Insulin Resistance and Intensive Training

A lot of things seem to have happened. There has been a shift, like continents moving: you don't notice it happening but somehow you've moved two inches closer to Hawaii. My BMI has shrunk to a tiny 29 on good days, which is kind of nice, as it moves me out of the 'obese' category into the merely 'overweight' category. On the down side my blood sugar measure has shown that the diabetes is getting worse and they want to put me on metformin.

I was given a book called Reversing Diabetes. It is quite interesting as its approach is holistic, rather than drug based. It is all about how diet, vitamins and exercise can do wonders for the diabetic and reduce their dependence on prescription medicines. Indeed the writer is so anti-medication that he has scared me half to death with the nasty side-effects I could get. Metformin apparently kills about 10,000 diabetics a year or something by giving them heart attacks.

It's written by an American doctor who specifically treats patients to his own theories. There are a few too many sentences that start off with "Here at the Whittaker Wellness Clinic, all the patients..." blah blah, but at least he backs up his claims with research. What I don't know is if he is selective about the research he chooses.

Did you see Horizon a couple of weeks ago?

Click link.

Some scientists somewhere have discovered that if you do a little really intensive training every week, it breaks down the glycogen stores in your muscles, improves your VOmax (if you have the right genes) and reduces you insulin insensitivity by as much as 25% in just a few weeks.

Naturally I was thrilled to hear about this - a few minutes exercise a couple of times a week? Cool! Where do I sign up?

Then I got the phone call from the diabetic clinic to say I was getting worse and I realised that nothing is going to save me from this nasty progressive disease. Intensive exercise? Let's think... Yesterday I walked 6 hours over rugged terrain on some Welsh mountains; the day before I swam 60 lengths; two days before that I spent two hours climbing; three days before that I climbed to the highest peak in the county; the day before that I cycled 19 miles... and so it goes on.

I have ALREADY benefitted from the exercise. I assume I would be way worse if I hadn't had this constant stream of activity, but it is impossible to judge it.

The Horizon episode also showed that exercise doesn't help you lose weight... something I've been whinging on about for years. Finally I'm vindicated!

Anyway, if you didn't see the episode, it is worth a look.