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Exercise is great, but it does not control my diabetes because I have too many culinary weaknesses.
I indulge in two 90 minute sessions per week of weight training, plus an average of about 180 minutes per week of brisk walking, or cycling on the stationary bike.
I also take glimperide daily, but have switched my 2nd medication form metformin to januvia, because my body eliminates the metformin, which is therefore not digested.
Nevertheless, my Alc's are always between 9.3 and 10.3.
This forces me to conclude that exercise and medication together will not control diabetes. Diet must be the essential factor.
Exercise will help you get your blood sugar levels down quickly, by empty some muscle glycogen too make room for the sugar in your blood, but if you are constantly adding additional sugar, then yes, you will even out and not see a difference one way or the other.
I wish I would have seen this post 18 months ago. Yes I've kept my prediabetes under control but I still indulge in high carb meals that can have upwards of 100 grams per meal and eat too large of meals.. I plan to along with the bodybuilding I just started to clean up the leftover carb indulging in my diet and go completely clean like you have, keeping it around 50 grams per meal.. maybe up to 75 if the carbs are low glycemic, such as a can of black beans.
Thank you for posting this. Smaller meals seem to be key as well.
I max out at about 10-20 grams per meal, once a day. The rest of the time my carbs are coming from fibrous veggies.
I found out on May 17, 2009 that I was a type 2 diabetic. I tipped the scale at 208 pounds, and being a short man of 5'7'' tall and 42 years old, that was heavy. Also, my medical test results clearly showed that my cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar levels were through the roof, and I needed to get them lowered. My blood sugar was as high as 500, and I had blurred vision, and was going to the bathroom every two hours. So I knew something was wrong.
So here's what I did. I simply gave up all fast foods. I used to eat fast foods for lunch and dinner a week about 3-5 times. Since I am a teacher (which alone is a very stressful job) and active at my local church, it was easier for me to get something fast to eat instead of eating healthy since I wouldn't always come directly home after work.
Then I gave up the sugary drinks I loved---rootbeer soda, starbucks frappiccinos, milk shakes, and I started drinking lots of water.
The first week I switched over to eating just salads with lean meats. I began watching my carbs not going over more than 55 carbs per meal.
After 4 weeks I noticed that my 38 waist pants were getting bigger on me.
After 8 weeks, I noticed that I was feeling much better and I noticed that my gut was going down as well as my love handles. Then I started eating Weight Watchers steamers for lunch, which by the way they are actually good becauase I got tired of eating just salads for lunch.
I will say too that I TOTALLY STOPPED BEING GREEDY. When I want a steak, I eat just a portion of it. Instead of eating 3 pieces of fried chicken I only eat one piece, but I pile up more vegetables on my plate, making it half of what I eat off my plate instead of a fourth or a third. I don't eat any large portions of white rice anymore. I gave up all white bread switching to whole grain or wheat. I drink water with every meal, and when I do want to drink something besides water. I drink unsweetened iced tea with splenda. I also drink diet soda too, and I am used to the flavor.
Another thing I changed about my eating habits is now I eat 3 meals a day and snack in between. I never would eat breakfast in the morning and would just wait to eat lunch because I thought that by not eating breakfast that would keep me from gaining weight. It basically did the opposite by lowering my metabolism.
Now I would be lying if I said I don't cheat. When I want to eat something sweet, I do. Instead of eating half of the oreo cookies in the package. I only eat 3 of them. Instead of eating a whole pint of ice cream (cookies n cream is my favorite) I just eat three spoonfuls. Instead of eating a whole bag of chips, I eat maybe 5-7 chips. I just read how much is a serving on any food or snack I am about to eat, and I don't go over that amount so that I can stay within my total carb intake for the day.
On August 27, 2009 (3 months since I was diagnosed a type 2 diabetic) my doctor's nurse weighed me, and I weighed 188 pounds. I was blown away, because I had not started exercising. I just changed my bad eating habits and stopped being greedy.
After the last doctor's visit, I was motivated to start a treadmill routine. My 5 day routine is as follows:
I do a 5 minute warm up on a 5% incline. After 5 minutes, I do 7-10 intervals of brisk walking at 3.5 mph for 30 secs. Then for 60 seconds I walk slowly at about 1.5 mph. (THE LATEST RESEARCH SAYS YOU GET MORE CALORIE BURNING BANG FOR YOUR BUCK WHEN YOU EXERCISE THIS WAY) After doing those 7-10 intervals, I walk backwards 60 seconds at 1.5 mph, then I walk forward at 3.5 mph for 30 seconds repeating these intervals for about 5 times. Then I cool down for 5 mins and stretch. It averages about 30-45 mins depending on how many intervals I do. (Now I didn't start off in the beginning doing this routine. I worked my way gradually up to it.)
It's a year later, and I have gained muscle weight, and my body fat is much lower. I am still eating very clean and heathy, and working out to me is like eating. I weight train 3 times a week, and I do cardio 2-3 times a week on alternate days. I am hovering around 178 pounds, and I can still fit my 32 inch pants. I will be getting blood work read again next month, and hopefully my levels are still good.
I just had labs done for 2015 and my A1c is 6.2 my weight is 179. Will post new profile pic of my self as fit as ever. Thanks for reps and support. DIABETES CAN BE REVERSED WITH DIET AND EXERCISE.
For me, diets don't work. So I eat what I want, but I choose to eat healthier foods, if I am making sense.
I'm the same. Rather than exercising to lose weight (I do a lot of walking) I simply changed my diet.
I've lost 30LBs in the last 90 days just by changing to a healthier diet of lean meats, chicken, fish, and veggies <<<the most important. Also, portion control is HUGE! I do cheat every now and again, but that's a far cry from the daily fast food and junk I was stuffing in my face for decades. The biggest change for any diebetic will be to get off gluten and corn sweateners. Those two are the primary cause of sugar spikes and obesity, which lead (like a super highway) to diabetes.
I've just started on the 90 for Life supplements and I'm hoping these will jumpstart my metabolism.
I had been pre-diabetic for a couple of years and then I had to take steroids which kicked me into full blown diabetes with a 7.0 A1C. I'm crossing my fingers to be in the 6 or below range now.
Luckily, diabetics can help reverse the condition with simple dietary changes. Food is definitely an important medicine for people with diabetes. What you eat can make all the difference between reversing the disease or making the condition even worse.
They are likely some former favorites, such as bacon, French fries, and dairy products. A person with diabetes should stay away from processed foods, especially refined carbohydrates. For instance, pizza night should likely be canceled. Other high-glycemic-index foods diabetics should avoid include many wheat flour products, white potatoes, white rice, candy, sodas, many cereal products, and especially sugar itself. Alcohol and caffeine consumption should also be limited. Fruits high in natural sugar, such as bananas, peaches, and nectarines, should also be avoided.
Instead, you should focus on low-glycemic-load foods that help reverse diabetes and control your blood sugar levels. The best anti-diabetes diet should mainly include whole, nutrient-dense, and natural foods that contain antioxidants and anti-inflammatory properties, and also help to detoxify the body.
All great information!
Along with eating only lean red meat, chicken, fish, and veggies, I've also tried to cut all corn sweeteners and table sugar from my diet. I still eat cheese, but have replaced milk with unsweetened almond milk (yes, they add sugar to almond milk (Silk)) and I use Blue Agave sweetener (low glycemic, far better than stevia) for my coffee now.
I've also found information that all wheat is horrible for diebetics, even whole wheat. (sigh) I've been considering doing the paleo diet which is supposed to be the best diet for us to follow.
I've also found information that all wheat is horrible for diebetics, even whole wheat. (sigh) I've been considering doing the paleo diet which is supposed to be the best diet for us to follow.
I just had labs done for 2015 and my A1c is 6.2 my weight is 179. Will post new profile pic of my self as fit as ever. Thanks for reps and support. DIABETES CAN BE REVERSED WITH DIET AND EXERCISE.
I have long suspected as much, but it was confirmed for me two months ago after dealing my Diabetes myself. I was put on metformin to treat my Type II but it was not effective at all, I remained at a blood sugar level of 140. Something wasn't right, so i did some searching for myself and stumbled upon the 7 Steps to health/Diabetes book (here is a review of it: 7 Steps to Health & The Big Diabetes Lie Review | Popular Ebook Reviews) The book basically spouts using diet and exercise to cure your diabetes. It sounds farfetched to anyone form the outside looking in, but the book made too much sense for me to not at least TRY. A couple weeks later and I was off metformin, and my blood sugar level dropped to 70-80 fasted. I will never have to graduate to taking insulin.
Look into a good diet. Look into a good workout plan. Resort to natural methods such as analyzing your diet/exercise/lifestyle to fight off diabetes. It WORKS.
I 5'5 and was 217 lbs with a 42 inch waist at the time of my diagnosis. I eventually dropped to 165 lbs at my lowest with a size 30 waist and went from a pants size 16 to 6ish-8.
I did it all through diet excersize and most importantly changing mentally. I did walking excersize for a total of about 1- 2 hrs a day and basic strenghth training (10 reps on each muscle 3-5 times) and dancing (just moving to upbeat music). 6 days a week for 2 months. After 2 months I dropped 19 lbs. Then decided to see if I could run and 1 mile later I was still running. In 4 months I had dropped a total of 37 Lbs. and had by then started adding more complex excersizes. I did pretty good and lost an aditional 15 2 months later. For a total of 50 lbs.
With excersize I combined good eating habits. I was unable to see my educator for the first months so I had to take matter into my own hand. After one horrible veggie and chicken meal I realized I would failbif that is all I could eat for the rest of my life. So I went to B&N to look for books on diabetes. Bought Diabetes for Dummies and The Best Life Diet book for diabetes. Honestly one of the best investment I ever made. I learned a lot about the disease. The BLD book had this chart on carb control, basically how many carb to eat per meals and just those charts alone are worth the book. I learned a lot.
Most importantly however, was learning to make healthy versions of what I like and make smart food decisions. At my best my a1c was 5.6. I also made sure I slept 6-8 hrs and was very routined.
Unfortunately my routine got done in by a new job with a crazy long commute 7 days a week and a part time job 3 days every other week. I was exhausted and food was the first thing I gave up. Then excersize time took a hit as well as sleep. After that I was finished and before I knew it every lbs had came back. As did my a1c which was intially 8.2. Now I am hovering at 7.7. I have been working on getting back on track lost 9 lbs. Knowing that work will always be part of my life I am learning to better manage my time.
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I do cheat every now and again, but that's a far cry from the daily fast food and junk I was stuffing in my face for decades. The biggest change for any diebetic will be to get off gluten and corn sweateners. Those two are the primary cause of sugar spikes and obesity, which lead (like a super highway) to diabetes.
