The world is facing a new epidemic; type II diabetes. It is vital that smaller groups that have already faced an epidemic of type II diabetes be researched to learn what can be done to help reduce the treatment and to identify what is not worth repeating. Type II diabetes is also know as adult-onset diabetes and it often comes later in life. Native American populations have long faced a greatly increased percentage of type II diabetes. In fact the Pima natives of Arizona have the highest rate of type II diabetes in the world (Wheelwright). They know well that it is a deadly disease. By looking both at the history that has led up to the current diabetes epidemic in native populations and the preventative methods and their relative success rate, world health organizations could better prepare to help reduce the severity of the inevitable diabetes epidemic. National health care associations should begin a world wide prevention program for type II diabetes based on the experience of a population (Native Americans) that has already undergone such an epidemic like this before.

With estimates of the number of people worldwide with type II diabetes exceeding 300 million by 2025 it is vital that health organizations understand the devastating costs both monetarily and personally of this illness (Polikandrioti 217). Diabetes is a life changing and expensive illness. It is estimated that the treatment of diabetes in the United States now costs over $132 billion annually. Diabetes is the sixth leading cause of death in the United States (Type 2). The $132 billion is only the United States' cost but proportionally higher costs hit other economies. China will lose "$558 billion in foregone national income due to heart disease, stroke and diabetes alone" over the period from 2006-2015 (Diabetes). It is not only the monetary cost that makes diabetes such a challenging illness. According to the World Health Organization, diabetes increases the risk of heart attack, stroke, limb amputation, blindness, kidney failure, nerve damage, and at least doubles the risk of death (Diabetes). This cost of diabetes was echoed by a study done by O'Connor, Crabtree and Nakamura that found that the mortality rate of Navajos increased from 17% to 39% with diabetes (216). The cost both monetarily in humanitarian loss that is caused by type II diabetes makes the illness one worth trying to prevent.

The good news about this impending epidemic is that type II diabetes is in many cases a preventable illness. This is important because illnesses that can be prevented are far easier and less expensive to prevent than to treat after onset has occurred. It is often referred to as an illness of lifestyle (Miller). Although there can be genetic factors at play, much can be done with a person's lifestyle to prevent or delay the onset of the illness. The World Health Organization states that maintaining a healthy body weight, staying physically fit and eating a healthy diet can all help to reduce the risk of type II diabetes (Diabetes). Prevention for most cases of type II diabetes can be done through the seemingly simple act of getting people to live healthy lives, with regular frequent exercise and consistently a healthy diet. People who live healthier live are also less likely to get other chronic health problems like heart attack and stroke. A focus on prevention would not only help to reduce the prevalence of type II diabetes but also help in the overall wellbeing and general health of the people who were already being treated, thus world health organization should focus prevention on confronting this epidemic.

Prevention is possible. Treatment is very expensive and often cannot fix the problem. Therefore, prevention becomes the logical, practical and effective focus. If world health organizations are able to implement a successful prevention program that is able to convince its members to live a healthier life style then the overall health care need of that group will be reduced. The United States paying a staggering $132 billion annually makes it vital for the survival of aid organizations to do what they can to reduce the cost of treating major illnesses (Type II). A successful prevention program will not only reduce the number of people with type II diabetes within the community but it will also help to improve the general health of community thus reducing the cost of health care to the community further. Preventative medicine is almost always less expensive and often more effective than treatment, because it allows for the problem to be corrected before it becomes a full blown illness. This is not to say that treatment will not be important, but just that the money of health organizations can and will go further if they put their focus in to the prevention, while still preparing for treatments as necessary.

With the type II diabetes epidemic at the world's door step, it is a challenge that all the world health organizations use that knowledge which has been gained by the group (Native Americans) that has already suffered from this epidemic. Native American tribes have had to face their own diabetic crises and have done a large amount of work to find what is most successful in the reduction of type II diabetes within their own tribes. Type II diabetes is a relatively new problem to the Native American populations, but the number of type II diabetes cases has risen very quickly (Edwards 33). With the quick rise of type II diabetes with in the Native community and the history of studies that have been done in the treatment and prevention of the illness for this community; Native Americans are a very good focus group for health organizations to consider. The studies that have been done on prevention programs for Native Americans could be very easily applied, and expanded on to help world organizations to reduce this epidemic before it comes.

Native Americans' have the highest rate of type II diabetes in the world; the Pima in particular are the highest or any subgroup worldwide (Wheelwright). The reasons that type II diabetes is so high in this population are not known, but it is thought that here might be a genetic element. With such alarming numbers of type II diabetes it is important to understand how the Native American population got to this point and see if there are any trends in common with the world situation today. Prior to the 1940's diabetes was virtually unheard of, but ever since the 1960's the prevalence has been on the rise (Edwards 33-4). This rise is thought to be in part due to their food history and culture. Native Americans had a diverse food history prior to colonization, but after colonization the natives were forced to live on non-traditional lands and eat government hand-outs for food. Much of this food was of low quality, meaning that here is not much nutritional content for the caloric intake and led to many Natives being malnourished. Even as recently as the late 1990's one in four Native household had elements of malnutrition (Edwards 32). Today most native diets more closely resemble the western diet than their traditional diet. The combination of the loss of their traditional diet with the replacement of that diet with low quality government food, especially highly processed grain like flour seems to have been a big part of, if not the cause of the increase of diabetes in the Native population. Let us hope that there is time before the world mimics the history of the Native American populations, but that will require action now.

The story around that world today looks much like that of the history books telling of the treatment on Native Americans in the 1940's. There are many groups of people world-wide in developing nations who are starving to death or are severely malnourished. Many governments throughout the world are now providing food aid of a similar kind to world populations that are facing starvation or famine. Famine is a sociological issue, starvation is a physiological change within an individual. Both can result from unintended consequences of the political and economic patterns of western nations like the United States. Food aid tends to come in the form of inexpensive food products, mostly heavily processed grains. Heavily processed grains are very cheap because wheat, corn and rice are relativity easy to grow and subsidized by our government. Once processed such grains can last for a long time. The problem with such grains is that the human body breaks them down to sugar very easily, thus making its consumers more likely to get type II diabetes (Miller). This type of food aid sets up a structure similar to that which was created in the 1950's and 1960's with the Native Americans. The groups that are being given the aid become reliant on that food and lose their native food culture. As well as losing their native food culture, the groups are also staying malnourished, because they are not getting everything that they need from the food aid. Although this type of aid may be offered with the best of intentions, it also has hidden consequences, like type II diabetes. It is in places where aid like this is going that world health organizations need to focus on prevention.

There is another sleeping dragon in the room when it comes to the cause of the world epidemic of type II diabetes; westernization. Companies like McDonalds are now all over the world serving western fast food. This food is well known in America for causing chronic health problems like diabetes. Another western adaptation that is contributing to the diabetes epidemic is soda. Coke -A-Cola is sold in every country around the world and it is full of sugar. A diet that it very high is sugar will increase a person's risk for getting type II diabetes (Miller). Government food aids along with the strong westernization of the rest of the world are placing the world at an enhanced risk of diabetes. The result of western aid programs and diet are being seen in the dramatic increase of type II diabetes world wide that is going on now. It is the role of western culture, in particular western food culture, that we are witnessing as the cause of the drastic spike in the number of type II diabetes cases world wide. It is western culture that has gotten us in to this mess, it should be the western health organizations that help to get us out.

For prevention programs of any kind to work it must instill the drive to change, and make those changes not only preferable but also achievable. Many people will want to change if they know that it will be better for them, but if that change is very hard or expensive they simply will not do it. For example, if you want a dietary change part of your program to work, you must not only tell people that their way of eating is bad for their health but also make them not desire to eat such foods. A study on the effectiveness of prevention programs in Native American populations found that:
"The major identifiable barriers were not lack of knowledge of healthy dietary practices and the value of exercise but preferences for high fat foods and large servings and less physically active lifestyles. Perhaps more important were a lack of personal confidence, a lack of skills and a lack of social support for bringing about desired changes" (Hood)

For a program to be successful it must not only present the information to the individual, but must also give that person the tools to make the desired changes, and make those changes more desirable. Cultural involvement, personal empowerment, social support and skills training, as well as a focus on preventative health measures all need to be involved in any successful prevention program.

In order to successfully create prevention programs worldwide it is vital that world health organizations look to see what makes programs that are now in use successful. Because of the Native Americans' abnormally high level of diabetes and the large number of prevention programs in place within the community, they are particularly a good focal group. Successful diabetes prevention programs in Native American populations all have a combination of traditional methods and personal/community empowerment. In 2009 a group of researchers did a review of the literature on diabetes prevention in Native American communities, and found five programs that were exceptionally effective (Edwards 32). All the successful programs incorporated a large amount of personal and/or community support in addition to a focus on healthy living (Edwards 35). Having a strong support system, both individual and community, helps to make this prevention program far more effective. For world health organizations to make a program successful they should look at success of these five programs and mimic their value of a strong support structure. The individual culture of the target group must be taken into account in order to create a successful prevention program with an appropriate support network.

With a diabetic epidemic breathing down the on the world, it is time for world health organizations to make an earnest effort to help prevent diabetes in as many cases as possible. Type II diabetes is a very expensive to treat, but fortunately in many cases it is preventable or at least can be delayed. With the cost of treatment being so high, it is very important that prevention become the focus, but in order to be effective it is very vital that they make sure the programs that are implemented are as effective as possible. Native American populations have undergone a progression similar to that of the coming world population. Highly successful prevention programs follow the pattern of the Native American programs that incorporate element of the individual cultures and focus on personal empowerment and a strong support network.

The five main diabetic complications!

As with any other disease, you may want as much as possible to learn about diabetes and the complications of diabetes. The more knowledge you have, the easier it will be overcome and manage diabetes.

Acquiring the Knowledge of diabetes is also useful for those do not suffer from diabetes because this knowledge could be used to prevent the onset of adult diabetes and hopefully avoid this chronic disease altogether.

In addition to knowledge of diabetes such as the diabetes symptoms, diagnosis of diabetes, causes and treatment of diabetes, it is also important to know about all the related diabetic complications. All this knowledge will help you prepare - emotionally and physically - with the possibilities of coping with having not only with your diabetes, but also with other complications that are related to it as well and the lifestyle changes that is necessary to deal with it effectively.

Some factors such as heredity, age and ethnicity can have an influence on people who are prone to diabetes. But regardless of the risk factors associated with diabetes the complications of diabetes will be the same. Below are some of the diabetic complications that people need to be aware susceptible to diabetes are:

DIABETIC NEUROPATHY - If you suffer from diabetes then there is an increased risk of suffering from severe diabetic complications of the nerves. Damage of the nerves in the body will cause poor circulation in the body especially the extremities like the hands and legs, and fingers and toes. Smoking or drinking alcohol only exuberate the problem so limiting these would be a good idea.

HEART DISEASE and STROKE - According to experts, people with diabetes have a much greater risk of developing coronary heart disease, and angina compared to those without diabetes. In fact, these complications are the leading cause of death in diabetics around the world.

Diabetics are prone to heart diseases and stroke because of deposits of fat deposits in the arteries and hardness of the arteries caused by the extra glucose in the blood. This will cause high blood pressure or hypertension to develop.

DIABETIC EYE DISEASE - people who suffer from diabetes have a higher instance of suffering from diabetic eye problems as a result their diabetes. These problems of the diabetic eye may lead to diabetic retinopathy, cataract, glaucoma, and optic nerve damage. If not treated immediately they could lead to irreversible damage of the eyes or even blindness.

DIABETIC KIDNEY DISEASE - Kidney disease is also a very common complication of diabetes, because the parts of the kidneys that filter the blood damage because of high glucose levels. The kidneys will eventually be damaged as a result of being over worked and will be unable get rid of toxic by-product from the blood
This diabetic kidney disease can be avoided by keeping blood sugar levels under control by following your diabetic diets closely and do regular physical activity to keep the blood sugar in check. Other useful things that you could do include: stop smoking and drinking alcohol.

GASTROPARESIS - This is somewhat related to diabetic nerve damage. The nerves in the stomach help the stomach to contract and relax thus allowing the food to pass down into the intestine. When these nerves are damage the food remains in the stomach for long periods causing bacteria to develop. The improper functioning of the stomach also cause the diabetic to struggle in controlling his or her blood glucose level because the organ that convert the food we eat into carbs cannot be predicted. Approximately 20-30 percent of diabetics with type 1 diabetes are vulnerable to suffer gastroparesis because the vagus nerve, which keeps the food moving through the digestive tract are damaged. While people can get type 2 diabetes only suffer from gastroparesis less frequently and only in the advance stages of diabetes.

To complicate matters even worse, there is no specific diet for diabetics. Help is available to make sure you have the information you need to learn and understand about diabetes diet guidelines.

Not following diabetes diet guidelines, is a common mistake made by most diabetics. Much diabetes doesn’t understand the needs of diabetes diet guidelines…or how closely tied to good diabetic control the food you eat can be.

The American Diabetes Association has what's called the Diabetes Food Pyramid. Designed much like the revised (2005) version of the USDA's Food Pyramid, this pyramid provides excellent information and diabetes diet guidelines to help you gain control of your blood sugars, your weight, and your diabetes.

Gain Better Control of Your Diabetes Today Using Diabetes Diet Guidelines
The diabetes food pyramid is divided into six groups. The size of the groups varies. The larger the group, the more servings per day of foods within that group should be consumed. Grains and starches (carbohydrates) is the largest group. This includes foods such as rice, pasta, breads, and cereals, potatoes, corn, peas, and some beans. The recommended number of servings per day is 6-11. Most people should use the lower number of servings.

The next group is vegetables. Vegetables are naturally low fat. This makes them a good food choice for everyone. Spinach, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflowers, carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, and cucumbers are examples of vegetables in this group. Please note the more starchy vegetables like potatoes, corn, and others are in the grains and starches group. The recommended number of servings per day for this group is 3-5.

The middle layer of the Diabetes Food Pyramid is fruit. This group also contains some carbohydrates. Berries, melons, apples, bananas, peaches, grapes, and other fruits are found in this group. The recommended number of servings is 2-4 per day.

Following the fruits is the milk group. This includes milk and milk products. For those trying to reduce their weight and cholesterol choose low-fat dairy products. Recommended servings are 2-3 per day.

The meat group includes chicken, beef, turkey, fish, eggs, dried beans, cheese, and peanut butter. You only need 4-6 ounces servings per day. At the top of the pyramid are the fats, sweets, and alcohol group. This group should be avoided. Most recommend keeping your portion sizes small and only having these foods on special occasions.

While diabetes diet guidelines do have some basic principles the best meal plan for you can only come by consulting with a nutritionist, with diabetes experience. Nutritional needs of diabetes vary from person to person. For example, a thin type 1 diabetic with kidney disease won't have the same needs as an overweight type 2 diabetic

By evaluating your needs individually, diabetes diet guidelines can be established especially to meet your specific health and weight needs. Don't think of the diabetes diet guidelines as a diet.

Special Diabetic Diet-How to Live Healthily Again By Eating the Right Food
What exactly is a “diabetic diet”? Diabetic diets are not related to fad weight-loss diets. The word “diet” actually just refers to the food that a person eats each day. Everyone in the world who is eating is on a diet! There is actually no such thing as a single "diabetic diet", because the diet that a person with diabetes follows to help manage his or her blood sugar levels is based on the same nutrition principles that any healthy person, with or without diabetes, should follow for good health.

If you are diabetic, there are some things that you may want to change about your eating habits in order to help you maintain your blood sugar levels at a healthy level. Your dietitian can help you to plan your personalized diabetic diet plan, meaning that you will have a simple plan to follow to help you make food choices for each meal and snack throughout the day.

Someone with diabetes needs special care because it can no longer handle drastic changes in eating, especially when it comes to carbohydrates. Someone without diabetes may be able to skip breakfast and lunch, and then eat a huge dinner late at night, and this person’s body will be able to compensate. If you are diabetic, this type of irregular eating can be hazardous because your body cannot handle the lack of and then inundation with food (shown in your blood sugar level).

The diabetic diets were created to help diabetics feed their bodies in a very controlled, regular way. Diabetic individual cannot skip meals or overeat at meals. They need to eat certain amounts of food at regular intervals, just to maintain a consistent blood sugar level.

This might sound confusing, but don’t worry- your diabetic diet will make it easy for you to keep track of your food intake. Let’s take for example, the popular exchange list from the American Diabetes Association breaks foods up into similar groups. There are, for example, the “lean meats,” “the dairy,” “the fruits,” and more. A dietitian would create your daily diet plan specifying the number of servings of each of group to be eaten at each meal or snack.

For example, if you have to have one fruit and one carbohydrate for your morning snack, you know that you can choose one item from the list of fruits and the list of carbohydrates. This quickly becomes habit for people using this diet tool, and will help diabetics to maintain good blood sugar levels throughout the day.

Diabetes is a disease that results from too much sugar (glucose) in the blood, which means that your body does not have sufficient insulin available to convert food into energy. Insulin is a hormone that helps sugar enter the body's cells and maintains the level of sugar in the blood.

The main concern while monitoring diabetes is to watch that the sugar level does not cross the normal range. This means that one requires cutting down on many types of food and consuming regularly those foods, which are fine at regulating diabetes.

People with diabetes should try to manage a healthy weight and consume a diabetic food that is:
1) Low in fat quantity
2) Low in sugar quantity
3) Low in salt quantity
4) High in fruit and vegetables
5) High in starchy carbohydrate foods, such as bread, chapatti, rice.

There is no such diabetic food that diabetes patients should never eat. In addition, there is no requirement to cut out all sugar. But, people with diabetes should aim and eat only small amounts of foods that are high in sugar, fat.

What foods to eat in Diabetes?
1) People with Diabetes must take lots of fruits and vegetables in which fiber content is very high. Such type of food lessens the need for insulin, the reason being it releases energy into the body cells slowly. A high fiber diet means more chromium, which is very cooperative in the treatment of diabetes.
2) As for vegetables, onion, garlic, ginger, radish, spinach, kale, cucumber, carrot, tomato, cabbage and cucumber are outstanding in the diabetes treatment. Moony, kidney beans which have been sprouted, and unripe banana which is cooked, are also advisable.
3) Fenugreek seeds which have been soaked in water are almost fine for diabetic patients and should be included in diabetic food plan.
4) In fruits diet, you can take guava, Indian blackberry (also called jaunt), fig, kiwi fruit, apples, citrus fruits and pomegranate juice. As, fruit juice is high in fructose (fruit sugar) and can cause blood sugar levels to rise rapidly, it’s excellent for diabetics to drink fruit juice with a meal and avoid having more than one small glass a day.
5) Substitute white sugar with palm sugar, dates and honey, if you desire to have something sweet.
6) Fats like olive oil and peanut oil should be included in diabetes food plan.
10) Eat non-fat dairy foodstuffs such as skim milk, non-fat yogurt and non-fat cheese, plain yoghurt.
11) Some herbs and vegetables are specially prescribed for diabetes, like Bitter Gourd and bitter melon juice.

What to avoid?
1) Processed foods, white sugar, white flour and junk food, must be completely avoided. Avoid sweets, glucose, fruit sugar, cakes, ice cream, chocolates and soft drinks.
2) Avoid smoking and alcohol as far as achievable.
3) Try to give up from sweets, ice-creams and chocolates, including the so-called sugar-free kinds.
4) Foods made from white flour, rye, corn, polished rice, bread, cakes, biscuits, pies.
5) Cottage cheese
6) Avoid commercially package foods such as fast foods, chips, ready-to-eat foods, snack foods and "health foods."

Some useful tips you should remember while eating out
• You should give preference to water and calorie-free "diet" drinks instead of regular soda, fruit mock tails, sweet tea and sugar-sweetened drinks
• You must avoid creamy toppings like mayonnaise as far as possible.
• Try to eat high-fat topping salads, dressings, cheeses, and croutons.
• Choose a thin-crust pizza with more vegetable toppings but limit yourself to one or two slices. Left the extra cheese, which add calories, fat, and sodium.
• Finish your meal with sugar-free, fat-free frozen simple yogurt or a little cone of fat-free yogurt.

Diabetes Foods and Nutritional Requirements for Diabetics
Diet plays an important role in managing diabetes. This article will help you know about the diabetes foods and nutritional requirements for diabetics.

Diabetes Foods
Foods that can be eaten as much as one wants – Green leafy vegetables, fruits except banana, lemon; clear soups, onion, salads, mint, spices, plain coffee or tea, skimmed and butter milk
Foods that can be eaten in moderation – Fats, meat, egg, cereals and pulses
Foods to be avoided – Simple sugars (glucose, syrup, sweets and honey), dried fruits, cake, fried foods, candy, alcohol and nuts

Nutritional Requirements for Diabetics
Carbohydrates – High carbohydrate and high fiber diet improve insulin binding and increase in monocyte insulin receptor binding. High carbohydrate diet is likely to elevate serum triglyceride levels (endogenous cholesterol). Hence carbohydrate is maintained to about 50% of total calories. Most carbohydrates should be in form of polysaccharides such as bread, cereals, beans, etc. Rapidly absorbed mono and disaccharides such as sweets, chocolates and sweetened drink should be avoided.

Proteins – A diet high in protein is good for the health of diabetics because it supplies the essential amino acids needed for tissue repair. In patients with NIDDM, consumption of protein along with carbohydrate will lower the blood glucose concentration due to amino acid stimulation of insulin secretion; this help to compensate for the defect in glucose mediated insulin secretion seen in so many of these patients. Protein also promotes satiety and helps both types of diabetic patients to adhere to the carbohydrate allowance.

Fats – Low fat diet increases insulin binding and also reduces LDL and VLDL levels and lowers the incidence of atherosclerosis which is more common in diabetics. Fat content in the diet should be 15-25% of total calories and higher in polyunsaturated fatty acids.

Dietary Fiber – Diets high in carbohydrate and fiber improve glucose metabolism without increasing insulin secretion. They lower fasting serum and peripheral insulin concentrations in response to oral glucose administration in both diabetic and non-diabetic individuals. Fenugreek seeds which contain high fiber are useful to diabetics.

Artificial Sweeteners - High content of sugar consumption is undesirable for diabetics and for obese individuals. Non-caloric and high intense sweeteners are available as sugar substitute. Always seek the insights of a qualified health professional before embarking on any health program.