If you have a type 2 diabetes, after you eat dinner your blood may contain problematic levels of sugar and fat – raising your risk of heart problems. But a study shows that a particular dessert can offset some of that risk.
The beneficial dessert is exercise.
Instead of gulping down cookies or cakes at the end of your meals, say researchers at the University of Missouri, you should lift weights. That activity significantly lowers your risk of cardiovascular disease.
“This study shows that it is not just the intensity or duration of exercising that is important but also the timing of when it occurs,” says researcher Jill Kanaley. “Results from this study show that resistance exercise has its most powerful effect on reducing glucose and fat levels in one’s blood when performed after dinner.”
The research involved overweight people who had type 2 diabetes. In one test, the people in the study lifted weights before dinner and then, after eating, had their blood tested. In the second part of the study, they performed the resistance exercises 45 minutes after eating. (The exercises included abdominal crunches, seated calf raises and leg curls.)
The blood tests showed that while exercise before dinner brought down blood sugar levels, working out after dinner reduced both sugar and fat levels.
The researchers also discovered that the reduction in blood sugar and fat didn’t last long and were gone by the next day. So they suggest doing a little bit of weight-lifting every evening after dinner.
