American Diabetes Month – ‘Hidden’ exercise

There are so many topics to address when it comes to talking about diabetes.  Living with diabetes, provides daily challenges and many changes to the routines you have developed over the years.  Early diagnosis of type 2 diabetes is often first managed with changes to diet and exercise.  Hopefully the word ‘diet’ doesn’t elicit images of tasteless cardboard like food (we will dispel this idea in the future).  ‘Exercise’ shouldn’t conjure images of hours on the treadmill, repetitive weight lifting, or being covered in sweat.  Small changes to your daily activities can add some of the exercise you need to best manage your diabetes. Here are a few ideas from your friends at AFAS:

·         Raking leaves:  While you should take caution if you have any kind of lung or heart condition, raking the leaves in your yard can really get your blood flowing.  The action of raking includes muscles in your back, arms, chest, and legs.  By using these muscles, your body can better process the glucose in your blood and more efficiently use the insulin you produce.

·         Parking in the back:  You may have heard this one a few times before, but instead of parking right up front, opt for one of the many open spaces in the back.  This, of course, requires that you have a little extra time.  Instead of looping around the parking lot to find a space closer to the entrance of your work or shopping center of choice, grab one of the many empty spaces in the back of the lot and get a little extra walking in everyday.  Walking is one of the best and simple exercises you can do to boost your health.

·         Take the stairs:  If you work on the 20^th floor of the office building, hoofing it up the stairs in your business attire probably won’t do.  Now taking it to the 18^th floor and walking a couple flights of stairs will provide some added activity without sweat beading up on your forehead.

Remember that living a healthy lifestyle, no matter how long or severe your diabetes is, can only help you better manage your blood sugars.  This November be aware of your diabetes or help a friend or family member to be aware of theirs.  There is a wealth of information from the American Diabetes Association^®, family doctor, podiatrist, dietitian and other health care providers to help you best manage this challenging disease.

Until next time, watch your blood sugars and keep those feet happy and healthy Austin!

Diabetes awareness – NFL players

In honor of diabetes awareness, this month’s blogs will focus on different topics concerning the disease.  We have discussed some aspects of living with diabetes in past blogs.  It is a challenging disease to manage, but one that should not limit your aspirations.  With a growing incidence of diabetes in a growing population, not even athletes, a physically fit population, are immune to acquiring this problem.  There are actually a number of athletes who have reached the professional level while living with diabetes.  The NFL boasts three such athletes in Jay Leeuwenburg, Mike Echols, and Mike Sinclair.

 

Both Leeuwenburg and Echols have type one diabetes.  This type of diabetes is also known a juvenile diabetes as it is frequently discovered when you are young.  Before the advent of the portable glucometer, a blood glucose measuring device any diabetic is quite familiar with, the ability to manage this disease was quite difficult.  Medicine today offers many tools to monitor blood sugars and treatments to stop damage caused by changes in blood sugar from occurring.  While a different beast than adult onset, or type two diabetes, the diligence of management is of equal importance in juvenile diabetes.  The players we mentioned have to keep very close tabs on their blood sugars, using diet and insulin to keep the proper levels.

Players like Mike Sinclair, DE Philadelphia Eagles, face the same disease that affect tens of millions of Americans. Type two diabetes is often associated with obesity and poor diet and increases in prevalence with age.  When diagnosed early, changes to diet and exercise can often be enough to keep this disease a bay.  In the case of Mike, who is getting plenty of exercise, swapping the double bacon, half pound burger for a turkey sandwich helped him get his blood glucose in check.  Regular checkups with your primary doctor as well as your podiatrist can help you detect changes early.  By discovering glucose changes early, changes to diet can have a greater effect on managing this disease.  Lifelong medication may be needed to manage if your diabetes goes undetected for months or years.

Don’t let diabetes interfere with your life.  Educate yourself about your disease, visit your primary doctor, consult Dr. Thomajan and learn the things you can do you keep your diabetes in check.  Doing so early will help you continue doing the activities you like to do.

Until next time, keep those feet happy and healthy Austin!