ADOPT A SWEET STRATEGY FOR CONTROLLING DIABETES
If you are African-American, you are probably all too familiar with diabetes. This is partly because diabetes tends to run in families and partly because African-Americans are much more likely than others to suffer from its debilitating complications, such as limb amputation, blindness, kidney disease, and heart disease. Diabetes is a set of disorders in which your body stops producing enough insulin or loses its ability to use the insulin it produces. Insulin is absolutely necessary to use glucose, the sugar that is our body's chief source of fuel.

Type 2 diabetes, the kind that tends to affect African-Americans, often strikes people who have a family history, are more than 10 percent over their recommended weight, don't exercise regularly, and are over 40 years old. (Type 1 diabetes tends to appear during childhood, and Type 1 diabetics need to take insulin for life.)

Advances make it easier than ever to manage diabetes, however, careful attention to diet is a key part of that management plan. Please check out the chart below for nutrition information for diabetics.

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alhealthcare@forbes.com

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