Surprisingly common symptoms may mean you have a chronic infection.

Candida is a yeast whose primary work is to aid in the absorption of nutrients and to aid in digestion.  It  normally lives in the intestines, mouth and vagina, but an overgrowth of it can dangerous.  It can lead to a chronic infection known as candidiasis.  Do not be fooled into thinking that it is just a women’s disease because men also have mouths and intestines.

The problem with this Candida fungus is that when it overgrows, it becomes a systemic problem that leads to a host of symptoms such as:

• fatigue
• sugar cravings
• bloating and gas
• foggy thinking
• random itching of the skin
• scratchy throat
• rectal or vaginal itching
• constipation
• diarrhea
• multiple allergies
• chronic sinus infections or mucous production
• skin rashes
• poor sleep
• low thyroid function
• sometimes depression and anxiety

Often, a white coating on the tongue can be appreciated which is accompanied by an unpleasant odor.  I guess it is a nice way to say that the breath stinks.  Don’t go around sniffing other people’s breath though.  You may have similar problems yourself.

Affected Population and Triggers

It is estimated that about 70% of the population is affected by candida and that number continues to climb. The use of antibiotics in meats,  steroids for your  cold or asthma and excess sugar are all contributors to this condition. Being on birth control pills for two years or more is also a major contributor along with pregnancy, parasitic infections, coffee, alcohol, GMO foods, heavy metal toxicity from tattoos or tooth fillings and chronic stress.

It can be diagnosed with laboratory tests such as stool samples, blood tests, urine tests and the at home saliva test.  However, symptoms are quite prominent and are enough to begin treatment.

Treat Right and Eat Right

Traditional treatment includes anti-fungal medications.  Dietary treatments are  available and are becoming more and more prevalent.  It is important to  eliminate foods that contribute to the condition and adding foods that fight it.  Food is friend, not foe. According to Hippocrates, in 400 BC, food should be our medicine and medicine our food.  Other additions include probiotics and prebiotic and supplements that repair the gut.

When this underlying and smoldering infection is eradicated, positive results ensue and include easier weight loss, mental clarity’s improved thyroid function, stronger immune system, energy increase, less pain, better sleep, improved digestion and better skin.

Here’s a list of the top 10 foods to avoid:

1. Gluten
2. Dairy
3. Sugar
4. Coffee/Black tea/White tea
5. Dried fruit with a high glycemic index
6. GMOs
7. Meats especially non-organic
8. Peanuts and pistachios (mold forming)
9. Alcohol
10. Ketchup/salad dressings/barbecue sauce (high sugar content with additives). Make your own instead.

Here’s a list of the top 10 foods to add:

1. Strawberries
2. Blueberries
3. Blackberries
4. Green apples
5. Lemon
6. Lime
7. Raspberries
8. Green leafy vegetables
9. Non-starchy vegetables, such as beets, sweet potatoes, yucca, green banana, plantain
10. Walnuts

*Please refer to the “Dirty Dozen and Clean 15”

*Look for non-GMO project foods.

Inflammation is a normal function of the body. The purpose of the inflammatory response is to protect the body from harmful stimuli such as bacteria, viruses, fungi, toxic particles, damaged cells or irritants. The mediators of inflammation include the immune cells, certain inflammatory mediators and blood vessels.

The process of inflammation is usually under tight control, but when it becomes chronic it can lead to various diseases such as atherosclerosis, diabetes, arthritis, lupus, Alzheimer’s, and even cancer.

Acute vs Chronic Inflammation

Acute inflammation is the process that we have all seen before such as a cut on the arm or jamming a toe. The cardinal signs of inflammation include heat, redness, swelling and pain. Any injury will mount this response under normal circumstances. It is the initial response that involves a group of early or acute cells whose role it is to eliminate the cause of the cell injury and rid the body of damaged tissue and promote repair. Once repaired, a scar forms and is later remodeled to flatten out the scar and look more like the surrounding tissue. Then the system rests.

Chronic inflammation, on the other hand, involves a different set of cells and is characterized by the continuous and simultaneous breakdown and healing of the tissue. Because the process is continuous, there is constant destruction of tissue that can cause issues in various parts of the body so that if it occurs in the brain, it may lead to Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s. In the pancreas, it may lead to pancreatitis or pancreatic cancer, for instance.

If this chronic inflammation affects adipose cells it can lead to obesity. Interestingly, it has been discovered that nearly every disease has been discovered to be caused by this chronic inflammatory process.

The Culprits Behind Inflammation

There may be a genetic component that loads the gun, but our lifestyle choices pull the trigger. The question is, what is the most effective in-home way of interrupting the process of chronic inflammation? The answer is… An Anti-inflammatory Diet.

There are certain culprits that are known to be pro-inflammatory agents. It is the elimination of pro-inflammatory mediators and the incorporation of anti-inflammatory agents that seem to balance the system to decrease the risk of disease and obesity.

An anti-inflammatory diet leads to better healing, recovery of stress, better sleep, weight control and yes, reversal of many diseases including diabetes, heart disease, arthritis, lupus, and did I mention the control of pain? Who knew?

Diet Against Inflammation

The anti inflammatory diet includes fruits and vegetables that are full of strong antioxidants that fight disease and cool down the “internal burning” in this chronic inflammatory scenario. You see, the inflammatory process releases something called free radicals that damage the “brain” of the cell or the DNA of the cell that leads to disease.

Foods high in antioxidants scavenge those free radicals to prevent damage to the “brain” of the cells thereby decreasing the risk of subsequent health challenges. The foods that are high in antioxidants are, you guessed it-fruits and vegetables.

Animal products simply do not contain any antioxidants and are quite the opposite. All animal products are pro-inflammatory. That means they are the culprit of this hellacious subsequent down-spiraling of health.

Buy Organic. Use Vegetable Wash.

The problem with our wonderful fruits and vegetables is that they are heavily sprayed with pesticides that these precious gems can become a toxic overload and resultant detriment to our health. That means, eating fruits and vegetables almost, I said almost, defeats the purpose of eating them. Almost. However, there are still benefits to these foods though somewhat tainted they may be.

Obviously, it is best to buy organic when possible, but if it is not feasible, there are other options. It is for this reason that I use a good fruit and vegetable wash to try to rid them of as many of the pesticides and dirt as possible. Certainly, this is not without flaw, but it is quite helpful.

Is there is a way to determine if there is some produce that is ok to buy conventionally? Guess what? There is!

The Environmental Work Group is an amazing organization concerned about the environment and our health. Every year, since 2004, the EWG ranks pesticide contamination of the 47 most popular fruits and vegetables based on the results of more than 38,000 samples of produce tested by the US Department of Agriculture and Food and Drug Administration (USDA and FDA).

Interestingly, these foods are tested after washing, and sometimes after peeling the item to detect pesticide residues. Unfortunately, pesticide residues are still present on many of our antioxidant allies. EWG is friend, not foe because once the information is evaluated, the organization develops a Shopper’s Guide to Pesticides in Produce and publishes it annually. Use this list to determine which foods are important to purchase organically and which are safe to use conventionally.

The “Dirty Dozen and the Clean 15” is available at EWG.org.  Here is the EWG 2018 list. This list includes the best and the worst.

Happy eating!

Eat a rainbow of fruits and vegetables to equip the body’s best defenses.

The word cancer invokes fear and anxiety in most people just by the mere mention of it. This is rightfully so. Why? Because cancer can affect so many organs in the body and wreak havoc to the cells in which it comes in contact.

Cancer most commonly affects the lungs, breast, prostate, uterus and colon. However, it can affect any part of the body including the brain, bone, skin, ovaries, blood and pancreas. Since October is breast cancer awareness month, I thought it fitting to write about it.

My mother’s sister died with this disease 40 years ago. I remember my parents talking about it and how much weight she lost due to her illness. It was definitely a death sentence back then. Nowadays, though breast cancer is still very serious, it is no longer the death sentence it once was when it is detected early.

Breast cancer can remain local as in “in situ” or it can be widespread as in metastatic disease. Early detection is key for the best outcome.

What exactly is cancer of the breast? Cancer is a term used to describe the class of diseases that is characterized by abnormal cell growth with subsequent invasion into the surrounding healthy cells of the body. Breast cancer begins in the breast tissue (in situ), can invade the surrounding tissue, and also spread to other parts of the body. We call this invasion “metastasis”.

According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women will be diagnosed with breast cancer in their lifetime. That is huge! Just think, if you are in the room with 8 women, one of them will have this diagnosis at some point in their life. It is actually the second leading cause of death in women, second only to cardiovascular disease. To make matters worse, it not only affects women, but approximately 1% of men will develop the disease as well. This translates to about 2,200 men with the disease resulting in about 400 deaths from it annually. It is not just a woman’s disease.

Breast cancer is the most common cancer in women world-wide according to the World Health Organization. The numbers are staggering. There are certain risk factors that increase the risk that a person would develop the disease. Some of the risk factors are what we call “non-modifiable” and others are what we call “modifiable”. I have included a list of both.

Unmodifiable Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

1. Female gender

2. Age ( 2/3 of women are diagnosed after age 55)

3. Race (more common in caucasian women)

4. Family history and genetic factors

5. A past history of breast cancer

6. Menstruation before age 12 or stopping after age 55. It is also more common in women who have never had children

7. Gene mutations such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 which can be passed on to children

8. Dense breast tissue

Modifiable Risk Factors for Breast Cancer

1. A diet high in saturated fat and low in fruits and vegetables

2. Obesity

3. Alcohol consumption

4. Sedentary lifestyle

5. Radiation to the chest before age 30

6. Taking combined hormone replacement therapy (HRT)

7. Smoking

8. Caffeine

9. Toxic exposures

Interestingly, cancer cells don’t just grow without being acted upon even if non-modifiable risk factors are present. The DNA or the information center of the cell must be damaged by free radicals. This damage will then allow the genes to “turn on” or become expressed when they would otherwise remain silent. It’s like having a great pair of designer jeans from Nordstrom and a not-so-great pair of jeans from Walmart. If the the designer jeans are treated poorly they will be put out of commission far sooner than the Walmart jeans that were treated superbly. In the trash they go.

Fortunately, there is something that we can do about turning on and turning off these gene expressions for the most part. We will, unfortunately, always be subjected to toxins that damage the DNA of our cells by producing free radicals. These toxins will come at us from all directions like any of the modifiable risk factors mentioned above. We even experience toxins in the air we breath and even though exercise is good for us, it too produces toxins as an end product. But, we can target the free radicals.

Free Radicals

Free radicals occur, as mentioned earlier, from even the blessing of the air we breath. It becomes a curse when it undergoes oxidative stress. When we breathe in the oxygen as O2 it collides with other cells of the body and becomes a “reactive” species. As such, the oxygen becomes O1. Now it is a single molecule and needs to have another species to react with to be stable. Fortunately and unfortunately, for reasons beyond the scope of this article, the way it does this is by taking it away from other stable molecules. This can be a normal process when it operates within the realms of the normal biologic systems. This is the body’s way of detoxifying. However, when the system is overwhelmed from too many toxins at one time, the system experiences oxidative stress.

This is similar to what you feel when you are stressed. When this happens, the normal biologic system is taxed and the reactive intermediates begin to damage all parts of the cell. It is this damage that causes the formation of disease. In humans, oxidative stress will manifest in most of the diseases you can think of including Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s, Heart Attacks, Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and even Breast Cancer.

By including foods from the different color groups, we benefit from the incredible phyto kingdom of nutrition that protect against disease and promote health.

What, then, can we do? It comes right back down to the basics. We must do things to repair free radicals. We do this by incorporating antioxidants into our bodies to assist in the detoxification process that is going on even now as you read this article. The idea is to allow the antioxidants to scavenge the free radicals to repair the damage that the oxidation process causes.

How do we do this? The National Cancer Institute recommends 5-9 servings of fruits and vegetables everyday to fight toxins and promote health. Here are a few that are helpful for breast cancer. These foods contain high amounts of phytochemicals that are powerful against disease. These phytochemical are substances only found in plants.

1. Red fruits and vegetables such as strawberries, raspberries and beets contain incredible phytochemicals called anthocyanin that are important antioxidants to capture free radicals before they damage the DNA.

2. Purple fruits and vegetables includes anthocyanins, but also includes phenolics are also very powerful antioxidants.

3. Greens should definitely be enjoyed daily because they are overstuffed with phytochemicals and indoles particularly in the cruciferous vegetables like cauliflower, cabbage and brussels sprouts that protect against breast cancer.

4. The deep orange and bright yellow fruits and vegetables such as carrots, sweet potatoes and oranges and mangos have beta carotene and bioflavonoids, antioxidants that work together with vitamin C to reduce the risk of cancer.

5. White vegetables including garlic, onions and leeks share the most important phytochemical in this family to date. It is called allicin and it helps to lower cholesterol, which is good for the heart and crucial in maintaining circulation to bring those fabulous antioxidants to the site of compromise while blocking toxins.

Nutrition research is again proving what we already know from the original biblical diet: plant foods are powerful foods that lower our risk of cancer and protect against the toxic pollution we face daily. Because there are thousands of healthy phytochemicals in plants, it is important to eat a wide variety of colorful fruits and vegetables that are red, orange, green, white and blue daily. By including foods from the different color groups, we benefit from the incredible phyto kingdom of nutrition that protect against disease and promote health. Women should enjoy at least 7 servings daily to have the protection needed to fight disease.

Healthful food choices for diabetics that are good and good for you!

Medical school taught me about many diseases and how to treat them. Diabetes was one of them. I tried to think of its treatment as a formula. The “treatment formula” for diabetes. The formula would include a “healthy diet”, lifestyle changes and medication regimes. Medication, of course, would be the last resort. Uncontrolled Diabetes can have horrible complications and I want to ensure that my patients would be able to avoid them.

I studied and read article after article. Most of the articles would suggest a healthy diet, but they never elaborated on what a “healthy diet” actually entailed. The hospital menus included foods that were unkind to diabetics. I couldn’t understand why certain foods were even included on the menu. As a result, I had a hard time describing a healthy diet for my patients mostly because it wasn’t clear to me. How do I tell them where to start when I don’t know myself.

That’s when I decided to learn more about foods and the properties they possess. Hours have been spent in ongoing research in an effort to discover what a “healthy diet” is and how to develop it. I found some remarkable answers.

Humans eat food for two reasons. The first reason is energy production though most people would say they eat to satisfy hunger. Eating actually does both by satisfying hunger it leads to the production of energy. Energy is produced when the foods we eat in the form of proteins, carbohydrates and fats are broken down into usable forms for utilization by the cells of the body.

The second reason people eat food is for pleasure. People eat food because it makes them feel good. It satisfies emotional and physical needs. There is nothing wrong with thoroughly enjoying your food. The problem is that many diabetics believe the two are exclusive instead of inclusive. As a result, food choices are often high in fat, low in fiber and high in sugar.

It is unfortunate that the process of breaking down these food choices and using them for fuel is inefficient in diabetics. As a result, glucose levels are usually not adequately controlled and they will eventually require medication intervention. Unfortunately, this often comes at a high price due to the many side effects of the said medications that often yield suboptimal results. In some instances this may be unavoidable and medications become necessary.

Let’s face it, sugar and fat are the most delicious foods on earth. I mean just think about ice cream. We want the creamiest, sweetest ice cream because it provides more pleasure than low fat ice cream. Can you imagine a high fiber ice cream? What about ice cream with no sweetener? I agree, that doesn’t even sound good.

Can a healthy diet provide energy and also provide pleasure? What is the treatment formula? Can we actually have a “healthy diet”? Is that even possible?

Well, as it stands, it is possible. It is possible to have your proverbial cake and eat it too. As long we understand a few simple rules, food can again be both healthy and pleasurable.

Here are a few simple dietary guidelines to Live Life By Choice. I have listed my own lists of “Fabulous 5s”, the five foods to avoid, five foods to enjoy, and five foods that enhance.

Avoid 5

1. White flour, white rice and white sugar
2. High fructose corn syrup (read your ketchup and barbecue sauce labels carefully)
3. Saturated fat (an exception is coconut oil and even then, use sparingly)
4. Artificial sweetners (saccharin, aspartame, sucralose)
5. Refined foods

Enjoy 5
1. Whole fruits and vegetables
2. Brown rice and whole grains (some exceptions may apply)
3. Xylitol (a natural sugar with a low glycemic index)
4. Legumes
5. Nuts

These lists are my no means exhaustive, but are a foundation for developing your very own health formula. Highly energetic and pleasurable meals can be developed by incorporating these principles. Here are some herbs to include.

Enhance 5
1. Garlic and onions
2. Holy basil
3. Ginseng
4. Cinnamon
5. Bitter melon

Adding the preceding items not only add flavor, but each one has a positive effect on diabetes. The best part is that none of these herbs add any measurable calories, but add an immeasurable amount of flavor. Try sautéing and adding them into various meals for both energy and pleasure. Live life by choice!

For ideas and recipes, check out www.drhelenps.com.

These writings are not intended to replace the sound advice of your physician. Instead, it is used for educational purposes to maximize nutrition and minimize disease and their complications.

Live Life By Choice

Dr. Helen gives “seven strong suggestions” toward a healthier life for diabetics.

Under normal circumstances, the body accepts sugars and starches that are eaten in our diets and breaks them down into smaller units called glucose molecules. This glucose is then taken up by the cells of the body by an escort called insulin.

The problem with diabetes is an inability to use glucose as the fuel type or energy source for the cells of the body. This is because it either has no escort or it doesn’t pay attention to its escort. It is essentially unattractive.

Therefore the body cannot use the glucose molecules. This is unfortunate because glucose is the basic substance or fuel that the body uses for the cells to function properly.

When the cells are functioning properly, glucose is taken up by the cells and then used to form energy. Insulin is normally secreted by a group of specialized tissue called the beta cells of the pancreas. Without insulin, glucose cannot be taken up by the cell.

This leads to an excess of glucose in the bloodstream disallowing energy formation leading to a feeling of fatigue. Because the cells are not utilizing glucose properly, the cells lack the proper nutrition to maintain cellular activity. As a result, there is unexplained weight loss even though there is an increase in appetite (polyphagia). The cells are essentially starving.

The excess glucose also bombards the kidneys and causes lots of water to flow to it leading to frequent urination (polyuria). With the loss of water, a person becomes excessively thirsty and drinks lots of fluids (polydipsia), but the water just flows right out of the body. Thus the triad of the traditional diagnosis of diabetes is polyphagia, polyuria and polydipsia.

There are three different classifications of Diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is the type that develops in childhood. You have probably heard that Halle Berry has this type.

In type 1 diabetes, the beta cells of the pancreas (the part that produces insulin), are no longer functioning. The pancreas cannot produce insulin at all.

Type 1 diabetes is thought to be an autoimmune disease probably secondary to a virus. It, unfortunately, results in a person’s immune system that reacts to the pancreas as a foreign object. It starts to attack the pancreas, damaging it and killing the cells that secrete insulin.

There is then no internal source of insulin. In this instance, insulin must be prescribed by a doctor and given through injection. This type of diabetes accounts for only 10% of those with diabetes.

Type 2 diabetes affects the other 90% of diabetics. This type of diabetes still produces insulin, but the body cannot utilize it. It is called insulin resistance.

Imagine a wife putting her husband in the dog house. She just won’t let him in. Now he is dejected and runs around outside the house (cell) wreaking havoc.

Because the pancreas still works, it begins to produce more insulin to control the excess glucose. Incidentally, the excess insulin stimulates weight gain. Nonetheless, eventually insulin production fatigues and is unable to keep up with the demand leading to excess glucose in the bloodstream. Excess glucose in circulation is the cause of many of the diabetic complications.

Those at risk of type 2 diabetes are those with a family history of the disease, particularly women. This does not mean it is genetic, but instead familial. Families tend to eat the same. Other causes are environmental including obesity, hypertension and there is even a correlation with old age. People 45 and older are at greater risk. Yikes!

Lastly, type 3 or gestational diabetes occurs during pregnancy. It usually goes away after pregnancy, but these women usually have very large babies. I know, I was one of them. In fact, I was the largest baby my parents had.

The unfortunate part of gestational diabetes is that 50% of women with this condition will develop diabetes later in life. I know this too because, as I said in my previous article, my mother died from it.

This fact is what stimulated my passion to offer this information to you. I want to help others so they and their families do not have to experience what I have experienced by losing my mother.

Since seven is a perfect number I offer seven strong suggestions for diabetics who want to improve their health:

• Begin a healthful diet—low in fat and high in fiber.
• Lose weight particularly around the midsection.
• See your doctor and have your HbA1c checked every 3-6 months.
• Avoid smoking.
• Exercise regularly. Walking is excellent!
• Avoid stress as this increases circulating glucose increasing the need for insulin.
• Educate yourself about your type of diabetes.
  
  Diabetes is a serious condition. The side effects are dramatic and they are real. The seven suggestions may seem drastic to some, but it must be emphasized that they are necessary.

It is necessary to avoid the unwanted complications of this awful disease that we spoke of last week. It is necessary to take charge of your health. It is necessary to take charge your life. It is necessary to live life by choice!

Introducing Dr. Helen Powell-Stoddart’s “Live Life By Choice”

In 1993, when she died due to complications of Diabetes, they were calling it “a little sugar”. But “a little sugar” is what I give my husband after we pray and head off to work. This was totally different.

She had episodes when her sugar was too low, causing hypoglycemic episodes of dizziness, almost fainting. She took multiple medications for her elevated blood pressure, and required medications for her elevated cholesterol. Of course her vision was affected and she started wearing glasses.

It really become serious when she developed excess fluid on her lungs preventing proper expansion and oxygenation of her lung fields. Her legs would swell because her heart worked at 10% capacity. In November of 1992, days before her birthday, she coded. Chest compressions, IV lines, oxygen masks, epinephrine and heart shocking, that kind of coding. But Praise The Lord, she came back.

The ride to Indiana from our home in Washington, D.C. was a long, silent one for my two sisters and me. I wrestled with the mixed feelings of desperately wanting to get there and fear of what I might find when I did. What would she look like? Would I make it before I lost her? Would I be able to snuggle with her through all the paraphernalia that was attached to her?

After several days of agony, she was finally transferred to a step-down unit on the cardiac floor. I sat in her room for hours with my medical books studying for an exam that I would have upon my return. She was restless. She couldn’t sleep. If I knew then what I know now, I would have known that she, too, was afraid. She was tired, but didn’t want to go to sleep. She was afraid that if she closed her eyes they would never open again.

She was released several days later and we later returned to DC. The last time we saw her alive she wore a turquoise sweatshirt and pink sweat pants. She had lost a lot of weight and her gum line was receding. She had started to age from the disease that was consuming her. We took many pictures of her with each one of us having a chance to kiss her, to hold her, to tickle her. We wanted her to feel how much love we had for her. We wanted her to always remember and never forget how much we lived her . We needed to remember. I had not yet graduated. I had not yet married. I had not yet borne a child. These are things a girl needs her mother for.

Back at school I spoke to one of my cardiology professors about her. I told him that she had hypertension, diabetes, high cholesterol and congestive heart failure. He looked at me and said “I am sorry, but your mother is going to die.” It has been more than 22 years since he said that and even now my eyes well up with tears.

Six months later, I nervously opened my envelope from The Board of Medical Examiners. I passed! I called my mom right away to tell her. I remember her words clearly, “I knew you would do well. I know that you can do whatever you make up your mind to do.” She was so excited and encouraging. Three days later she died.

Knowing how she suffered, then losing her was the first and most difficult time in my life. My concentration was very poor and I cried almost continuously. I had to see a counsellor. I remember telling my counsellor that she was paid to hear me cry. I did a lot of it.

You see, according to the data from the CDC in 1996, Diabetes was the seventh leading cause of death in the United States. My mother was one of 2,268,553 deaths registered in the United States that year, due to the top 10 leading causes of death, most of which are diet exacerbated. According to the National Diabetes Statistics Report, 2014, Diabetes was still the seventh leading cause of death in 2010.

Sure, there are better medicines these days for treatment. For instance, the average patient is on three for hypertension, one to control cholesterol, several for diabetes that may include insulin injections. Let’s not forget the aspirin each day, and one for an under-functioning thyroid. There are even treatments for complications of the disease. So sorry that sore won’t heal on your heel. We must amputate. Oh no, not far enough. Let’s take the leg below the knee. Oops, I mean above the knee. Oh my, so sorry, we we’ll need to take the other leg, because 50% of Diabetics loose a second limb. The artificial limbs are really nice these days. There are even robotic parts. Don’t worry. It’ll be fine. It’s just a little difficult because due to diabetic retinal (eye) disease, the blindness is devastating, but then again the wheelchair will be guided by someone else. They will be your eyes.

What I didn’t know then that I now know is that my mother (and father) died from diet exacerbated illnesses. I had no idea that food choices are so essential. There are several risk factors for diabetes, but one of the most important and modifiable risk factors is diet.

Several foods directly damage the insulin secreting beta cells of the pancreas leading to the high levels of glucose in the bloodstream. That, in turn, is responsible for the symptoms of diabetes including fatigue, thirst, overeating, unexplained weight loss and frequent urination.

Food is vital to optimum health yet we eat so many de-vitalized foods. Genesis 1:29 teaches us that fresh, live, green foods with seeds are best for our bodies. Our modern medical research is bringing us full circle, acknowledging bible truths written thousands of years ago. There are so many wonderful food choices and so many ways to prepare those choices. His choices are not just for life but for wellness. I think He would agree that “you don’t have to sacrifice taste for health. “