Exercising For Diabetes: Good Fat Burns Calories while Muscles Burn Sugar

By Mirabai Holland –

Since March is Diabetes Month I wanted you to know about a recent discovery that is poised to be real game changer.

We all know inactivity and excess body fat are risk factors for Diabetes.

But did you know you have two kinds of fat, bad and good, white and brown?

White fat just sits there and is, well, just fat. It’s the bad fat. It puts you at higher risk for diseases like diabetes. Brown fat on the other hand, doesn’t just sit there. It’s metabolically active. It burns calories, lots of calories. It’s the good fat. (Yes, there is such a thing as good fat.) And exercise can turn white fat brown!

A recent study* by the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute and Harvard Medical School shows that exercise produces a hormone called Irisin that turns white fat brown. This may be a reason people who exercise regularly burn more calories, even hours after exercising, than sedentary people.

Doesn’t that make you want to get up, make some irisin, turn that white fat brown and burn a bunch of calories?

Well if that’s not enough here’s something else.

Exercise helps regulate blood glucose levels. It helps get excess glucose out of the blood and into the muscle tissue where it’s burned as fuel. It really works. In fact many diabetics who exercise regularly find they need to take a lot less insulin. Some have even been able to eliminate their need for insulin with daily exercise.

So between the calorie-burning brown fat, and the sugar-sucking effect on muscle tissue, I’d say exercise is a no-brainer for those of us at risk for diabetes.

Mirabai Holland  © 2012

* http://www.nature.com/nature/journal/vaop/ncurrent/full/nature10777.html

Mirabai Holland M.F.A. Legendary Fitness Pioneer is one of the leading authorities in the Health & Fitness industry, and public health activist who specializes in preventive and rehabilitative exercise for women. Her Moving Free® approach to exercise is designed to provide a movement experience so pleasant it doesn’t feel like work. Website: http://www.mirabaiholland.com./