What is the best type of cardio training?

Everyone will tell you what the best cardio training is. I will let you in on a big secret. The best cardio training exercise is the one that you like doing that will keep your heart rate in between 95 and 140 beats per minute for the time you have set for your goal. It is important to do something you like. I cannot stress that enough. If you try one thing and you do not like it do not say to yourself I cannot do this, just try something else and keep trying different things until you find something that you like. Try and be flexible. Once you find something you like, change it around a little bit. This way you do not wind up getting bored. I like the stationary bikes. So at the gym I ride a regular stationary bike, I bought a recumbent bike for my house and I even bought a couple of different regular bicycles which I ride around outside all the time. This is what I like. On the other hand, I know a lot of people who do all the different cardio machines at the gym all the time, you might like that much of a variety. Then of course you see the people who just jog all the time, even when it is cold. I guess that is what they like, so that works for them. What ever you like, that is the key.

What are diabetic complications?

When you hear someone has died from diabetes, that is somewhat not true. Diabetics who don't take care of themselves in the proper manner will over time develop diabetic complications in the area they were neglecting. For example, having diabetes does not mean that you will definitely have heart and circulation problems. But if you don't have your cholesterol checked regularly, take the cholesterol medicine you are supposed to be taking, and eat nothing but food loaded with high fat, you are more likely to develop this type of complication. Diabetes simply means that you are more at risk of developing some of these and/or other diabetic complications. So you have to take care of yourself a little more than a non diabetic. Plus, there are lots of treatments that work well to cut your risk so that you can lead a long and healthy life. For more information on types of lifestyle changes needed which will help to avoid these diabetic complications, feel free to visit my website.

New Diabetic Drug Technology

Some people have been asking me lately about this topic. The only thing I see wrong with the new technology towards new diabetic drugs is this. Most new diabetic drug research and development focus on the effect that the new drug has on blood sugar levels and do not consider the effect the new drug will have on a patient's quality of life in the long run. They are just taking into account that the best thing for a diabetic is to control their blood sugar levels. Which indeed is probably the case. But, I don't see anywhere in clinical studies for these new drugs where it says these new drugs are safe to take for an extended period of time. This tends to make me believe that this is not even a part of their clinical studies. More information on this topic is available through the link to my website. Also if the new drug you are looking to find information for is not available, check back later. I am working on this section now, so new additions will be added to my site every day or so.

Diabetes Food Pyramid

The image to the right is an image of the diabetes food pyramid. The bottom of the pyramid which is the biggest part of the pyramid is supposed to be the majority of your daily food intake. About 40% according to the ADA. The top of the pyramid is the least amount of food type you should eat on a daily basis. I don't agree with this because the bottom of the pyramid is breads grains and other starches. The American Diabetic Association says their ideas are based on years of clinical research and that their way is the best. You should check your blood sugar readings 1 hour after you eat and have your doctor adjust your medicine accordingly if you follow their plan. But I am a type 2 diabetic who takes Byetta and Actos and otherwise controls my diabetes with diet and exercise. If I consumed 40% of my daily food intake from this food group I would have to go on insulin to control my blood glucose levels. I don't think this is a good idea. I try to eat as least of this food group as possible. Although I do eat 2 Fiber Plus whole grain snack bars daily to get my required daily intake of whole grains and fiber. So as much talk as their is about the diabetic food pyramid I don't agree with the 40% of your daily food intake from the bottom portion of the pyramid aspect. Maybe 15%-25% tops, thats it. Sorry, maybe if you are taking insulin already this is a good idea, but not yet for me. I will stick with low carb, low fat and high protein for my diet.

A1c test and Byetta

Went to the doctor the other day and my A1c test came out at 6.0. It was 10.3 the last quarter. This is the difference Byetta has made in the last 3 months. This again goes to show the importance of the A1c test to anyone with Diabetes. I used to check my sugar before I ate every day to make sure my blood glucose level was low enough to eat. This is what I have been doing the last 10 years or so. My A1c test results were always around 6.2 to 6.8 every time I went. Then all of a sudden 10.3. This was apparently because my pancreas either stopped creating as much insulin as it was or it was creating the insulin incorrectly. Had it not been for the A1c test, god only knows how long I would have gone before I noticed my sugar was shooting up to like 400 or so after I ate each time every day. Needless to say, I check my sugar after I eat every day now, only every now and then do I check it before I eat because I can feel when my blood glucose level goes to low, but I cannot tell when it goes high. I also firmly believe in the injectable drug Byetta because now when I check my sugar an hour after I eat, my sugar is 85 to 110. I just take a shot an hour before I eat twice a day before my bigger meals. When I came home after finding out my daily blood glucose level was 10.3, I checked my sugar an hour after I ate and sure enough my blood glucose level was 385. Byetta is an injectable drug, (not insulin) which softens the sugar spike after you eat. I will add a section on Byetta on my website next. So if you or someone you know is a diabetic, make sure you or that someone you know has their A1c test as recommended by their doctor. I have mine once every 3 months, because that is what the A1c test is, a daily average over the past 3 months.

pre-diabetes

Everyone who winds up with type 2 diabetes usually had what they are now calling “pre-diabetes” first. So, it is a good idea to catch if at all possible your diabetes in the “pre-diabetes” stage. If you can do this you could delay or possibly even prevent type 2 diabetes from ever fully developing. This can possibly be achieved simply by following the same daily lifestyle of physical activity and proper nutrition required by a type 2 diabetic and caught early enough in the pre-diabetes stage.

Calorie Counting

Just thought I would say a little about calorie counting. A lot of diabetics try to eat a low carb, high protein diet low in fat. This is great. But it is also important to keep track of how many calories you eat on a daily basis.
I recently saw on the Olymics that Mark Phelps eats 10-12 thousand calories a day. And look at how skinny he is. No fat at all. I cannot even imagine how that is possible. Although they did also say that he spends like 5 hours a day in the pool and being in a pool and swimming is supposed to be the best exercise because you have resistance on all your muscles equally. I imagine this has a lot to do with it.
But, me anyway, I can't do that. Or at least I won't even try. So I have to do many things in my lifestyle to maintain my sugar level. Counting calories is part of my dieting plan. I eat 2000 calories at a maximum per day. I try to eat less, but it doesn't always work out. I probably average about 2000. Everybody should discuss with their doctor what their specific daily caloric intake should be and try to adhere to that as closely as possible. It is very easy to do once you get used to it. You just have to make sure when you are looking at the Nutritional Facts information that you are paying attention to the SERVINGS PER CONTAINER amount. If there is 5 servings per container then you have to multiply this times each serving size to have the actual amount of calories are in the whole container. And as far as fast food goes, all fast food websites all contain the nutritional facts for their respective menus. The actual restaurants might not display this information, but their website will.

What is the A1C test?

Once you find out that you have diabetes, you and your doctor will work to keep your sugar readings at proper levels. Main advantages of keeping your blood sugar under control are that you will feel better overall and you may prevent or at least delay as long as possible the start of diabetic complications.

The best way to personally keep track of your blood sugar is to check your sugar level yourself with blood glucose testing meters. This test will tell you what your blood glucose level is at the time you are checking it. The only thing bad about this is that everybody has a sugar level which goes up and down all the time. Especially after you eat. This is where the A1C test comes in.
The A1C test takes a daily average over the past 3 months. This way you and your doctor get a better overall picture of how your diabetic plan is going.

A perfect example of how important this test is just happened to me recently. I have been a diabetic for about 11 years now, I am off insulin now, however I take Actos to smooth out the amount of insulin that my pancreas does still produce. I do cardio exercise for a minimum of 90 minutes per day and I eat a low fat and high protein diet of 2000 calories per day or less. I was checking my sugar 3 times a day right before I ate (to make sure my sugar was not to high to eat something). My sugar level every time I checked it for 11 years was always in an acceptable range. (75-135). My A1C test always came back with flying colors. I had this test 4 times per year. All of a sudden my A1C test came back the last time I went to the doctor very high. My doctor said "how are your finger sticks going?" I said fine. She said well your blood sugar level is averaging about 300 per day. I said "not when I am checking it". She said "well, maybe your sugar is starting to spike after you eat more than usual." So I checked it after I ate and sure enough it was 279.

So, for now anyway I am taking Byetta, which softens the sugar spike after you eat. It also has a tendency to suppress your appetite. Which means with some people, they lose weight. In my case it does suppress my apetite. I have been on it 2 months and my sugar after I eat goes no higher than 127 which I am sure will bring down my A1C test average. I don't know this yet, because I don't go to the doctor until next month. But I check my sugar before and after I eat now and I am sure it will be back to normal. And so far I have lost 8 lbs. Not exactly an astounding amount of weight loss, but the important thing is I did not do anything different to lose this weight. I just found myself eating a little less.

But that just goes to show the importance of the A1C test.

Cardio Exercise Benefits

The benefits of cardio to a diabetic in controlling blood glucose levels are enormous. People think that all they have to do is take their medicine and that's all they have to do. But cardio exercise can help not only control your blood sugar but your blood pressure and weight as well. Actually I think exercise can probably help a lot of medical conditions that people have today. Of course, this doesn't mean you can stop on the way home from the gym and get a large pizza. A proper low fat, low carb, high protein diet is also needed to control blood sugar, blood pressure and your weight. Not to mention, smoking. Smoking is one of the major contributors to high cholestorol
levels in people today. I could go on and on. Visit my website for more info on diabetic daily life.

Who can get diabetes?

Diabetes is not contagious. You cannot "catch" it. However, certain stereotypes can increase the chance of developing diabetes. Americans are increasingly overweight. According to recent reports, the number of diabetics in the United States is predicted to be about 8.9 percent of the population by the year 2025. That's almost 9 out of every 100 people will be a diabetic. Think maybe America is headed in the wrong direction? Think about this. In the old days people used to all eat at home and maybe eat out as a treat once a month or so. Then, after school kids would come home and run around and ride their bikes until dinner, then after dinner, go back out and play until it was time to come in. But now through the competiveness of fast food restaurants and the need for both parents to be in the workforce, the timesaving factor of stopping at McDonalds on the way home and picking up dinner for the family at probably the same price it would cost you to make dinner anyway just makes all the sense. Then through the marvels of today's technology, after dinner the kids go back to their playstation 3 or xbox 360 (where they probably were after school until before dinner) and stay there until bedtime. And I don't even want to go into supersize. That's just foolish to tack all those extra carbs which are not needed onto the diet of your children or yourself. People say "well, my kids like McDonalds fries". That's fine but do you think they will like being diagnosed with diabetes when they are about 30 years old or so later in life? Diabetes can be inherited, but this is not always the case, for the most part it is developed over the course of many years through improper dieting and not enough of an active lifestyle. So what I recommend to turn this problem around is that everyone start eating a low fat (not no fat), low carb (not no carb) diet as high in protein as possible. The reason I say not no fat and not no carb is because people always try these type of fad diets and even if they do work they will eventually find that they cannot continue this type of diet forever. Then once they stop the diet, the old bad habits come back and all the weight and problems come right back too. So, you need to work a sensible balanced diet into your lifestyle, something you can live with in comfort. Then, I reccomend having some type of cardio machine in the house for the family to use. Some examples of these are available here. However, remember the competiveness of business today dictates that you get what you pay for. Don't run out and buy the cheapest exercise bike you can or it will break and so will your plan for your family to exercise in the comfort of your house. Personally, I have a LeMond Fitness gforce rt in my house. It cost about $2500.00 on sale. But I have gone through cheap bikes that cost 3oo to 500 dollars every six months or so for years. My LeMond is like the day I bought it (about 18 months ago) and I ride it 2 hours every day at least 5 days a week, and less on the weekend but I still make sure to work in at least half that even on my days off. Through proper cardio exercise and a proper diet, everyone can be healthy and happy. And don't worry, the kids can can still play their playstation 3 while they are riding the bicycle. Don't make the price and ease of fast food and todays technology put you or your children on the road to diabetes. With just a little old fashioned effort we can turn this problem around and start heading in the right direction.

What is the glycemic index?

The glycemic index measures how fast a food will raise your blood sugar. For more information on the glycemic index and a simple glycemic index chart, plus a couple or recommended reading books on the glycemic index click here.

Welcome to my diabetic community

I have decided to build this blog to be an online diabetic community where you can share your diabetic lifestyle with others. Somewhere you and others can share thoughts and ideas on living and coping with diabetes.
The objective of this blog, my lens and my website is to help others either ease into the fact that now they have to live with this new problem in their life.
There are general facts about diabetes everywhere on my website. If you see anything that is not true contact me and I will remove it. It is my intention to educate people on how to live with diabetes in their life today. I am not a doctor or any type of medical person. I am just an average person who found out I was a diabetic. More information on myself is available on the about me page of my website.
I have have built this blogging section to help people that want to ask questions, but might not know who to ask, perhaps because they think it is a foolish question or they just don’t know who to ask. I know I had a lot of those. Or maybe they would like a different way of accomplishing something, such as you don’t like the diet the doctor gave you. Well, there is no actual diabetic diet. I know when the doctor told me what I was supposed to eat, I was ready to look for another doctor. Hopefully, myself or someone will be able to answer your questions or at least guide you in the right direction for answers. It is also for other people or myself who wish to share anything that could be of value to anyone with diabetes or even possibly someone whom you might know that is a diabetic.
Diabetes is a terrible illness, but it does not mean the end of your life. It just means you might have to change a thing or two.
If you or someone you know has diabetes, take a look around my website and my lens. My website could offer some type of information you have been looking for. I have a dieting section, complete with recipes(some, the recipe part is slow going, I am not a major chef and I don't want to steal anyone elses recipes), but all the nutritional information is correct. I also have a section on exercising, a section on vitamins and some other tips about living with diabetes. And of course I also have advertising, but all advertising is for products I use, have used, or fully understand and therefore I will recommend. If anyone has any bad experience with any product I endorse, please let me know. This might be a product that I recommend, but have not used. Such as the alli, which is the only diet plan recommended by the FDA, and I have yet to hear anything bad about alli except it cost to much. But if you cannot lose weight by limiting your calories and exercise, then by what means can someone justify saying that something is to expensive when it is in regards to your personal health? I say if you can't lose weight in the conventional manner and alli helps you lose weight, go for it! Anything that improves your personal health and helps you control your blood sugar does not cost to much.

What is diabetes?

Diabetes is a disease which occurs when your pancreas does not produce enough insulin to counteract the sugar level the body creates through your diet and that of which your liver produces. For a more detailed description visit my website, Diabetic Daily Life.

Diabetes Overview

Almost everyone knows someone who has diabetes. It is one of the largest growing deseases in the United States today. Some people say that it is because Americans are the most overweight country in the world. Although obesity is a common factor in many diabetics, this is not a proven fact.

Alcohol and Diabetes

I personally don't recommend drinking alcohol on a diabetic diet. Alcohol has almost as many calories as fat. If you drink alcohol, only drink it occasionally and when your blood sugar level is well-controlled.

Eating right with diabetes

If you have diabetes, it is very important to eat right every day to keep your blood sugar levels even. Count your calories and maintain the right calorie amount your doctor says you should have. Personally I try to avoid anything that is white and contains starch. Such as bread and pasta. Try to eat 3 well balanced meals containing the lowest amount of fat possibe. The importance of your diet when you have diabetes cannot be overstated. For a much more detailed overview on diabetes and dieting, click here.

Dieting Basics

Hello everyone!
Despite what you may have heard, there is no diabetic diet. Eating a normally balanced fat-free diet is the same diet that is good for anyone else. However, diabetics must monitor the intake of carbs a lot more than that of non diabetics. You of course cannot just depend on dieting alone. For a more detailed view of all things related to Diabetic Daily Life, just view my site.