Diabetes Personal training Toronto with Busy Bee Fitness Experts
Finding a type 2 diabetes personal trainer that’s well versed and experienced in helping their clients reverse type 2 diabetes isn’t always easy to find. It’s more than just about developing the right exercise program. Of everything, diet is by far the most important component we need to address if we have any hope of reversing type 2 diabetes. And of course, the main issue with any diet and exercise program is compliance. That’s where having the right kind of personal trainer comes in who is experienced in working with people who live with type 2 diabetes.
Our Approach to Type 2 Diabetes
Before we get into our methods of how our personal trainers work with someone with type 2 diabetes, we’re going to give you a simple background as to how type 2 diabetes develops. Insulin is what some refer to as the “fat hormone”. It provides our bodies with a vital function of eliminating glucose from our body that becomes elevated primarily from the dietary intake of carbohydrates. Type 2 diabetes develops when the cells in the fat, muscle and your liver become resistant to insulin. Over time, the cells don’t take in enough sugar and the pancreas can’t make enough insulin to keep blood sugar levels within a healthy range. Our bodies work hard to eliminate and use glucose as quickly as possible because it becomes toxic when stored in excess and often most people will gain weight as a result.
We find that this condition can be rather quickly reversed when we eliminate the root source of the problem that caused it in the first place and that is to eliminate or greatly reduce carbohydrate intake. There are many other interventions someone with type 2 diabetes can undertake to reverse their condition.
Intermittent Fasting
Intermittent fasting is when one refrains from eating for certain periods of time. There is dry fasting where one does not consume water and water fasting where one does. With our clients, we recommend titrating up with water fasting and of course this is completely dependent on the condition and overall health of the client. Typically an intermittent fast would be considered 14 hours or beyond of a restricted period without the consumption of any food. There is a ton of research when it comes to intermittent fasting and type 2 diabetes in recent years. Fasting depletes your storage of glucose from dietary sources and instead you begin to start producing ketones. Intermittent fasting also recycles your cells and has shown to reduce oxidative and mitochondrial damage from type 2 diabetes. The term for this is recycling process of damaged cells is called autophagy.
Ketogenic Diet
Did you know that the dietary requirement for carbohydrates in your diet is ZERO. That’s correct. You never need to consume a single carbohydrate as it’s a non-essential macronutrient. Only fat and protein are required. Your body can produce glucose from non-carbohydrate substrates in a process called gluconeogenesis. Ketones are a much more efficient energy source than carbohydrates as well and many people will experience far greater mental clarity and energy levels on a ketogenic diet. However, many of us have been running on glucose our entire lives and adapting to our alternate energy source, ketones, can take a little bit of time. Fasting, reducing carbohydrates in your diet and focusing on time restricted eating intervals are important interventions to assess for each client.
Exercise and Lifestyle Factors
Exercise, reducing stress and many other lifestyle factors play a large role in someone’s ability to reverse type 2 diabetes. Stress and exercise are probably the two biggest factors in this category that people need to work on. Again, much research has been done in this field over the last few decades. The National Institute of Health says that people with type 2 diabetes should be engaging in 150 minutes a week in moderate intensity exercise. As personal trainers, we develop a customized program for all of our clients and work to build positive new lifestyle and dietary habits over time. At most conventional gyms, when your time is up you go home and don’t get any support until your next scheduled session. At Busy Bee Fitness Experts, we understand that what you do outside of your training with us is just as important as the training itself!
If you’re interested in working with Busy Bee Fitness Experts and our diabetes personal training Toronto program, then please reach out to us and book in for your complimentary consultation. We train in-person in Toronto, Ottawa and also train clients online virtually. Contact Busy Bee Fitness Experts today to get started!