diabetes - Keyboard Athletes

Move It Monday – The Fountain of Youth

Interested in reducing your risk for cancer, heart disease, osteoporosis, diabetes, and dementia?

Study after study is concluding that regular exercise is the only well-established fountain of youth, and it’s free.

Today’s Personal Health column in the NYT has a really nicely researched article about the many, many health benefits of exercise to defend against both physical and cognitive deterioration.

My Move It Monday for this week is short and sweet. I want you to read about how you can use consistent exercise program reduce your odds of breast cancer 16%, reduce your odds of a stroke by 40%, and significantly cut your chances of developing diabetes, osteoporosis, and dementia.

Filed Under: Health

Avoid becoming a holiday weight gain statistic

By Jen Waak 1 Comment

scale Yesterday my new column went up on WriteOn! Online, where I talk about how to avoid becoming a holiday weight gain statistic, and a better way to track your food intake that actually allows for having a life.

Then today, this article shows up in my Twitter stream: This Is Why You’re Fat: Thanksgiving Meals Average 2,200 Calories Per Serving

Wow!

That is far more than the 1400-1800 that those who have succeeded at long-term weight loss eat in a day. With diabetes rates set to double and costs set to triple in the next 25 years, I really hope that Thanksgiving is the exception rather than the rule for virtually everyone.

As I talk about in my article, one day isn’t make or break, but you also can’t just ignore it, either.

Photo credit: redcherryhill

Filed Under: Weight Loss

Move It Monday – American Diabetes Month

By Jen Waak Leave a Comment

November is American Diabetes Month.

With 24 million Americans living with this disease, and another 57 million at risk, chances are you or someone you know lives with this disease. Every 20 seconds someone is diagnosed with this disease — that’s 4,320 in 24 hours. It was both of my grandmothers.

Because diabetes and its symptoms are significantly impacted by diet and lifestyle, there is a lot YOU can do to keep from developing the disease and helping diabetic loved ones.

Physical Activity. Get out and walk, ride a bike, dance in your basement — I really don’t care. But, physical activity is a great antidote. And, as you can see, it doesn’t have to be much.
Diet. As always, it comes down to what Mom told you — eat your fruits and veggies, and limit the desserts. Because everyone is different, you need to find the right diet for you — I define the right diet as one that is easy to follow, you feel good when adhering to, and is anti-inflammatory for your body. If you want help with at-home food testing, let me know, and I can point you in the right direction.

This week, I want you to call or email someone you know is diabetic or pre-diabetic and make plans to get out and MOVE with them. If they are too far away, get a commitment from them to find a buddy there.

You can learn more or share your diabetes story at stopdiabetes.com.

Filed Under: Health

Low-carb diet and diabetes

By Jen Waak Leave a Comment

The results of this study actually somewhat surprised me – there seemed to be quite a bit of decent research about the benefits of a low carb diet and a logical correlation between that and diabetes. I guess I never thought to compare these two together, however.

To sum it up where it REALLY counts, diabetes medications were reduced or eliminated in 95.2% of low-carb dieters vs. 62% of Low GI dieters. WOW!

ABSTRACT

OBJECTIVE: Dietary carbohydrate is the major determinant of postprandial glucose levels, and several clinical studies have shown that low-carbohydrate diets improve glycemic control. In this study, we tested the hypothesis that a diet lower in carbohydrate would lead to greater improvement in glycemic control over a 24-week period in patients with obesity and type 2 diabetes mellitus. Research design and methods: Eighty-four community volunteers with obesity and type 2 diabetes were randomized to either a low-carbohydrate, ketogenic diet (<20 g of carbohydrate daily; LCKD) or a low-glycemic, reduced-calorie diet (500 kcal/day deficit from weight maintenance diet; LGID). Both groups received group meetings, nutritional supplementation, and an exercise recommendation. The main outcome was glycemic control, measured by hemoglobin A1c.

RESULTS: Forty-nine (58.3%) participants completed the study. Both interventions led to improvements in hemoglobin A1c, fasting glucose, fasting insulin, and weight loss. The LCKD group had greater improvements in hemoglobin A1c (-1.5% vs. -0.5%, p=0.03), body weight (-11.1 kg vs. -6.9 kg, p=0.008), and high density lipoprotein cholesterol (+5.6 mg/dL vs. 0 mg/dL, p<0.001) compared to the LGID group. Diabetes medications were reduced or eliminated in 95.2% of LCKD vs. 62% of LGID participants (p<0.01).

CONCLUSIONS: Dietary modification led to improvements in glycemic control and medication reduction/elimination in motivated volunteers with type 2 diabetes. The diet lower in carbohydrate led to greater improvements in glycemic control, and more frequent medication reduction/elimination than the low glycemic index diet. Lifestyle modification using low carbohydrate interventions is effective for improving and reversing type 2 diabetes.

Image credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/veganfeast/ / CC BY 2.0