Lose fat and think better too....
Today's post: Monday, 1-26-2009
In a recent article in the online Health Day news, they reported a study that found that people who had high blood sugar simply did NOT think as well as people with normal blood sugar levels. Their blood sugar was measured by their HBA1C tests, which tests their average blood sugar for the last 60 to 90 days by measuring sugar on their red blood cells that live that long.
They thought more slowly; didn’t remember as well; and were less able to multitask. Ouch !!
Besides that, the article noted that people with such higher blood sugar were 1.5 times as likely to develop some kind of senility. (We did some recent posts on that, why it’s so, & some of the recent research on it.)
But other than the drugs that lower high blood sugar, which are not very good so far with many undesirable side effects and expensive, other than lower dose Metformin in some people, how can you bring down your blood sugar if it’s high?
1. Start lowering it the minute it tests as high. (High enough to prompt action is a fasting blood sugar of 100 or more or an HBA1C reading of 5.9 or more, possibly even 5.8.) That’s because it takes very little more to begin to put you into type 2 diabetes and the related insulin resistance, which can be harder to reverse. But at lower levels of high blood sugar, it almost always is reversible.
2. Take as much action as you can to lower it and get your HBA1C retested after 3 or 4 months to see if it worked.
For best results, get an at home fasting blood sugar test device and supplies through your doctor or HMO. With that, you get instant feedback on what makes your blood sugar worse and what makes it better. Bread, soft drinks, and other high glycemic index foods plus NO exercise tend to make it worse while zero and low glycemic index foods and vigorous exercise from brisk walks to strength training to interval cardio make it better.
3. But the best news is that if you do the things that make your blood sugar go down to where it should be, you’ll also become less fat, healthier in several ways, & your sex life is likely to improve!
That’s because when your blood sugar is just right you tend to lose excess fat; & when your blood sugar is high, you definitely GAIN fat.
Since we just posted on just this set of things last Friday, to save you time if you didn’t see that post, here are some of the key things in it that can also help you lower your blood sugar if it’s high.: (I add some extra info after these 3 sections as well.)
2. One of the very best and most effective ways to lose fat, lose belly fat, and reduce all these risks is to do regular exercise that includes some progressive strength training and interval cardio every week.
Both the total amount of calories burned even in low key exercise and activities such walking and light housework and the amount of vigorous exercise you get that causes you to exert an extra effort or to stop afterwards to catch your breath make a difference. But if you can do the more vigorous exercises several times a week without overdoing it, you’ll burn the most calories and remove the most belly fat.
Both interval cardio and progressive strength training cause increased metabolism and calorie burning for up to SEVERAL HOURS after you stop doing them. Even better they tend to reverse insulin resistance and high blood sugar and prevent their return if you keep doing vigorous interval cardio and progressive strength training each week.
Even better, such exercises help to both relieve stress and to increase the amount of stress you can handle without feeling overstressed and in need of comfort food.
(These kinds of exercise done regularly every week do an extremely effective job in lowering high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Few drugs come close. One man with type 2 diabetes virtually wiped it out with just strength training alone. You may need more than that. But you WILL see positive results from this kind of regular exercise.)
3. To the extent you can manage it, eating or drinking zero or very low glycemic index foods and drinks over 95 % of the time while avoiding artificial sweeteners -- both will help you lose fat all over and will help you lose belly fat.
Health OK proteins and fats and oils essentially get a zero glycemic rating. (They work in enough other ways to remove belly fat and protect your health, we list them in our next way to lose belly fat by themselves. But they work and fit very well here also.) The more zero glycemic foods you eat, the lower your overall glycemic index of what you ingest will be.
The very low glycemic index foods include virtually all nonstarchy and/or green vegetables.
The very low glycemic index foods also include some fruit such as whole apples and cherries and blackberries. Most other whole fruit is relatively low in glycemic index; but enough higher to eat once or twice a day rather than more often.
The lowest glycemic index beans are lentils; but the other kinds of beans are low.
Barley is the only grain that has a truly low glycemic index. But eating only whole grain foods and about a third as many grain foods as most people do now or less -- & as whole grains only -- can also help.
The second way to eat a low glycemic diet is to stop eating or drinking virtually ALL high glycemic index foods. Or to eat them extremely rarely. Since the body acts as if you ate sugar if you eat things that are sweetened by non-nutritive sweeteners, they fit in this category also.
This means essentially NOT eating any refined grain foods whether it’s bread, cereal, baked goods, or snack foods. And it means virtually never drink any soft drinks. This means NOT eating or drinking anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and eating very few things sweetened by sugar.
(Since many people still have no clue how fattening and bad for your health these things are, that’s why we suggested taxing them in yesterday’s post.)
Bottom line, if you eat or drink them now, and stop doing it, it’s an excellent way to lose belly fat!
(Similarly, zero, low, and some moderately low glycemic foods tend to give you normal blood sugar levels while the high glycemic foods virtually always give you high blood sugar readings.)
4. Eat more health OK oils and protein foods and mostly stop eating bad ones.
a) Monosaturated oils tend to help you lose belly fat according to the Flat Belly Diet book, which is still relatively new. Monosaturated oils also increase your HDL or don’t lower it and they lower LDL. People who are working to lose weight or fat who have some of these monosaturated oils each day, oddly enough, lose more fat; and of even more importance, they are dramatically more likely to keep off the fat and weight they lose.
They are in extra virgin olive oil, avocados, and nuts. These foods are so nutritious and have so many other health benefits they’ve been called superfoods. Eat any of them you aren’t allergic to and you’ll have better health and less belly fat.
b) Omega 3 oils lower inflammation and triglycerides and help you think better, feel better, and handle stress without getting so angry or irritable you make your problems worse!
The safer and more effective omega 3 oils are in:
DHA from algae and well purified fish oils (both available as supplements);
wild caught fish, particularly salmon, mackerel (NOT king mackerel), and sardines;
walnuts;
and some green vegetables and greens, particularly one called purslane.
Conversely, AVOID getting as many omega 6 oils and saturated animal fats as you can.
c) Omega 6 oils come from grains and most oils other than olive oil. They tend to increase inflammation and may help cause cancer, particularly if heated. Unlike monosaturated oils and omega 3 oils, they do not help you lose belly fat or protect your health.
Eating some omega 6 oils is OK in whole grains. Omega 6 oils cause health problems, including obesity if you eat 20 times that much, as many people still do. Omega 6 oils are high in animals fed grains instead of their natural diets. This means most meat in stores is higher than it should be in omega 6 oils since the animals it’s from were fed almost only on grains.
So mostly avoid meat from grain fed animals; eat whole grains only moderately; eat no refined grain foods; and avoid soy, canola, safflower, and corn oils in your food.
(To recap, exercise and eat zero and low glycemic foods. You’ll be less fat; your blood sugar will be lower; & we now know, you’ll think better too!)
Today's post: Monday, 1-26-2009
In a recent article in the online Health Day news, they reported a study that found that people who had high blood sugar simply did NOT think as well as people with normal blood sugar levels. Their blood sugar was measured by their HBA1C tests, which tests their average blood sugar for the last 60 to 90 days by measuring sugar on their red blood cells that live that long.
They thought more slowly; didn’t remember as well; and were less able to multitask. Ouch !!
Besides that, the article noted that people with such higher blood sugar were 1.5 times as likely to develop some kind of senility. (We did some recent posts on that, why it’s so, & some of the recent research on it.)
But other than the drugs that lower high blood sugar, which are not very good so far with many undesirable side effects and expensive, other than lower dose Metformin in some people, how can you bring down your blood sugar if it’s high?
1. Start lowering it the minute it tests as high. (High enough to prompt action is a fasting blood sugar of 100 or more or an HBA1C reading of 5.9 or more, possibly even 5.8.) That’s because it takes very little more to begin to put you into type 2 diabetes and the related insulin resistance, which can be harder to reverse. But at lower levels of high blood sugar, it almost always is reversible.
2. Take as much action as you can to lower it and get your HBA1C retested after 3 or 4 months to see if it worked.
For best results, get an at home fasting blood sugar test device and supplies through your doctor or HMO. With that, you get instant feedback on what makes your blood sugar worse and what makes it better. Bread, soft drinks, and other high glycemic index foods plus NO exercise tend to make it worse while zero and low glycemic index foods and vigorous exercise from brisk walks to strength training to interval cardio make it better.
3. But the best news is that if you do the things that make your blood sugar go down to where it should be, you’ll also become less fat, healthier in several ways, & your sex life is likely to improve!
That’s because when your blood sugar is just right you tend to lose excess fat; & when your blood sugar is high, you definitely GAIN fat.
Since we just posted on just this set of things last Friday, to save you time if you didn’t see that post, here are some of the key things in it that can also help you lower your blood sugar if it’s high.: (I add some extra info after these 3 sections as well.)
2. One of the very best and most effective ways to lose fat, lose belly fat, and reduce all these risks is to do regular exercise that includes some progressive strength training and interval cardio every week.
Both the total amount of calories burned even in low key exercise and activities such walking and light housework and the amount of vigorous exercise you get that causes you to exert an extra effort or to stop afterwards to catch your breath make a difference. But if you can do the more vigorous exercises several times a week without overdoing it, you’ll burn the most calories and remove the most belly fat.
Both interval cardio and progressive strength training cause increased metabolism and calorie burning for up to SEVERAL HOURS after you stop doing them. Even better they tend to reverse insulin resistance and high blood sugar and prevent their return if you keep doing vigorous interval cardio and progressive strength training each week.
Even better, such exercises help to both relieve stress and to increase the amount of stress you can handle without feeling overstressed and in need of comfort food.
(These kinds of exercise done regularly every week do an extremely effective job in lowering high blood sugar and insulin resistance. Few drugs come close. One man with type 2 diabetes virtually wiped it out with just strength training alone. You may need more than that. But you WILL see positive results from this kind of regular exercise.)
3. To the extent you can manage it, eating or drinking zero or very low glycemic index foods and drinks over 95 % of the time while avoiding artificial sweeteners -- both will help you lose fat all over and will help you lose belly fat.
Health OK proteins and fats and oils essentially get a zero glycemic rating. (They work in enough other ways to remove belly fat and protect your health, we list them in our next way to lose belly fat by themselves. But they work and fit very well here also.) The more zero glycemic foods you eat, the lower your overall glycemic index of what you ingest will be.
The very low glycemic index foods include virtually all nonstarchy and/or green vegetables.
The very low glycemic index foods also include some fruit such as whole apples and cherries and blackberries. Most other whole fruit is relatively low in glycemic index; but enough higher to eat once or twice a day rather than more often.
The lowest glycemic index beans are lentils; but the other kinds of beans are low.
Barley is the only grain that has a truly low glycemic index. But eating only whole grain foods and about a third as many grain foods as most people do now or less -- & as whole grains only -- can also help.
The second way to eat a low glycemic diet is to stop eating or drinking virtually ALL high glycemic index foods. Or to eat them extremely rarely. Since the body acts as if you ate sugar if you eat things that are sweetened by non-nutritive sweeteners, they fit in this category also.
This means essentially NOT eating any refined grain foods whether it’s bread, cereal, baked goods, or snack foods. And it means virtually never drink any soft drinks. This means NOT eating or drinking anything sweetened with high fructose corn syrup and eating very few things sweetened by sugar.
(Since many people still have no clue how fattening and bad for your health these things are, that’s why we suggested taxing them in yesterday’s post.)
Bottom line, if you eat or drink them now, and stop doing it, it’s an excellent way to lose belly fat!
(Similarly, zero, low, and some moderately low glycemic foods tend to give you normal blood sugar levels while the high glycemic foods virtually always give you high blood sugar readings.)
4. Eat more health OK oils and protein foods and mostly stop eating bad ones.
a) Monosaturated oils tend to help you lose belly fat according to the Flat Belly Diet book, which is still relatively new. Monosaturated oils also increase your HDL or don’t lower it and they lower LDL. People who are working to lose weight or fat who have some of these monosaturated oils each day, oddly enough, lose more fat; and of even more importance, they are dramatically more likely to keep off the fat and weight they lose.
They are in extra virgin olive oil, avocados, and nuts. These foods are so nutritious and have so many other health benefits they’ve been called superfoods. Eat any of them you aren’t allergic to and you’ll have better health and less belly fat.
b) Omega 3 oils lower inflammation and triglycerides and help you think better, feel better, and handle stress without getting so angry or irritable you make your problems worse!
The safer and more effective omega 3 oils are in:
DHA from algae and well purified fish oils (both available as supplements);
wild caught fish, particularly salmon, mackerel (NOT king mackerel), and sardines;
walnuts;
and some green vegetables and greens, particularly one called purslane.
Conversely, AVOID getting as many omega 6 oils and saturated animal fats as you can.
c) Omega 6 oils come from grains and most oils other than olive oil. They tend to increase inflammation and may help cause cancer, particularly if heated. Unlike monosaturated oils and omega 3 oils, they do not help you lose belly fat or protect your health.
Eating some omega 6 oils is OK in whole grains. Omega 6 oils cause health problems, including obesity if you eat 20 times that much, as many people still do. Omega 6 oils are high in animals fed grains instead of their natural diets. This means most meat in stores is higher than it should be in omega 6 oils since the animals it’s from were fed almost only on grains.
So mostly avoid meat from grain fed animals; eat whole grains only moderately; eat no refined grain foods; and avoid soy, canola, safflower, and corn oils in your food.
(To recap, exercise and eat zero and low glycemic foods. You’ll be less fat; your blood sugar will be lower; & we now know, you’ll think better too!)
Labels: lose fat, lower high blood sugar, prevent senility, prevent type 2 diabetes, remember better, reverse type 2 diabetes, think better
posted by David at 1:07 PM
1 Comments:
Recently, there was a study reported that found that older people who did BOTH 3 sessions of strength training and 3 sessions of cardio each week did best in controlling insulin resistance.
The people who did neither did the worst.
Post a Comment
<< Home