Brought to us by Elizabeth Carrollton of Drugwatch.com

Exercise and Diet are Important to Diabetes Health

In this day and age, there seems to be a pharmaceutical solution to every problem. Even diet and exercise can purportedly be replaced with a pill or a shake or some other solution. While there are many medications available for diabetes health, including the drug Actos, some of these medications carry serious risks. So while a patient might be helping themselves in the short term, the long-term implications of certain drugs could be serious and cannot be ignored. The well-known diabetes drug Actos has been linked to an increased risk of bladder cancer. This begs the question: Can the need for diabetes medication be reduced through a healthy lifestyle?

Exercise and good nutrition are absolutely essential for a patient with diabetes. Not only can they increase lifespan and improve diabetes health, but they can also reduce the need for diabetes medications and can even help a patient avoid diabetes complications. Both good nutrition and exercise can help to control blood sugar on a short-term and long-term scale.

• Good nutrition. This is the foundation for diabetes health management. Someone with diabetes will need to work with a nutritionist to develop a good eating plan for blood sugar management. Patients with diabetes need to create a balanced diet providing the right nutrients without cutting carbohydrates out entirely. While lower-carbohydrate diets work well, cutting all carbohydrates out can create an imbalance, causing other problems along the way. Working with a nutritionist is key to striking up the right balance among calories, fat, carbohydrates, protein and fiber, along with other vital nutrients.
• Cardiovascular exercise. The benefits of cardiovascular exercise are numerous, and the list is even longer for patients with diabetes. On both a short- and long-term basis, cardiovascular exercise can help to lower and control blood sugar levels. Improving physical fitness can also benefit the health in other ways. Increasing blood flow can fight against neuropathy and other vascular issues caused by diabetes complications, for example.
• Stretching and yoga. Stretching, practicing yoga and similar activities can also benefit diabetes health. Patients who practice yoga on a regular basis decrease their stress levels, which can impact blood glucose control in a big way. Because stress and sleeping issues can affect blood sugar management, both in the short term and long term, finding ways to balance the mood and deal with stress can be extremely beneficial, and yoga is an excellent way to achieve this.
• Strength training. This is another extremely beneficial form of exercise. Building strong, long and lean muscles is key to weight management and can also help with blood glucose control. Strength training using weights, weight machines or other forms of resistance training can improve overall health while having a profoundly positive impact on diabetes health management, making it an essential part of the lifestyle for anyone who has diabetes.
• Weight loss. Not every patient with diabetes needs to lose weight, but those who do can benefit from good nutrition and plenty of healthy exercise. These are the two most important building blocks in developing a healthy lifestyle for anyone, not just those people who have diabetes.

Good diet and nutrition, paired with regular exercise, are two essential keys to diabetes health management. Patients with diabetes who want to decrease their Actos dosage and overall reliance on pharmaceuticals can gain some control over their health through nutrition and exercise considerations.

Elizabeth Carrollton writes about defective medical devices and dangerous drugs for Drugwatch.com.