The Insulin Effect of Fitness! (National Diabetes Month)

Besides Veterans Day and Thanksgiving, November is also known as National Diabetes Month. Though there are two types of diabetes, this article focuses on Type II diabetes. If you have it you're feeling the effects of decreased quality of life.  This is quite unfortunate, as it is probably the most preventable of diseases along with heart disease.  Interestingly, Type II diabetes correlates closely with heart disease.

In a world of traditional Western medicine, the medical and pharmaceutical companies are constantly on a search to find drugs to treat Type II diabetes. Interestingly, there are ways to reverse the effects of diabetes without using pills.

Before I go any further, I feel compelled to tell you that if you think you have diabetes (or have been diagnosed), you need to see a medical professional regularly.    Preferably, you would see an endocrinologist. Any way you look at it, you will most likely need medication (like Avandia, glucophage, metformin etc.). Also, I need to remind you of the role of insulin in the body, which is to allow blood sugar to be extracted into the muscle.

To truly beat diabetes, you must eat right and get physical.  As always you need to incorporate the synergistic effect of resistance training (weight lifting), cardiovascular exercise, and supportive nutrition if you want to beat diabetes (related article). Every endocrinologist I have known concurs. Here is the first reason why:

The Insulin Effect of Exercise- When you exercise (with weights and with cardiovascular training), your muscles do a very unique thing. It starts to extract blood sugar without the use of insulin. More interestingly, the body will begin to release glucose (blood sugar) from the liver to balance things out. (That's a really good thing .) Even better, when you lift weights and increase your muscle tone, your muscle will extract more blood sugar even at rest.

Studies show, that many Type II diabetics are able to decrease the amount of diabetic medication as a result of exercise (at some point you usually have to). This is because you become less insulin resistant.  You may even begin to experience fatigue because the medication is greater than the resistance of insulin, thereby bringing your blood sugar too low.  Most doctors recognize this right away and are often thrilled that their patients are making better choices and become healthier.  Think about the money you'll save medications.

There are even some reports that when caught early, diabetes can solely be treated with exercise and eating right. This can prevent you from taking med's and can possibly create physical changes (hormonal shifts) in the body that makes your insulin regulation normal again.  Don't forget that when you do the right things you will also lose the "extra" body fat which contributes to developing Type II diabetes.  However, it should be noted that being overweight is not the sole cause of Type II diabetes.  Conversely, it highly correlates to Type II diabetes because the same lifestyle choices lead to the same symptoms and illnesses.  It is for this reason that weight loss alone is not enough. 

If you or someone you know has diabetes, this is the time to take back control of your body and improve your quality of life.  Make every effort you can to fight the disease instead of letting it defeat you.  A long-term, comprehensive fitness and nutrition program is what you need.  If you don't know where to start, seeking the help of a professional fitness coach (at Fitness Together of course) is a good idea!  Your fitness and nutrition program has to evolve and be more progressive.  Quick weight loss gimmicks do not work long term.

written by:

Kelly Huggins, A-CPT

Exercise Science, B.S.

NPTI Instructor

Fitness Together - Fitness/Nutrition Coach

MYTH: Skip breakfast - Consume Less Calories

Just like mama told you, "breakfast is the most important meal of the day".


Don’t skip breakfast thinking you “save up your calories”. There is more to food than calories in versus calories out.  The interesting thing is multiple studies show that people who eat breakfast consume fewer calories than those who don’t.  By the end of the day, non-breakfast eaters become ravenous. You’re ready to mow down on a bag of chips or cookies, or pull over to your favorite fast food restaurant.  There are a few reasons for this; however, the main reason is related to regulating your blood sugar and insulin balance. 

The Insulin Connection

Any time you eat, you will increase your blood sugar.  As blood sugar (glucose) increases, you release insulin into the body.  If you go without eating until midday, your blood sugar levels decreases.  This is when you get to starvation mode.   Read- Understand your Hunger Level.

Because of other physiological factors that affect your emotional state, your judgment as to what you eat becomes impaired.  Instead of choosing fruits or vegetables, you’re prone to eat a processed carbohydrate that is high glycemic and possibly high in fat.  This puts you into a yo-yo eating pattern the rest of the day, as you release more insulin than what was needed.   You begin to dip back down below your blood sugar level.  This causes you to get stressed, maybe even get a headache.  To relieve the pain (whether emotional or physical), you go back to eating crap.  Forgive my French, but you know it’s true.

Want some research?  Go to MrBreakfast.com.  

Before I leave with, "you need to eat breakfast," you still have to eat a sound breakfast.  Pop-tarts and doughnuts with coffee is not a good solution!

Here are some tips about breakfast:

• Prepare-  Know what you’re going to eat the next morning before you get up.  You can go as far as preparing it the night before.  Moreover, you can make something like an egg dish with veggies in it and keep it in the fridge.  It could last you all week!
• Create a routine-  If you’re like me, I have a routine in the morning of taking a shower, etc.  A part of that routine is eating breakfast.  At first, it may be tough, but give it some time.  Eating breakfast will be like brushing your teeth.  
• Get up a little earlier-  Hitting the snooze button over and over is not going to make you feel any more rested.  So, you might as well get up.  If you’re not a “snoozer” then set your clock to wake up 15 minutes earlier and go to bed 15 minutes earlier.
• Get the right combination:  Include a starchy carb, a fibrous carb, and a lean protein. A traditional breakfast could be oatmeal (starchy carb) with vegetable omelet (veggies = fibrous carbs, eggs = protein).  Getting the right combination of food is vital for any meal to regulate blood sugar.
• Keep it easy-  Understandably, you may not have time cook in the evening or morning.  There are a lot of things you can do ranging from cereal to protein shakes.  

written by:

Kelly Huggins, A-CPT

Exercise Science, B.S.

Fitness Together - Fitness/Nutrition Coach

Exercise is great for Insomnia

You’ve might have tried everything from taking caffeine out of your diet, to taking the television out of your room. Still, nothing works for you. You might have even tried sleeping pills, but that hardly seems like a long-term solution. However, maybe there is something you have thought about, but still haven’t tried. You know what I am talking about. It’s exercise!

Because of experience, I can tell you that the first thing you will benefit from exercise is a more sound sleep. From a scientific point of view, it has been proven that exercise greatly enhances sleep. One study at Stanford University Medical School found that with moderate intensity exercise, you can fall asleep 15 minutes faster and for 45 minutes longer.

Here are a few of the reasons why:

Increased levels of endorphins: These feel good endorphins can only be stimulated by regular exercises.

 

Improved oxygen to the brain: With regular exercise, your body develops the ability to carry oxygen and nutrients better.

Greater hormone and neural balance: Many hormones, the nervous system, and other parts of your body are affected by stress, which can cause insomnia. By placing physical stress on the body, it releases and reverses many of the negative impacts of bad stress.

Decreased body fat: It is true that if you have a high body fat percentage, you are more likely not to rest well. This is because the body fat is taxing on the heart and lungs. The less body fat you have, the easier it is to breathe; therefore, less likely to develop sleep apnea.

If your excuse not to exercise is not enough time, consider this, by placing the time to do it you have more sound sleep. When you rest better, you take less time doing things that once took longer because you were not well rested. 

written by
Kelly Huggins

Exer. Sci., B.S., Georgia State University

FT Fitness/Nutrition Coach