CEBU, Philippines - Walking for at least 30-minutes a day might help you avoid getting diabetes.
This was the message that the Philippine Diabetic Athletes (PDAT) wanted to convey during its one-day forum in Cebu last February 23 with the theme, “Lose Weight, Get Active... Fight Diabetes!â€
The event gathered together doctors, nutritionists, and coaches to speak on various topics on diabetes and an active lifestyle.
What is Diabetes?
Diabetes, medically referred to as diabetes mellitus, is a life-long disease marked by high levels of sugar in the blood.
These high levels of sugar is not just because we eat too much sweets, says Dr. Marian K. Denopol, a Cebu-based diabetologist who gave a briefer on what diabetes is and how an active lifestyle could help prevent the outset of the disease.
She said that the level of sugar in our blood is regulated by a compound called insulin and people with diabetes either has too little insulin in their blood or has a problem with their body responding to insulin thus absorption of sugar by the body becomes difficult.
How did the sugar get into our blood?
When we speak of sugar, it’s not just the one that we use to sweeten our coffee. That is but one form of sugar. Every food that we eat contains one form of sugar or another, but the primary form of sugar used by our body is glucose.
Glucose fuels the body. It is our body’s primary energy source. When our body lacks glucose, our brains would tell us that we are hungry, and so we eat. Too low sugar levels is a condition called hypoglycemia and can be very dangerous.
Symptoms include weakness, drowsiness, hunger, irritability, sweating, and even, in severe cases, loss of consciousness and brain damage.
In contrast, as with the case of diabetes, when sugar levels are too high (hyperglycemia), one would expect frequent urination, obesity, thirst, appetite change, blurred vision, tiredness, headache, slow wound healing, yeast infections, urinary tract infections, dry skin and itching, numbness and tingling, irritability, high blood pressure, and irregular weight changes.
Diabetes and the active lifestyle
Beyond insulin injections or controlling one’s intake of sugary food, an active lifestyle helps put our blood sugar levels in check.
Studies have shown that physical activity could lower blood glucose levels and blood pressure; lower levels of bad cholesterol while raising levels of good cholesterol; improve the body’s ability to use insulin; help lose weight; reduce body fat; give more energy; and reduce stress levels.
Denopol recommends regular physical activity as this could help prevent the onset of diabetes. Walking for at least 30 minutes is the best form of physical activity or exercise that could promote weight loss, she said.
“It is the best form of exercise because it is for free and it can be done anytime of your choosing,†she said.
Thirty minutes of moderate physical activity and five to 10 percent weight loss could reduce the chances of diabetes by 58 percent, she said.
Denopol also recommends to cut back on calorie and fat intake, as well as on making a habit out of having a healthy breakfast.
“When you don’t eat breakfast, tendency is you would try to recover the needed calories by eating more on your next meal. This could be up to three times the usual,†she said.
She also advises that we keep a record of what we eat, our daily physical activity, and more importantly our weight.
“You should implement a weight loss program, on your own or with others,†she said.
Walking for five to 10 minutes right after meals is also a great way to control weight, she said.
Diabetes is a very common disorder that we sometimes fail to recognize the seriousness and the urgency of treating it. However, with a few tweaks in our lifestyle, like adding a few physical activity, this condition could be addressed dramatically.
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The writer is a licensed Physical Therapist. Email him at rtsalgado@ thefreeman.ph or follow him on Twitter at @tribong_upos. He blogs at http://tribong-upos.xanga.com. (FREEMAN)