Risk factors for the development of this epidemic, potentially life-threatening condition include being overweight, being physically inactive, having a close relative with the disease, and consuming trans fats.

If you have any of these traits, it is imperative that you avoid regular consumption of the Great White Hazards (white flour products, white potatoes, sugar, white rice). Results from the highly esteemed Harvard University-based Nurses’ Health Study confirm these are the foods eaten most commonly by people who develop type 2 diabetes.

(Journal of the American Medical Association, February 12, 1997, Volume 227 (6).

A second study performed by a group of Australian investigators followed 36,787 adults over a four year period and found those who ate the most white bread were 30% more likely to develop type 2 diabetes (Diabetes Care, November 2004).

The underlying metabolic problem in type 2 diabetes is insulin resistance. Victims of type 2 diabetes typically suffer from some degree of insulin resistance for many years prior to developing the disease in full. If your insulin doesn’t work well and you eat the Great White Hazards, your pancreas is forced to release that much more insulin to get all of the blood sugar into your cells.

Repeating this scenario over time eventually outstrips the supply of insulin the pancreas is capable of producing. As a result, you have inadequate blood insulin levels, and your cells are not able to take up the blood glucose they need to survive. Blood glucose levels then rise abnormally high, signifying the development of full-blown type 2 diabetes.

For more on the right foods, check out my Just Say Whoa! to Type 2 Diabetes Grocery List.