Exercise and Blood Sugar

Like most advice ‘experts’ in diabetes care provide, ‘exercise is good for diabetes’ is not the whole story. The truth, ‘appropriate exercise is good for diabetes’. Exercise is a key  component in successfully managing diabetes, but there is a time and place for different intensity levels.

• With elevated blood sugars, walking and low intensity exercise is best.
• With normal blood sugars, intense exercise is fine, but… know your body.

 

You must see this post, “Exercise and Diabetes” to see the full affects of varying intense exercises on blood sugars. The important thing to know at this point?  You must know how your body and blood sugars respond to different exercises and different exercise intensities, differently.

 

If you have been diagnosed with diabetes or you have diabetes symptoms you REALLY should be exercising daily or at least several times a week. In the beginning slow and steady exercise is best for your blood sugars.

 

Exercise and Blood Sugar

You should check your blood sugar levels before and after workouts to judge the affect of the exercise. As an example,  I have a friend who is Diabetes Type 1 , who is routinely in the upper 200’s and lower 300’s after intense workouts…. these readings are NOT GOOD!

Dr. Bernstein, is a 70 yrs young, Type 1 Diabetic and a physician who promotes a “paleo style’  low carb diet for ALL diabetics.  According to Dr. Bernstein’s book, “Diabetes Solution”, which I highly recommend, on page 214 he states,

 

Exercise does affect blood sugar, and for that reason it can make your efforts at blood sugar control slightly more difficult if you’re taking insulin or… blood sugar lowering medications.

 

 

Dr. Bernstein goes on to say that moderate to strenuous exercise releases hormones that signal the liver to return glucose to the bloodstream, causing Blood Sugar to rise.   IF you consistently have high BG readings post exercise,  you may want to change workouts to less stressful ones to test their affect on blood sugar.

I provide data supporting the above comments in the previously mentioned post, “Exercise and Diabetes“.

There are other possibilities such as changing the timing of your workouts.  Early morning might not be the best time if you experience a large Dawn Phenomena ‘affect’ with unusually high blood sugar readings in the morning.

Bottom Line: Experiment and test… keep looking for ways to reduce blood sugar highs and crashing lows.

 

Also talk with your physician, you may also be able to change medication doses to accomodate the rise. As always, I must say… if you DO NOT have a Low Carb Friendly doctor… I highly recommend it.

A couple of weeks ago, I was performing jump burpees (click here to see them) and I decided to test my BG after the workout… to be honest, I was a little shocked, the reading was 133 mg/dl ….that’s high for me, I don’t like going over 120 mg/dl …ever.

Yesterday morning I tested my Overnight Fasting Blood Glucose and read “85 mg/dl”  which is “normal” for non-diabetics and it’s been typical for me the last several months.  The last couple of times I’ve tested “85” … so I thought I’d test my blood sugar after my Jump Burpee workout to Test Blood Sugar after an intense workout.

The pictures of my blood sugars are above, I was elated!!! :)

Exercise and Blood Sugar Lesson

OK, so what’s the exercise and blood sugar lesson?

“Steve’s a BRAGGART ! “ …. lol! … well maybe.

The exercise and blood sugar lesson is, to know your body.  Know your body’s blood sugar reaction to various exercise intensities.

The reason I share this is not to say, “LOOK AT ME!!!!”

It is for you to say…. ” IF HE CAN DO IT, SO CAN I!!!”.

I was obese, with diabetes type 2 taking 4 shots & 4 drugs daily… now I am 75+ lbs lighter and drug & insulin FREE!!!

IF I CAN DO IT… so can YOU! :)

Just today I received an email from a Facebook Friend … his A1CNOW has come down from 9.2 to 6.3 AND he has lost 17 lbs in three months!!!

IF WE CAN DO IT… so can you!

 

Reduce Your Blood Sugar the Warrior Way

Below is my personal ‘diabetes care’ manual. It is truly diabetes friendly, not Big Food, Big Pharma and Medical Industry friendly.  Every person who follows my plan improves blood sugar control.  Not coincidentally, each person who follows my diabetes care plan reduces the profits of Big Food, Big Pharma and the Medical Industry.