If you have diabetes type 2, should know?- by Dr Harold Gunatillake
There is more than one way you could bring down blood sugar level to normal range (fasting 90-110 mg), if you have diabetes.
Early stages, your doctor will refer you to a dietician for advice on dietetic management. This early stage (pre-diabetic phase) diet and exercise alone will help to control the disease and possibly even reverse.
Being having a genetic factor for diabetes or family history, you may need to continue both exercise and strict low GI foods discipline long term.
When you are a full blown diabetic due to neglect during the early phase, your doctor will put you on medication to bring down your blood sugar level with food restrictions. Medication alone can control the blood sugar level but may not be able to reverse the diabetic situation unless the insulin resistance is reduced. In short, you need to take medication right through life, as most do.
Another way of naturally bringing down your blood sugar in the early stages of diabetes, is strength training exercises for the muscles to absorb more glucose from the blood. This way one could minimise the diabetic situation.
Most people are advised to walk 10,000 steps a day by their physicians, but do not stress the importance of strength training to bring down your blood sugar faster. Walking benefits the heart and overall health, but strength exercises are specifically done to reduce your blood sugar fast and further build your muscles.
Studies have revealed that when muscles are developed or built up through strength repetitive exercises do increase the bulk of muscle bellies through a process called ‘hypertrophy’. This would assist the muscles to absorb more blood glucose for energy.
Strength training may be done daily or at least twice a week. At the same time, you could do other exercises like walking, jogging, swimming, cycling to increase your heart pumping.
You do not have to go to the gym to do strength exercises. You only need two resistance rubber bands and a pair of light dumbbells.
You need to do at least 10 stretches continuously with the rubber bands, or dumbbells, relax for 15 minutes and do another different series of stretches.
You could hold dumbbells in both hands and flex your elbows and straighten (flex and extend) 10 times. You could improvise other stretch exercises to keep the muscles working.
These exercises, as mentioned earlier develop your muscles and more blood glucose will get absorbed, thereby reducing your blood sugar.
Diabetes is caused due to insulin resistance. What it means is that your insulin secreted by the Islet cells in your pancreas is not bringing down the blood sugar levels due to factors that cause increase resistance to insulin.
Invariably, more and more insulin may be secreted to control your blood sugar which puts your pancreas into stress mode.
The happy note is that strength and other forms of exercise do improve your insulin sensitivity, to bring down your blood sugar within the normal range.
Conclusion: Strength exercises would be the best way to reduce your blood sugar among diabetics, with or without other conventional medication.
This is one way of reversing your diabetes.
Give it a go and see the results for yourself.
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