Winfrey and Bob Greene are also joined by health guru Dr. Oz. Together these two health experts will reveal the hidden sugars lurking in everyday meals and snacks. In addition, diet expert and author of the 4-Day Diet and 50 Million Pound Challenge, Dr. Ian Smith will be on the show to discuss just how important a proper diet is in preventing disease.

As part of the show, Oprah will also announce a special offer that will help every American get their blood sugar tested for free.

Greene who is Oprah’s own personal trainer and diet coach is also widely known for his Best Life Diet. Just this past January, he released The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes.

On Thursday’s show, audience members will also be treated to a give away of the Bob Greene: Total Body Makeover DVD, the fitness complement to his Total Body Makeover program.

Check your local listings for show times.

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Tune In: Bob Greene and Dr. Ian Smith on the Oprah Show

The new law, passed by the California Legislature in 2008, gave restaurants plenty of time to change their menu items to trans fat-free meals. California has also passed a new law that applies to baked goods. This legislation will take effect on January 1, 2011.

While some people have cynically scoffed at this as government intrusion, I think they really miss the point. People know too little about what goes into their foods. And they are particularly vulnerable when they go out to eat.

“I think the potential here is real for a far greater understanding of the harms of trans fats, and to encourage more states to do the same,” says Dr. Clyde Yancy, incoming president of the American Heart Association regarding the enactment of the California law.

If businesses are adding what essentially is a slow-acting poison to your health, there should be sensible actions taken. Trans fats are linked to a number of health problems like diabetes, heart disease, cardiovascular diseases, and other emerging risks. If you really want government to take a totally hands-off approach, we have already seen what has happened to the weight of our citizens without much intervention.

(via: foodconsumer.org)

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Trans Fat Ban Starts in California

Here are some healthy habits that you can instill in your children to help them learn the actions necessary to be healthy adults.

1. Stay active. Overweight and obesity is often caused by an imbalance of food consumption and exercise. One way to help your child is to find an exercise that your he or she enjoys. Bike riding, skateboarding, karate class, soccer – all are fun activities, often done with friends, that can help your child learn to enjoy exercise.

2. Portion control is critical. A serving of Cheetos can fit into a healthy diet; an entire bag, not so much. There are fun playing cards that can give children the visuals that they need to understand portion control or you can use this portion control chart to relate serving sizes to household items, like tennis balls, a computer mouse, or dominoes.

3. Help your children learn healthy food choices. Take those favorite snacks and swap them for healthy options. Talk to them about the difference between whole grains and refined flours, processed foods and fresh whole fruits and what effect those choices can have on their bodies.

4. Make an effort to avoid rewarding behaviors and grades with treats. Avoid tying dessert to an empty plate, good grades or a clean bedroom. Also, try to move towards more fruit and less processed treats for dessert.

5. Why not try gardening? Many children are excited to try foods that they have had a hand in growing. Teaching children about their food, from seed to table, is gratifying for both parent and child.

With just a little effort, you can be well on your way to helping your child learn healthy habits that will last a lifetime!

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Healthy Habits Should Start Early for Children

Pregnancy does a number on your body, but happily, many of those changes are temporary. At the end, you have a beautiful baby to show for it. What you don’t know, though, is that some of the changes that your body goes through can raise the risk of other struggles later in your life.

For example, if you suffered from pre-eclampsia during your pregnancy, you may show symptoms of heart disease as many as three years sooner than those women who had normal blood pressure readings. Make sure to keep track of your blood pressure readings at every check up.

If you were diagnosed with gestational diabetes, you will need to be tested every year for type 2 diabetes, for your chances of being diagnosed with this disease increase as much as 50 percent.

For those women who suffer from postpartum depression, as many as 15 percent of all pregnant women will be afflicted with this debilitating disease, they are more than twice as likely to find themselves depressed later in life. Perimenopause and menopause may also be more likely to cause depression to surface.

These are definitely not reasons to avoid a pregnancy, though! They are all the more reason to actively pursue a healthy pregnancy. With careful planning and monitoring, these situations can be avoided and all that will remain at the end is your cute and cuddly little one!

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Health Effects of Pregnancy on a Woman’s Body

This guest blog was written exclusively for

Runny nose. Upset stomach. Whatever illness it is, it can make you feel miserable. It is hard enough to be under the weather but it is even more difficult to handle being sick if you have diabetes. 

According to the American Diabetes Association (ADA), people with diabetes who develop an illness are at risk for serious complications if they don’t take care of their diabetes.  Blood glucose levels can increase or decrease to dangerous levels if left unchecked. Ketones, a waste product created when the body begins to use stored fat for energy, can build up, especially in those with type 1 diabetes, if a person does not take insulin at regular intervals.  Left unmonitored, high ketone levels can lead to ketoacidosis, which can lead to coma or death.

The American Diabetes Association suggests that people with diabetes have a plan in place with their health care team before illness strikes in order to avoid getting worse. It is also critical to get a flu shot every year to potentially avoid getting sick all together.

The ADA offers tips to manage diabetes if you are under the weather:

• Check, please! – Check blood glucose levels every three to four hours. Also, if you have been instructed by your health care team, check for ketones in your urine every few hours.
• Don’t stop insulin or medications – Unless your health care provider tells you otherwise, continue taking insulin to balance out the battle your body’s stress hormones are fighting. 
• Nourish a cold – Even if you have lost your appetite, it is important to try to eat.  The ADA recommends 15 grams of carbohydrates every hour or so. 
• Stay hydrated – If you are vomiting or have diarrhea, or have a fever, try to drink a cup of fluid each hour to prevent dehydration.  If your blood glucose level is too high, try sugar-free liquids like water, tea, or broth.  If your blood glucose level is low, try drinking liquids with approximately 15 grams of carbohydrates in them, such as ½ cup of apple juice or one cup of milk.
• OTCs? – Talk to your health care team before taking any over-the-counter cold or flu medicines.  Some medicines can raise your blood glucose or blood pressure levels.
• Call the Doctor – Contact your health care provider if there is a rise in ketones or if there are ketones in your urine for more than 12 hours; if you are vomiting or have diarrhea for more than six hours; if you have a fever that keeps going up or one that lasts more than a day; if you are having abdominal pain, or if you cannot control your blood glucose levels.

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How to Manage the Cold or Flu with Diabetes

This guest blog was written exclusively for

With an estimated 57 million Americans with pre-diabetes, the American Diabetes Association offers an online tool that helps people understand their personal risk for developing type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke.

My Health Advisor takes into account a person’s specific risk factors, such as family history and lifestyle choices, as well as other factors like access to health care, to determine their risk for developing diabetes, heart disease and stroke. The online calculator immediately reflects and readjusts a person’s risk outcome based on small changes they make in their lives, such as losing five or ten pounds, quitting smoking or taking a daily aspirin.

Unlike other online health calculators, My Health Advisor uses the powerful and unique health simulation program, Archimedes. Archimedes pulls together large amounts of clinical research data to make highly accurate predictions about a person’s health risks. The software creates a virtual reality in which all relevant factors that can impact a person’s health in the real world match the factors in the simulated world. To further ensure accurate assessments, the results have been compared directly with real-life clinical trial results and have a nearly perfect correlation with the outcomes of actual patients.

Results from a 2008 Omnibus survey conducted by the Association indicate that the majority of adults ages 40 and older are at risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Furthermore, those surveyed do not acknowledge their control over developing these conditions, and see little motivation to lose weight and lead healthier lives.

“Type 2 diabetes is preventable with healthy lifestyle choices. With 1.6 million new cases of diabetes diagnosed each year and heart disease and stroke accounting for two out of three diabetes-related deaths, the need to educate people about and accurately assess their risk of developing these diseases is at an all time high,” said Peter Sheehan, M.D., CheckUp America committee chair. My Health Advisor is an extremely powerful tool that we can use to help people not only understand their risk, but take proactive steps to a healthier life.”

Users of My Health Advisor benefit from a customized risk assessment and personalized prevention tips for living healthier lives and taking action to reduce the risk of developing life-threatening diseases. Clinicians can also use My Health Advisor with their patients to develop prevention plans with their patients. 

For more information on My Health Advisor and to access the online calculator, visit CheckUpAmerica.

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Online Calculator Estimates Diabetes Risk

Manage Stress

Is it me or are most people pre-wired for high anxiety and the go-go-go mentality? Work pressures. The economy. Life drama. No matter what day it is, you can bet there’s something going on that is making your blood boil. You don’t see it, but it’s killing you.

Chronic stress is linked to six of the leading causes of death. The link between stress and diabetes is hormonal. Neuropeptide Y (NPY) is a stress hormone that increases with severe or prolonged stress. The main effect of the hormone is increased food intake, increased proportion of energy stored as fat, and decreased physical activity. Uh oh. If you read the post on preventing diabetes, you know that excess fat, especially in the belly area, significantly increases your diabetes risk.

Point well taken. So how the heck do you calm down? My quick tips for stress management are very basic.

1. Say “no.” Don’t put too much on your plate. The overcommitment increases stress levels, eats up valuable free time for nutrition and exercise, and frankly wears you out unnecessarily.
2. Just breath. When you feel the stress piling on, take five minutes and lie on your back in a quiet room only focusing on your breath. The drop in blood pressure also allows your crazed stress hormones to take a reprieve.
3. Sip on herbal tea. Teas like peppermint, ginger, or chamomile are very soothing and help you come down from that stress frazzle.

But there’s one more thing that can weigh down the risk for diabetes. Yes, sleep.

Sleep

Research shows that people who get less than six hours of sleep are 4.5 times more likely to have problems controlling their blood sugar – and that, my friends, leads to insulin resistance and eventually diabetes. What’s more, lack of sleep also throws your hungry/full hormones out of whack so when you don’t get sleep, you’re hormonally hungrier the next day thanks to higher levels of ghrelin (the “grow” hormone).

So, cheat yourself of sleep (maybe due to poor stress management) and now you’re hunger hormone is raging like a teenage boy at cheer camp. Of course you’re going to overeat and gain weight, which takes us back to our “top three” ways of preventing diabetes… eating healthy, exercising, and losing weight.

Behavior change starts with awareness. What can you do today to make yourself more aware of your behaviors?

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Sleep and Relax to Prevent Diabetes

These five tips involve slashing sugar, saturated and trans fats, and cutting back on calories so you can lose weight and better control your blood sugar levels.

1. Swap water for calorie beverages. Water has zero calories, that’s the bottom line. Used to sodas? Try sparkling water with a twist of lime. Need more flavor? Add some mint or unsweetened iced tea. I love using herbal teas! You’ll save 17 teaspoons of sugar for each 20-ounce soda.

2. Swap a coffee beverage with a small skim milk latte. A small pumpkin spice latte made with 2% milk has almost 40 grams of sugar (about 10 teaspoons – a day’s worth of added sugar), whereas a small, fat-free latte has only 16 grams sugar and that comes from the milk! If you would like, you can always “split the difference” and ask for one pump of pumpkin spice. That’s about 10 grams of added sugar – just under three teaspoons. Sure beats 10, doesn’t it?

3. Swap a hamburger with a portobello mushroom burger. If you’ve never had a grilled portobello mushroom you have no idea what you are missing. This large vegetable has a thick “meaty” texture. The saturated fat is no comparison. You’ll save grams of saturated fat.

4. Swap “partially hydrogenated” on packaged foods with whole or packaged foods without. If you can avoid packaged and fried foods altogether then you can avoid most of the world’s trans fat. That’s not realistic for a lot of people, so the next best thing is to cut down on the amount and frequency of those kinds of foods. Look at an ingredients list for the words “partially hydrogenated” and rethink your purchase. The good news is that most companies have taken it out of foods.

5. Swap full-fat cheese for lighter. I love cheese, but the saturated fat in that tiny thumb-sized portion is enough to make your arteries clog in sheer terror! OK, not exactly, but even so, just remember full-fat dairy products are mostly saturated fat. I like to use low-fat cottage cheese for a “most of the time” food. I also like the reduced-fat mozzarella and cheddar cheeses in the store. Up to 50% reduced fat of a good brand will slash the saturated fat in half, but you don’t notice a taste difference. I also like goat and feta cheese because they are strong. A little goes a long way and their “softness” means more water and guess what, less saturated fat per serving.

Hopefully you can choose at least one of these tips today to work on!

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Five Easy Food Swaps to Prevent Diabetes

A quarter of those surveyed who were unemployed said they didn’t get enough rest any night in the last 30 days.

The study seems to confirm the anecdotal belief that west coasters are more laid back than the east coast. Twelve of the 14 best-sleeping states were west of the Mississippi.

The report wasn’t very in depth, as they just asked people about their perception of how much sleep they got, not the actual hours.

The Health Consequences

Sleep problems can lead to other health problems, surprisingly maybe even diabetes. Researchers aren’t quite sure if lack of sleep directly causes diabetes or if it’s associated in some other way. But, even a remote piece of evidence should be enough to think twice about watching your favorite late night talk show.

Sleep Aids

Exercise is a great way to help your sleep problems… assuming you aren’t just staying up late by choice. The National Sleep Foundation reports that afternoon exercise can help with deeper sleep, and even cut down the amount of time it takes for you to fall asleep. Evening exercise may have the opposite effect, while morning workouts seem to get the best results.

Keep in mind that there may be occasions when prescribed sleep aids are appropriate, but they shouldn’t be seen as the long-term answer.

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Americans Aren’t Getting Enough Sleep

This guest blog was written exclusively for DietsInReview.com from The American Diabetes Association, an organization that is leading the fight against the deadly consequences of diabetes and fighting for those affected by diabetes. The Association funds research to prevent, cure and manage diabetes; delivers services to hundreds of communities; provides objective and credible information; and gives voice to those denied their rights because of diabetes. Founded in 1940, our mission is to prevent and cure diabetes and to improve the lives of all people affected by diabetes. For more information please call your local American Diabetes Association office at 1-888-DIABETES (1-888-342-2383) or visit The American Diabetes Association

Cider and donuts, Sweetest Day, Halloween: Even highly-disciplined eaters can be distracted by all the autumn treats that begin to appear this month. So life can be especially difficult for people with any need for diet control – especially people newly diagnosed with diabetes.

“October symbolizes the beginning of the holiday festivities that will continue through Superbowl Sunday,” says Judith Pegg, a registered nurse and coordinator of the Outpatient Diabetes Education Program at Beaumont Hospital in Troy, Michigan. “People with diabetes need to remember that controlling blood sugar is what can delay or prevent complications. They should know what they can eat, how timing that food intake affects their body, and the amount of food they should eat.”

More than 23 million children and adults have diabetes in the U.S. While diabetes (the fastest-growing disease in the U.S.) can cause life-threatening complications, it can be controlled.

Through diabetes education programs, Pegg shares crucial information with participants about meal planning and portion size, exercise, medications, the role of stress, blood glucose testing and technology updates. Such classes are important for people newly-diagnosed with the disease and anyone who already has diabetes. Pegg also encourages participants to enroll in one of the many ADA recognized programs throughout the country in order to help them continue to learn about the disease.

“We want to offer individuals real world solutions to this life-changing disease,” says Sean Mahone, president of Warren-based Great Lakes Medical Supply, and ADA volunteer. “Food temptations can be overwhelming this time of year, but a little education about making better choices helps to make meals and diabetes manageable.”

“I believe perhaps the best thing people can do during this time to avoid diet pitfalls and to avoid making mindless mistakes is to have a plan ahead of time to keep control over what and when they eat,” says Pegg. “With that control, they will be able to enjoy the holiday fun with their family and friends and not feel deprived.”

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The ADA’s Guide to Enjoying Holiday Food