When you've been diagnosed with pre-diabetes, you know you have to watch your diet, exercise more and perhaps even lose some weight. It's hard to know which direction to go. It's important to remember that you drive the bus when it comes to your health. Avoiding these common road blocks can help you put pre-diabetes in reverse.

Smoking: It causes cancer and serious diseases like chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), heart disease, arterial sclerosis, and strokes. It can raise your cholesterol and your blood glucose levels. If you have diabetes and you smoke, your risk for heart and circulatory damage goes way up, and diabetic complications can progress with more devastating effects.

• Smoking and Diabetes
• Why Ronni Quit Smoking
• Real Life With Diabetes: Meet Ronni

Fast Food and Processed Foods: These pack a calorie and fat wallop. A fast food burger and medium fries has 650 calories and 32 fat grams. A homemade burger with oven-baked fries, has 418 calories and 8 fat grams. Making your own saves you 212 calories and 24 fat grams. Also, a store-brand chocolate chip cookie has 136 calories and 6.4 fat grams, while a homemade chocolate chip cookie using a low-fat recipe is 65 calories and 2.3 fat grams. Baking your own saves you 71 calories and 4.1 fat grams per cookie.

• Calorie Count Database from About.com
• Low Fat Chocolate Chip Cookie Recipe

Not Getting Your "Five a Day". The USDA recommends at least 5 servings of vegetables and fruits a day. Getting more of these nutrients may reduce risk for Type 2 diabetes, stroke, heart disease and other cardiovascular diseases.

• The USDA Food Pyramid Plan
• Recipes from the Department of Health and Human Services

The Fiberless American Diet: The typical American diet is woefully devoid of fiber. Foods high in fiber take longer to digest and keep blood glucose from spiking. Experts recommend 25-50 grams of fiber a day. That's a lot of fiber. Drink plenty of water when you increase your fiber intake, to help move things along.

• Fiber and Diabetes
• Got Enough Fiber?

A Sedentary Lifestyle: Getting more exercise will lower your blood glucose levels and improve your circulatory health, and it will help you lose weight by burning more calories. It keeps you more flexible, more mentally alert, and increases energy. Always check with your doctor before starting any exercise routine.

• Exercising With Diabetes
• Hate to Exercise?

Photo by Steve Woods

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