[My Flight Surgeon]

Originally Posted by NoSoup4U

A lot of those candy bars and the soda you have daily obviously have quite a bit of sugar in them. Some things that will influence your risk of diabetes would be your family history. If a person(s) in your family has diabetes it may likely increase your risk of getting it as well because of a genetic predisposition. Obesity also has an extremely high correlation with diabetes, especially people who hoard fat in the stomach area. The reason for this is because stomach fat seems to be more resistant to insulin and as you know, closer to the heart. If you are an active person and exercise regularly, maintain a healthy weight, as well as have a relatively healthy diet your chances of getting diabetes will be less. I would cut down on the sugar intake though. If you crave the taste of the candy bars and soda, cutting down the portion size you have of it may help satisfy the craving, by allowing you to still have the taste, reducing your sugar intake, as well as reducing the high calorie content most candy bars contain. Processed sugars will likely cause less satiety (feeling full), which tends to make people eat more frequently which could potentially cause more weight gain. If you replace some of the high simple sugar carbohydrates with more complex ones like whole grain products, vegetables, legumes, etc. will take longer to digest, likely have higher fiber content to aid in normal...bathroom function shall I say (fiber can also reduce risk of colon cancer, reduce triglycerides, decrease cholesterol, etc), increase satiety, and a maintain a more constant blood sugar level (they won't raise blood sugar as significantly, meaning lower insulin spike and less fat storage) and provide longer lasting energy. I hope this was somewhat helpful. I figured I would just scratch the surface and let the Doc be able to go more in depth than I will be able to! Also, if he finds any errors in my understanding then I'll know as well.

Well stated. I agree.