In 1982 ground breaking research was done by Professor Kerin O'Dea, one of Australia's leading researchers in nutrition, from the Darwin Menzies School of Health Research.

For two months she accompanied 14 Aborigines who were all obese and 10 of whom had type 2 diabetes. They gave up their urban lifestyles and reverted to their previous hunter-gatherer skills, foraging for bush tucker including fruit, yams, snakes, shellfish, bream, crabs, kangaroos and even a crocodile.

A great deal of energy was consumed in this constant search for food and the diet ended up being high in protein, low in fat (particularly in saturated fat) and moderate in carbohydates.

The participants soon lost weight and blood tests showed a dramatic lowering of blood sugars, lipids and blood pressure. Some retreated to not showing any sign of diabetes, but of course they did not lose the potential to relapse with the reintroduction of a sedentary lifestyle and the consumption of high calorie food. In earlier life they all had the genetic makeup to become diabetics but it was becoming overweight that brought it on.

So what can we glean from this study in the light of a rapidly increasing global prevalence of type 2 diabetes or the ability to become so. Do we need to become hunter-gatherers again? Not really, but we could learn something from this approach. Let's start with increasing our activity levels to at least one hour a day or about 10,000 steps a day if we are measuring how much we walk - any type of exercise is ok by the way.

As regards diet, try increasing the protein a bit but make sure it is low fat protein as found in lean meat, fish, low fat dairy product, nuts and legumes. Have moderate amounts of carbohydrates in the form of fruits, vegies and cereals. Go for fresh unprocessed foods where possible and watch that portion sizes are not too big. Drink more water and less sweet drinks.

Forage for healthy choices of food at the supermarket - unlike our forebears there is an abundance of choice in food today. Unfortunately a lot of it is unhealthy and takes very little physical effort to gather.