Johnny's Health Blog 7-13-15

Good morning everyone!  Today my blood sugar was 131 which is a tad higher than it has been.  Why did it go up 6 points?  Because I had a "cheat" day yesterday in which I consumed 3 good size slices of pizza!  Let's face it making a complete lifestyle change isn't easy and without a cheat day once in awhile is it worth it?  This is only the second time in 3 months I've done this so I won't beat myself up at all.  If I continued to do this even once a week it wouldn't be good at this point. You see once you have type 2 diabetes it's not a good idea to play with fire at all until you have it under control without drugs.  I've gotten to know my body quite well since I started this big change and I knew I could sneak a cheat day in yesterday.  Thankfully I was right as my blood sugar only went up 5 points from the day before.  If you're not afflicted with any health issues having a cheat day once a week is fine but if you're like me you need to really know your body before attempting this.  

Today's health tip will focus on exercise.  Hindu squats or thrust squats are an excellent way to build core strength, balance and burn major calories without hurting yourself like traditional squats with weights can.  Hindu squats are simply body weight squats and they will kick your butt!  I started using these 10 years ago and I only wish I would've been consistent with them.  Here is an article that describes them better than I can.  

http://fitness.mercola.com/sites/fitness/archive/2012/05/25/darin-steen-demonstrates-the-perfect-squat.aspx

In the video the instructor uses weights but other experts say it's not necessary and I tend to agree with that statement.  Using just your body weight while keeping tabs on your breathing and form are just fine as they work wonders for me.  They're also easy on your joints and your back if you have those problems like I do.  Do as many as you can in a set then give yourself a 1 or 2 minute rest period then do 2 more sets (as many as you can) while keeping the same rest breaks.  As you can see in the article they work more than just your legs.  Your entire core gets involved so you can keep your balance.  Don't worry if you can only start with 5 or 10 it's not a race!  If you can't do any to start with do a wall chair exercise.  Put your back against the wall and get into a sitting position and hold it for as long as you can.  This will build up your strength so eventually you can do the squats.  

 

That's all for today!  I hope you LIVE TO WIN NOW everyday!  

 

Johnny