The best news in the whole research pile, for everyone whose body has notes: you don't have to walk. At all. A 2016 Diabetes Care study by Paddy Dempsey found that breaking up sitting with simple resistance moves, calf raises, half squats, sit-to-stands right beside a desk, lowered post-meal glucose and insulin about as well as walking did.
The magic was never the walking. It's muscle contraction, any muscle contraction, opening the side door that pulls glucose out of your blood. Bad knees, chronic pain, wheelchairs, rainy weeks, unwalkable neighborhoods: this challenge was built for your body too. And hear this exactly right: seated and standing moves aren't the modified version. They're THE version.
In this episode:
- The Dempsey study: resistance moves matched walking for post-meal glucose
- Seated and standing options that open the same metabolic side door
- Adapting the after-dinner ten and hourly get-up to any body
- Why every activity challenge accidentally excludes people, and this one doesn't
Your challenge: swap one walk for one no-walk session this week and prove to yourself it counts. And send this episode to somebody who needs it.
What is Your Best T1D Year?
Managing Type 1 Diabetes doesn’t have to be overwhelming.
Each 5-minute episode of Your Best T1D Year is packed with practical strategies, mindset shifts, and a little humor to help you feel more in control and less frustrated by diabetes.
Hosted by Neil Greathouse, this Monday, Wednesday, and Friday podcast delivers quick, relatable episodes that make learning about T1D effortless - so you can build small wins that lead to big changes.
📅 New episodes drop every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.
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