Put that doughnut down! There are sweeter choices for the 79 million adult Americans with prediabetes — a condition that makes blood sugar levels too high to be healthy, but not high enough to qualify for full-blown diabetes.

Walking 30 minutes a day, five days a week (we’d prefer seven), and losing 5 percent to 10 percent of your body weight can slash your risk of sliding into type 2 diabetes by 58 percent. But if you have trouble sticking to that tried-and-true approach, here are some clever ways to dodge the diabetes bullet.

Æ Put Red to Bed: Bye, bye beef. One palm-size daily serving ups your diabetes risk 19 percent. Gobble down a hot dog, a sausage patty or two bacon strips daily, and your risk soars 51 percent.

Æ Write What You Bite: If you keep a diary of what you eat each day, it can double your weight loss — and that is a big part of the prevention plan.

Æ Be a Busy Bawdy: Sex eases stress and increases self-esteem — and that helps you make healthier food and activity choices.

Æ Visit Corfu: A Mediterranean diet (veggies, fruits, nuts, olive oil, seafood, not much dairy or meat) slashes your risk of type 2 by 83 percent.

Æ Go with Joe: Coffee. That’s right, three cups a day decreases your risk of type 2.

Embrace the sunny foods of the Mediterranean and the pleasures of coffee, sex and keeping a diary — and you can enjoy staying healthy. Every step away from type 2 is a step toward the life you deserve: healthy, happy and long.

The You Docs — Mehmet Oz, host of “The Dr. Oz Show” and Mike Roizen of Cleveland Clinic — are authors of “YOU: Losing Weight.” To submit questions, go to www.RealAge.com. A King Features syndicate.