FollowOne simple way to help reduce the rise in blood glucose after a meal is to get your muscles moving soon afterwards. You don’t necessarily need to go outdoors for a walk, though it would be great if you can. 5–10 minutes of squats, sit-to-stands or light dumbbell exercises can get your muscles working and encourage them to take up glucose from the bloodstream, helping to blunt the post-meal glucose rise.
I usually mop the kitchen floor, living room floor, and clean up after every meal, so that’s already about half an hour of movement. Then I head to my room and do another 5–10 minutes of light dumbbell exercises, including squats, before I shower. Sometimes I walk up and down the stairs for at least 10 minutes.
You don’t need a long workout or hundreds of squats. A few sets of comfortable, moderate-intensity exercises using your legs, arms or other large muscle groups can get your muscles working.
Post-meal exercise can help with short-term blood glucose control. For long-term diabetes prevention, it’s about the bigger picture: keeping your carbohydrate intake sensible, staying physically active, building and maintaining muscle, maintaining a healthy weight and getting enough good-quality sleep. Your muscles are one of the body’s major tissues for storing and using glucose, so keeping them active is definitely a good thing.
PS: The photo is our dinner from a few nights ago. My 83-yo dad cooked steamed bearded chicken and made a basil, soy sauce, fried garlic and fried garlic oil dipping sauce for the chicken. We also had sautéed yau mak and French beans with preserved vegetables, carrot, onions and garlic. Simple home-cooked food — and very yummy! 😋
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