Читать книгу Diabetes Cookbook For Canadians For Dummies - Cynthia Payne - Страница 10

Exercise has a powerful effect in controlling blood glucose. Indeed, if you’ve been sedentary and your blood glucose control hasn’t been very good, you’ll likely find yourself very impressed by how much your newfound exercise program helps bring your blood glucose down. This effect is made all the greater when coupled with nutrition therapy and weight loss. (Exercise also helps control blood pressure and cholesterol, lowers the risk of heart disease, and makes one feel generally better. Not too shabby, eh?) Cardiovascular (cardio) exercise causes your muscles to use oxygen and your heart to speed up and beat more forcefully. As the name suggests, cardiovascular exercise works – and benefits – the heart (hence the term cardio) and circulation (vascular). Examples of cardiovascular exercise are walking, running, and skating.

The Canadian Diabetes Association recommends you perform cardiovascular exercise for at least 150 minutes per week, spreading it out over a minimum of three days of the week. Also, you should avoid going more than two days in a row without performing cardiovascular exercise.

Resistance exercise uses muscular strength to move a weight or to work against a resistance. If you lift weights or exercise with weight machines, you’re performing resistance exercise. This type of exercise improves muscle strength and, as shown by pioneering Canadian research undertaken by Dr. Ron Sigal, also helps control blood glucose levels.

The Canadian Diabetes Association recommends that you perform resistance training at least two times per week (and preferably three times per week), starting with one set of 10 to 15 repetitions using a moderate weight, and gradually progressing toward a goal of three sets of eight repetitions three times per week using a heavier weight.

Before you take up a new exercise program, be sure to first speak to your physician. He or she will need to ensure you are sufficiently healthy to perform the activity. Also, exercise can affect your blood glucose levels both while you’re performing the activity and afterward, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on them to see how they respond to your activities. Be sure to keep a fast-acting carbohydrate (as we discuss earlier) with you in case you develop hypoglycemia during or after your exercise.