Everyday Americans average 5 hours of watching TV or recreational computer use. Research has been telling us that this much TV is not good for our health and that we should be outside or being active instead. And now another study has just told us that too much TV time actually contributes directly to diabetes, heart disease or earlier death if you already have one of these diseases. Yikes.
Now, the TV or the computer screen is not actually doing the damage but it is the time spent slumped on the couch, the types of food we tend to eat in front of the TV and the amount of food we tend to eat in front of the TV that actually causes the significant damage.
Dr. Frank Hu of the Harvard School of Public Health is the primary study author. He says, "the combination of a sedentary lifestyle, unhealthy diet, and obesity creates a 'perfect breeding ground' for type 2 diabetes and heart disease." From the over 200,000 people involved in this study, they found that every 2 hours of watching daily television increased risk of diabetes by 20% and increased risk of heart disease by 15%. The most sobering statistic is that every 2 hours of TV per day increased the risk of dying early by 13%.
From the study, Hu and his research team estimate that if 100,000 people reduce their daily TV time by 2 hours, they could prevent 176 new cases of diabetes, 38 cases of fatal cardiovascular disease, and 104 premature deaths -- every year.
Sticking with exercise is the key in long term health for people that don’t spend a lot of time working out.
A recent study compiling data and information about exercise and mortality showed that a sedentary person’s risk for dying prematurely decreased almost 20% if that person started and sustained a walking program, 30 minutes of walking 5 times a week for several years.
Those results are not noted if the individual only continues the walking program for a short period of time. So, it is very important to pick an exercise that you can continue for the rest of your life. And having different types of exercise that you like to do is beneficial too.
Diabetes is a disease that affects your whole body, from your eyes to your blood vessels, to your toes. But many people with diabetes live wonderful, healthy lives and are not held back by complications like nerve damage or heart problems.
They put extra effort into each day than the average person and come out with more satisfaction knowing they are conquering more than the average person.
You probably know that managing diabetes can be complicated, but there are a few changes you can make with major impact.
Controlling your blood sugar is the biggest improvement you can make but a lot goes into controlling your blood sugar:
controlling carbohydrate intake;
possibly taking medication or insulin;
exercising;
checking your blood sugar regularly;
reducing stress;
and the list goes on.
The following simple changes will help lead to better blood sugar control along with your other treatments, but making all these changes together will give you the biggest impact on preventing complications.
Athero-what?!? Atherosclerosis: “an arteriosclerosis characterized by atheromatous deposits in and fibrosis of the inner layer of the arteries.”
Well that didn’t help at all did it?! This is a disease that causes your arteries to become hard and narrowed (that process is called arteriosclerosis) with fatty deposit (atheromatous deposits) and extra tough tissue (fibrosis) in the artery walls.
Arteries can even become completely blocked in atherosclerosis. Your arteries are blood vessels that carry blood from your heart to the rest of your body, so atherosclerosis, blocking arteries, can lead to heart disease.
Remember back to this past summer of 2010 when the HHS department and the USDA released new dietary recommendations? Well those recommendations came from a committee that was assembled to revise the 2005 Dietary Guidelines after looking at new nutrition research and the health of our country. You can find those recommendations here.
So now those recommendations from June of 2010 have been turned into the detailed Dietary Guidelines of 2010, which were released today. Basically, the guidelines give you very specific and easy to follow nutrition action items that will help improve your health.
They are broken up into five categories: balancing calories to manage weight; foods and food components to reduce; foods and nutrients to increase; building healthy eating patterns; helping Americans make healthy choices. The new food pyramid to accompany these new and updated guidelines will soon follow in a few months.
So how do these guidelines affect those of you with diabetes? Can you still follow the guidelines along with your diabetes meal plan?
The answer is yes, these guidelines are great suggestions for you if you have diabetes. The one thing to keep in mind though, is that your diabetes meal plan or instructions from your health care team are personalized for you and your treatment plan. So, if you have a specific meal plan, you should follow those instructions over a guideline that seems to contradict your treatment plan. But the 2010 guidelines will most likely go hand in hand with your treatment plan.
How are your New Year's resolutions going? Are you going strong 14 days into 2011?
Maybe the stress from end of the year finances, the lack of sleep from holiday parties, and the consistently difficult holiday food choices have worn you out and good intentioned resolutions are far from your mind?
Never fear! Ask Mary is here to help you get off to a great start this year. All you need is a little encouragement, achievable goals for 2011, and a plan to put it all into action. Take these important habits and turn them into SMART goals that fit your lifestyle and your treatment plan.
Don't worry about the lofty resolutions that sound great on paper, but make you cringe thinking about them.
I definitely understand the winter hibernation effect. Some days after work, all I want to do is curl up by the fireplace to read a book. And sometimes I do just that.
But the rest of the week I don’t miss out on all the fun winter activities that get me moving, give me energy, lighten my mood, and burn some extra calories.
It might be difficult to check your blood sugar with a cold finger or if your meter and strips get out of the recommended temp range. But it is really important to check your blood sugar before you venture outside and after your activity/exercise to find out how the cold affects you.
Also, be careful to wear warm, padded socks and clothes if you have circulation problems or neuropathy. We don’t want your toes to feel frozen!
Check out these winter from the Mayo Clinic before you head outdoors.
No matter where you are in the US, East coast, West coast, Midwest or the South, these winter months are bringing in drearier and colder days. Floridians don’t have to face the snow, the ice, and the wind of Wisconsin, but the temperature still drops down colder.
The sky might be greyer and cloudier. The roads might be slippery, the running trails covered in snow or the swimming pools too cold for even your big toe.
So what does this mean for your exercise routine?
Have you just gotten into a rhythm with your walking program? Is road cycling the exercise you enjoy the most? Is it hard to make yourself get bundled up for an extremely cold jog?
Winter weather can deal a death blow to your workout routine if you’re not prepared.
But, you need to hear this, exercising will help you get through these cold months. It is so important to stay active even though the days are shorter, you might not be able to do your normal workouts, and all you want to do is huddle inside by the fire.
Get your exercise in, control your blood sugar, and do a good deed!
The fall months are chock-full of great events that are centered on walking or running. What a great way to get out with hundreds or thousands of people to improve your own health while supporting the health of others!
Lace up your running shoes and find a walk for a cause or run for fundraising in your area. You’ll get a great workout for the day, you’ll most likely have great control of your blood sugars that day, a long walk with help you manage your weight and your heart will be happy knowing that you are doing something purposeful and meaningful.
Remember to check your blood sugar before and after the event.
If it is a long event, you might want to bring your meter along to check in the middle of your walk or run. Many large events have sponsors provide sports drinks, yogurt, fruit, or other giveaways at the finish line.
Check out this list of groups that host events or do your own search for an event that supports a cause important to you!
If you haven’t noticed, the last two posts were about the different health benefits from aerobic and anaerobic exercise. And here comes one last one for the week! I want to help you create a weekly workout plan that will maximize your health benefits, and that plan needs to include both kinds of exercise.
So, take a look at these lists and mix and match what you like to do and what you can plan into your schedule. If you already work out frequently in the week, aim to have 3-5 days of aerobic exercise and 2-3 days of anaerobic exercise.
If this is going to be your first effort at getting exercise into your life or if you haven’t exercised for awhile, it is definitely ok to start out slowly. You should fit in 3 days of aerobic exercise in a week but then keep adding in days of aerobic exercise until you work out 5 days a week. Then you can add in your two days of anaerobic activities.
Everyday Americans average 5 hours of watching TV or recreational computer use. Research has been telling us that this much TV is not good for our health and that we should be outside or being active instead. And now another study has just told us that too much TV time actually contributes directly to diabetes, heart disease or earlier death if you already have one of these diseases. Yikes.
