Relax And Enjoy Free

Posts Tagged ‘Control’

Diabetes means that your blood glucose (also called blood sugar) is too high. Your body uses glucose for energy. But having too much glucose in your blood can hurt you. When you take care of your diabetes, you’ll feel better. You’ll reduce your risk for problems with your kidneys, eyes, nerves, feet and legs, and teeth. You’ll also lower your risk for a heart attack or a stroke.

People with diabetes are encouraged to exercise regularly for better blood sugar control and to reduce the risk of cardiovascular diseases. The reason for this is that muscles which are working use more glucose than those that are resting.

Muscle movement leads to greater sugar uptake by muscle cells and lower blood sugar levels. Additional benefits of exercise include a healthier heart, better weight control and stress management. There are some exercise precautions which people with diabetes must take, however, when done safely, exercise is a valuable aid to optimal health.

Exercise, along with good nutrition, helps decrease body fat, which helps normalize glucose metabolism. Also, exercise helps ower coronary risk factors like high blood pressure and high cholesterol.

Cardiovascular training should be the foundation of the exercise program. Aim for at least 20 minutes of sustained activity three to five days per week. If one suffers from loss of sensitivity in the feet, avoid exercises such as prolonged walking, jogging or step exercises. Better choices for cardiovascular exercise would be swimming, bicycling, rowing, chair exercises and other non-weight bearing activities. Fluid intake is important during exercise, and especially so with cardiovascular activity and the diabetic exerciser. Consider a high-glucose sports drink like Gatorade or fruit juices over water, which can help keep blood sugar from going too low. Drink fluid before, during and after exercise.

Aerobic exercise

Since many Type 2 diabetics are sedentary and overweight, low-impact exercise such as walking or stationary cycling is recommended, along with enough exercise to promote weight management. Their goal should be to exercise five times per week, up to 40 – 60 minutes per session at a moderate intensity. This level of exercise can be reached gradually, starting as low as 10 – 20 minutes a few times a week for a person who has never exercised. Remember to increase only one factor at a time (days per week, length of session, or intensity).

Flexibility exercises -

Flexibility exercises, also called stretching, helps keep joints flexible and reduces the chances of injury during other activities. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes helps the body to warm up, as well as get ready for aerobic activities.

Remember: Exercise is powerful therapy — so powerful that you shouldn’t try it without a little professional guidance. (After all, you’d never start taking extra-strong diabetes pills without your doctor’s okay.) Your doctor can help you fit exercise into your overall health plan. You may need to adjust your medications, carry snacks or drinks, or tweak your diet to help prevent hypoglycemia (low blood sugar). This can happen to people with Type 2 diabetes, but it’s much more common for people with Type 1. If you have this type of diabetes, you’ll have to work especially closely with your doctor to find the right balance of exercise, diet, and medications.

Eating less, or cutting back on fat in your diet, won’t keep the weight off. What you really need to do is strike a good balance between the number of calories you consume and the number you burn. And the only way to do that is to exercise.

By exercising, you can lose weight while you eat more calories than if you simply went on a diet. Regular physical activity is much more effective at keeping the weight off in the long run than any diet.

With aerobic exercise, you can lose weight without drastically reducing the calories you consume or sacrificing important nutritional needs. One reason for this is because aerobic exercise not only elevates your metabolism while you’re exercising, it can also keep it elevated even after you’re done, depending of course on how long and how strong you exercise.

An aerobic program you stick with can help you lose weight easier because it can stimulate your body and make it burn calories. If weight control is your goal, some types of aerobic activity will work better than others. Low-impact aerobics, like walking, step aerobics and low-impact aerobic dance are your best bets. Some good no-impact aerobic activities you can benefit from include swimming, bicycling and rowing.

Your muscles burn calories during physical activity. Increase your muscle mass, and you’ll be increasing your body’s capacity to burn calories both during activity and at rest.

By incorporating strength training into your activity program, as well as following a moderate diet, you’ll be able to maintain lean muscle mass while you lose fat.

Start any strength-training program with one set of exercises and a weight that allows you to complete eight to 12 repetitions. Your program should exercise your legs, arms, chest and upper back. If you want to strengthen your stomach and lower back, increase the number of repetitions with weights that offer less resistance.

Follow a moderate low-fat diet and an exercise program that combines aerobic activity and strength training. That’s the key to losing weight – and keeping it off.

Begin slowly with exercises you find comfortable and build as your body becomes accustomed to the activity level. Don’t start out too hard or too fast. Chances are you may injure yourself or quit before you’ve done yourself much good.

Maintaining a lower, healthier body weight is something you can accomplish. So start now and keep on going!