Exercise Guidelines

Exercise is a critical factor in good health for human beings. Period. Simply adding a brisk walk to your daily routine can enhance your enjoyment of life, raise your mood, improve your chance for a longer, more vigorous life. For people living with diabetes, exercise needs to be taken into consideration as part of the management of daily nutrition and the maintenance of optimum blood glucose level. For people diagnosed with - or trying to avoid - Type 2 diabetes, exercise is proving to be the insulin-builder. It can actually help lower blood sugar levels.

Today's the day

The powerful three

Think about 10,000 steps

Today's the day  

Actually today is the only currently available day for you to kick your lifestyle up a notch with exercise. We know. It's not the most obvious solution to the too busy, too tired, too-much-to-do-already life most of us are leading today. But it's the magic. What do you want? To feel better? To feel better about yourself? To feel happier? To lose weight? To have more energy? To be healthier? To live longer? If there was a pill that pretty much did all that, we'd all be hammering on the door for it. So, really, today's the day.

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The powerful three  

• Aerobic exercise.
  Go for 30 minutes a day, 5 days a week. Find something you really enjoy that raises your heart and respiration rates and tones up your muscles. Walk. Dance. Swim. Skate. Go for tennis or handball. Lousy weather? Treadmills and stationary bikes keep you warmer, drier, cooler, healthier.
• Strength training.
  Find a class for weight training. Join a gym and get some good instruction to get your started. Buy a video tape or book and some light weights for a home workout. Your reward: stronger bones to fight osteoporosis, more muscle - and, believe it or not, maybe that faster metabolism you've always wanted. When you build muscle, you burn more calories, even after you stop exercising.
• Flexibility exercise.
  Stretch! It feels so good. It also keeps your joints flexible and helps prevent injury during workouts - and just routine activities. Ask your doctor about stretching. An easy yoga video (Karen Voight - Pure & Simple Stretch is a good one) can gently stretch out and relax your whole body.

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Think about 10,000 steps  

There's a groundswell of interest in an exercise program that encourages everyone to take 10,000 steps a day - research suggests that that's the optimum number for health and weight loss. All you have to do is purchase a very basic pedometer and see how many steps you're taking now. (Seems like 10,000 most days, huh?) Then follow a gradual program to work up to the target number. For information and a free guided program, visit non-profit organization Shape Up America's site. Then email us and tell us how you're doing.

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