Treating Type 2 Diabetes

Merry asked a great follow up question. Since the Pima ancestors did not develop Diabetes, is it possible to reverse the disease? The answer is yes, but you need to adopt a lifestyle akin to generations ago.

Dr. Garber said that exercise is the most important treatment for overcoming insulin resistance. Combined with a healthy diet of whole grains, lean protein, fruits and veggies you can conquer the disease.
Avoid what I call "empty" carbs: too much sugar, too much white flour, too much white rice, etc. Carbs should deliver more than just calories.
Eat the fruit, don't drink the fruit juice. The fruit has all the vitamins and minerals, but fiber too, and it makes you feel fuller. Eat the grain as close as possible to how it was grown. Old fashioned rolled oats can be cooked in a bowl in the microwave in about 2 minutes, add some milk or better yet a fat and sugar free yogurt and you have a quick hearty breakfast. There are many good whole grain cold cereals, become a label reader. Don't avoid whole eggs, they are low in calories, and loaded with high quality protein. Have them with some whole grain toast or whole grain English muffin. Lunch is easy, a sandwich on rye or whole wheat. Use mustard and just a little light mayo. I have the luxury of being home at lunch time most days, and I make myself a burger from 93% lean beef.
This blog will contain lots of calorie reducing hints over time.

Now to the exercise part. Merry says she and her husband walk a lot, and they live in a rural area with no easy access to a gym. You are off to a good start. You need to kick up the intensity in your walks, so that when you return you are sweaty. Can you add some good sized hills? Pick up the pace of the walk over time so that you are working harder. You should have enough breath to talk, but not enough to sing. I do "intervals." For you this would be walking at a good pace, then walking even faster until you just get to the edge of breathlessness, then resuming your former pace. Do an interval every 5 to 8 minutes, it will increase your fitness level quickly. When spring returns, try some biking in a hilly area, the intervals will be built in! You need a minimum of four 45 minute sessions of pretty intense cardiovascular work every week. For someone with insulin resistance who is not yet diabetic, this is the treatment for you, too. For people who have access to a gym, look at the cardio machine you are on. It will likely show "METs." This stands for metabolic equivalents and you want to work up to a steady state over 8 METs.

Now to weight lifting. Of course it can be done at home but you will need to get a good trainer to help you get started. The trainer should be willing to help you create a home program and then have you work it on your own, perhaps returning every two to three months to change the moves and increase the intensity of your resistance work. Be sure the trainer shows you a stretching routine too. Great equipment is cheap and easy to use once someone gets you started. I would recommend some resistance bands with handles, a Swiss or resistance ball, and some and hand weights. Make sure you get the right size ball for your height. You can use it for so many moves. A great leg building move is to lean into the ball against a wall and do some squats with good form. You can also do a lot of "core" work with the ball, too. In a gym, the same applies to personal training. A trainer should be willing to develop a program of a lot of multi-muscle moves, using a variety of equipment. Make sure they properly explain muscle fatigue so that you know what it feels like. Research shows that if you truly fatigue a muscle or muscle group in the first set, 90% of the training effect is in that first set. For health purposes, one set of any given exercise is all that is necessary, but a good program would have you working a given muscle group with more than one move. A good trainer should explain exactly what is being worked in every recommended move.

The biggest challenge may be finding a good trainer to get you started. Here are some questions to ask: Are you Certified and by what agency? Some major certifying groups are the YMCA, American Council on Exercise (ACE), AFAA, ACSM, and others. They should provide references. Ask if they have successfully worked with people with Type 2 diabetes and what kind of results were achieved. A trainer who comes to your home is expensive, but a good one is a great investment. It is very important that all weightlifting/resistance training be done with proper form. Proper form will prevent injuries and make sure you get the most from your time and effort investment. You are not "bodybuilding" in the way the big bulky guys do. You do want to build muscle strength and endurance.

Don't expect overnight results. Once you get to a good intensity with Cardio and weight lifting, microscopic changes start to occur, but over a period of months. You will actually make more and better functioning insulin receptors. Your muscle cells will build more capillaries, bringing more insulin and glucose where you need it. And, of course, you will increase your total muscle mass. Because of this, don't be a slave to the scale. Judge your results by your shrinking or changing size, let your clothes talk to you. When someone who is effectively weightlifting shows a one pound loss on the scale, they have likely lost a pound and a quarter of fat and gained a quarter pound of muscle.

That's a lot to absorb.

Go to Fitwatch.com and calculate your daily calorie needs. Use that as a guide in menu planning. Make your endeavor the most important thing in your life for the next 6 months, so that it becomes habit. And ask for God's help, I certainly did. Nourish your mind, body and spirit. Attack this awful disease like your life depends on it, because it does.