You've heard it before: acknowledging the problem is the first step toward healing. You must recognize that you have a problem before you can even begin to fix it.

So let's see where you're at: Do you know how many calories you eat in an average day? Do you work on hitting all the food groups and balancing your intake of all the different nutrients you need? Do you know which foods you should be eating for optimal health? Which of those foods do you like? Do you choose your meals based on the answers to any of these questions?

These are all questions that, if you can answer them thoroughly, can say a lot about your general health as well as your progress towards reversing the effects of insulin resistance.

The best thing you can do to improve your diet is become well-informed about foods, nutrition data, and your likes and dislikes.

1. Start reading the nutrition labels on foods you are considering at the grocery store. It is pretty easy to become accustomed to reading and understanding these, and you will soon be able to take a quick glance at a package of crackers and know whether or not this new brand is better for you than the one you've been buying. Who knows -- you may love the healthier brand!

2. (I love this one because I learned so much when I did it!) Write down everything you eat and drink, as well as what vitamins you take, for one week. (Include gum and mints too! Anything with nutritional content.) You should write what time of day you had the items as well as how much you had. If you eat out, do your best to estimate how much of each ingredient was incuded in the meal.

I've got a second piece to this exercise below, but first I want to say that just writing down everything you eat for a week is incredibly interesting and valuable because it makes you aware (knowledge is power!) of what you are tending to eat and when. Then you can ask yourself more intelligent questions like: Why do I always eat such a big snack at 11:00 in the morning? Maybe it's because you're not eating a very healthy, filling breakfast; maybe it's because you tend to get a little bored at work at that time; or perhaps you should try having lunch at that time instead of a snack, and then have a healthy snack mid-afternoon. Figure out the answers to questions like these. There is so much you can learn through this.

So part two of #2 is: go to www.nutritiondata.com and check out the nutrition of the foods you are eating. This site is incredibly comprehensive in its analysis of each food. It's neat to see where each food sits on all of the cool charts they show you.

Be sure to look into your favorite foods to see how they are affecting your health. One cool feature of the site is that if the food does not contain a whole protein (look at the amino acids chart), it gives you a link to other foods that will help create a whole protein and thus help your body to use the food better.

Notice: their system is not perfect. When I clicked to find complementary foods for green beans, Little Caesar's 14" pepperoni pizza popped up towards the top of the list. Clearly, this is not the most nutritious food you could use to complement the green beans, so make no excuses here. Click on the 'Cereal Grains and Pasta' section at the top and you'll find spinach egg noodles. Pair that with some green beans and a simple tomato sauce and you're in much better shape than with that greasy pepperoni. Remember, this is a tool not the answer. You need to find the best ways to use something like this for your own purposes.

All the knowledge in the world means nothing if you don't put it to good use! What if Da Vinci decided not to paint? What if the Wright brothers talked themselves out of building an airplane?

These are silly examples in a way, but I think you get the idea. Go forth and use what you know! Be empowered in your health choices. Take control of your insulin resistance so that you know you are healthier because you are knowledgeable and you made good choices. You made your body happier and stronger. You learned how to do it and you followed through!

Good job!