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October 2007
Fight Diabetes the Right Way, Part 1
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
You may not know this, but November is National Diabetes Month. Though it does not get as much attention as other diseases, it should, especially considering the prevelance of it. If you have it you’re feeling the effects of decreased quality of life and a slow painful death.
In a world of traditional Western medicine, the medical and pharmaceutical companies are constantly on a search to find drugs to treat chronic diseases. Type II diabetes is no exception, especially considering the prevalence of it. Interestingly, there are ways to reverse the effects of diabetes without popping a pill. Knowing that I am fitness professional, I’m sure you may think that I am going to say- “exercise and eat right.” Well, there is a little more to it than that and most importantly, you need to know why doing the right things has positive effects on diabetes.
Before I go any further, I feel compelled to tell you that if you have or think you have diabetes, you need to see a medical professional. Preferably, you would see an endocrinologist. Any way you look at it, you will most likely need medication (like glucophage, etc.). Also, I need to remind you of the role of insulin in the body, which is to allow blood sugar to be extracted into the muscle and other tissues. It is also responsible in breaking down fat.
Okay the best way to treat Type II diabetes is yes, to “exercise and eat right.” As always you need to incorporate the synergistic effect of resistance training (weight lifting), cardiovascular exercise, and supportive nutrition if you want to beat diabetes. Every endocrinologist I have known concurs. Here is the first reason why:
The Insulin Effect of Exercise- When you exercise (with weights and with cardiovascular training), your muscles do a very unique thing. It starts to extract blood sugar without the use of insulin. More interestingly, the body will begin to release glucose (blood sugar) from the liver to balance things out. (That’s a really good thing isn’t it?)
Even better, when you lift weights and increase your muscle tone, your muscle will extract even more blood sugar even at rest. Studies show, that many Type II diabetics are able to decrease the amount of diabetic medication as a result of exercise. There are even some reports that when caught early, diabetes can solely be treated with exercise and eating right. This can prevent you from taking med’s and can possibly create physical changes in the body that makes your insulin regulation normal again.
Are you a diabetic who has changed your lifestyle and exercise habits? Share your experiences.
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Resistance Training vs. Aerobic Exercise
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Lately, there has been debate on whether you should do resistance training (a.k.a. weight training) or aerobic exercise (a.k.a. cardiovascular exercise) to burn the most calories. There really shouldn’t be a debate as both are equally important. However, if you are avoiding one of these components, it’s usually related to some misconceptions that you may have. Without getting into too much detail, let’s take a look at both of these.
Resistance Training (a.k.a. weight training, anaerobic training)- As explained in one of my weight loss and fitness myths, weight lifting is vital to the improvement of metabolism. As a matter of fact, only through weight training can you improve resting metabolism. Aerobic exercise barely improves resting metabolism compared to weight training. This is easily explained, because weight training helps you build muscle. For every pound of additional muscle, you burn an additional 30-50 calories at rest. This is one of the reasons why you might avoid weight training, as you fear that it will bulk you up. However, you must understand that weight training does not “bulk” you, it makes you leaner. If you don’t lift weights, you also miss out on the benefits of muscle tone, improved muscle and bone strength, improved posture, etc.
Aerobic Exercise (a.k.a. cardiovascular exercise, cardio, endurance training)- The primary purpose of aerobic exercise is for the betterment of cardiovascular health. This means that it improves blood flow and the delivery of oxygen, plus you have stronger heart muscle and associated parts such as the arteries. Cardiovascular exercise also is needed in order to improve endurance, however, this only applies to a small portion of the population (e.g. marathon runners). By doing cardio, you will naturally improve endurance. In regards to weight loss, cardio only helps you burn more calories as you’re doing it. Here’s the beauty of it all. When you do weight training you require more oxygen demand to the muscle tissue that you created. In other words, the more muscle you have while doing cardio, the more calories you’ll burn. (By the way, aerobic stands for “the requirement of oxygen”).
Doing both types of exercise are equally important. Where you may fall into trouble is that you may find them equally confusing as to what to do. Unfortunately, I can’t get into too much detail on this one, however, I will say that you have to change up what your doing on occasion and you must increase intensity too. You can’t do the same thing over and over again expecting different results.
If you have any questions, I’ll see what I can do to help. Your comments are also appreciated.
Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment | Categories: General Fitness, Health, Lifestyle, Toning, Weight Loss
Get F.I.T.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
guess you noticed that I turned the word FIT into an acronym. If you have ever suffered from a plateau in your exercise regime, this acronym may explain to you how to get through it.
Let’s begin by breaking down the meaning of FIT:
Frequency: The amount times you exercise per week. Example- 3 times per week with weights, 5 times per week doing aerobic exercise.
Intensity: The amount of exertion or effort you put into the exercise. Example- 12-15 reps/set at 50 lbs., or Target Heart Rate of 145-160 beats per minute.
Time: This is the duration of the exercise. Example- 45 minutes on the treadmill.
More about Frequency: In order to progress in your program, you have to change the variables listed above sometimes. For example, if it is customary to do cardiovascular exercise 3 times per week, you may need to come in 4 times per week for a while. Most often what I have witnessed is you may decide to cut back (decrease your training day), thinking that you may get the same results or maintain. Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. It’s like making fewer deposits in your bank account with the same amount of money, thinking that the bank account is going to look better. My advice is to make as many deposits as you can (apply analogy to fitness). When you miss a day because of a vacation or sickness, you find some more time during the week, or if you just want to have more progression, then you have to increase the frequency. Just like when you find more money to invest, you can invest more when you get it.
More about Intensity: When you just start exercising, you notice as you go along it becomes easier. If you don’t change the intensity, then it just becomes too easy. At first, this is a good sign. It means that you are making progress, however, if you plan on making more progress you have to increase that weight, do more reps, or do a more challenging exercise. In most cases, it’s simply whether you are pushing yourself enough. Sometimes though, you may need to back off on intensity. This is especially true with cardiovascular exercise. If you push it too hard, for a long period of time, you can risk breaking down muscle for necessary energy.
More about Time: Combined with the right amount of intensity, how long you perform the exercise is important. This rule is easier to explain in regards to cardiovascular exercise. Many times I have consulted with clients that have been running for the same distance, for the same amount of time, for months at a time. For example, they will run 2 miles in 30 minutes. Though this isn’t a bad achievement, it would be good work up to 3 miles in 45 minutes. Then once you hit that goal, you could try to do those same three miles in less time (increasing the intensity). Or, you can work on doing 2 miles in 20 minutes.
By talking about these variables above, you can see that it may seem confusing. Well it’s not really. If there’s a point that I am trying to get at, it’s this: If you want progression in your weight loss efforts, muscle tone efforts, strength, or whatever, you have to change these variables from time to time. This prevents you from hitting those plateaus. More importantly, your body’s physiology will always be in constant adaptation. Which makes you look better and feel more energized. Plus, you are less likely to develop chronic injuries from doing the same thing, over and over again.
Any questions or comments on this subject?
Permalink | | Categories: General Fitness
Halloween: Call to Action to Parents for Healthy Alternatives
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
As you know, childhood obesity is still on the rise. It seems to be a never ending fight to keep your kids away from sugar filled treats. There seems to always be parties, special occasions (that happen more than occasionally), and a lot of eating out. Halloween is the epitome of all gluttony. So, what do you do? Other than giving kids candy, there are things that they can do other than get that “sugar high.” Here are a few ideas:
Trade Candy For Toys - I actually learned this idea from a child psychologist a few years ago. This is how it works. Go ahead and do the regular door to door Trick or Treating. Once you have all the candy, you can give your child the option of trading in candy for toys. You can make each piece worth a certain dollar amount to apply to a toy or have them trade in their entire loot for onc really nice toy. Be sure you mention the idea before you actually take them out. This will give them the opportunity to think about what they want. You’ll probably be surprised that your child would rather have a toy (something that lasts), over candy.
Go To An Event - Many churches and community centers are having events on Halloween. They’ll be some candy there, but the kids are more into playing games and stuff. You know, vigorous activity. Check with you church, synagogue, or local community center to see what they’re doing.
Go To A Movie Or Rent a Movie and Have a Party - At the movie there will still be some treats, but it will be a heck of a lot less than what you would get trick or treating. If you rent a movie and have a small party of friends at your home, you can have more control over what your child eats. They may even enjoy it more than going from one house to another anyway.
Do a Combination of These Ideas - You don’t have to stick to one particular idea. My wife and I usually take our kids to the church, and then visit a couple of homes of people we know really well. It’s safer that way anyway. Plus, our kids really enjoy seeing the people they know.
Special Note: For those who want to give away something other than candy and not be a “party pooper,” my wife has come up with a wonderful idea that is actually less expensive and more fun for kids. At Wal-Mart, she bought tons of little boxes of stickers, removable tattoos, and Playdoh and put them in decorative little plastic bags. Our kids helped her put them together. They had fun doing it and other kids love them (we’ve already been giving them out). It’s just one small way we can contribute to healthy behavior, yet still have fun.
Do you have any thoughts or ideas on this subject?
Permalink | Comments (13) | Categories: Lifestyle
Use Faith to Lose Weight
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
This is a subject that I don’t often speak about, as it can be a touchy matter for some folks and it applies to many people I am close to. However, my purpose is create awareness, not just to try to get you to look good. Besides being a personal fitness trainer, I would consider myself to be a lifestyle manager. I try to educate myself as much as possible in the areas of behavior and sociology. With that said, let me get to the point.
In the good ole south, we have a tradition of bringing high fat, deep fried, high in sugar, cheesy, creme-filled, process foods at our social gatherings, all to be washed down with sweet tea. We use food as a form of communication and bonding. This is especially prevalent at churches. Rarely, have I been at a Protestant church and not seen doughnuts, cookies, honey buns, and candy for the kids. That’s just what you see in the food court and reception areas, not to mention the pot-lucks and steak dinners.
What’s really interesting is that when I am at these functions, someone always tries to tempt me to eat something or they’ll say, “I don’t know if I should eat this in front of you.” Little do they realize that if anybody could get away with eating that kind of food, it would be me. Plus, it’s not my place to say anything to you. It’s your choice. It’s also kind of fun to see those who told may they were on a diet say, “Well, just this one time won’t hurt.” It’s funny, but it’s quite serious.
On a more positive note, there are some churches that are beginning to take a stand against obesity. Beyond having your standard aerobics class during the day, these churches are having seminars and full fledged educational series. They are saying “no” to the doughnuts and candy. They also pray for a fit life, but they don’t just pray for all of their health problems to disappear. They understand it takes action. By my observation, more African-American dominated churches are taking a stand.
When you are in a lifestyle management and fitness program, you have to ask the Almighty for strength and wisdom. For many clients that I know who are true to their faith I will ask, “Are you praying for help to get fit?” Most of them tell me, “No, I haven’t really thought about it.” Then I ask, “Why? If you pray for everything else, then you must pray for your ability to take action, recover well, and to eat right”
If you listen to any self-help series from the greats such as Carnegie, you will hear that faith is the cure for failure and the basis of all miracles. To be more modern, the movie about the Law of Attraction called “The Secret” also states the same things. Point is, if you are looking to improve your health, lose weight, and get fit, don’t forget to seek divine power and pray.
What are your thoughts on this subject? Have you used faith to lose weight and/or reach any goal for that matter?
Permalink | Comments (1) | Categories: General Fitness, Health, In The News, Lifestyle, Motivation, Weight Loss
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