Like going a couple of rounds with Tyson, high blood sugar can do a number on your vital organs. But eating this may give it a one-two punch right back: broccoli.

The tasty green florets are ripped with sulforaphane, a compound that seems to help keep high blood sugar goons on their best behavior, so they do less damage.

Pass the Antioxidants, Please
When your blood sugar is chronically high, it can damage the cells of your heart, eyes, kidneys, and nerves. But in a recent petri-dish study, adding sulforaphane to a mix of blood vessel cells and glucose cut oxidation (read damage) by as much as 73 percent. More research is needed to see if sulforaphane in the diet is as protective. But we already know that the compound is a super cancer fighter. So down the hatch -- make this EatingWell.com broccoli dish tonight for extra sulforaphane: Corn and Broccoli Calzones.

Sweet Balance
Whether or not you have diabetes, it's important to strive for stable blood sugar levels. It can help you:

• Slim down. Find out how eating more of this can stabilize blood sugar and keep hunger at bay.
• Stay razor sharp. Discover the link between high blood sugar and Alzheimer’s disease.
• Squash stroke and other health risks. Learn about the connection between high blood sugar and metabolic syndrome.

Concerned about your blood sugar? Take the RealAge Diabetes Assessment for personalized advice on how to manage it.

This tip originally ran on 9/22/2008.