Exercise Diabetes

Everybody benefits from regular exercise. If you have diabetes, or are at risk of diabetes it plays an important role in keeping you healthy.

Benefits

For a person with diabetes exercise helps:

• Insulin to work better, which will improve your diabetes management
• Maintain a healthy weight
• Lower your blood pressure
• Reduce your risk of heart disease
• Reduce stress.

Warning- Don’t take part in strenuous physical activity if you are feeling unwell or have ketones present in your blood or urine.

PREVENTION DIABETES

At present, type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. The environmental triggers that are thought to generate the process that results in the destruction of the body’s insulin-producing cells are still under investigation.

There is a lot of evidence that lifestyle changes (achieving a healthy body weight and moderate physical activity) can help prevent the development of type 2 diabetes.

Obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, is linked to the development of type 2 diabetes. Weight loss improves insulin resistance and reduces hypertension. People who are overweight or obese should therefore be encouraged to achieve and maintain a healthy body weight.

Physical activity is one of the main pillars in the prevention of diabetes. Increased physical activity is important in maintaining weight loss and is linked to reduced blood pressure, reduced resting heart rate, increased insulin sensitivity, improved body composition and psychological well-being.

Reduce your diabetes risk

There are two main types of diabetes: type 1 and type 2. Type 2 is the most common and is often linked to being overweight. That means there are steps you can take to reduce your risk of developing it.

Type 1 diabetes is not linked to being overweight. Instead, the cells that produce insulin in the body are damaged for reasons that aren't yet fully understood. There are no lifestyle changes that can lower your risk of type 1 diabetes.

However, around 90% of people diagnosed with the condition have type 2 diabetes. If you maintain a healthy weight, you can reduce your risk of developing the condition.

If you think that you may already have symptoms of diabetes, see your GP.

12 Powerfoods to Beat Diabetes

Can controlling your blood sugar and preventing diabetes complications be as simple as eating the right foods? Yes. Certain foods are packed with nutrients that stabilize blood sugar levels, protect your heart, and even save your vision from the damaging effects of diabetes. These 12 foods can give you an extra edge against diabetes and its complications.

1. Apples

In a Finnish study, men who ate the most apples and other foods high in quercetin had 20 percent less diabetes and heart disease deaths. Other good sources of quercetin are onions, tomatoes, leafy green vegetables, and berries.

2. Cinnamon

A study at the Human Nutrition Research Center in Beltsville, Maryland, found that if you use ½ teaspoon of cinnamon daily, it can make cells more sensitive to insulin. Therefore, the study says, the cells convert blood sugar to energy.

What I need to know about Physical Activity and Diabetes

How can physical activity help me take care of my diabetes?​

Physical activity and keeping a healthy weight can help you take care of your diabetes and prevent diabetes problems. Physical activity helps your blood glucose,* also called blood sugar, stay in your target range.

Physical activity also helps the hormone insulin absorb glucose into all your body’s cells, including your muscles, for energy. Muscles use glucose better than fat does. Building and using muscle through physical activity can help prevent high blood glucose. If your body doesn’t make enough insulin, or if the insulin doesn’t work the way it should, the body’s cells don’t use glucose. Your blood glucose levels then get too high, causing diabetes.

Type 2 Diabetes and Exercise

Exercise Makes It Easier to Control Your Diabetes

When you have type 2 diabetes, physical activity is an important component of your treatment plan.  It’s also important to have a healthy meal plan and maintain your blood glucose level through medications or insulin, if necessary.

If you stay fit and active throughout your life, you’ll be able to better control your diabetes and keep your blood glucose level in the correct range. Controlling your blood glucose level is essential to preventing long-term complications, such as nerve pain and kidney disease.

Exercise has so many benefits, but the biggest one is that it makes it easier to control your blood glucose (blood sugar) level. People with type 2 diabetes have too much glucose in their blood, either because their body doesn’t produce enough insulin to process it, or because their body doesn’t use insulin properly (insulin resistant).

12 Ways to Avoid Diabetes

Nearly 25 percent of Americans are thought to have prediabetes -- a condition of slightly elevated blood sugar levels that often develops into diabetes within 10 years -- but only 4 percent of people know it. What's worse, of those who are aware, less than half really tried to reduce their risk by losing weight, eating less, and exercising more.

These are just a few of the good-for-you habits that can reverse prediabetes and ensure you never get the real thing, which can mean a lifetime of drugs and blood sugar monitoring, an increased risk of heart disease, Alzheimer's disease, and other scary health threats. Read on for 12 simple tricks everyone can start today.

Nudge the Scale

Shedding even 10 pounds can significantly slash your risk.

5 Best Foods for Preventing or Reversing Diabetes

Diabetes is the 7th leading cause of death in the U.S., and doubles the risk of heart attack and stroke.1 However, type 2 diabetes is a lifestyle disease—our food choices can either prevent or promote insulin resistance and resultant diabetes.

Many conventional diabetes diets rely on meat or grains as the major calorie source. However, these strategies have serious drawbacks. High-nutrient, low glycemic load (GL) foods are the optimal foods for diabetics, and these foods also help to prevent diabetes in the first place:

• Green vegetables: Nutrient-dense green vegetables—leafy greens, cruciferous vegetables, and other green vegetables—are the most important foods to focus on for diabetes prevention and reversal. Higher green vegetable consumption is associated with lower risk of developing type 2 diabetes, and among diabetics, higher green vegetable intake is associated with lower HbA1c levels.2,3 A recent meta-analysis found that greater leafy green intake was associated with a 14% decrease in risk of type 2 diabetes. One study reported that each daily serving of leafy greens produces a 9% decrease in risk.

14 foods that can help fight diabetes naturally!

One way to control blood sugar level and keep a tab on diabetes is by controlling your diet. What you eat has a direct relation to your blood sugar level, either raising it or keeping it within its normal range. So, it is important to eat sensibly to keep your blood sugar within the normal range. Here are some foods that might help.

Bitter gourd: This vegetable is not favourite among many but a must-have for diabetics. It contains hypoglycemic or plant insulin-like substance that helps to lower blood sugar levels and also urine sugar levels. Continuous consumption can help a diabetic keep the levels within the normal range.

11 Exercise Tips for Type 2 Diabetes

Exercise is sure to be on your to-do list if you have diabetes. Get started with these go-to tips:

1. Make a list of fun activities. You have lots of options, and you don't have to go to a gym. What sounds good? Think about something you've always wanted to try or something you enjoyed in the past. Sports, dancing, yoga, walking, and swimming are a few ideas. Anything that raises your heart rate counts.

2. Get your doctor's OK. Let them know what you want to do. They can make sure you're ready for it. They'll also check to see if you need to change your meals, insulin, or diabetes medicines. Your doctor can also let you know if the time of day you exercise matters.

Exercises to Avoid When You Have Diabetes

Regular physical activity is an important part of a healthy lifestyle when you have diabetes. It is good for your cardiovascular system and can help control blood glucose levels. However, there are times when you need to be careful about exercising with diabetes.  If you have certain diabetes complications, there are exercises that you should avoid. Michael See, MS, RCEP, Clinical Exercise Physiologist at Joslin Diabetes Center, discusses certain situations that may require you to modify your fitness program

The following complications may affect your exercise routine:.

Proliferative diabetic retinopathy (PDR)—Patients with diabetes and active PDR should avoid activities that involve strenuous lifting; harsh, high-impact activities; or placing the head in an inverted position for extended periods of time.

Healthy Eating

Eating well to maintain a healthy weight is one of the most important things you can do to lower your risk for type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

It can seem hard to make healthy food choices, particularly if you are on a budget and short on time. But there are some simple steps you can take to help you and your family eat healthier. Choose 2 or 3 of these suggestions to start today. Then come back another day and try a few more.

Build a Healthier Plate

• Use a grocery list when shopping for food to help you choose more fresh vegetables, fruits, and whole grains.

Diagnosing Diabetes and Learning About Prediabetes

There are several ways to diagnose diabetes. Each way usually needs to be repeated on a second day to diagnose diabetes.

Testing should be carried out in a health care setting (such as your doctor’s office or a lab). If your doctor determines that your blood glucose level is very high, or if you have classic symptoms of high blood glucose in addition to one positive test, your doctor may not require a second test to diagnose diabetes.

A1C

The A1C test measures your average blood glucose for the past 2 to 3 months. The advantages of being diagnosed this way are that you don't have to fast or drink anything.

• Diabetes is diagnosed at an A1C of greater than or equal to 6.5%

Foods That Fight Type 2 Diabetes

If you have type 2 diabetes—the most common form of diabetes—eating a healthy, well-balanced diet is critical to controlling your weight, blood sugar, blood pressure, and cholesterol. By creating a meal plan tailored to your personal preferences and lifestyle, you'll be able to enjoy the foods you love while minimizing complications and reducing further risk.

Creating a Diabetes Meal Plan

There isn't a one-size-fits-all diabetes meal plan. It's important to work with your health care team to create a meal plan that fits with your schedule and eating habits, while effectively managing your diabetes. Some methods recommended by the American Diabetes Association (ADA) include controlling portions and counting carbohydrates. The ADA recommends utilizing the Glycemic Index (GI) for "fine-tuning" carbohydrate counting.

Diabetes Superfoods

Ever see the top 10 lists for foods everyone should eat to superpower your diet? Ever wonder which will mesh with your diabetes meal plan? Wonder no more. Your list of the top 10 diabetes superfoods has arrived.

As with all foods, you need to work the diabetes superfoods into your individualized meal plan in appropriate portions.

All of the foods in our list have a low glycemic index or GI and provide key nutrients that are lacking in the typical western diet such as:

• calcium
• potassium
• fiber
• magnesium
• vitamins A (as carotenoids), C, and E.

Blood Glucose Control and Exercise

There are a few ways that exercise lowers blood glucose:

• Insulin sensitivity is increased, so your cells are better able to use any available insulin to take up glucose during and after activity.
• When your muscles contract during activity, it stimulates another mechanism that is completely separate of insulin. 
• This mechanism allows your cells to take up glucose and use it for energy whether insulin is available or not.
• This is how exercise can help lower blood glucose in the short term. And when you are active on a regular basis, it can also lower your A1C.

15 Exercise Tips for People With Type 2 Diabetes

These tips will help you ease back into exercise and find a workout plan that works for you.

Get a move on

Exercise is safe—and highly recommended—for most people with type 2 diabetes, including those with complications. Along with diet and medication, exercise will help you lower blood sugar and lose weight.

However, the prospect of diving into a workout routine may be intimidating. If you're like many newly diagnosed type 2 diabetics, you may not have exercised in years.

If that's the case, don't worry: It's fine to start slow and work up. These tips will help you ease back into exercise and find a workout plan that works for you.

Try quick workouts

As long as you're totaling 30 minutes of exercise each day, several brief workouts are fine, says George Griffing, MD, professor of endocrinology at the Saint Louis University School of Medicine in St. Louis.

10 tips to help prevent type 2 diabetes

You can help reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes by understanding your risk and making changes to your lifestyle. Common risk factors include increased weight, blood pressure, cholesterol and triglyceride (blood fat) levels. Changing the habits of a lifetime isn’t easy, but it’s worth the effort. 

Here are some tips to help you reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes.

1. Check your risk of diabetes. Take the Life! risk assessment test and learn more about your risk of developing type 2 diabetes. A 12+ score indicates that you are at high risk and may be eligible for the Life! program - a free Victorian lifestyle modification program that helps you reduce your risk of type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease, or call 13 RISK (13 7475). 

CAN YOU REDUCE YOUR RISK OF DIABETES?

Type 1 diabetes cannot be prevented. But up to 80 per cent of cases of Type 2 diabetes can be delayed or prevented by making simple changes in our everyday lives.

In Type 1 diabetes, the body's immune system destroys the insulin-producing cells, but currently the cause remains uncertain. Type 2 diabetes is a little more complex. It's the combination of our genes and our lifestyle that influences the development of Type 2 diabetes and puts us at risk.

Find out if you are at risk of Type 2 diabetes.

How can I reduce my risk?

Some of the risk factors for Type 2 diabetes – such as age, ethnic background, or family history – can’t be changed, but others can. 

The Top 20 Foods for Beating Diabetes

What you eat can help you control and fight your diabetes. Incorporate these healthy foods into your diet

Every time you roll your shopping cart into the supermarket, you’re making a decision that goes far beyond whether you’re going to have pork or pierogies for dinner. You’re actually choosing between being a victim and a victor. What you put in your cart goes a long way toward determining whether you’ll be compromised by diabetes or start controlling and eventually even beating it.

That’s why we’ve assembled the following list of the 20 best foods for fighting diabetes. Every time you go to the store from now on, take this list with you and check off each item. In fact, if your favourite store has a delivery service, sign up for it so your supplies are automatically replenished every few weeks.

Eat These Foods and Fight Diabetes

About 24 million Americans are believed to have diabetes, and nearly 6 million don’t know it. Another 57 million are thought to have prediabetes, a condition that boosts risks for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. What quick tricks can you try to avoid prediabetes and the real thing—or help treat either condition? Scientists have hit on three new techniques.

Tricks for avoiding diabetes

About 24 million Americans are believed to have diabetes, and nearly 6 million don’t know it. Another 57 million are thought to have prediabetes, a condition that boosts risks for diabetes, heart disease, and stroke. What quick tricks can you try to avoid prediabetes and the real thing—or help treat either condition? Scientists have hit on three new techniques.