What is diabetes?
Diabetes, also known as diabetes mellitus, is a chronic disease in which the body’s ability to produce or respond to the hormone insulin is impaired, resulting in abnormal metabolism of carbohydrates and elevated levels of glucose in the blood and urine. The blood glucose or “blood sugar” is unable to enter the cells either because of the pancreas is unable to produce insulin or the cells have become insulin resistant. It is considered a metabolic disorder caused by insulin deficiency, which impairs carbohydrate usage and enhances usage of fats and proteins.
There are different types of diabetes, and also a prediabetes. The two major types of diabetes are Type 1 and Type 2, and with woman who are pregnant, gestational diabetes can occur. Diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death in the United States, and is associated with a greater risk for heart disease, hypertension, and adult-onset blindness. A study in 2013 estimated that over 382 million people worldwide had diabetes, according to Williams textbook of endocrinology. According to National Academy of Sports medicine, an estimated 23.6 million children and adults in the United States (7.8% of the population) have diabetes, and 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed each year! People under the age of 30 that develop diabetes are 20 times more likely to die by the age of 40 than those who do not have diabetes!
What are the different types of diabetes? Well, if you catch your health risks early enough, you might be in a stage of prediabetic. This is a condition in which blood sugar is high, just not high enough to be considered Type 2 diabetes. So, if you keep on the same path, keep on doing what you do, eating the way you do, and avoid exercising, chances are very likely that you will develop diabetes. So, if you exhibit any of the warning signs, or a doctor tells you that you are prediabetic, take this seriously.
Type 1 diabetes and Type 2 diabetes are your more popular cases of diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is often referred to as juvenile diabetes because the first symptoms of the disease often appear in childhood. Type 2 diabetes is more associated with obesity, particularly abdominal obesity, as 80% of people with Type 2 diabetes are overweight or have a history of excessive weight!
The third type of diabetes is called gestational diabetes. This form of diabetes is when high blood sugar affects women during pregnancy. Expecting mothers, be careful and keep track of what you are eating.
Type 1 diabetes is a chronic condition in which the pancreas produces little to no insulin. The cause of type 1 diabetes is typically hyperglycemia or high blood sugar. This occurs because blood sugar is not optimally delivered into the cells. Type 1 diabetes is responsible for approximately 10% of all diabetes cases. You can lead a normal life, if you are a diabetic with Type 1 diabetes, if you follow a healthy eating plan, do adequate exercise, and take insulin. Your major focus with Type 1 diabetes is glucose control, so with diet and exercise, you need to keep this in mind and keep this in focus!
Type 2 diabetes is a chronic condition that affects the way the body processes blood sugar (glucose). This type of diabetes accounts for over 90% of all cases of diabetes. People with Type 2 diabetes usually produce adequate amounts of insulin, but their cells have become resistant and stop allowing insulin from bringing adequate amounts of blood sugar (glucose) into the cell. So, even though the body produces adequate amounts of insulin, because the body becomes resistant, this is not enough insulin for the body to function properly. This condition can lead to hyperglycemia, or high blood sugar.
Some of the more common symptoms of diabetes include frequent urination (polyuria), intense thirst (polydipsia) and hunger (polyphagia), weight gain, unuual weight loss, fatigue, cuts and bruises that do not heal, male sexual dysfunction, numbness and tingling in hands and feet. Common symptoms from chronic hyperglycemia can include damage to the kidneys, heart, nerves, eyes, and circulatory system.
Exercise and Diabetes
As the risk for cardiovascular disease is much higher for a diabetic, it is crucial that one monitors blood pressure and cholesterol levels regularly. With Type 1 diabetes if you follow a healthy eating plan, get adequate exercise, and take insulin, you can sustain a normal life. Adequate exercise can be as little as 30 minutes of exercise 3 times a week. Someone with Type 2 diabetes needs to eat healthy, be physically active, and test their blood glucose. They may also take oral medication, and/or insulin to control their blood glucose levels. It is also recommended that individuals who smoke try and quit if they are diabetic, as smoking may have a serious effect on cardiovascular health.
The most important goals for diabetics who are exercising would be glucose control, and those with Type 2 diabetes, it’s weight loss. Exercise training has shown to be effective for both goals because it has shown to have a similar action to insulin by enhancing uptake of circulating glucose by exercising skeletal muscle. Exercise has been shown to improve a variety of glucose measures, including tissue sensitivity, improved glucose tolerance, and even a decrease in insulin requirements. Exercise has shown to have a substantial positive effect on the prevention of Type 2 diabetes.
There are guidelines to follow when starting an exercise program when working with a daibetic. There are strategies in place to prevent hyperglycemic and hypoglycemic events during or after exercise, as well as when to defer exercise, or switch things up, based on resting blood glucose levels or symptoms. If you are a diabetic, and you want to begin an exercise program, it is very important that you get together with a health and fitness professional, the local personal trainer at a gym, and go over exercise options. It is important that you check your blood glucose levels before, during, and after a workout, and because cases of hypoglycemia can occur hours after a workout, be sure to monitor your blood glucose levels at home as well.
Before starting an exercise program, I urge diabetics to check with their personal doctors, physicians or health care providers to see what exercise is appropriate for them. When a health care professional clears you for exercise, I recommend getting together with a personal trainer at your local gym. Most gyms will offer 1 free training session a month as part of your membership, I strongly suggest not passing this up. For all the days in-between, start off doing low-impact workouts such as cycling, walking on a treadmill, low-impact or step aerobics 4-7 times a week. Do this for anywhere between 20-60 minutes, at an intensity level of 50-90% of your maximum heart rate. Work on Flexibility training, this is essential for any person that works out, because flexibility will help greatly in reaching your goals. Resistance training is going to be key, and your focus here is doing 1-3 sets of higher repetitions, 10-15 and up to 20, and to do this 2-3 days a week. It may be inappropriate to begin any real plyometric training, and even if you think you can handle something higher intensity, I would wait for doctors approval before putting yourself at any kind of health risk.
Make sure that when you begin an exercise program, you have the proper footwear for your feet. Also, pay attention to things like blisters, or where your shoes may show signs of wear and tear, and if a trainer does not notice these things, inform them of what you notice so they can course correct some imbalances that may be going on. As a diabetic, and someone who needs to check their blood glucose levels often during exercise, it is also important that you bring a snack that may be beneficial for you during exercise to regulate those blood sugar levels. It is good to foam roll before and after workouts, but you may want to seek out a professional as far as certain areas to do any self massaging. Although this is beneficial to workouts and getting rid of muscle imbalances, their may be sensitive areas, that you need special care for from a licensed professional.
If you are diabetic, have a history or diabetes, heart disease, cardivascular disease, or are obese or overweight, I highly recommend you seek out a physician to montior and check these things. Before stepping foot in a gym, know exactly what is going on in your body, so that when you meet with a health, fitness professional, you can not just give that person all of your current health and medical updates, but you will also be able to pass along your physicians information. Opening that line of communication helps benefit you, the client, more than anything. Personal trainers, health and fitness professionals alike, are there for injury prevention, and to also prevent anything more serious from happening. It is vitally important that you disclose all current and past medical records, so that the professionals can help to the best of their abilities. They are trained to help patients from all walks of life, so the more information they have, a better course of action can be taken as far as your personal goals come. A health professional can not be as effective in their work with you, if you do not disclose all your health information, especially a dangerous potetial health risk.
My personal recommendations for those with diabetes, seek out the professional opinion from a personal doctor or physician. When getting cleared for exercise, to help with your results, I would seek out the advice of a dietician/nutritionist as well as getting a program designed by a personal trainer to help you in reaching specific goals, and maintaining your diabetes. If you are really lucky, you can get a personal trainer who is also a dietician/nutritionist, and even a massage therapist. I would highly recommend seeking out professionals in each area, and most personal trainers should have contacts in each field.
Monitor your blood glucose levels often, especially before, during, and after exercise. Bring a snack for during exercise as it may be needed. Stick to lower-impact workouts, and resistance training until otherwise authorized to raise the level of intensity. Know that a diet is not something you do until you reach certain goals, but a diet is a lifestyle change, so make sure that these changes are sustainable to your every day lifestyle. If you are a smoker, I would recommend trying to cut back, and eventually stopping, as smoking raises the risk of cardiovascular health issues.
If you have never been diagnosed as diabetic, but have experienced some of the symptoms of diabetes, it is a good time to check in with your health care provider/profession, doctor, or physician, and get your blood glucose levels checked out. If anything, this gives you peace of mind when recognizing that you do not have any current health issues, but it also gives you a head start to game plan to prevent, reduce the risk, or to create and maintain a healthy lifestyle for those that are diagnosed as diabetic. 1.6 million new cases are diagnosed each year, so do not wait until it is too late.
Why is Diabetes Important To Me?
The reason for this article, and the reason diabetes is an important issue for me, is because I have dealt with it personally in my life. I myself have never been diabetic, and I have tried my best to live a healthy lifestyle to prevent diabetes, but I have witnessed this disease first hand with family, and unfortunately with friends as well. My grandfather battled diabetes for years, and got to the point that being in a hospital was becoming comfortable for me. Seeing the many operations, being there as the disease was slowly taking away the use of some of his limbs, and organs. Watching as his eye sight was failing him, and they mentioned more than a few times that they may have to take his feet, legs. My grandfather suffered from diabetes for quite some time, and because I was younger, I did not know how to help, or what I could offer him in order to help him live a healthier life. So, one of my goals in life was to learn what I could about diabetes, and to learn how I can help others that suffer from this disease.
I have had other family members diagnosed as diabetic, and again, I have felt helpless when it comes to being able to help them out, and I hope that now, I do have some knowledge, that I can be encouraging for them, and that I may be able to help them take back control of their lives. I have witnessed friends of the family battle this terrible disease, and wonder why or how this could happen. I have witnessed the passing of people because of a spike in insulin that was not monitored and controlled, and it was too late by time the shock hit them. I have also unfortunately witnessed the loss of a friend that I graduated with because he never knew that he had diabetes, and unfortunately, passed away from diabetic shock.
These experiences have raised awareness for me in my life, and have raised my level of concern for those around me. The sad part is, not only do I witness adults becoming diabetics every day, but because they developed bad habits, they are passing along those bad habits to their children. So, our world is becoming faced with children becoming diabetic at an alarming rate, as well as the adults in our world. Knowing this, and witnessing the amount of people who become diabetic before they ever turn 30, it’s sad knowing that diabetics before the age of 40 are twenty times more likely to die, than those who do not have the disease. With diabetes on the rise, that’s an alarming amount of people that will never make it to their 40th birthday.
It is time that we do something about this disease. Time that we step in and take control of our lives, and live healthy, happy lifestyles. Parents need to be there for their children, and also need to take the steps in providing a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle for their children. It is time to fight back, and it is time to live our best lives.
Ryan Baker
Certified Personal Trainer- NASM
Team Beachbody Coach
Athlete
If you are diabetic, and you would like more diet tips, or would like a program design, please contact me. I would love to help in any way that I can, and get you started on living a healthier, happier life. Leave a comment, message me, e-mail me, or like and follow me on social media.