Type 2 Diabetes - Eating More Fruits and Vegetables Means Longevity for Diabetics

Heart disease and cancer are two complications people diagnosed with Type 2 diabetes need to take care to prevent. So often diabetics have high blood cholesterol levels which can clog blood vessels, including the arteries feeding through to the heart muscle. High blood pressure is often associated with the insulin resistance that causes Type 2 diabetes.The American Heart Association considers Type 2 diabetes one of the seven major risk factors for heart attacks and strokes, and diabetics are two to four times more likely to have heart and blood vessel disease than nondiabetics. According to the American Diabetes Association, cancers of the liver, pancreas, uterus, colon, rectum, breast, and bladder are more common in individuals with Type 2 diabetes than in healthy individuals.According to a study reported on in the British Medical Journal in July 2014, eating fruits and vegetables is a good way to start prevention. Workers at -

Shandong University in Jinan, China,

Huazhong University in Wuhan, China,

the National Institutes of Health in Rockville, USA, and

the Harvard School of Public Health in Boston, USA,
combined sixteen studies on diet and disease and analyzed them as if they were just one study. A total of 833,234 participants were included.Over a period from 4.6 to 26 years there were 56,423 deaths including...




11,512 from heart and blood vessel disease, and

16,817 from cancer.
The rate of death was significantly lower among those participants who were in the habit of eating fruits and vegetables daily. It was found for every five servings of fruits and vegetables the various participants consumed, there was a five percent reduction in the risk of death.The National Health Service (NHS) in the United Kingdom defines one portion of fruit as 80 grams...

1 apple, orange, or peach,

3 apricots or figs,

1/2 avocado,

2 tangerines,

7 strawberries or

14 cherries
would each qualify as one serving.The NHS defines a portion of vegetables as 80 grams...

5 fresh or 7 canned asparagus spears,

1/3 of an eggplant,

3 celery sticks,

14 button mushrooms,

3 heaping tablespoons of fresh or frozen peas, or

1 medium tomato
would qualify.Why not make a dinner salad starting with one cereal bowl full of mixed lettuce and add an equal amount of fresh English spinach. Add a handful of sugar snap beans, 6 baby corns, and 7 slices of beetroot for 5 portions of vegetables. Enjoy!