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Exercise and Carb Reduction

lucylocket61

lucylocket61

Expert
Messages
6,394
Location
Wrexham
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Treatment type
Diet only
Not sure if I am missing the obvious here, or terminally stupid :crazy:

If i take in carbs, then exercise to burn off the carbs, to keep my blood sugar levels down....

Why not just take in fewer carbs? and fewer calories? Then I dont need to burn anything off.
 
Well eating fewer carbs will help maintain better blood glucose levels. But I think the point is that some exercise is good for you so even if you're eating fewer carbs and your blood glucose levels are good the exercise is still an important part of a healthy lifestyle as it benefits your body in other ways not just blood glucose control. Exercise is said to help with insulin sensitivity so that would mean the insulin you produce works better and your body will need to make less insulin to get the same good blood glucose results. Your body producing less insulin is a good thing as it will stop you from becoming more insulin resistant with time.
 
Everything Sophia has said, remember Lucy everything isn't just about diabetes and exercising will help promote good cardiovascular health.
 
Its also important if weight loss is your goal..

As has been mentioned exercise is a great way to reduce insulin resistance... Insulin is not only responsible for regulating blood glucose it also plays a key role in the fat metabolism. Thus reducing your insulin resistance will decrease the amount of insulin you need and also decrease the amount of fat that your body puts down.. making weight loss easier.
 
Lucy
I eat low carb ANd take exercise. the result is NORMAL blood glucose [around 5 pretty much all the time] and increasing fitness. I can exercise for about an hour and a half without getting very tired and recover in minutes. I can walk miles, including hills.
I wish I could take off more weight, but my metabolism is vry efficient.
Hana
 
lucylocket61 said:
Not sure if I am missing the obvious here, or terminally stupid :crazy:

If i take in carbs, then exercise to burn off the carbs, to keep my blood sugar levels down....

Why not just take in fewer carbs? and fewer calories? Then I dont need to burn anything off.
Click to expand...

That's the Gary Taubes argument about exercising. Do it for fun but it isn't much good as a weight loss tool (because exercising not surprisingly causes you to eat more, and decreases your metabolic rate).

I agree that it's good for improving your insulin sensitivity, and it's good for your mental health. Too much exercise isn't necessarily good for your cardiovascular health though:
http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/p-n ... ase-part-i
Like anything else, small amounts are probably good for you, in excess it's probably bad for you.

I can run 20 miles a week on less than 20g of carb a day. If I run too fast it spikes my BG, but whatever happens, in the hours after I run my BG is much lower.

If you don't eat many carbs, and your control in generally good, I'm not sure how much benefit there is in temporararily increasing your insulin sensititivity.
 
borofergie said:
I can run 20 miles a week on less than 20g of carb a day. If I run too fast it spikes my BG, but whatever happens, in the hours after I run my BG is much lower.
Click to expand...

You may well have answered something that has effected me, but I didn't think much about it.

I will give last night as an example. After dinner I took the dogs out for a very brisk walk. I did around an extra mile and a half than usual and walked for about an hour. When I came home, I had a few little things to do, that kept me mobile and on my feet. My pre meal BG was 4.3 +2 reading 4.7. Not a big spike for most people, but quite a large one for me, later tests were all lower, including my FBG this morning. It's not the first time it's happened, but now I think I know why. Thank you!
 
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