Diabetes

Diabetes

The Center for Disease Control estimates that some 23.7 million Americans have diabetes and another 54 million Americans have a condition known as metabolic syndrome or “pre-diabetes.”

Just What Is Diabetes?

It is important to understand the role of insulin in your body. When you eat, your body turns food into sugars, or glucose. Once your food becomes glucose, your pancreas is signaled and will release insulin. Insulin serves as a “key” to open your cells, to allow the glucose to enter -- and allow you to use the glucose for energy. But with diabetes, the body is unable to create or effectively use its own insulin. Without insulin, the body’s cells become starved,causing dehydration and destruction of body tissue.

Insulin is a hormone that helps the body pull glucose into the muscle cells. Insulin resistance or pre-diabetes is a condition where insulin does not function properly causing glucose to accumulate into the blood. One out of four American adults currently has insulin resistance or pre-diabetes. For about sixty percent of individuals experiencing insulin resistance or prediabetes, proper nutrition and increased physical activity can prevent the onset of diabetes.

Natural Macadamia

A handful of our Natural Macadamia nuts contain only four grams of carbohydrate per ounce. This is one of the reasons why their “glycemic index” is a super low 10.0. Researchers use the glycemic index to rate how quickly carbohydrates from food convert into blood sugar. Foods with a rating of 55 or less are considered low because their carbohydrates trickle slowly into the blood stream. The slower their rate of entry into the blood stream, the lower their effect upon blood sugar levels and the easier they are for the body to process. By including our natural macadamia nuts into your daily diet, you’re helping your body properly regulate its own blood sugar!