Health News and Information

Enlist an exercise buddy who will work out with you. This person can be a family member or a friend. Get your buddy to agree to a “contract” that states each of you is committed for example,   a   thirty-minute walk every Monday, Wednesday and Friday. Having an exercise buddy not only will provide you with companionship when you walk, it will also provide you with a commitment to a friend or relative you will disappoint if you beg off on those days you would rather sleep in.Set up a non-food reward system when you reach exercise goals. For instance, reward yourself with a new hat, blouse, shirt, etc., if you stick with your programme for eight full weeks without a “no-show”.Make dressing for exercise easy. If you choose to exercise in the morning, set out your exercise clothes the night before. When you get up you won’t have to go searching for walking shoes or track suit.Choose to exercise at a time that fits your schedule and lifestyle. If you’re a morning person, get up and do your thing. If you prefer to exercise at the end of the day, select that time. Unlike the person with Type I diabetes, who must be careful to exercise at a time that matches peak activity times of injected insulin, you don’t have to be concerned about exercise time schedules.Monitor your progress. Use both your bathroom scale and your blood glucose meter to do this. If you’re on a weight loss programme, you can check your bathroom scale once a week and record the result in your diary. Your diet, plus your exercise, will show positive results each week. The weight loss won’t, and shouldn’t, be dramatic, but it will be slow and steady. Neither diet nor exercise alone will produce the same sort of permanent weight loss as combined diet and exercise.Use your blood glucose meter to monitor glucose control.When you first start your exercise programme, you probably won’t see much difference in your measurements before and after exercise. As you become more physically fit, you will find your post-exercise glucose level will be lower than the pre-exercise measurement. And when you attain fitness, your glycosylated hemoglobin test (done by your doctor) will show real progress toward the normal range. If your doctor has prescribed an anti-diabetes medication, you may be able to go off the pills when your blood glucose levels reach normal levels.Along with lowering your blood glucose, your exercise programme will also help reduce high blood pressure and high blood fats (triglycerides and cholesterol) and may improve your ratio of good-to-bad cholesterol.In most people, the beneficial effects of exercise on blood glucose, blood pressure and blood fats can be seen in only six weeks after the start of a proper exercise programme. These beneficial effects can be sustained through the remainder of our life.The type of exercise may change as you grow older and your lifestyle changes, but the fact of exercise will remain a part of your healthy and happy lifestyle.*26/210/5*