Exercise before eating for type 2.

[GSARider]

Well I’ve spent quite some time researching as to whether it’s better to exercise before eating or after, if you have type 2 diabetes. Because the liver can dump a load of glucose into your bloodstream when you haven’t eaten due to stress hormones being released.

I thought it was best to eat first because of this, however it seems it is still better to exercise first and also best to do HIIT training. This helps to reduce insulin resistance and reduces blood glucose levels for over 24 hours.

It is also better to incorporate both cardio and resistance training for best results overall.

Articles here:

Interval Training: Burn more Fat and help Reverse Diabetes - HippEvo

www.hippevo.com

The effects of different doses of exercise on pancreatic β-cell function in patients with newly diagnosed type 2 diabetes: study protocol for and rationale behind the “DOSE-EX” multi-arm parallel-group randomised clinical trial - Trials

Background Lifestyle intervention, i.e. diet and physical activity, forms the basis for care of type 2 diabetes (T2D). The current physical activity recommendation for T2D is aerobic training for 150 min/week of moderate to vigorous intensity, supplemented with resistance training 2–3 days/week...

trialsjournal.biomedcentral.com

https://www.acpjournals.org/doi/full/10.7326/0003-4819-147-6-200709180-00005

 

[WallisOnline]

Thanks for this info...Going to make a note of this to read later.

I tend to try and do my exercise in the morning and don't like to eat before exercising so I have always exercised on an empty stomach. I did wonder if I should change this habit since being diagnosed as type 2 but going by what you say above maybe I will stick to what I have been used to!

 

[Lucyr]

Well I’ve spent quite some time researching as to whether it’s better to exercise before eating or after, if you have type 2 diabetes.

I’d just trust my bg meter to advise what’s best rather than loads of reading. Your body hasn’t read a text book.

 

[GSARider]

I’d just trust my bg meter to advise what’s best rather than loads of reading. Your body hasn’t read a text book.

You do that then. My mind can comprehend loads of reading from clinical trials, etc and then evaluate that data, to further the goals of my body.

 

[GSARider]

Generally the thing that gets me down the most is when other diabetes sufferers feel the need to have a go for doing things in a different way than they have or want to. For instance, my personal plan involves a lot of exercise and I plan it out. I started with 5 minutes a day, about a year back and it was hard. I now do a lot more and to maximise my efforts, I read a lot of research on exercising with type 2 diabetes, because that is how I have always done things - research, find trustworthy sources and take it on board.

Folk don't seem to like it when you do things they don't - just had a lady have a go at me on here for this, saying "I’d just trust my bg meter to advise what’s best rather than loads of reading. Your body hasn’t read a text book." Frankly, it's depressing.

For me, the point of sharing info on how you do things is to take bits & pieces from what everyone does and see if it is something I'd like to do or not, as the case may be. It's certainly not my job to tell folk they shouldn't read things or do whatever they want - especially when it's helping.

 

[rebrascora]

Folk don't seem to like it when you do things they don't - just had a lady have a go at me on here for this, saying "I’d just trust my bg meter to advise what’s best rather than loads of reading. Your body hasn’t read a text book." Frankly, it's depressing.

The point that was being made was that diabetes is very individual and what works for one person may not work for another and reading research papers just really tells you what happened in the majority of cases but not necessarily what your body will do and the best thing you can do is do some testing on yourself to see if your body follows the majority or does something different.

A case in point would be Glycaemic Index. Many people are led to believe that eating a low GI diet will help their diabetes management, but GI is just an average of how quickly or slowly the glucose will release from particular foods in a relatively small number of subjects. For example, porridge is supposed to be low GI but for some of us it hits our blood stream like rocket fuel and for others it releases gently over a period of hours. If we didn't test and adjust our diet according to what our testing shows us, then we are not optimizing our diabetes management to our own individual body's response. It will be the same for exercise. Some will find exercising on an empty stomach works best for them and some will find that exercising after food works better. Some will find a meal lower in carbs and higher in protein and fat will fuel them better through their exercise whilst others use carbs. Without experimenting on yourself, you are assuming you are Mr or Ms Average when in fact you may not be.

I appreciate that you were wanting to help others by posting what you did on that other thread, but it is right to encourage people not to take anything at face value and test for themselves, which was the point of the comment.

Being able to test and see how our individual bodies respond, really is a revelation in understanding how individual we are and how differently our diabetes affects us.

 

[GSARider]

The point that was being made was that diabetes is very individual and what works for one person may not work for another and reading research papers just really tells you what happened in the majority of cases but not necessarily what your body will do and the best thing you can do is do some testing on yourself to see if your body follows the majority or does something different.

A case in point would be Glycaemic Index. Many people are led to believe that eating a low GI diet will help their diabetes management, but GI is just an average of how quickly or slowly the glucose will release from particular foods in a relatively small number of subjects. For example, porridge is supposed to be low GI but for some of us it hits our blood stream like rocket fuel and for others it releases gently over a period of hours. If we didn't test and adjust our diet according to what our testing shows us, then we are not optimizing our diabetes management to our own individual body's response. It will be the same for exercise. Some will find exercising on an empty stomach works best for them and some will find that exercising after food works better. Some will find a meal lower in carbs and higher in protein and fat will fuel them better through their exercise whilst others use carbs. Without experimenting on yourself, you are assuming you are Mr or Ms Average when in fact you may not be.

I appreciate that you were wanting to help others by posting what you did on that other thread, but it is right to encourage people not to take anything at face value and test for themselves, which was the point of the comment.

Being able to test and see how our individual bodies respond, really is a revelation in understanding how individual we are and how differently our diabetes affects us.

Is it though? So basically the message from that was NOT what you are saying, it was actually don't read research papers or any info and just do what she does. Not buying it. Basically having a go. The fact that you are defending this behaviour speaks volumes.

I'm amazed you extrapolated all that from:

"I’d just trust my bg meter to advise what’s best rather than loads of reading. Your body hasn’t read a text book."

 

[Lucyr]

You do that then. My mind can comprehend loads of reading from clinical trials, etc and then evaluate that data, to further the goals of my body.

Unless your body has read and follows the book it’s pointless though, everyone’s diabetes is different.

 

[GSARider]

Unless your body has read and follows the book it’s pointless though, everyone’s diabetes is different.

I never mentioned a book. And your argument is nonsense. Basically you are saying that in order to read anything and put it into action, your body needs to read it…erm ok, yes that obviously works in your head.. or is that body ??? And whilst there are differences, in people’s condition, they do not mean that the basic principles do not apply.

 

[Lucyr]

I never mentioned a book. And your argument is nonsense. Basically you are saying that in order to read anything and put it into action, your body needs to read it…erm ok, yes that obviously works in your head. And whilst there are differences, they do not mean that the basic principles do not apply.

You can read as many studies and books as you like on whether to exercise before or after food. It won’t tell you anything whatsoever about whether your body works best with exercising before or after food. The only way to find out what works for you is to test.

Read thousands of studies if you like, you’ll get some ideas of things to try but given your question is a very simple one about whether it’s better to exercise before or after, just test and find out.

 

[GSARider]

You can read as many studies and books as you like on whether to exercise before or after food. It won’t tell you anything whatsoever about whether your body works best with exercising before or after food. The only way to find out what works for you is to test.

Read thousands of studies if you like, you’ll get some ideas of things to try but given your question is a very simple one about whether it’s better to exercise before or after, just test and find out.

Oh but it does, that’s the point in clinical studies, the fact that you don’t know this, just highlights your ignorance. You are also ignoring the fact that you need these studies to compare things and then try them out…

So basically there is no point for anyone to post up and share info because it won’t apply to anyone else ….according to you.

Also I never asked a question, I shared information with links to why I concluded what I did.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Just a reminder to treat other forum members kindly - even when they have a different approach to you.

There is no one way to go about managing diabetes.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

There is benefit in acquiring knowledge. And well constructed clinical trials can certainly help as part of that.

Even more so a meta analysis of multiple trials, which combines the results from a larget cohort.

Why is this? Because you are both right.

Getting an understanding of what usually happens in most people is good. It can inform general care plans, it can provide the basis for best practice. It can help build our understanding of body processes.

But

It is also absolutely true, that there is great benefit in examining the principles suggested by research data, and checking themselves individually for yourself.

This is what ‘powering’ aims to achieve in studies. And why studies and analyses with larger cohorts are given more weight. Because not everyone in a trial responds in the same way.

There will be hyper responders, and non responders. And while trial data can be helpful, there is no guarantee that your own response will match the outcomes of the trial (or book… or theory).

 

[GSARider]

Great, you post up info to help others and this is the outcome.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

Great, you post up info to help others and this is the outcome.

Your post is really interesting @GSARider - and members have already been interested and wanted to follow it up.

I saw a conference presentation about exercise in T1, and statistically the best time for T1s to exercise is before breakfast on average. Partly perhaps because of the reduced circulating insulin.

 

[GSARider]

There is benefit in acquiring knowledge. And well constructed clinical trials can certainly help as part of that.

Even more so a meta analysis of multiple trials, which combines the results from a larget cohort.

Why is this? Because you are both right.

Getting an understanding of what usually happens in most people is good. It can inform general care plans, it can provide the basis for best practice. It can help build our understanding of body processes.

But

It is also absolutely true, that there is great benefit in examining the principles suggested by research data, and checking themselves individually for yourself.

This is what ‘powering’ aims to achieve in studies. And why studies and analyses with larger cohorts are given more weight. Because not everyone in a trial responds in the same way.

There will be hyper responders, and non responders. And while trial data can be helpful, there is no guarantee that your own response will match the outcomes of the trial (or book… or theory).

Here's the thing, Lucy attacked my post by saying that there's no point reading anything because she has a BG Meter. It is obvious that clinical trial research that is conducted properly will apply to the vast majority of people, not just a small proportion- but according to her- it won't, so there's no point reading it. Most people understand that trying certain drugs, exercise regimes, etc, might not work for them as well as can be expected, but that doesn't mean it won't help 80% or more of people.

This shuts off vast swathes of info for Diabetics. It also means that considering other options will never even get a look in because she attempts to shut down conversations that don't concur with her views. I have seen quite a few posts that do not concur with what I would do personally, but I do not feel the need to comment and tell them they're wrong.

It's depressing that a new member joins and gets shot down by her and then told she has a valid perspective because apparently she is also right - Let's be precise - she is not. Her perspective is:

"Unless your body has read and follows the book it’s pointless though"

"You can read as many studies and books as you like on whether to exercise before or after food. It won’t tell you anything whatsoever about whether your body works best with exercising before or after food. The only way to find out what works for you is to test."

I put up a reasonable post with links to various things that support my conclusions and to help others who might benefit - at no point did I say - you all must do this or everything else is wrong.

 

[everydayupsanddowns]

I am sorry you have been so upset by some replies to your post, including mine.

We aim to create a welcoming and friendly community here, and I don’t think this been your experience, and I’m sorry for that.

I was very interested in the links you posted, particularly those relating to weight loss, and whether this was more or less likely depending on when the exercise was taken in relation to meals.

However in terms of blood glucose response (which I think was what Lucy was mostly referring to) I kind of have to agree with her suggestion that ultimately while clinical research can be a helpful guide, the acid test would be for me to experiment with exercise/meal timings and see what worked best.

I hope you feel able to continue to contribute to the forum.