One of my guilty pleasures a few times per week is to watch Oprah while I’m at the gym. Yesterday I got part of a show which I’ll assume was about prevention and reversal of diabetes. For those of you who are new here, part of my mission is to reverse the trend and rates of heart disease and diabetes in midlife women so I paid attention to what the guests–Dr. Oz, Bob Greene, (Oprah’s trainer), and Dr. Ian Smith–had to say. (Art, Oprah’s former chef made a guest appearance as proof that you can reverse diabetes. He’s lost something like 90 pounds and transformed his cooking in the process)
Bob Greene has a new book out, The Best Life Guide to Managing Diabetes and Pre-Diabetes. He is co-author along with Dr.Jack Melendrino and Janis Jilbrin MS, RD. I’ve yet to buy the book–I disagree with Bob on many aspects of his programs–but will pick it up. Whether Bob and I see eye to eye over butter vs margarine–he touts it and I say it’s plastic and dangerous–is unimportant if his program and celebrity gets the word out that people can reverse diabetes and/or prevent it. There is one thing he told a group of women, who all looked more than well fed and heading for or suffering from diabetes, and it was this:
Exercise is non negotiable!
Amen to that! Most of you reading this are already believers in the power of movement. If there are any of you who doubt that exercise is a life saving, life extending, cure-what-ails-you kind of thing, I invite you to change your thinking. Even daily walking can change your physiology and contribute to better health.
With diabetes and pre-diabetes it is even more important that you move your muscles, get your heart pumping, and blood flowing. Exercise moves blood sugar where it needs to be which gets it out of your bloodstream. While you are exercising insulin cannot be produced so you give your body a rest from the insulin storm produced by too much blood sugar. Your blood sugar levels go down naturally. If you need to, you will most likely lose weight.
This is not a plug for Bob’s book, as I said, I don’t own it yet. From the reviews I’ve read I know I’ll have other issues outside of some of the foods given the Best Life Seal. Rather, it is a plug, no, a plea, for all of the women reading this to move your parts! I don’t want to have to drag you all kicking and screaming into a long, happy life . And since that’s impractical how about I just beat this subject to a mind numbing pulp by repeating it–you’ve got to move it move it!
I also don’t want to see you too sick to kick and scream. Diabetes is not simply a sugar issue. It is a disease with debilitating and often horrible consequences. By the time a person is diagnosed with diabetes they have had the condition for years. High blood sugar and insulin resistance have been battering your heart, kidney’s, nerves in the eyes and feet. Shall I go on? Drugs come with their own set of complications and who wants to test their sugar 2 – 6 times per day?
Exercise is not the only lifestyle change that must become a regular part of your life to prevent or turn back the diagnosis of diabetes but it is an important one.
As Bob told the church ladies–many of whom were midlife–Exercise is Non-negotiable. Love you Bob, margarine and all, thanks for getting the word out.
If you or someone you know is diabetic and using insulin and overweight and can’t lose or is gaining more, this is important information.
Insulin does lower blood sugar but no more than lifestyle change. In Dr. Julian Whitaker’s newsletter of June 2009 her talks about a government sponsored study from the ’70’s which “demonstrated–contrary to expectations–that insulin use conferred no advantages for type 2 diabetics.” It did lower blood sugar levels but compared to study participants who changed their diet and other lifestyle habits “there were no significant differences in fatal and non-fatal complications of diabetes. And, the participants who were given insulin gained an average of 14 pounds!
According to Dr. Asqual Getaneh, a diabetes and obesity expert at Columbia University, “Insulin is a potent hormone that regulates glucose, fat, and protein metabolism. Insulin improves your cells ability to take in and use glucose. If you are taking in more than you are using it gets stored as fat.
In many cases, people with type 2 diabetes start insulin therapy when oral medicines cannot or no longer control their glucose levels. This means that blood glucose levels in the body have been elevated for an extended period of time. In this state, the body does not metabolize glucose, fat, or protein in a well-regulated or efficient way. Cells that require glucose to function properly begin starving because of inadequate amounts of circulating insulin. Fat metabolism becomes abnormal, which can lead to high triglyceride levels. The body’s metabolic rate then increases as it tries to convert this fat into a source of energy.
These abnormalities are usually corrected when you begin insulin therapy. The body begins using glucose better, and the metabolic rate declines by about five percent. Insulin also helps the body gain fat-free mass, but on the flip side, it also helps it store fat more efficiently. голы тёлки
If your doctor is not aware of this connection what will likely happen is this, your weight will increase, your blood sugar levels will then increase, your doc will increase the amount of insulin you take. Increased insulin resistance is a marker for heart disease. So begins a sad and unnecessary spiral of more ill health and feelings of frustration and helplessness for the patient. It may also lead your doctor to prescribe yet another medication in the form of Glucophage (metaformin) or the like to make the body more insulin sensitive. In an upcoming post I’ll share what I’ve read about the risks associated with these diabetes drugs to a heart already suffering from the system-wide effects of high blood glucose and why lifestyle change should be the very first thing a pre-diabetic or newly diagnosed diabetic patient tries.
You can’t do any research on prevention of diabetes, reversing diabetes, or improving blood sugar levels and insulin resistance without noticing that exercise is a part of any program. From the very conservative–and Big Pharma supportive– American Diabetes Association to functional medicine docs like Julian Whitaker and Mark Hyman, survey says–you’ve got to move it move it. And at midlife, we’ve got more reasons than ever to take this recommendation to heart.
Ever wonder why though? I mean specifically why exercise is so important for regulating blood sugar and insulin vs just weight loss and heart health? According to Dr. Steven Joyal, M.D. of the Life Extension Foundation, “The relationship between exercise and blood glucose is clear: muscles need energy to move, and glucose is a major source of fuel that makes movement possible.”
He goes on to describe the three kinds of fuel our bodies access when we move, high energy phosphates, glucose in the form of glycogen which is the stored form of glucose, and free fatty acids. Intensity and duration determine which of those fuel types the body gobbles up. Lift a heavy weight over your head says Joyval, and “you are primarily tapping into your phosphate system.” Running at a brisk pace mainly uses glycogen and a slow walk will find free fatty acids and a very small amount of glycogen. To help restore and maintain even blood glucose levels you’ll want to do exercise that mainly uses stored glucose or glycogen.
If you aren’t a runner, power walk. A stroll is not going to cut it. Ashtanga yoga is a powerful, faster paced form of yoga that builds muscle as well as burns glycogen. Skating, dancing, snow shoeing, cross country skiing, aerobics classes etc will all put your body in a state of burning that stored glucose. Don’t forget to include some weight training into your weekly program it will improve insulin sensitivity.
DO NOT START AN EXERCISE PROGRAM WITHOUT YOUR DOCTOR’S APPROVAL if you are new to exercise and diabetic. Most of us get excited about making changes and we always here that recommendation. For most people, it’s ok to get started and if something feels bad we’ll go see the doc. In the case of people with Diabetes, even if you are newly diagnosed and used to exercizing, ask your doc if you are cleared to uplevel it if that’s your goal. Your heart and your kidneys have been stressed and you might have to take it slow.
Once you are sure you’re good to go, move it with a vengeance. You’ll also be reducing the effects of stress which if left unmanaged will contribute to blood sugar that’s out of control.
More on that next time. Got a success story about blood sugar and exercise? Share it please.
Have you heard of leptin yet? Leptin is a hormone that is supposed to signal when we are full but in fact it may the thing that is making it impossible for you to feel full. How does that work?
In humans of a healthy weight with all systems firing as they should, leptin is produced by fat cells to tell the brain when we are full so that we stop eating. Leptin also enhances the body’s ability to access and utilize fat stores for energy. In humans whose metabolism has been thrown off by years of overweight, Syndrome X, or unhealthy food choices circulating leptin levels are elevated.
So why do those with more than normal levels of leptin stay overweight? Scientists believe this paradox is due to leptin resistance. Target cells and tissues become immune to the effects of leptin and so the body never gets the “I’ve eaten enough” signal hence folks with this problem are never completely satisfied. What’s worse high levels of leptin make it near impossible for people to lose weight. Leptin resistance shares some of the same ill effects as insulin resistance–inflammation which leads to a state in the body that encourages diseases like diabetes, heart disease and the other lifestyle and aging illnesses.
The muffin top is the least of your worries if you are a leptin resistant person. And there is still a lot for science to untangle about this problem. Some things they do know are: you can reverse leptin resistance through a diet designed to restore sensitivity to leptin. There are at least two supplements that I know of that have been proven in double blind, placebo controlled studies to promote weight loss which in turn will lower the circulating leptin level.
has more information on this problem as well as the two supplements I can point you towards. The other supplement has the seal of approval of Dr. Ron Rosedale who wrote the book, literally on Leptin called The Rosedale Diet, Turn Off Your Hunger Switch
. This supplement is described in great detail at this site.
If you are struggling with your weight and feel frustrated by the constant feeling hungry, regaining each time you do lose weight, then I encourage you to learn more about the discovery of leptin resistance. It may be the piece of information that finally frees you from your struggle. Think of how it would feel to know you are not only losing the weight but putting your body back in order so you won’t easily regain it? What a relief that will be!
