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Living with Diabetes

Diet & Excercise

There are many thing you can do to help prevent and keep your diabetes under control.  Some of the main contributing factor to diabetes is being overweight as well as lack of physical exercise. 

This being said you don’t have to starve yourself or become a gym rat to prevent diabetes. Simply take a look at your lifestyle and make small changes increasing you exercise and adjusting you diet to foods that help regulate your bodies insulin.

Generally speaking  their are three kinds of activities related to physical exercise.

1. Aerobic Exercise - Aerobic exercise increases your heart rate, works your muscles, and raises your breathing rate. For most people, it's best to aim for a total of about 30 minutes a day, at least 5 days a week. If you haven't been very active recently, you can start out with 5 or 10 minutes a day and work up to more time each week Try some of the following activities:

• Take a brisk walk (outside or inside on a treadmill)
• Go dancing
• Take a low-impact aerobics class
• Swim or do water aerobic exercises
• Try ice-skating or roller-skating
• Play tennis
• Stationary bicycle indoors

2. Strength Training - Strength Training involves weights and should be done at least 3 times a week to improve you physical strength.

• Join a class to do strength training with weights, elastic bands, or plastic tubes
• Lift light weights at home

3. Flexibility Exercises - Flexibility exercises, also called stretching, help keep your joints flexible and reduce your chances of injury during other activities. Gentle stretching for 5 to 10 minutes helps your body warm up and get ready for aerobic activities such as walking or swimming. There are more rigorous routines that also help build strength.

• yoga
• polities

How ever if you don’t have time durring you busy day to fit in some kind of formal exercise here are some tips you can do throught the day to keep active:

• Walk instead of drive whenever possible
• Take the stairs instead of the elevator
• Work in the garden, rake leaves, or do some housecleaning every day
• Park at the far end of the shopping center lot and walk to the store