I know! Most of us hate even the word "exercise" let alone the actual activity. Well, get over it! Once we've allowed ourselves to become diabetic, we no longer have a choice. We must exercise!
Yes, you read that right. I really did say, "Once we've allowed ourselves to become diabetic". I'm talking to us Type 2 diabetics on that one; you type 1s don't have to accept that remark! Now before you start getting all upset and mad with steam coming out of your ears as you sputter, "Who does she think she is? Trying to tell me I caused my own diabetes!", hear me out. Did you know you have diabetes in your family history? Had a doctor told you to lose weight? Had a doctor told you to change your diet and/or lifestyle? Had a doctor told you to get more exercise (there's that dirty word again)? Did you gorge on sweets and carbs? You get the point! But don't feel too bad. There is a diabetic prescription: EXERCISE!
We helped to create this problem in our bodies, now we have to take our medicines. And that doesn't stop with pills and shots. Just consider exercise another of the medicines we have to take. I read somewhere that exercise is the diabetes treatment almost everyone can benefit from. I backed up, read that again, and the light bulb came on. I got it! Exercise is another of our treatments and we need to think of it as such. It's not something we know we should do, something we might get around to someday, but something we have to do just as we have to take our other prescriptions the doctor gives us.
We don't, however, have to go out and join a gym or buy expensive exercise equipment. Of course you can if you want to, that's your perogative. But we can work exercise into our everyday life! We Americans have become very lazy, often do to some wonderful technological advances. Here are some easy ways to start working exercise into your everyday life; give them a try.
- Hide the remote control; we've made it too easy to be lazy.
- Carry your groceries, one bag at a time, from the car to the kitchen.
- Instead of stacking things by the stairs, so you can make less trips up and down, make those trips. Stairs are great exercise.
- Push the kids or grandkids on the swings.
- Go for a walk. Start with a short walk around the block if that's all you can manage. Make it a little longer each week. If the weather is bad, go to the local mall and walk.
- Walk around while talking on the phone instead of plopping down in a chair.
- Stop driving around the parking lot for ten minutes hoping to park next to the building. Park farther away and enjoy the extra walk.
- Put items you use often on higher selves so you do more stretching and reaching to get them.
- Housework and gardening are both great exercise opportunities.
I'm sure there are other ways you can think of to add simple routine exercise to your everyday life. Take that prescription seriously. Do whatever works for you, but do something! Take that most-hated diabetic prescription: EXERCISE!