Diabetes

Did you know that just under 1 million Australians over the age of 25 have diabetes, and for every known case there is one undiagnosed. Thats nearly 2 million Ausralians with diabetes!There are 275 new cases diagnosed EVERY DAY! One in four Australians aged 25 and over has diabetes or is "pre-diabetic", that is, they have impaired glucose metabolism.

So, what can you do to help protect yourself?

Let's look at the exercise side of the equation.

Exercise may prevent or delay the onset of Type 2 diabetes and may help improve glycaemic control if you already have diebetes. So, how much exercise should you do?

The American Diabetes Association recommends 150 minutes or more week of moderate aerobic physical activity and/or at least 90 minutes of more intense aerobic exercise. This should be undertaken at least 3 times per week with no more than two days without physical activity. Also, resistance training (weights) 3 times per week working all the muscle groups is recommended.

If you want more advice on exercise for diabetes, give me a call.

Steve

Fruit Juice and Weight Gain

A recent study by Deakin University has revealed that juice and other fruit drinks are a bigger problem than soft drinks in childhood obesity. It found that primary schoolchildren who regularly consume juice and other fruit drinks are about twice as likely to be overweight or obese.

Other studies have found that grape juice has about 13 teaspoons of sugar while other juices had about 7 teaspoons. Sure, these are mostly made up of natural sugars but they are sugars none the less, and each teaspoon of sugar weighs 4 grams and contains 65 kilojoules (about 15.5 Calories). So, a glass of apple juice could contain up to 108 Calories. Incidently, cola and lemonade soft drinks also contain 7 teaspoons of sugar.

Water, on the other hand, contains no sugar. So, what do you think is a better choice for weight loss?

Steve

Four Dietary Steps for Weight Loss

Here are four simple steps that should help the dietary side of the equation for weight loss.

1. Reduce dietary fat (to under 40-60 gms per day, or 30 gms if you can), and ensure that the fat content in any one food is under 10%.

2. Increase dietary fibre to above 30 gms per day. Fibre will bulk up your food and give you a more fuller feeling, as well as reducing the absorption of energy from the food into your body.

3. Reduce portion size. Order the entree size meal at restaurants. If at home, fill your plate as per normal habit, then take 25%-50% off and store for lunch tomorrow.

4. Reduce sugars and alcohol intake.

Don't pick which one of the above tips to do, do them all!

Steve

Speed of Weight Loss

With TV shows such as "The Biggest Loser" and "Celebrity Overhaul" all the fashion, people expect to lose lots of weight really quickly. Rapid weight loss, through dieting or through a sudden/intense exercise program (as seen on "The Biggest Loser") is not good for the body or for keeping the weight off long term.

A sudden increase in exercise increases your chance of overuse injuries, acute injuries and can set your body into the "weight loss/gain yo-yo". It is the same as what I call "binge dieting". Hit the new exercise/diet program hard, make some progress and then relapse. It is much more effective to slowly modify your lifestyle, incorporating a progressive exercise program with a progressive balanced healthy diet. Don't try and change everything at once. Modify one aspect of your diet (eg have two alcohol free days a week) and then a couple of weeks later, modify it again (eg enjoy a drink only on weekends).

So what is the accepted rate of weight loss that is best for our health and that increases our chances of keeping it off?

1. The average person is likely to lose only about 5-10% of their initial body weight over 6-12 months in a good weight management program, but this is enough to lead to big improvements in health (1).

2. Weight losses of 1-2 kg/month or waist-size losses of 1-2 cm/month should be considered good progress. Losses of 3-4kg or 3-4 cm/month should be considered excellent (2).

Don't be discouraged if your not losing weight as rapidly as "The Biggest Loser" participants. Have "persistence and consistence" as your motto. And, remember it is your life and lifestyle, you're not just entertaining a TV audience for for a couple of months.

Keep at it,

Steve

(1) "The Experts' Weight Loss Guide", Dr Garry Egger & Dr Andrew Binns, p.58
(2) "The Experts' Weight Loss Guide", Dr Garry Egger & Dr Andrew Binns, p.60

The Ultimate Diet?

How about this for a diet.

This diet can cut your risk of heart disease by 76%*.

150ml glass of wine per day
114g of fish (4xweek)
100g of dark chocolate per day
285g of vegetables per day
115g of fruit per day
2.7g of garlic per day
68g almonds per day

Now before you pop the cork and open the chocolate, wait...

This diet will, according to the research, reduce your risk of heart disease by 76%:
the wine by 32%
the the garlic by 25%
the fruit & vege's by 21%
the dark chocolate by 21%
the fish by 14%
the almonds by 12.5%.

Note that this diet is quite calorie enriched and yet does not contain your cereals and breads and other meats that you may consume during the day. The suggested items, when combined, contain over 78g of fat while you want to aim for 30-40g of fat or less to lose weight. So, enjoy, but be careful with what you eat.

Steve

*British Medical Journal, August, 2006 & Ultra-Fit Australia, Issue 101.

Smart Goal Setting for 2007

The New Year is here. It is the time of year that a lot of people make resolutions that usually don't last beyond a week or two. So why do New Year resolutions fail? How can we effectively set or re-set our goals for the coming year in a manner that will ensure, or at least increase your chances, of reaching your goals?

So, set your goals the SMART way. What is the SMART way? Keep reading...

The SMART principle is is that your goals must be:

S pecific

make your goal specific, not "I want to lose weight", but "I want to lose 5kg".

M easurable

you must be able to measure whether or not the objective was achieved, and within the time frame specified. For example, "I lost 6kg within my specified time frame".

A chievable

your objective needs to be achievable withing the given time frame considering your knowledge, skills and strengths. For example, it would not be achievable to run a 2 hour 15 minute marathon next month if you have never run a day before in your life . It would be more achievable to say that you will complete a 5 km fun run in two months time.

R ealistic

your goals need to be realistic considering your other commitments, resources and available facilities. For example, it would be realistic to say, "I will swim 1km three times a week" if you have access to a local swimming pool. It would be an unrealistic goal if no swimming pool facility was available.

T ime line

all goals should have a time frame in which they are to be achieved. This includes breaking the time line into smaller SMART goals. For example, "I will lose 5kg by the end of the year" is a Time line based goal that can be broken down into smaller goals such as, "I will lose 1 kg within two months".

More importantly, have fun working towards your goals. The journey is just as important as the destination.

I hope this helps you set or re-set your goals for the coming year. If you need some assistance in your goal setting, please contact me via the details on the side of this page.

Steve