Diabetes and HIIT workouts

I wanted to start doing something new now that I'm in school for something I find super exciting and interesting. Since I'm going to school all online, we have to submit our assignments to a forum board and then we have to comment on two other posts from our fellow students. When I was in the Legal Studies program that SUCKED.In my Criminal Law class things could get interesting because we would be arguing how we felt about the outcomes of different cases, but sometimes it just got real dry and I was miserable trying to come up with 250 words to say back to people. 

In Physiology, and even most days in my Sports Stats class I don't have that problem! Everyone is so enthusiastic about the topics. This week we had to look at disease and physical activity and how exercise can help prevent or reduce various diseases. So, I went with diabetes, not sure why because I have zero experience with it, and high intensity interval training. I figured that Google search had to return something good and guess what...it did! So, here's my homework. Don't judge too much, even though I enjoy it, I still make the mistake of waiting until the last minute to do my homework. Today, I came home from a 90 minute hike in 90 degree weather with Ryker and my very pregnant friend Jade to Vic finishing up our floors (yay!) and a sleepy baby. I forced myself to get my stats homework done first and then moved on to the fun stuff. 

Here you go :)

According to the American Diabetes Association, 8.3% of our population, or 25.8 million American adults and children, are living with diabetes and seven million people are suspected of having, but being undiagnosed with, diabetes. In 2010, nearly two million cases of diabetes were diagnosed in American adults over the age of 20. With a diabetes epidemic that is costing Americans $245 billion, what is there that can be done to help treat the disease outside of medications? (ADA, 2014) 

Diabetes, which can be extremely life threatening on its own, can also lead to a number of other health issues, such as stroke, amputations and heart disease. With scary fluctuations in blood sugar, high intensity interval training was not the typical recommendation for patients looking to start or continue a fitness regimen while living with diabetes. “Low to moderate intensity exercise for at least 30 minutes a day five days a week” has been suggested to help manage the disease, but was rarely accomplished by the average diabetic. (Day, 2011) Canadian doctors set out to find a new way to tackle the issue of managing diabetes with exercise and began a study of the use of low volume, high intensity exercise. With a small sample of individuals with type 2 diabetes, they had the subjects keep a journal of their diet, did a number of blood tests and skeletal muscle tests and provided a fairly detailed suggested diet plan for the subjects to follow as they added the training into their routine. The exercise never lasted longer than 25 minutes and the high intensity intervals totaled to less than 30 minutes over the week. (Day, 2011) 

What the researches found was huge when it comes to being able to manage diabetes with exercise in a small amount of time. Across the board, average blood glucose levels were lower after a session, and post meal levels were also lower after a session. The subjects ability to work harder, with more weight or more speed increased, while their heart rates decreased, their muscles were showing a higher protein content, but most importantly, the subjects were enjoying themselves getting their exercise in! (Day, 2011)

High intensity, low volume training is nothing new. Trainers and coaches have been using it for years, but recently the explosion of this training technique is allowing everyone, the elite athlete, soccer moms, CEO’s and couch potatoes to find the time to get an effective workout in. While most are finding they can change their body composition through this kind of training, its extremely exciting to find that the addition of a HIIT workout plan can also aid in the treatment of diabetes and can possibly allow for less reliance on treatment with medications!

References...you know, so you don't think I made it all up!

Day, K. (2011, September 14). High Intensity Exercise Effective in Managing Diabetes. . Retrieved May 7, 2014, fromhttp://www.peakhealthadvocate.com/1896/high-intensity-exercise-effective-in-managing-diabetes/

Statistics about Diabetes. (2011, January 26). . Retrieved May 7, 2014, fromhttp://www.diabetes.org/diabetes-basics/statistics/

My attempt at the Northwest Cavegirls recipe for Hawaiian Paleo Muffins

Last Friday, our friends Pat and Misty FINALLY got back from Ireland. They were only gone for ten days, but we missed them, so it seemed like forever! We had a BBQ over at their house and even though Misty said she had everything, I hate showing up anywhere empty handed so I searched for a recipe for some paleo muffins.

Their picture, not mine. Mine didn't come out nearly that pretty!

I had a ton of coconut flour and pineapple on hand, so lo and behold, I wound up with a coconut flour pineapple muffin. The ladies over at Northwest Cavegirls call them Hawaiian Paleo Muffins, check out their whole site, it's super cute! The recipe can be found here. They were DELICIOUS. They went great with the BBQ food, and then the next morning I put them under two fried eggs and gobbled them up that way. I will definitely be making these again! Oh..and I forgot when I doubled the recipe to double the pineapple, but they still had a great pineapple taste, it made about 24 regular sized muffins. I can't wait to make the double recipe correctly the next time, haha!

Because I'm Happy :)

So this morning I got a talking to from my hubby on my crabby post surgery, sore shoulder, sleepless version of myself. While this surgery recovery has not been bad at all, at least not in comparison to some of the horror stories that I've heard, it still hasn't been a breeze and we are definitely out of our normal routine. Simple things are making me crazy, like the way that easy workouts hurt, the way doing dishes might make stretch my arm funny, stupid stuff I could avoid if I would stop stressing out over my body, over my house and over wanting it to look like I have it all together all the time. Well, I took today to just lay in my bed and I thought about how stupid it is for my husband to think that I'm in a bad mood or that I'm grumpy. Not because I haven't been acting that way, he totally has the right to think that because I have been acting that way. The ridiculous part is that I really am SO happy. I have no complaints about my little life, but I let stupid things get to me and then I act like everything is all wrong, and that's just not right. Especially with it being Mother's Day this weekend and my little guy's first birthday this month, I have so much to be so happy about every day. 

So, what I'm getting at is that from here on out I'm only doing things with the IMMEDIATE goal of happiness. Not "I'm going to pout about my dry chicken and 6 ounces of red wine and wish I could have chicken wings and split a pitcher with Vic". I'm splitting the damn pitcher. Moderation is key of course, but I know well enough how to balance my day out and yet I get stuck in these ruts and these restrictive plans where I cut things out that I like and then I'm sad. So, no more. I will be healthy, I'll make the right choices, but I'll find the way to do all of that while being happy about those choices in the immediate time frame, not thinking about how if I restrict now I'll be happy in the future when that mystical future perfect body shows up. 

Same goes for school and work. Luckily, I already came to my senses and switched my graduate degree to one in Sports and Health Sciences instead of Legal Studies. Yea, it's random, I have a B.A. in Sociology, I've spent my professional life as an Electronics Tech, but I love health and fitness and I love the idea of getting to help people better understand that kind of lifestyle and implement it, so that's what I'm going to learn about. 

Vic and I go back and forth, practically on a weekly basis, about what we're going to do when he's out of school and I'm out of the Navy next summer. You know what I want us to? Whatever the F makes us happy. Yea, I could get a job doing what I'm doing now and be miserable. I hate my job. Yes, the Navy has done great things in my life, but I'm over it and I'm ready to go and find something that can help me come home with a smile on my face and fulfillment in my heart. I want Vic to find that same thing! 

I was talking to a friend online about starting their fitness journey today. He's got weight to lose and he's afraid of starting an exercise routine at the weight he's at now for fear that he'll injure himself. It's a valid concern. You know how I think he should start? Go play with your kids outside more, chase them around, throw them in the air. Take your wife on a walk at sunset, even if its just around the block a couple of times, or once even! I suggested he do one extra physical activity today and then tomorrow, do just a little bit more. Make one healthy food choice today, and tomorrow make one more. Flipping your life upside down is not the way to go for a lot of people. It's scary, it's upsetting and it usually leads to burnout and failure. I think that if you take small steps and gain that pride and that self esteem in your ability to take one step further down the path of healthy choices and a more active life that you'll be more successful because you carved out that journey yourself and you pushed yourself! 

I'm so frickin excited to have the opportunity to start fresh next summer and I'm even more excited to have my shoulder back to normal and be able to get back to doing all the things that I love, but I'm not going to sit here counting down the days because I've got an eleven month old that is growing up way too fast, and wishing for the future means his babyhood is going to go even faster!

There's my rambling for the day. The sun is shining, my son learned to clap his hands today and is smiling at me doing it right now. Maybe when Vic goes home we'll take the baby and the pups on a nice sunset walk before we have a glass of wine, a tasty summer shandy or maybe just a yummy cup of Rooibos tea. I hope you find the time to do something that makes you happy today!