I completely agree with you about the exercise, I need to start some regular exercise,
There's not enough discussion about the benefits of exercise and consequently not enough about why we exercise. Most people think exercise is about improving their heart and lungs and others think it's about getting physically fitter. Some think of it as a means to burning calories and thereby losing weight and others think of it as increasing the metabolic rate. Few people think of it as improving digestion although everyone has heard little sayings about taking the
daily constitutional or
walking off a meal.
Exercise releases several hormones which trigger the production of various enzymes, some of which help the insulin function. These peak at 12 hours after exercise and decline rapidly after 24 hours but the excess is cumulative. They are added to the next days and the day after that and so on. Within a few weeks, you can build this to a maximum. Something like 3 ten minute sessions a day, about the level of walking up a small hill would do it. I use a rower and a stationary bike, not going mad, just a pace that I am comfortable with. I had to build upto that by the way, I wasn't fit enough to start on that. It took me a few weeks.
When I started I was one of those who couldn't eat porridge because it would add significantly to my BG levels after 2 hours. Once I got to the level where I could do 2 x 5 mins per day, eating porridge would only raise my BG 1.5 - 2 points and now at 3 x 10 mins per day it raises me between 0.5 and 1. I always exercise 1 hour after a meal for ten mins. If I eat a good quality wholemeal loaf, say 75% wholemeal wheat and 25% wholemeal rye, my insulin response is good enough now so that my BG goes down, for those meals. It won't for white bread of course, it would still go up but, that simple regime allows me to extend my meal options considerably wholegrain pastas, brown rices and an extended range of fruits for example.
There is a limit to this though, 1500 calories worth of resistance exercise in a week. Doing more than that won't cause more hormones to be released or enzymes to be produced but it means that you have better control over your diet and with that, you can start to lose weight, and with that, you again improve your insulin function, this time because of different hormones and enzymes and so on.
Having said that, 3 x 10 mins per day will make you fitter and feel more active and that has other health benefits. It took me 3 or 4 weeks of leg and calf stretching exercises followed by some squats before I could manage one session of 3 mins on a rower. Don't think you have to
'work out' for a week, step on the scales only to discover that you have lost 1lb, get disheartened and then give up. Slowly slowly does it. Some good things start to happen even if you can't measure them yet.
