Prickly Pear Cactus and Exercise: Natural Ways to Lower Your Risk for Diabetes

There is more wholesome nutrition in the good, green Earth than most of us know. Plants foods and old-fashioned labor have the ability to ward off diseases like diabetes. In America, it is estimated that 5.4 Million people have the disease and do not even know it, yet. Hispanic Americans have ninety percent higher risk of developing the disease than the rest of the population.  For a long time, health officials have mostly chosen to chalk these high numbers up to family traits. However, the results from recent research support a different idea. They claim that processed, convenience foods and inactive lifestyles can also be blamed for causing high rates of diabetes among Hispanic populations.

In Blended Medicine, Michael Castlemen describes a related study on diabetes and the Pima Indians. A large group of the Pima Indians has migrated to Arizona from Mexico and another group currently remains in Mexico. Arizona Pima Indians lead dietary lifestyles similar to most suburban Americans. The majority has jobs in offices or work in industrial plants with laborsaving machinery. For meals, many members of the workforce choose to consume high fat, convenience foods during breaks. As a result, the diabetes rates are just as high as Hispanics in the United States of America. On the other hand, Mexican Pima Indians eat traditional foods: beans, rice, tortillas, fruits, and vegetables. The lives of Mexican Pima employees, too, are very different from those of Arizona Pima Indians. They work with traditional tools and agriculture such as hand tilling the fields and using horse-drawn plows. In comparison, the diabetes rate of Mexican Pima Indians is a staggering 84% lower than that of the Arizona Pima Indians.