That's Fit did a great piece featuring the benefits fiber adds to most of our diets. In fact, the FDA recommends we eat 25 to 30 grams a day when most of us are eating less than half that amount!

Even Oprah is praising the nutritious secrets of fiber. Her helping hand, Dr. Oz, has written it all down for you in his latest book, YOU on a Diet. Oprah has featured the YOU: On a Diet Basics in a slide show on her site.

The slide show compels me to brave Borders again (at least this time I might not have to navigate swarms of Harry Potter fanatics). YOU: On a Diet promises to invigorate me with equal parts information, motivation, and change-your-life action that will harmoniously direct my body into wellness. After all - this is the doctor who has helped Oprah look like a daytime supermodel. I'm sold!

When it comes to issues of health, perhaps the most encouraging factoid out there is this: you don't have to lose a whole lot of extra weight to experience major health benefits. This info is nothing new, of course. Heck, I remember watching Oprah espouse that very principle on her show back in the 90s. If you can't run, walk, she'd say. If you can't walk far, just walk around the block...or even the front gate. Do something for your health today!

So, what's new on this front, you ask? Well, a major study has now confirmed that modest weight loss can dramatically improve the health of people with Type 2 diabetes. The Look AHEAD (Action for Health in Diabetes) study found that overweight people with Type 2 diabetes who were able to achieve around 7 to 10 percent weight loss over the course of a year experienced the following health benefits: 1.) improved blood sugar control and 2.) a reduced dependence on medications. The study involved over five thousand participants, some of whom were put on the weight-loss regimen, while others received standard medical care (that is, without an emphasis on healthy eating and exercise).

Here's the problem as I see it: how do you transfer these results to everyday life? The participants in this study who lost all that weight did so by agreeing to join the study, and they attended group meetings, ate a specially designed diet, and received advice on exercise and even had sessions with behavioral psychologists. Problem is, there's no behavioral psychologist around when you're alone at home and reaching for that second helping of pasta!

The media kingpins at "O" Magazine have proved their standards of greatness in social policy, once again. The masters of the Oprah universe are posing the question: diabetes - are you at risk?

The public service comes equipped with eye-opening statistics on how to slow down, and even in some cases, prevent the onset of diabetes. According to the article, the trick is to get a blood glucose test every three years starting at age 45. Of course, additional risk factors like high blood pressure, poor triglycerides, hormone imbalances, ethnicity, and siblings or parents with diabetes can increase the need to begin checking earlier than the age of 45. No matter what your age, if you notice excessive thirst, frequent urination, extreme and persistent hunger, or unexplained weight loss despite overeating, get your blood glucose measured. You may already be diabetic. Other symptoms include fatigue, recurrent yeast infections, slow-healing sores, and blurry vision.

If your blood sugar indicates that you're headed for diabetes, there's a lot you can do. In a study conducted over several years, prediabetics who exercised at moderate intensity for 30 minutes five times a week and dropped between 5 to 7 percent of their body weight, cut their risk of the disease by 58 percent. This approach was nearly twice as effective as taking medication, which mainly helped participants who were younger than 45 and extremely obese. If half of the Oprah-watching population took heed to the warning are you at risk - Oprah might single-handedly pump the brakes on the diabetes epidemic. She didn't become the most successful female talk show host in American history for nothing!