We have the tools to fight diabetes

I just experienced something that opened my eyes. I read stories now and then about how serious the situation is for Canadians and in particular for Native People’s when it comes to diabetes. However, I am shocked after attending the Timmins Diabetes Expo (see related story). 
A guest speaker from the United States said 360 million people will get diabetes this year. Ginger Kanzer-Lewis also said someone dies of complications from diabetes every seven seconds. How crazy is that? 
In this country, Aboriginals are experiencing a diabetes epidemic. There are all kinds of reasons why. One can be found in our genes. We lived for hundreds, if not thousands of years where we ate as much as we could when food was plentiful and starved when it wasn’t. We don’t experience famine anymore. We feast mostly. And our bodies are suffering the effects.
The worst part is many people live in remote communities where the cost of transporting healthy food is very high. Generally, people don’t have large disposable incomes and have many mouths to feed. As a result, we end up eating a lot of unhealthy food like hot dogs, frozen packaged foods and junk like pop, chips and candy. 
Another eye opener came from presenter Marilyn Smith, a motivational speaker, author and comedian. She said studies show people who live over 100 years eat healthy and exercise.
These champions of life eat lots of fruit and vegetables. They also eat a lot of fish or seafood and not much meat. In particular, they don’t eat much fatty food. Their diets are high in fibre and low in fat. And many of them eat specific foods that help them live longer, such as extra virgin olive oil in the Mediterranean, turmeric in Southeast Asia and berries and fruits in southern California. 
This all points to a very important discovery for me: We can prevent or at the very least treat diabetes by copying the lifestyles of centenarians. And we can do this by making little changes. For instance it is very easy to eat one or two apples a day, a banana or some other fruit. These fruits are accessible and inexpensive. And buy a bag of carrots to munch on raw throughout the day. Steaming broccoli or peppers is also quick and easy. 
Probably one of the best things we can do for ourselves is eat less, particularly fast foods high in saturated fats. Cutting out soda pop is also a great idea and having tea and coffee without sugar and cream also helps. 
Stay away from frozen packaged foods and cook at home rather than eating out. 
I could die young if I don’t figure out how to eat properly and get plenty of exercise. There are many developments in the medical world that are helping diabetics but the best medicine is to change our lifestyles. 
So get up off the couch, grab an apple and go for a long walk.