Sunday, February 3, 2008

Begin Weight Training To Lower Blood Sugar

As we get older our bodies change. Our hormonal system produces less of the hormones than it did in our teens or twenties. Our metabolism, in most cases, slow down. Our body and its defenses become more vulnerable to outside stresses. But, during this time in life, our stresses seem to grow exponentially. We are going place with our careers. We have families. These families have demands on us physically and psychologically. Homes, automobiles, vacations, as well as many other thing s add to the stress load. This creates a downward spiral for our health. That is, unless we take measures to counteract the stresses that affect us daily.


Lets see how this affects a person afflicted with diabetes, in particular. We are going to narrow it down to the exercise factor. We will even narrow it more to just weight training. Everyone knows, or is in denial, that exercise can only be beneficial in diabetes care. The importance of weight training has not been emphasized enough to the diabetic world. Let us address this.

As we get older, our bodies change, unless we act to prevent that change. After the age of 30 years, our body adds one pound of fat each year. Not only that, but we lose about one-half pound of lean tissue mass (muscle ) each year. Add these up and we gain 15 pounds of fat every 10 years. This is preventable. This is the reason for weight training.


Muscle is a major factor in clearance of circulating blood glucose. As lean body mass increases, greater amounts of blood glucose are cleared from the blood. Muscle tissue takes in the blood glucose and stores it as glycogen. And even cooler, the greater the proportion of muscle mass to fat, the more calories are burned at rest. And weight training further increases metabolism, even after working out.


Remember, if you have diabetes, Eat a snack prior to workings out. Hydrate during and after working out. Check your blood sugar level before and after working out to prevent any episodes of hypoglycemia.

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