Q&A With Dr. Richard Bernstein
Can exercise for a short period of time increase liver and cortisol involvement and cause a negative impact on BG levels?
Answer: I think what this person is thinking about is an adverse effect of exercise on blood sugar levels. I once commented on something that Elliot P Joslin had said to us back in 1947. Unlike modern physicians, he did believe in normal blood sugars, and even low-carb diets. He gave classes, and when I was a kid, I was in one of the classes. I was the youngest person in the class. I can only remember one thing that he taught. He said, “Never run a block for a bus. If you are going to run for a bus, run a mile.”
He said rapid, brief exercise will stimulate production of counter-regulatory hormones, cortisol, and other hormones that can raise blood sugar. So, if you are going to do that kind of strenuous exercise, do it long enough to get your blood sugar down.
The question may be asking if prolonged mild exercise, like walking, is going to raise blood sugar. As a rule, this doesn’t happen. In fact, it can lower blood sugar for hours afterward. But, there may be exceptions, such as exercising shortly after arising in the morning, because of the dawn phenomenon.
I’m not clear on what you mean concerning cellulose and its relevance to vegetable juicing and that juicing will cause a rise in blood sugars. Is this because the fiber has been separated from the pulp and is, therefore, more quickly digested?
Answer: No. Cellulose is a polymer of glucose. A polymer is a series of molecules stuck to each other, forming chains just like links on a chain bracelet or on an anchor chain. You can break the bonds between those polymers of glucose molecules.
Imagine that you’ve drawn a picture of cellulose on a piece of paper. You have a G for glucose, and then another G next to it, followed by another G and another G-they’re all attached together. So, if you look at that chain, it’s all one chain. But you take scissors and cut off the end G, you now have a free glucose-pure glucose you’ve made by just cutting that G off with the scissors.
Or let’s say that you make two cuts by taking a G that’s in the middle of the chain: You make a cut on one side of it and a cut on the other side of it. Now you’ve freed up that G; it’s now pure glucose. So, just by making a lot of cuts on a strip of cellulose, you’re generating pure glucose. You can do that to cellulose with a juicer. It’s a very easy way of turning cellulose, which is indigestible, into pure glucose, which will raise your blood sugar very rapidly.
Richard K. Bernstein, MD is one of the most knowledgeable, committed, and successful pioneers in the field of diabetes today. He invented blood sugar self-monitoring and basal/bolus insulin dosing when he was an engineer.
Dr. Bernstein is Director Emeritus of the Peripheral Vascular Disease Clinic of the Albert Einstein College of Medicine in Bronx, NY. His private medical practice in Mamaroneck NY specializes in treating diabetes and obesity.
He is a physician, research scientist, thriving type 1 for 67 years, and best-selling author of nine diabetes books including Diabetes Solution, The Diabetes Diet and several e-books. This link diabetes-book.com will give you more information about his publications. To sign up for his free monthly tele-seminars, visit askdrbernstein.net
