High blood glucose after a meal? Take a walk

July 9, 8:32 AMDiabetes ExaminerRobert Scheinman

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Journal of the American Medical Directors Assoc.

People living with diabetes often find that it is mealtimes when one is most likely to see those spikes in blood glucose. The medical community politely refers to them as “glycemic excursions”. Timing your insulin shot only works so well and even the fast acting insulins are not perfect. Perhaps you should consider a walk.

Researchers at Old Dominion University just published a study in the Journal of the American Medical Directors Association where they looked at the effect of taking a self paced walk for 20 min either before or after the evening meal. Individuals in their 60s with type 2 diabetes were recruited. This being a study, the walk was done on a treadmill where the energy output could be measured along with calories input through the meal, supplied by the researchers. Blood was drawn, of course (what is a clinical study without blood draws!) over the course of 4 hours to measure blood glucose levels. The study compared no exercise with walking either before or after dinner. The after dinner walk won.

Walking increases the motility of the GI tract which aids in digestion. One would think that this should make the blood sugar issue worse as now those nutrients can get into the blood even faster. However, even a mild pace is enough to get the muscles mobilizing glucose and ultimately, as the study demonstrated, this effect was predominant.

Walking and leisure time activity (as opposed to leisure time inactivity) was associated with a 35% decreased risk in the onset of diabetes in a separate study performed by researchers at the Harvard School of Public Health and recently published in Archives of Internal Medicine. This group looked at a host of different lifestyle issues including diet, smoking, activity, and alcohol use. The good news is that each lifestyle change independently contributed to decreased risk in an additive fashion.

The interesting thing about this is that it does not require a lot of pain and suffering. For most individuals, walking is a pleasant way to take a moment. It can be meditative or conversational. It can be done during the lunch hour. Now if you want weight loss or a significant lowering of A1c levels be prepared to sweat. (For a more detailed discussion of exercise and weight loss click here) However, if you decide to go on a diet, you will find that a walk after your meager dinner will help to stop the feeling of hunger. It will also get you away from food and the desire to eat. If you are lucky it will also get you away from doing the dishes as well!

"In every walk with nature one receives far more than he seeks."
-   John Muir