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Diabetes, Exercise and the Voices in my Brain

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Today I read “Diabetes Treatment Should Focus on Metabolizing More of the Sugar in the Blood for Best Results” a blog post by Milt Bedingfield. The author writes about how most people focus on limiting carbs consumed, but what about the carbs already in our blood?

Discovering this blog post is pretty timely as I’ve been having arguments with myself about doing more exercise.  The pro-exercise voice in my brain has been beaten down and hog-tied often.  I can easily convince myself all I have to do is eat right..but this doesn’t mean I AM right.

I can pass up carbs with no problem.  I can avoid them totally for long periods of time, but my blood sugar numbers are still not excellent and I still have a big stomach.  It’s very frustrating because my self-control is totally bionic.  I have an epic garden I eat from often.  I drink tons of green juice that tastes like fresh cut grass.  I eat at least 5-6 servings of veggies (mostly raw) a day.  Yet, it’s not enough.

I live in the dusty desert in Tucson, Arizona.  It’s a battle to keep dust out of my house.  I try to keep my doors closed.  I have mats by the doors.  Everyone wipes their feet.  This is all well and good but I still shed skin.  So do my son and fur ball dogs.  No matter what, I’ve got to pull out the broom and sweep.

No matter how much I try to avoid carbs, just about everything turns into carbs/sugar/glucose eventually and my body is just not equipped to get rid of those carbs on its own.

Those of us with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance don’t have the luxury of this happening automatically.  It’s like that function of our body must be done with a hand crank.  Exercise is the hand crank to clear those carbs out.  Aren’t we so lucky that we have an alternative?  Think about it.  I think we’re damn lucky.

I’ve been listening to the escalating argument in my head about diabetes and exercise for the past couple weeks.  Maybe it was fate I came across the article to help embolden the pro-exercise voice in my head.  I’m going to commit to doing at least 30 minutes a day and see if that super-charges my control.

I guess I must add…yes diabetes medications can help clear those carbs out.  It’s my personal choice to try to eliminate or at least lower the amount of medication I have to take.  I have had grandparents and parents who have had nightstands crammed full of medications.  Some of them are medications to help with side effects from other medications.  I just want to keep those medicines on the nightstand to a minimum.

 

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