I often encounter people who believe their diabetes (type II) is purely genetic, or that they are in some way helpless to manage it aside from medications. I’ve found that many people don’t actually understand what is happening in their bodies, and just use the term “high blood sugar.” So let’s clarify and start with the basics.
Let’s start with how blood sugar works
When we eat food with carbohydrates, it’s converted to a “sugar” that the body can use in various ways. During digestion, the pancreas releases insulin. Insulin is what brings the sugar out of our blood and into our muscles to be stored. When it’s in its stored form, let’s call this “sugar A”. When we go to use our muscles, the sugar is our fuel. But it can’t be used as fuel when it’s in the form of Sugar A. Sugar A is for storage only. It has to come out of the muscles’ storage, back to the blood, converted to a different type of sugar (let’s call this “sugar B”), then sugar B can be used by the muscles as fuel. The more muscle mass we have, the more storage capacity we have for sugar A.
The other way we can get the sugar out of our blood is by exercising. Exercise pulls the sugar out of our blood to use as fuel for our body. This results in needing less insulin release by the pancreas.
People with type I diabetes do not produce insulin
Type I diabetes is genetic. This is usually (but not always) diagnosed in childhood. Individuals with type I diabetes have an issue with their pancreas – it doesn’t make insulin. This means that anytime they eat, they need to take insulin. If they don’t take insulin, the sugar just stays in their blood. It’s not sugar A (stored), and it’s not sugar B (fuel). It just stays in their blood. This causes serious problems because the body can’t access its fuel.
People with type II diabetes produce insulin, but it is no longer enough.
Type II diabetes has a small genetic component, but it is mostly acquired. There are a couple of ways this can happen – usually several things occur at once, causing a perfect storm for diabetes.
- Inactivity: Exercise not only uses up blood sugar, but it improves the efficiency of our bodies in storing it.
- High sugar intake: This leads to even higher amounts of sugar for the body to store. Again, this is not always sweets. Sometimes it’s just a diet that is primarily rice or pasta without enough protein or fats to balance it out.
I am going to attempt to explain a very physiologically complicated concept in simple terms, so bear with me here.
When a person is sedentary, they lose muscle mass. Muscle is important and necessary in pulling sugars out of the blood to store them for later use. As we age, we also start to lose muscle mass. This leads to a situation where we have less and less muscle, and therefore a decreasing storage for sugars.
If you are sedentary AND losing muscle mass but continue to consume the same amount of ‘sugar’, your body has to produce more and more insulin to deal with this sugar. After a while, the body becomes insulin resistant. This means that the body doesn’t respond as much to insulin as it used to, so it requires more insulin to achieve the same results. There are a variety of medications that release insulin throughout the day so the body can continue to function. There are may variations of this so please remember that this post is a massive simplification.
Exercise is critical in preventing and treating diabetes
Whether you have diabetes (type II) and would like to reduce how much medication you’re taking, or you’re looking to prevent developing diabetes – exercise is a critical part of the equation. If you’re overwhelmed by where to start with strength training – look on youtube! You can find any kind of workout there. Broken foot? Search for “upper body chair workout.” Just starting out? Search for “leg strength for beginners.” Strength training doesn’t always have to be with dumbbells – body weight counts as well!
You don’t have to do crazy workouts. Walking for 10-30 minutes helps to immediately lower our blood sugar by using up that extra sugar as fuel. Strength training is also extremely helpful in combatting diabetes. Training alternating muscle groups 3 days a week for just 30 minutes is enough. An example schedule could be:
- Sunday: Walk
- Monday: 30 minute leg workout, 10 minute walk
- Tuesday: 30 minute walk
- Wednesday: 30 minute arm workout, 10 minute walk
- Thursday: 30 minute walk
- Friday: 30 minute back and chest workout, 10 minute walk
- Saturday: Rest day, or 20-30 minute walk
If you’ve made it this far, don’t stop!
Don’t stop educating yourself on diabetes. My desire is to inform, and to inform you accurately I have to let you know that this post contains a miniscule amount of information about diabetes and its management. My goal is to provide you with some of the basics and to let you know that you are not helpless – you have options. If you’re looking for some free ideas on specific exercises, check out my exercise database. You can subscribe using the box at the top of this post!
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