Nutritionist Belinda Rennie wraps up the series on men's health with the prevention and management of adult onset diabetes.

Have you heard of Syndrome X? It is a cluster of conditions that is central to all the common health problems in men – abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high blood fats and insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is when the body is no longer sensitive to the hormone insulin leading to uncontrollable rises in blood sugar and eventually diabetes. High blood sugar can also damage arteries, increase inflammation and increase your risk of heart disease. That is why it is good to keep a check on your blood pressure, cholesterol and blood sugar in annual medical checks, and when recommended by your doctor, homocysteine and C-reactive Protein levels – all covered in previous articles.

It can all sound very technical but the best way of combating insulin resistance and eventually diabetes is simple. Make an impact on your waistline through eating a wholefood diet and exercise. Abdominal obesity or the pot belly responds well to eating small and often and committing to exercise you enjoy. You don't need to zero in on the diabetic section of the supermarket either. In fact avoiding artificial sweeteners and fake fats in processed foods and eating more natural wholefoods, unprocessed and unrefined is the way to go.

Ten percent of calories burnt during the day - that is a significant amount – occurs as a result of eating. Great news for those guys who love to eat. Eating small meals and snacks every four hours or so throughout the day helps maintain a balanced blood sugar level that keeps you satisfied, alert and banishes fatigue. Though the brain only makes up 3% of the total body weight it consumes twenty per cent of the total energy intake and appreciates a drip feed of energy that is best supplied from eating low glycemic (GI) index foods.

GI is the buzzword in nutrition popularized by Australian researchers in the late 1980's. It is a measure of how quickly blood sugar levels rise after eating the particular food (www.glycemicindex.com). Building on this, Nutritionist Patrick Holford has created glycemic load (GL) which is based on the quantity and quality of carbohydrate ( www.patrickholford.com ). Low GI foods such as oats, dark rye bread and beans keep your blood sugar stable and keep you feeling full for longer.

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You can use the palm method to represent your plate and help you balance each meal and in turn balance your blood sugar by combining small portions of protein and carbohydrate whenever you eat. Your protein serving should be no bigger than the size and thickness of your palm, your carbohydrate serving should cover the other palm (three heaped tablespoons) and the area representing your fingers is for the vegetables. Another nutritionist Ian Marber has provided excellent graphics to show how you can balance your “palm plate” in his books, The Food Doctor Diet (www.thefooddoctor.com).

Naturally, vegetables (not a steak!) need to be the most abundant food on your plate followed by low GI wholegrains like oats, brown basmati rice, wholegrain rye/spelt bread, barley cous cous, wholegrain pasta and all lentils and beans. Best choices for protein include fish, organic eggs, organic chicken, tofu, tempeh and occasionally lean red meat. Add some nuts and seeds every day along with some olive oil. Limit dairy to organic yoghurts, low fat labneh and small portions (30gm) of fresh white cheese like goats cheese.

Snacks can also contain a balance between some carbohydrate and protein like nuts and fruit, miso soup and wholegrain crackers, hommos and raw carrot sticks. White sugar or artificial sweeteners need to be replaced by small amounts of honey, no sugar jam, date syrup or agave (sugar derived from a cactus plant) which have a smaller impact on blood sugar and occasionally eating a small portion of dessert after a meal is better than eating sweet foods as a snack.

Plenty of research on diabetes and mineral deficiencies points in the direction of low levels of chromium, magnesium, zinc and vanadium in diabetics. Glucose tolerance factor (GTF) is a special form of chromium which encourages the uptake of glucose in the cell by helping insulin perform its job better. Supplementation of these nutrients alongside the antioxidants Vitamins E, C and B complex with the essential fatty acids found in fish oils is of great benefit for diabetics to boost the immune system and reduce inflammation and the damage caused by high blood sugar. Herbal therapy can include the use of bitter gourd, fenugreek, aloe vera and ginseng under the guidance of your health professional.

Exercise is the best way to help kickstart your metabolism and reduce inches around the waist and more slowly weight on the scales. Not only do you burn calories whilst exercising you burn up to 20 per cent extra calories up to two hours after exercise. Importantly, it also helps your body become more sensitive to insulin and utlise glucose and fat more efficiently. You will be well on the way to making a dent on Syndrome X and in the process reducing your risk of diabetes.

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