Diabesity and Nutrition: What To Eat To Avoid This Deadly Disease

Diabesity is a new disease term that, when you hear it for the first time, might sound strangely familiar. Though the name is new, the condition most definitely is not. Diabesity (diabetes + obesity) is characterized by various forms of metabolic dysfunction, such as insulin resistance, that underlie type 2 diabetes and obesity. Nutrition plays a key role in the development and management of both conditions.

The only good thing about diabesity is that the term finally admits, in a subtle kind of way, that obesity is a disease just like diabetes. So if you have been blaming yourself or beating yourself up because of your struggle with obesity, stop! That wall you ran into every time you tried to lose weight that plateau was not “all in your head.” That wall didn’t mean you weren’t trying hard enough. It didn’t mean you were lazy or undisciplined. It wasn’t your fault after all.

But it did mean you had a problem with nutrition you couldn’t seem to solve. Every time you look at or smell a hamburger, you gain 10 pounds. If you eat it, you gain 20. If you go on a grapefruit diet or a cabbage soup diet, or a Weight Watchers processed food diet…pick one…you gain back all the weight you lost once you start eating normally again, plus an extra 10 pounds. Losing weight is not your problem; the problem is keeping it off.

You’re not alone.

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Diabesity and nutrition

Rates of obesity have been steadily climbing for almost forty years. Today, more than 70 percent of adults in America are overweight or obese, to the greedy glee of the multi-billion dollar diet industry. If diets worked, these companies would be out of business.

Instead, the dieting industry and diets, in general, are making the obesity epidemic worse. This is because severe prolonged calorie restriction lowers the metabolism – studies have shown our bodies burn fewer calories when we eat fewer calories – and leads to a vicious circle of yo-yo dieting. It is better never to diet than to go on a crash or starvation diet.

But that’s exactly what most of us have done. We’ve followed a variety of fad diets that drastically slashed calories. We ate Lean Cuisine and Healthy Choice microwave dinners because they met our caloric “requirements.” As long as we stayed within a set amount of calories, we would be fine…we thought. But we weren’t fine. We couldn’t stay on those diets. The weight and fat kept coming back, and we couldn’t figure out why because we were doing everything the experts told us we should do to be thin. And so did everyone else. Then came diabesity.

The diabesity epidemic

Eventually, doctors started noticing a link between obesity and diabetes. According to the National Center for Biotechnology Information, obesity is the main risk factor for type 2 diabetes; in fact, the Centers for Disease Control estimates that most people who are obese will develop this disease.

It usually takes many years for obesity and diabetes to merge into diabesity. You can slow or stop this disease with proper nutrition, such as eating healthy non-processed foods. If this isn’t done, however, your chances of obesity developing into diabetes increase with age. Fifty percent of Americans over 65 have diabesity.

Symptoms of diabesity

Diabesity is characterized by a metabolic imbalance ranging in severity from abnormal blood sugar levels to diabetes. It includes the following symptoms:

Increased blood pressure
High blood sugar
Excess fat around the waist
Abnormal cholesterol or triglyceride levels

Health risks of diabesity

Having this disease increases your risks for many serious conditions, including:

Cardiovascular disease
Kidney disease
Sleep apnea
Some cancers
Gallbladder disease
Stroke
Diabetes
Premature death

Quality nutrition is the answer

Though these statistics are scary and even depressing, you don’t have to be a statistic. Remember, obesity and type 2 diabetes are heavily influenced by nutrition, a factor that you can control. Making proper food choices will put you in the driver’s seat of your health, not the other way around.

Research shows that if you lose just 10-15 pounds, you’ll slash your risk of type 2 diabetes. Lose another 10-15 pounds, depending on how much weight you need to lose, and your risk will decrease even more.

But the same dieting roller coaster ride you’ve been on for decades isn’t going to work for this problem. It’s inSANE to even think another calorie-cutting, ab-crunching, aerobics jumping program is going to work long-term this time.

There is a SANE solution to this problem, one that doesn’t involve cutting calories or starving yourself.

Why diets fail

Let’s face it; nobody seems to know what they’re talking about when it comes to losing weight. One expert tells you one thing; another tells you something totally different. Fad diets come and go all the time, but not before they take your money and leave you frustrated, disappointed – and heavier than before you began the diet.

You’d think, with all the scientific minds out there, that someone would have discovered the secret to lasting weight loss and maintenance. Instead, all diet advice is the same but with different approaches — eat less and exercise more. Experts tell you that eating fewer calories than your body needs, called a calorie deficit, will lead to guaranteed weight loss.

That advice has been proven wrong by countless scientific studies, yet it continues to be the mainstream nutrition and diet “wisdom.”

Nutrition isn’t that complicated – or is it?

Haven’t you had a stinking suspicion – for years – that this calorie deficit thing is a bunch of hooey? You’ve tried it too many times to count, and it doesn’t work like they say it does.

You’re right. Losing weight permanently and preventing diabesity is not just a matter of balancing calories. There’s way more to it than that. Here’s the SANE condensed version of the process:

The amount of body fat you store is controlled by your setpoint and metabolism.
Setpoint and metabolism are controlled by your hormones
Hormones are controlled by the quality of your diet and other lifestyle factors

Obesity and type 2 diabetes are symptoms of an elevated setpoint weight caused by poor-quality nutrition and yo-yo dieting. Calories are important, but it’s not your job to balance them. Your body will do that automatically once you heal your hormones with SANE foods and lifestyle.

The key to treating diabesity? Lower your setpoint weight!

Your body’s main goal is to keep you alive, and you don’t even have to think about it. While you’re working or driving or washing the dishes, your body makes sure your system runs perfectly. If anything is out-of-whack, it makes adjustments accordingly.

Your body uses your fat to keep you alive if you can’t eat. It knows how much fat you need -– your set-point weight — and how many calories you need to maintain that weight. Your setpoint weight ranges by about 10-20 pounds, and it’s the reason your weight usually stays around the same weight.

If you go on a crash diet, your body thinks you’re starving and will drastically slow your metabolism to conserve energy and retain the fat you need for nutrition. When you go off the diet and start eating normally again, your body will strive to reach your setpoint weight again, plus more as insurance in case starvation happens again.

It’s a vicious circle that most dieters know all too well, and if it continues, they risk diabetes and other diseases.

Factors that determine setpoint weight

About 50 percent of your setpoint weight is determined by genetics. The rest of it is within your control, based on several dietary and lifestyle choices, including:

Eating processed foods
Yo-yo dieting
Consuming sugar
Extending stressful periods
Lack of sleep

The good news is that by changing your setpoint to that of a naturally thin person – something you can do SANEly—you can move off the risk list for diabesity.

SANE nutrition to prevent diabesity

Eating SANEly is not a diet; non-starchy vegetables, high-density protein sources, and whole-food fats provide optimum nutrition for our bodies. They are the fuel our bodies need to function properly. When you think about it, it makes sense. When a caveman was hungry, he didn’t run down to the nearest limestone slab and pick up a Snickers bar and a soda. Our ancestors were hunters and gatherers who hunted for their meat and collected wild plants for food. What they ate is the way our bodies were designed to eat, and the fact that the standard American diet is filled with manufactured foods and chemicals is a big reason for the diabesity epidemic.

SANEly principles

Going SANE will make your taste buds and tummy very happy. The SANE lifestyle is not about restriction and going hungry, and being miserable. The goal is to stay so full of SANE foods that you don’t have room for inSANE foods, such as sweets, starches, and trans fats. Here are the basic nutrition principles of SANE, in a very SANEly nutshell:

Non-starchy vegetables

The most important tenet of SANE nutrition is that you eat at least 10 servings of non-starchy vegetables a day. This is important enough to actually count the number of servings each day to make sure you’re getting at least the minimum amount. Non-starchy vegetables are ones that can be eaten raw if you want to, although you’re welcome to cook them. They are loaded with fiber, which fills you up and stays with you for a long time. Fiber also slows the carbs in vegetables from entering your bloodstream, which keeps your blood sugar levels from spiking.

Fill half your plate with non-starchy vegetables. If you blanch at the thought of eating 10 servings a day because you’re not a veggie lover, fear not. You can get most or even all of these servings in a variety of green smoothies.

Here are a few excellent choices of non-starchy vegetables to eat or put in your smoothies:

Spinach
Kale
Tomatoes
Zucchini

Nutrient-dense protein

The second most important SANE eating strategy to lower your setpoint is to eat 3-6 servings per day of nutrient-dense protein with your non-starchy vegetables. Research has shown that protein fills you up faster and lasts longer than anything else. (By keeping your insulin in check, protein prevents your blood glucose from dipping, thus taming your hunger.)

The most effective forms of protein for lowering your setpoint weight are those that are nutrient-dense, meaning that they are concentrated sources of protein. Nutrient-dense protein means more calories come from protein than from carbohydrates or fat, with protein that your body can easily use. Make sure the meat is humanely raised and grass-fed. (If it was grain-fed, you’ll be eating that diet, too.)

Some great choices include:

Salmon
Chicken
Cod
Canned tuna
Whole-Food Fats

Whole-food fats

Round out your meal with whole-food fats. Eating whole-food fats helps lower your setpoint, slims you down, and keeps you full longer.

Be sure to eat the whole food, not its oil. People have been going crazy about the health benefits of olive and coconut oils the past few years, but whatever health benefits they contain pales in comparison to their whole food counterparts. Whole-food fats contain fiber and protein, and fat – an amazing trio that works miracles at lowering your setpoint weight.

Enjoy 3 to 6 servings a day with your meal. (Serving size is about the size of your index and middle finger pressed together. For nut butter, a serving is the size of your thumb.)

Some good whole-food fats include:

Chia seeds
Almonds
Flax seeds
Coconut

Low-fructose fruits

Contrary to popular belief, fruit is not a necessary part of proper nutrition. Everything you can get from fruit, you can get from other foods. In fact, the most popular fruits Americans consume, such as apples and bananas, raise the setpoint and increase the risk of diabetes because they’re high in fructose, which is sugar.

Eating SANEly means you can have fruits as long as you focus on low-fructose versions and limit yourself to no more than three servings per day.

Some good choices include:

Goji berries
Strawberries
Orange
Lemon

Is inSANE nutrition ever okay?

The SANE lifestyle doesn’t demand perfection. If you eat something inSANE occasionally, it’s not going to destroy your progress. But if you eat more SANE foods than inSANE foods, you will reprogram your setpoint to burn fat and calories like that of a thin person.

Regaining your SANEity is a pleasurable experience that hundreds of thousands of people have experienced. They have lost weight, reduced their chances of diabetes, and are healthier than they’ve ever been. Are you ready to go SANE?

Next step: handling diabesity with proper nutrition and SANE

There is much more to the SANE lifestyle. Getting 7-8 hours of sleep a night, reducing stress, staying hydrated, and performing eccentric exercises are other important factors in lowering your setpoint.

Ready to finally break free from the yo-yo dieting rollercoaster that can lead to diabesity? By balancing your hormones and lowering your body’s set-point weight, SANE is the solution you’ve been dreaming of.

Want to know the exact foods and serving sizes scientifically proven by over 1,300 peer-reviewed research studies to boost metabolism, burn fat, and enjoy virtually effortless weight loss like a naturally thin person?

Begin your exciting journey to lasting, healthy weight loss today. Download the free SANE metabolism boosting food list, cheat sheet, and “Eat More, Burn More” weight loss program by clicking here .