I bet you’re expecting this post to be food-related, but I’m going to surprise you today with a NON-food blood-sugar-related tip.
While food is super important as it relates to blood sugar and food is foundational in how we help our clients balance blood sugar (and no, it’s actually not just about cutting carbs out – in fact that won’t work long-term), stress, sleep and movement are equally important. In fact, you could be eating blood sugar-balancing meals all the time, but with stress, sleep, and movement not in check, it’s not the full picture of blood-sugar health.
This leads me to today’s tip around movement. In one study, they broke participants out into 3 groups. Dietary intake was all the same and controlled for. In the first group, participants sat continuously for nine hours. In the second group, participants sat for 15 minutes, walked for 30 minutes, and then sat for another eight and a half hours. The final group sat for eight and a half hours, but with 100-second bursts of treadmill walking every 30 minutes (a total of 30 minutes treadmill walking, plus sitting for eight and a half hours).
Which exercise was most impactful on blood sugar? Group 3 who had the shortest bursts of exercise continuously throughout the day. Make no mistake, this doesn’t mean we want to never do longer bouts of exercise – the more exercise the better. I love sharing this tip though because I find it motivating that even tiny bursts of movement make a real difference.
Today’s tip is to set some timers throughout the day to move your body, even if it’s for less than 2 minutes. Throw in some squats, stairs in your house, a quick walk outside, or some jumping jacks to get moving. As your timer goes off, remember your motivation: exercise can boost glucose uptake by up to 50x compared to when we are sedentary.
If you're a 30+ professional and want to balance your blood sugar to prevent diabetes, heart disease and other chronic illnesses, WITHOUT radically changing your lifestyle, book a call here to chat.
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