re: #75 Renaissance_Man

Yes, I realised after I hit post how offensive that may have sounded. My apologies.

Type 2 DM is a very difficult condition to manage. On one hand, we tell people to lose weight to regain insulin sensitivity, but on the other hand, insulin makes it impossible to lose fat. Short of starvation, the options are very limited.

That said, it’s not impossible. The equation remains the same - calories in < calories out. Eating low carbs will help, but once you are on insulin, you generally need help to manage low carbs to avoid hypoglycaemia. Eating the barest minimum of processed foods makes a very big difference - some studies have shown a diet with no processed foods to cure diabetes on its own. However, in the real world, that too is easier said than done.

And exercise is also easier said than done. The fact is, if we paid everyone in the country a dollar a minute to walk for 20 minutes every day, and they actually did it, we could quite possibly solve not only health care, but also the budget, with the immense amount of money that would be saved. But I hardly know anyone who can find the time to walk 20 minutes a day, and getting paid $20 to do it probably wouldn’t make them do it either, regardless of the health benefits. Exercise for its own sake sucks. It takes a particular kind of person to find it fun. And it takes another kind of person to be able to carve out the time to do it every day, especially when they’re already out of shape.

Something that always works, however, is to build muscle. Building muscle through weight training gives a huge increase in insulin sensitivity, and burns a lot of fat. It also strengthens bones and improves cardiovascular health. For people that are deconditioned, I recommend slow burn weight training - the difference it makes in them is enormous.

No sweat, I knew you had no idea about her diabetes.

I’ve spoken to her a number of times about lifting weights, it’s helped me lose weight a number of times and I’ve lifted most of my adult life. She’s a tad sceptical and trusts diets more. Sigh, I’ll just help her with the diet and keep trying to get her to the gym.