Prevention's The Sugar Solution is a diet and light fitness program that's based on blood sugar control – an important concept not just for diabetics, but for anyone who wants to stay fit, healthy and happy. Designed by a nutritionist with expertise in blood sugar management at the prestigious Joslin Diabetes Center, the program's "30-Day Lifestyle Makeover" is based on three key principles: Healthy Eating – Our meal plan relies on the glycemic index (GI), which ranks foods based on how they raise your blood sugar. The Sugar Solution Online will show you how to use the GI system to curb food cravings and overeating, while jump-starting weight loss on 6 smaller meals a day. Physical Activity – Your body produces insulin to inject blood sugar into your cells based on the foods you eat – building muscle helps the body use it efficiently for weight loss and better health. Our fitness component recommends easy ways to bring more movement into your life. Rather than promoting agonizing workouts, we provide different walking and resistance training plans so you can choose what's right for you. Stress Reduction – Each day we'll provide one easy way to outsmart stress and add some pleasure to your life, plus a wealth of tips for more restful sleep. It's the perfect way to make sure your blood sugar balance is in check while adding more healthy joy to your life.

	What you eat determines your blood sugar balance – but deciding what to eat doesn't have to be difficult. The Sugar Solution Online is not based on depriving you of foods – it teaches you to choose foods that you love that will balance your blood sugar and prevent your body from storing the food you eat as fat. The program provides practical food wisdom that reflects the relationship between diet and blood sugar – high-protein foods, "good" vs. "bad" carbs, glycemic index (GI), fitting sweets into your diet, and more. The site will give you plenty of guides to help: More than 100 quick and easy recipes Tips for making smart choices in restaurants Nutritional and GI values for specific foods, and tips on low-GI substitutes A journal that lets you track your choices against your results Daily and weekly meal plans – swap out recommended foods for others based on your preferences, and print your food choices as a shopping list

	If you're not diabetic, you probably haven't given much thought to your blood sugar, but are some compelling reasons why you should care: You should care if you find yourself getting sluggish or tired every afternoon. You should care if you reach for cookies, candy or cola when you need a shot of energy. You should care if you find yourself hungry late at night and raiding the refrigerator. You should care if your attempts at weight loss have yielded little or no success. You should care if you've noticed your memory or vision slipping in recent years. These are all warning signs of blood sugar imbalance. Blood sugar is to your body what gasoline is to your car – fuel. Every cell in your body depends on it for the energy to stay alive and function. Whether you're a diabetic or not, your goal is to keep your blood sugar tank full, but not too full. Without balanced blood sugar, in addition to the health problems above, you may be increasing the risk for diabetes, heart disease, stroke and cancer. The Sugar Solution Online will show you how to help reduce that risk.

	The glycemic index (GI) ranks foods by how they affect your blood sugar levels. Low-GI foods (less than 55) produce a gradual rise in blood sugar that's easy on the body. Foods between 55 and 70 are intermediate-GI foods Foods with high-GI numbers (more than 70) make blood sugar and insulin levels spike fast, which is a health threat. Research suggests keeping blood sugar from spiking pays off – low-GI foods stave off heart disease, prevent type 2 diabetes, help you evade serious side effects if you have diabetes, curb your appetite so you lose weight, and help boost energy. It's not hard to use GI in your everyday life – it's as simple as including at least one low-GI food in each meal or snack. The Sugar Solution Online can serve as your guide to making low-GI food choices.

	Prevention magazine strongly recommends that all adults have their blood sugar checked fairly regularly – this is especially critical if you're 45+ years old and overweight. If your blood sugar levels are normal, you should get retested every three years. If high blood sugar, retest every one or two years. It's a simple procedure – your doctor will draw a blood sample, and a lab will measure the glucose (blood sugar) level. However, there are three different variations of the test – a random plasma glucose test, a fasting plasma glucose test and an oral glucose tolerance test. The Sugar Solution Online will help you determine which is the right test for you, though we also recommend you check with your doctor.

	When you start The Sugar Solution Online, you'll choose a goal weight that you'd like to achieve. Start by weighing yourself (first thing in the morning is the best time), and determine a realistic goal based on your current weight and when you'd like to achieve it. Most nutritionists and dieticians recommend keeping weekly weight loss to two pounds, so pick a goal date that takes that into account. Using the site, you'll enter your current weight, choose your goal weight and date, and then login once a week to weigh in and track your progress using a powerful set of tools. Along the way, you'll get daily menus to help you stay on track, and a wealth of recipes, daily tips, articles, success stories and other useful content. The site's message boards will provide additional support and motivation from fellow members, Prevention experts, and the professional nutritionists and dieticians behind the program.

	The Sugar Solution Online is the official online resource for women who want to lead a better and healthier life. This personalized program offers daily meal plans, shopping lists and journals, fitness routines you can do at home or in the gym, progress tracking tools to help you stay on target, and message boards that connect you to a supportive community of fellow members, Prevention experts, nutritionists and dieticians.