Benefits of the combination of diet and exercise in diabetes (Part 1)

Having diabetes can lead us to make many changes in our lifestyle. These changes include: improving our diet, increasing our level of physical activity, controlling our weight, quitting smoking, and learning to manage stress. Today we will focus on the first two.

By making changes to your diet, you help your body get the nutrients it needs in the amounts it needs. This helps you not to continue accumulating fat, it reduces your abdominal fat which helps to improve your blood glucose level.

Studies show that when people with Type 2 Diabetes have a sedentary lifestyle, they increase their risk of suffering from diseases that affect the heart and blood vessels, and complications related to their damage, such as eye and kidney disease.

Our body was created to be in motion. However, the change in times has led us to be a sedentary society. If you have Type 2 Diabetes, exercising is the second integral part of your treatment, along with a wise diet.

Studies have shown that exercise promotes better blood sugar control. This results in:

1. Improvement in insulin resistance, is very common in people with Type 2 Diabetes. How does this happen? The pancreas produces the hormone insulin, which is the key for glucose (sugar) to enter the cells and be used for energy. When there is insulin resistance the cells become less sensitive to insulin. To compensate for this, the pancreas produces more insulin so that the cells can respond. The problem is that there comes a time when the pancreas cannot keep up the necessary rhythm, and the glucose levels in the blood eventually increase. When a person with type 2 diabetes exercises, the cells are more sensitive to insulin. Even muscle cells can use glucose without insulin mediation. That is fantastic!

2. It is easier to lose weight. As cells are more efficient at using energy, metabolism improves, which makes the body burn calories more efficiently. It is like saying that now the car "steps and starts".

Best of all, this post-exercise blood sugar utilization effect lasts up to 24 hours after a session! By combining these two changes in your lifestyle, on one hand, you control the energy that enters and you move the stored energy (fat).

In the next article, I will tell you the benefits of some exercise modalities.