4 Must-Do Gym Exercises To Help Prevent Diabetes

4 Must-Do Gym Exercises to Help Prevent Diabetes

Are you at risk for diabetes? Diabetes is reaching an all-time high. In fact, over 29 million people have diabetes. What’s even more concerning (despite that shocking number) is that 86 million people have prediabetes, meaning they have higher than normal blood sugars and are likely to develop Type 2 diabetes within 5-10 years if they don’t make changes. The majority of Type 2 diabetes is related to excess weight, so what you eat plays a critical role. But exercise also plays an important part in burning off excess weight and improving our overall health.
So if you’ve been told you have prediabetes, besides changing the way you eat, you likely need to change the way you exercise. All those changes can be confusing, so here are four gym exercises you should consider doing:
1. Skip the treadmill and hop on the elliptical.
I am a big supporter of walking — walking up/down stairs, walking from the parking lot to entrances, walking during the morning or evening. I even have worn a pedometer for many months. But for many people at risk for diabetes, walking may not be enough. So the inevitable question: Should I use the treadmill, elliptical or exercise bikes? They all have pros/cons, and it’s mostly pros. For instance, exercise bikes are low impact and fairly safe. Basically anyone can jump on, and start using it. But overall, stationary bikes don’t burn that many calories and it mostly works lower body muscles. The treadmill — whether walking or running — involves a wider variety of muscles, including core muscles in the back and abs to stabilize your body. Trea Continue reading

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Keto Diet better than high carb for Type 2 diabetes

Type 2 diabetes is a common condition characterized by high levels of blood sugar, usually due to insulin resistance.
The treatment of type 2 diabetes involves medication, but lifestyle strategies are very important as well.
These include increased exercise, weight loss and diet management.
Although low-carb diets have become popular for managing type 2 diabetes, few high-quality studies have investigated their long-term effects on blood sugar control and risk factors for heart disease.
ARTICLE REVIEWED
A team of Australian researchers set out to compare the long-term health effects of a low-carb diet and a high-carb diet, focusing on differences in blood sugar control and risk factors for heart disease.
Tay et al. Comparison of Low- and High-Carbohydrate Diets for Type 2 Diabetes Management: A Randomized Trial. American Journal of Clinical Nutrition 2015.
STUDY DESIGN
This was a randomized trial that spanned one year, or 52 weeks total.
A total of 115 obese and overweight adults with type 2 diabetes participated. Their age ranged from 35 to 68 years.
The participants were randomly assigned to one of two diets that contained an equal amount of calories:
Low-carb diet (LC): Carbs, protein and fat comprised 14%, 28% and 58% of calories, respectively. The total carb content was under 50 grams per day.
High-carb diet (HC): Carbs, protein and fat comprised 53%, 17% and 30% of calories, respectively.
Both diets restricted calories in order to produce weight loss. Calories were restricted by 30%, which amounted to 500–1000 calories, depending on the individual.
The fat content o Continue reading

Adult-Onset Type 1 Diabetes: How I Was Misdiagnosed With Type 2

Adult-Onset Type 1 Diabetes: How I Was Misdiagnosed With Type 2
Jenna Steinhauer
My name is Jenna and I live in beautiful Southern California with my two kitties. I’m the very proud auntie of a spunky 5-year-old niece and wild almost 3-year-old nephew. I don’t have any children of my own yet, so, I am obsessed with spoiling and loving these two little humans that mean so much to me.
I have two sisters; one older, who is the mother of those sweet kids I told you about, and a twin sister, who has Cerebral Palsy and lives with my parents. I’m in love with all things makeup and fashion and I have a slight addiction to iced coffee; only iced though, I hate hot liquids!
I also feel it’s necessary to lay some ground work here and note an important component to my story: my mother is a type 1 diabetic and was diagnosed as a teenager. I would say that prior to my diagnosis, I had a good working knowledge of what type 1 diabetes was; at least what it was in my mother’s life.
I knew how hypoglycemic symptoms presented in her and understood what needed to be done in order to correct them. However, because she has always managed her disease on her own, I was not completely aware of the intricacies of this disease and the risks and side effects associated with it.
To be honest, I never truly understood the seriousness of it because I didn’t have the scientific knowledge behind it. It was something that was always a part of her life and it was our normal. My mother had been diagnosed with the disease long before I came along and she always knew how to take good care of herself Continue reading

High fructose corn syrup linked to diabetes

A new study by USC and University of Oxford researchers indicated that large amounts of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) found in national food supplies across the world may be one explanation for the rising global epidemic of Type 2 diabetes and resulting higher health care costs.
According to the study, which was published in Global Public Health, countries that use HFCS in their food supply had a 20 percent higher prevalence of diabetes than countries that did not use it. The analysis also revealed that the HFCS association with the “significantly increased prevalence of diabetes” occurred independent of total sugar intake and obesity levels.
“HFCS appears to pose a serious public health problem on a global scale,” said principal study author Michael Goran, professor of preventive medicine, director of the Childhood Obesity Research Center and co-director of the Diabetes and Obesity Research Institute at the Keck School of Medicine at USC. “The study adds to a growing body of scientific literature that indicates HFCS consumption may result in negative health consequences distinct from and more deleterious than natural sugar.”
The paper reported that out of 42 countries studied, the United States has the highest per-capita consumption of HFCS at a rate of 25 kilograms, or 55 pounds, per year. The second highest is Hungary, with an annual rate of 16 kilograms, or 47 pounds, per capita. Argentina, Belgium , Bulgaria, Canada, Japan, Korea, Mexico and Slovakia are also relatively high HFCS consumers. Egypt, Finland, Germany, Greece, Poland, Portugal and Serbia are Continue reading

This Diabetes Month, Don’t Forget About the Importance of Exercise for People with Type 1 Diabetes

November is National Diabetes Month, which means the health community will talk a lot about diabetes statistics and combining physical activity and a healthy diet to manage blood glucose. Because physical activity can help prevent – and is often a greater focus of treatment for – type 2 diabetes, the focus of conversations about diabetes and physical activity frequently zeroes in on this group. While type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented, and treatment is often more focused on insulin than lifestyle measures, there are also benefits of physical activity for people with type 1—which accounts for 10 percent of diabetes cases or 1.25 million people in the United States.
People with type 1 diabetes enjoy the same mental and physical health benefits that physical activity provides to others, including improved sleep quality, reduced chronic disease risk, weight management, reduced depression risk, lower stress, and a slowing of cognitive decline. Physical activity is linked to better self-confidence and academic performance in kids, and that’s no different for kids with type 1.
Like their non-diabetic peers, people with type 1 diabetes may not be getting enough physical activity. Only about 20 percent of American adults meet the Physical Activity Guidelines recommendations, and diabetes can add a level of difficulty to pursuing an active lifestyle. A 2008 study among people with type 1 diabetes found that fear of hypoglycemia was the most common barrier to exercise, while participants in a 2014 survey reported lack of knowledge about managing type 1 diabetes and its compli Continue reading