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin. Insulin is a very important hormone that is needed to convert sugar, starches and other food into energy-the energy we need for daily life. Although the cause of diabetes is unknown, certain genetic and environmental factors do seem to increase the likelihood of the disease. These include obesity and lack of exercise.

Diabetes is a disease that develops over time, and your health care provider can help you find out whether you are likely to become a diabetic. The Fasting Plasma Glucose Test (FPG) or the Oral Glucose Tolerance Test (OGTT) is used to tell if someone has pre-diabetes or diabetes. If she returns a blood glucose level above a certain amount she has the disease.

The major types of diabetes are type 1 diabetes, type 2 diabetes, gestational diabetes and pre-diabetes. Type 1 diabetes results when the body fails to produce insulin. Type 2 diabetes results when the body fails to properly use insulin. Most American diabetics have Type 2 diabetes. Pregnant women who have high blood sugar levels during pregnancy have gestational diabetes. Those with pre-diabetes have higher than normal blood sugar levels, but not to the point where they reach the diagnosis of type 2 diabetes.

Common symptoms of diabetes include: frequent urination, excessive thirst, unexplained weight loss, extreme hunger, sudden vision changes, tingling or numbness in the hands or feet, exhaustion much of the time, very dry skin, sores that are slow to heal and more infections than usual. Diabetics may have some of these symptoms or none at all.

Children with diabetes often lash out because they feel they have no control over their lives. Everything they do is governed by their diabetes: medications, meal times, shots, blood checks, and endless visits to the doctors. A lot of a young diabetic’s freedom is taken away by the disease.

It is hard for a child with diabetes to understand why they can’t have a piece of candy when the other kids can, or why they have to be checked for sugar levels so often. Imagine how frustrated you’d be if you could not do something just because your blood sugar was too low or high. All those test and shots, it’s not fair.

Diabetes affects the mind as much as it does the body. In our family we try to give our diabetic child choices, so he feels like he has more control over his life. Simple things like letting him check his own blood sugar or picking the location for his shots. When the child gets older and more mature they can be equipped with an insulin pump, which will allow them to “dial in” a more controlled release of insulin, and it gives them more control over their diabetes.

Our child will often act up for apparently no reason. In many cases it’s just a manifestation of his frustration over his apparent lack of control over his life. We try to make him feel he does have choices. We allow him to pick movies, or we give him a choice over what we will eat for dinner. We give him healthy choices, but we let him make the final decision.

Diabetes is more than a physical disease, it impacts how your family will develop and mature. Diabetes takes control away from the individual that has the disease and it makes it more difficult for the parent of a young child inflicted with diabetes.

Structuring your parenting of your child to make them feel like they can make choices about their life, and the treatment of their diabetes, will help your child feel more empowered and in control of their life.

Late onset diabetes usually means that a person has too much insulin because his cells cannot respond to insulin. Too much insulin constricts arteries to cause heart attacks, and stimulates your brain and liver to make you hungry and manufacture fat.

Most people who develop diabetes in later life can be controlled so that they are not at increased risk for the many complications of diabetes such as heart attacks, strokes, blindness, deafness, amputations, kidney failure, burning foot syndrome or varicose veins with skin ulcers.

The Insulin Resistance Syndrome puts you at very high risk for a heart attack and is associated with storing fat in the belly, rather than the hips; having high blood triglyceride levels and low level of the good HDL cholesterol; and high blood pressure.

If you have any of these signs, check with your doctor who will order a blood test called HBA1C. If it is high, you have diabetes and can usually be controlled with diet and/or medication. You should learn how to avoid foods that give the highest rise in blood sugar. When you eat, blood sugar level rises. The higher it rises, the more sugar sticks on cells. Once stuck on a cell membrane, sugar can never detach itself. It is converted to a poison called sorbitol that damages the cell to cause all the side effects of diabetes mentioned above.

The foods that cause your blood sugar to rise quickly include all types of flour products: bread, spaghetti, macaroni, bagels, rolls, crackers, cookies and pretzels; refined corn products and white rice; and all sugar-added foods.

There are two type of drugs that are used to treat diabetes: those that lower blood sugar and raise insulin, and those that lower blood sugar and lower insulin also. The safest drugs are those that lower both insulin and sugar. Most diabetics should be on Glucophage (metformin) before meals, at least while you are learning to change your diet and bring your weight where it belongs. It prevents blood sugar levels from rising too high and sticking to cells and has an excellent safety record. However, eating a bagel will produce such a high rise in blood sugar that Glucophage will not be effective, so Glucophage must be used in addition to avoiding foods that cause a high rise in blood sugar. If HBA1C cannot be controlled with diet and Glucophage, your doctor will usually add Avandia 4mg or Actos 30mg. They are essentially the same and can cause liver damage, so liver tests must be done monthly, at least for the first few months.

You should be seen monthly and get either a HBA1C (which measures blood sugar control over the past two months) or fructosamine (which measures control over two weeks). Each time that your HBA1C is above normal (6.1), you should yell at your doctor to change your drugs and he should yell at you to change your diet.

If your HBA1C is still not under control, you need to take a drug that raises insulin levels. I usually start with Glipizide XL. If that doesn't control your HBA1C, I raise the dose, and if that still doesn't work, you will need to inject yourself with insulin. Check with your doctor.

About 17 million American’s have diabetes and approximately one third of them don’t even know it. Diabetes is a disease that is a result of your body’s inability to utilize glucose efficiently or possibly not able to utilize it at all. The results of leaving your diabetes untreated can be devastating. Blindness, heart attacks, strokes, amputations are all possible consequences of diabetes and especially leaving it untreated. One of the most popular medications for the treatment of patients with diabetes is Glucophage (Metformin). This medication also now comes in combination with other products such as sulfonylureas (Glucovance, Metaglip) and the glitazones (Avandamet, Actos plus Met).

Metformin has been used for many years around the world and is a very effective medication for diabetes. Some of the more common side effects include nausea, vomiting, bloating, diarrhea, and loss of appetite. These symptoms generally occur in one out of three patients. But one of the lesser known and yet very important side effects of Metformin is how it depletes some of your essential nutrients and increases your odds of having side effects due to nutrient depletion. The nutrients of most concern are Vitamin B-12, folic acid, and Coenzyme Q-10.

If you happen to be taking one of the products that has Metformin as well as a sulfonylurea included (Glucovance, Metaglip), you should increase your risk of reducing your coenzyme Q-10 levels even further, because the sulfonylurea class of drugs is known to interfere with the metabolism of Coenzyme Q-10

Well, first of all, diabetes is divided into 2 types, commonly known as Diabetes Type 1 and Diabetes Type 2.

If you have a Diabetes Type 1, the probability that your child will have the same condition is 1:17. If you are a mother with Diabetes Type 1 and deliver a child when you are under 25 years old, then the probability that your child will be diagnosed with the same condition is 1:25. The probability decreases to 1:100 if you give birth over 25 years old.

The risk that your child will have diabetes is doubled if you are diagnosed with Diabetes Type 1 before you turn 11. Should you and your spouse both have Diabetes Type 1, then the probability that your child also has it will increase starting from 1:10 up to 1:4.

What about Diabetes Type 2? This kind of diabetes does have a larger genetical basis than Diabetes Type 1. Though, a huge influence also comes from external factors such as environments, way of lifes, eating habits, etc.

Generally, if you are diagnosed with a Diabetes Type 2 since you are under 50 years old, then the probability for your child to have the same condition is 1:7. The probability decreases to 1:13 if you are diagnosed with it over 50.

A natural cure, sorry - therapy, for diabetics begins by totally eliminating sugar and refined carbohydrates - including honey, alcohol, mashed potatoes, cakes, biscuits and sweets.

The other ingredient is the addition of two special minerals to your diet is also a little known natural treatment for diabetics that your health practitioner probably forgot to tell you about.

Chromium and vanadium – these two minerals improve the action of insulin and in the case of vanadium, actually replace insulin for adult diabetes. The intake should be at around 25 mcg/day. Of course, as with any alternative therapy you should see your health care practitioner - referably one who has heard of these two minerals and is prepared to let you 'try'.

Zinc, B Complex vitamins, copper and glutathione and a high intake of essential fatty acids are also part of a natural cure for diabetics. For your supplements find a high quality source you can trust.

As far as dietary nutrition is concerned, consume a high fiber diet consisting of plenty of complex carbohydrates (vegetables, beans, certain grains such as bran).

Also, an allergy test is very useful for a natural cure for diabetics – particularly for dairy, soy and wheat. If you test positive, take digestive enzymes before meals to help improve your nutrition and to clean up any intestinal damage that is likely to have been caused.

Be patient with this nutritional treatment and have your physician closely monitor your progress. Monitor your blood sugar regularly and you will notice results within several weeks.

Herbs may be used as part of a natural cure for diabetics and include licorice, yarrow, Canadian fleabane and Jerusalem artichoke.

Essential oils including coriander, cinnamon, fennel, dill, cypress, rosemary, pine and ylang-ylang can be helpful. These may be applied by inhaling or absorbed in a bath. If pregnant, consult with a physician before use.

Under results of a new study, hypoglycemia, which is a drop in levels of blood sugar, and is severe enough to cause seizures or coma in young children with type 1 diabetes (those who develop the disease very early in life) does not appear to result in impairments in mental ability or behavior.

According to experts and scientific evidence, the hippocampus (a region of the brain) is particularly sensitive to prolonged episodes of severe hypoglycemia. And experts stated that “young children with type 1 diabetes are at greatest risk of severe hypoglycemic events, and this has focused concern on the potential for hypoglycemic insult to impact on central nervous system development”.

After compare 41 type 1 diabetic adolescents and children -who had a history of hypoglycemia with coma or seizure- to 43 similar diabetic subjects but without a history of severe hypoglycemic events, findings demonstrate that a subgroup of patients who had early first seizure showed more episodes of hypoglycemic seizure or coma in comparison to those who experienced a seizure at an older age.

The team applied different tests of learning and memory, but also intellectual and behavioral tests. The astonishing thing is that there were no significant differences between the seizure and no-seizure groups on the intellectual, memory or behavioral measures.

A new cell transplantation technique is being used by researchers in order to repair the cells that produce insulin in patients with type 1 diabetes. The study, presented this week at the annual meeting of the Radiological Society of North America, shows that the procedure is minimally invasive and with few complications.

One of the authors of the study explains that they used “ultrasound guidance to inject donor cells into the portal vein of diabetic patients, which is accessed through the skin. This is a safe method of cell transplantation that could potentially become a same-day procedure”.

The experts explain that the body does not produce insulin in type 1 diabetes, which results from the destruction of insulin-producing islet beta cells in the pancreas. Insulin is the basic fuel that all cells need to metabolize sugar.

The study shows that the used technique is minimally invasive, since donor islet cells are injected into diabetic patients so that the new healthy islet cells can restore insulin production, which is essential to stop disease advancement.

According to the study, fifteen islet cell transplantations were carried out to 13 patients with poorly controlled type 1 diabetes, two patients received two procedures to achieve correct needle placement.

Diet is quite an important matter for diabetic people. Everything they eat may have a consequence positive or not in their disease evolution. According to researchers from Keck School of Medicine of the University of Southern California, overweight Latino children show signs of beta cell decline, a precursor of type 2 diabetes because they are consuming lots of sugar especially in sugary drinks.

Nowadays, statistics show that nearly one out of four Latino children in the United States is overweight, and the problem appears to be worse over the future. Obesity rates are increasing along with the incidence of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes within overweight teens. Under a researchers’ report published by the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, high sugar consumption during childhood may play an important role in the development of diabetes in this population.

According to experts in preventive medicine, overweight and poor diet among these children could have disastrous consequences for minority health and the health-care costs for future generations, if they are left untreated.

The research called Study of Latinos at Risk (SOLAR) Diabetes Project is conducted by the research team from the Keck School. This project examined 63 overweight Latino children in Los Angeles from 9 to 13 years old and do not have diabetes.

Beta cells in the pancreas, experts explain, create the hormone insulin in response to sugar from food. Energy is something necessary to cells in the body’s tissues, so they need sugar, or glucose, and insulin helps cells grab and take up glucose in the blood.

Thirty-five percent of all Americans will develop diabetes, which can cause heart attacks, strokes, blindness, deafness, impotence, amputations, kidney failure and sudden death. Three studies show why virtually all diabetics should exercise. The first study shows that exercising before a meal markedly reduces the rise in blood sugar that usually peaks 20 minutes after you eat (Lipids in Health & Disease, October 2005). The second shows that exercise lowers HBA1C in diabetics (Journal of Obesity, October 2002), while the third shows that exercise lowers high blood pressure (Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, August 2005)

When you eat, your blood sugar level rises. In diabetics, most of the damage is done within 20 minutes after you eat because that’s the time that blood sugar levels are at their highest. The higher blood sugar rises, the more sugar sticks on cells. Once sugar is stuck on a cell, it can never get off. It is eventually converted to a poison called sorbitol that destroys the cell. This cell destruction causes all of the horrible side effects of diabetes.

Doctors measure the amount of sugar stuck on cells with a blood test called HBA1C. The first goal in treating diabetes is to use drugs and diet to get HBA1C below 6. Since blood sugar levels are highest 20 minutes after you eat, you should do everything possible to prevent the high rise in blood sugar that follows meals. The only places that your body can store sugar are in your muscles and your liver. After you eat, sugar goes from your intestines into your bloodstream. Then if your muscles are empty from exercise, the sugar can pass into your muscles. However, if your muscles are full because you do not exercise, the sugar has no place to go and blood sugar rises to very high levels to stick to cells and destroy your body.

Exercise is also vital for diabetics because it helps to control blood pressure. Eighty percent of diabetics die of heart disease, and anything that increases risk for heart attacks puts diabetics in danger. High blood pressure is a major risk for heart attacks and strokes. Since exercise lowers high blood pressure, it helps to prevent heart attacks and thus to keep diabetics alive.

Diabetes can play havoc with your eyes, and sometimes there are no early sumptoms. So you may have no idea anything is wrong until your eyesight is in danger.

Here are the main eye problems that can be caused, or made worse, by diabetes.

Cataracts

These are often described as a clouding of the lens of the eye. They are treatable by surgery in most cases.

Glaucoma

Our eyes are largely made up of fluid, and when the pressure of that fluid builds up too much inside the eye, you have glaucoma. Left untreated, it can damage the optic nerves, and even lead to blindness.

Diabetic retinopathy

Lining the back of our eyes is light-sensitive tissue known as the retina. The retina contains very small blood vessels that can be damaged by diabetic retinopathy. Sometimes there are symptoms such as blurred vision, but often you won't even know anything is wrong until the condition is well advanced. In the worse case, it leads to blindness.

Early detection is the key to battling all of these conditions, and the best diagnostic tool available is the dilated eye examination. This is a test in which special eye drops temporarily enlarge your pupils, allowing the doctor to see the back of your eyes. This test (which is painless) can detect cataracts, glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy in their early, treatable stages.

The mantra for all diabetics is “Check those feet, everyday, every way.” Healthcare professionals preach the message; articles scream it over and over. However, many diabetics don’t and won’t. My husband was one of those who didn’t believe he should and “foo, fooed” my suggestions that I should check his feet.

For several weeks, R__ had been having problems thinking, and he had said things that either didn’t make sense or were completely out of line. The problems became worse, closer together, and lasting for longer periods of time. The middle of September, he zoned out or fell asleep in the middle of a word or action. He wouldn’t listen to reason, no matter who tried to talk him into seeking help. He didn’t understand the need.

Saturday, September 17, we were to go to one of our son’s homes to celebrate his and one of his son’s birthday, which had been during the week. R__ lay on the sofa, with his socks and shoes off, laying where I saw the bottom of his feet. The bottom of one was white with black spots.

“What’s wrong with your foot?” I nearly gasped, because it looked sickening.

“Nothing, just swollen. I took another water pill. The swelling will go down.”

“R__, this has nothing to do with edema. Look at the bottom of your left foot.” I wanted to shake him to get him to act.

He sat up and looked at the bottom of his foot. “Guess something is wrong. I’ll go to the doctor Monday.”

“You need to go to the ER - now!”

“I said I’d go to the doctor Monday, so leave me alone.” He lay back down.

I took a deep breath before suggesting he at least soak his foot. When he agreed, I filled the footbath with warm water and mild soap before carrying it to him. He soaked both feet for fifteen to twenty minutes. When he patted the bottom of his left foot, the layer of white skin came lose. A fine wire also came out. The foot still looked bad, oozing puss and a little blood.

“Let me take you to the emergency room,” I begged, but he refused, angrily and forcefully.

We went to our son’s, and our daughter-in-law noted how oddly he acted. She told me that he had even said something derogatory about our son in front of one of our grandsons a couple of weeks before - behavior completely out of character for a man so proud of his son and caring of his grandsons. I was even more concerned by the time we returned home, but he refused to take action.

When a person has diabetes, their body does not produce enough insulin to manage the blood sugar levels within the body. This means that a person will have to resort to other measures for controlling their blood sugar levels by following a diabetic diet accompanied with regular exercise.

Other ways to ease the complications of diabetes is to take medication, such as daily injections of insulin or taking a pill, such as glucophage.

The people who are most likely to become diabetic are individuals who are overweight, as well as inactive.

In addition, many develop diabetes because people in their family are susceptible to it due to heredity. It is also the lifestyle of a person that contributes to this occurrence.

Avoiding exercise, eating lots of fats and sugar within your diet, as well as being overweight or obese, are some of the factors surrounding diabetes. It can occur at anytime with signs including frequent urination and excessive thirst.

When someone is diabetic, they are unable to produce or correctly use insulin throughout their body, which is the hormone that is responsible for changing sugar, starches and other food into energy.

One of the ways to follow a diabetic diet is to eat foods from all of the four basic food groups, as well as decrease the consumption of alcohol, fat, and sweets.

You can incorporate a wide variety of nutritious foods into a diabetic diet.

A diabetic’s diet must follow this lifestyle change wherever they may be.

When eating out at a restaurant, there are a few tips to follow when deciphering the types of food items and meals you should look out for or avoid.

When choosing something that will adhere to your diabetic diet, you should avoid foods that are described as being “creamed,” “fried” or “sautéed.” These foods are most likely to contain loads of fat.

Foods that contain a lot of cheese, butter, oil or mayonnaises should be avoided on diabetic diets. If you must taste these foods during your meal, you should order them to arrive as a side item.

Other foods that can stray from diabetic diets include those that are prepared with sweet and sour sauce, as well as teriyaki and barbeque. They contain high amounts of sugar and carbohydrates that should be avoided while on a diabetic diet.

In 1990, Dr. Diana Schwarzbein, M.D. joined a famous diabetic clinic in Santa Barbara, California. She found that the diabetics at this clinic were struggling to keep their blood sugar down and complained that they were often accused of cheating when they were not. She suspected that the FDA diet wasn’t having the desired results with her patients. “After listening to their stories I thought, My God, we are making diabetics worse!” she later wrote in her book, The Schwarzbein Principle.

Making Changes

Dr. Schwarzbein asked her patients to modify the clinic’s dietary recommendations slightly (still in keeping with FDA guidelines), and kept meticulous records of her findings. She found that the more her patients cut their carbohydrate intake, and the more oils and fats they ate, the lower their blood sugar fell and the better they felt. Many of her patients reported feeling better than they had in years, and they lost weight in the bargain!

This research contributes to much new thinking in the dietary world regarding the treatment of diabetes and obesity. Specialists are just beginning to discover that the FDA diet will actually prevent you from controlling your diabetes. You will have to relearn and rethink what you know about your diet if you want your diabetes under control and help with all the other health problems you have, including heart disease and obesity.

With recent strides in the understanding of the mechanisms of insulin in the body, the outlook has never been brighter. If you find this strange and new (or very old), remember that in the words of Abram Hoffer, M.D., Ph.D., "It takes approximately 40 years for innovative thought to be incorporated into mainstream thought." I’d say this is one area where you’d want to be ahead of the pack.

Amid all the controversy, preliminary research findings at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina, have confirmed that the Atkins diet can lead to significant and sustained weight loss—in addition to lowering triglyceride levels, both of which will be beneficial to diabetics.

The Trouble With Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates put a tremendous amount of strain on the body’s ability to keep blood sugars low. In an attempt to right the situation, any carbohydrates not used for energy will be converted to fat and stored. To make matters worse, if quality fats and proteins are lacking, the body will be forced to break down body tissue—particularly muscle tissue and bone marrow—to meet supply needs for vital bodily functions. As the body makes vital hormones from the fats and proteins you eat, a low fat/low protein diet could possibly also lead to hormone imbalances and osteoporosis. Ironically, no matter how much nutrition you are lacking, you’ll still be gaining weight.

Another way in which FDA guidelines—for diabetics and others—can affect your health is that when you choose low-fat alternatives (any commercial cooking oil, margarine and butter alternatives), you are choosing oils that have been very highly processed, and which have a high level of trans fatty acids that cause abnormal cells called free radicals to be formed in the body.

Free radicals cause cellular aging in the body and are responsible for most of the visible signs of human aging as well as contributing to the onset of many diseases including diabetes. For more information on this aspect of diet, go to