Instructions
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The Value of General Daily Activity In addition to “exercise”, a physical activity prescription should include recommendations for increasing overall activity and calorie burning throughout the day. A single 30-minute daily exercise session is unlikely to help people with diabetes to reach their health goals if they are inactive the other 23 ½ hours of the day.
üBurns
Calories
üMaintains
Functional Capacity
üRaises
Metabolism
üInstills
an “Attitude”
Increasing walking more is a good way to improve one’s functional capacity, burn calories, and reduce the need for insulin and diabetes medications.
For example, encourage patients to walk while on the phone, meeting with friends, shopping and running errands.
Many people find pedometers to be a useful tool for tracking daily steps. Research has shown that accumulating 8000-10,000 steps daily corresponds with weight maintenance. More than 10,000 steps usually leads to weight loss, while less than 8000 often leads to weight gain. Simply wearing a pedometer and tracking one’s daily steps is enough to motivate many people to increase their daily activity.
•Walk on moving walkways rather than standing •Search out the furthest parking spots •Go down every aisle in grocery stores
•Get
a dog and walk him two or three times •Walk slowly on a treadmill while watching TV
Besides walking, there are many ways to increase caloric expenditure throughout the day. For example, •Do your own gardening and yard work •Do your own house work •Go out on “active” dates: dancing, bowling, skating, mini golf •Ride a bike to complete local errands
Other ideas for increasing energy expenditure •Hide the remote! Change channels manually •Take up carpentry or sculpting •Practice yoga, Pilates or Tai-Chi •Take dance lessons
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