Just lose the weight. Low-fat? High-carbohydrate? Sprout-and-spinach-shake regimen? Don’t worry about how you shed those extra pounds-at least as far as diabetes is concerned. Just shed them. “We don’t really know if any specific diet works best for preventing type II diabetes,” says Eli Ipp, M.D., head of the diabetes section at Harbor-UCLA Medical Center’s division of endocrinology in Torrance, California. “The issue is to lose the weight and keep it off.”

Exercise. Physical activity actually helps your body process glucose, so it helps prevent diabetic complications as well as the disease itself. In fact, medical researchers have actually taken disembodied human muscles, “exercised” them with electric stimulation, and then measured their insulin action. It works.

“Exercise can improve your insulin sensitivity a great deal no matter what your weight is,” Dr. King says. “And the effects can last for two or three days.”

Mix it up. Aerobic exercise is what’s usually emphasized in the prevention of diabetes and its complications because that’s what the subjects did in the studies that first made the connection. But new evidence shows that strength training and even offbeat activities such as tai chi can also improve insulin action, according to Aaron Vinik, M.D., Ph.D., director of research at the Diabetes Institute in Norfolk, Virginia. “All forms of activity have been shown to reduce the likelihood of complications once you have the disease,” he says. “It doesn’t have to be just aerobic exercise.”

A caveat, though: Diabetics with nerve damage or eye disease should stay away from weight training because the strain of lifting weights can cause damaged blood vessels in the eyes to rupture and bleed, according to Dr. Vinik. And if you have nerve damage, you may not be able to sense the damage in your eyes.

Feel your oats. In a 1996 study, Canadian researchers fed four men bread made from oat bran for six months, while another four ate white bread. The oat bran-eaters showed better glucose levels. This finding is consistent with a 1997 study suggesting that diets that emphasize high-fiber whole grains (of which oat bran is one) over refined grains reduces your risk for type II diabetes.

Eliminate it with E. Free radicals- those pesky, tissue-damaging molecules-thrive on diabetes but succumb to antioxidants such as vitamin E.

Also, says Dr. King, vitamin E might help decrease complications for those with diabetes. “Since doses of 100 to 400 International Units are associated with a decrease in heart disease, I would certainly take that much,” he says.

Take your vitamin C. Vitamin C, another antioxidant plentiful in many fruits, may also do the trick. A 1995 study by an Italian research team linked vitamin Ñ to improved glucose metabolism in type II diabetics.

Cool it with the booze. Tee-totaling isn’t required to fight diabetes, but anything more than one shot of liquor or one glass of wine or beer a day is asking for trouble, according to Dr. King. “If you drink too much, you can damage your pancreas,” he warns. “And that’s where the insulin comes from in the first place.”

Watch for the warning signs. Forewarned is forearmed. According to the American Diabetes Association, the following are worth seeing a doctor about: increased thirst; increased need to urinate; an edgy, tired, and sick-to-the-stomach feeling; repeated or hard-to-heal infections of your skin, gums, or bladder; blurred vision; tingling or loss of feeling in your hands or feet; dry, itchy skin.

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