Holistic Ways to Support Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus

This episode of me&my health up adresses Type II Diabetes Mellitus (T2DM) from a holistic lense looking at diet, exercise, and lifestyle.

T2DM is a prevalent condition in society today, and its occurrences can be prevented by changing diet and lifestyle.

Our guest speaker Stefan Velevski - Exercise Physiologist and the host Anthony Hartcher - Clinical Nutritionist & Lifestyle Medicine Specialist discuss the holistic approach to managing T2DM.

Stefan Velevski Story

I grew up in the Northern suburbs of Melbourne and during my childhood and teenage years I was very active in sports such as swimming, soccer and Taekwondo. After practicing Taekwondo for 10 years, I became an instructor which allowed me to help people improve their fitness and self-confidence. However, my priorities changed during my teenage years when I was introduced to the gym. I was having an absolute blast getting bigger and stronger. However, during my first few years in the gym, I developed a rotator cuff tendinopathy and was extremely frustrated that I couldn’t do what I love anymore due to pain. During this time, I became drawn to learn more about how the rehabilitation process works. I also noticed how great it felt to go back to doing what I enjoyed. This opened up my world and brought me into my career in exercise physiology. I want to help as many people as I can, to get back to doing what they enjoy most.

To connected with Stefan and receive a free 15 minute phone consultation visit the Longevity Website.

About me&my Health Up & Host

me&my Health Up seeks to enhance and enlighten the wellbeing of others. Host Anthony Hartcher is the CEO of me&my wellness which provides holistic health solutions using food is medicine, combined with a holistic, balanced, lifestyle approach. Anthony holds three bachelor's degrees in Complementary Medicine; Nutrition and Dietetic Medicine; and Chemical Engineering.

Credits
Podcast editing: WE EDIT PODCASTS

Podcast Disclaimer
Any information, advice, opinions or statements within it do not constitute medical, health care or other professional advice, and are provided for general information purposes only. All care is taken in the preparation of the information in this Podcast. [Connected Wellness Pty Ltd] operating under the brand of “me&my health up”..click here for more

Transcript

Anthony Hartcher: 0:02

Welcome back to me and my health up. I'm your host Anthony Hatcher. I'm a clinical nutritionist and lifestyle medicine specialist. The purpose of this podcast is to enhance and enlighten your well being. And today, we have back on the show, Stefan Velevski, who's an Exercise Physiologist for Longevity, Exercise Physiology. So he has a degree and qualification in exercise. Yes, he loves exercise and he is fully qualified to give knowledge and enhance your knowledge on exercise. And today we're talking on one of his special topics that's close to his heart, which is type two diabetes. He comes across this condition in his practice regularly. And so we've decided to talk about type two diabetes and holistic ways to manage type two diabetes. So it's a conversation with me and Stefan talking about the holistic approach to the management of type two diabetes. So without much further ado, I'd love to welcome you into the discussion I'm having with Stefan Velevski. Welcome back on the me and my health up podcast show, Stefan Velevski. How are you today?

Stefan Velevski: 1:13

I'm very well, Anthony, how are you going?

Anthony Hartcher: 1:15

Fantastic, and really enjoyed that episode we did earlier together, which was on the right ingredients to building lean muscle mass, and it was a real hit. As soon as I uploaded it, it got, you know, lots of downloads more than usual. So yeah, so looking forward to this conversation around another topic that really interests you, because you see so much of it in your practice as an exercise physiologist, which is the management of type two diabetes. But before we rip into the topic, I'd love to hear again, for those listeners that didn't listen to your previous episode, your backstory as to how you have arrived at being an exercise physiologist.

Stefan Velevski: 1:52

I was always interested in sports and exercise growing up, and then I kind of gained a little bit more weight when I was younger, and then lost a little bit too much. And then I thought, let's do something about this. So went into the gym, I really fell in love with the gym. And then, because I was young and naive, just went very hard, and then ended up hurting myself a little bit here and there. And then from there, I discovered what the rehab pathway looked like. And that was very interesting to me to see what exercise can do to the body, and how it can help so many different things. And that's kind of where I can open up my eyes to joining into the path of exercise physiology. So it was just Yeah, I just really enjoy what exercise can do and how much it can help the body.

Anthony Hartcher: 2:36

So exactly, and we're talking about exercise is medicine for type two diabetes today. And your interest in type two diabetes, where did that come about?

Stefan Velevski: 2:46

It's just because type two diabetes is such a prevalent condition in society today is almost preventable in a way, because of this semi lifestyle choices that we can make that can stop or prevent type two diabetes from occurring, there's so much we can do from a lifestyle point of view that really just make so we can really help ourselves, which is trying to do a bit of lifestyle.

Anthony Hartcher: 3:08

Absolutely. So let's get into some of this lifestyle management for those clients or those listeners out there. And it could be family members of the listeners that are managing type two diabetes. So a client comes in to you, or they've been diagnosed from the doctor with type two diabetes, where do you start with this client?

Stefan Velevski: 3:27

I'll generally start by asking them if they understand what type two diabetes is. And from there, I would educate them a little bit about that. And then

Anthony Hartcher: 3:36

let's talk about what is type two diabetes.

Stefan Velevski: 3:39

So it's when there's an increase in your blood sugars or blood glucose levels. So I'm sure you've touched on this point already interested. But but when you eat food, carbohydrates, goes into the body, and it gets absorbed into the blood. Generally, when that happens, the pancreas will release insulin. And the insulin acts as a key to some of the tissues in the body. So that opens up the tissues in the body so that the glucose or blood sugar can be stored into the muscles or the tissue. And that kind of decreases our blood glucose levels to the normal amount that we like to say, with type two diabetes, there's generally an insulin resistance. So what that means is that for insulin is less effective. So insulin isn't working as a key so much, so less glucose is being transported into the target tissues. So that means blood glucose is staying elevated, same high, which is not good and can have a few run on effects that we don't like to see in the body. That is an overall view of type two diabetes. And then from there, I'll go over, what I like to say is there's four things that will influence blood glucose levels, it's what you eat, which generally increases it but we can manage that very well and they've very, very good at that, which I'll go over here. Medication will help decrease your blood glucose levels, stress will increase your blood glucose levels. And then exercise will generally decrease your blood glucose levels. So kind of understanding how all those things come into play can really help take control of your type two diabetes management.

Anthony Hartcher: 5:18

Absolutely, yeah, you hit on a key one there is that that stress factor, which is so prevalent in today's society, everyone being so busy and trying to keep up with the joints, it really plays havoc on people's health, it's generally I find a lot of my clients are that sympathetic dominant state. So they're, they're in that higher fight flight or freeze sort of state constantly and constantly being that's that wired state. And, as you mentioned, it has a implication on our blood glucose levels. And you mentioned, the insulin key becomes a bit insensitive. And you've just talked about a couple of ways in which we can say, Yeah, I'll certainly I'm happy to talk about the nutrition side of things. But I'd love you to now get into the exercise side in terms of what you do to help with the uptake of glucose into the cell or increase that insulin sensitivity through exercise,

Stefan Velevski: 6:13

through through exercise, when we move muscles kind of act as a pump, you're going to think about this. And the muscles will pump the blood glucose from the blood into the muscles where it's stored. So that'll help drop our blood glucose levels, there is definite recommendations of how much exercise we should be doing. And what that looks like is we want to accumulate either to under 10 minutes of moderate intensity aerobic activity. So when I mean moderate intensity, aerobic aerobic activities, if you're walking, swimming, you're cycling. And moderate intensity, just this is an easy way to think about it is if you think of recall, RPE does rate of perceived exertion, just a fancy way of saying how hard are you working at the moment. So generally, the scale, it goes up to 20. Okay, so we want to aim at a moderate intensity. So it's about a 12, or 13, out of 20. So we can get a bit fancier with this and do heart rate Max and stuff like that. But just to make it easier for yourself a moderate intensity. So after 13 out of 20, sort of just a bit over that half around about the halfway point, we can keep going for a while, but you got that huff and puff deep breath. Or we can do a bit of a combination of vigorous intensity. So that's when we look at RPE scale, again, that's on the higher side for so between a 14 to a 16 out of 20. So that's on the aerobic side of things, we also want to do some strength training or resistance training. And ideally, we want to be doing that twice a week for about a minimum of 30 minutes per session. And generally with that resistance training, we want to be hitting the large muscle groups. So if you think about, we want to pump that glucose into the muscles, the bigger the muscle we're working for more glucose is going to go into that muscle and have a greater effect on reducing that blood glucose levels. So the general guidelines for resistance training with type two diabetes is that we want to do eight to 10 exercises of large muscle groups. So you'd be compound lifts between two to four sets of eight to 10 reps, and about a minute or two rest in between. So we want to do that twice a week. Now probably the most important thing is that we want to exercise often. So the guideline is no more than two days rest between doing exercise, the more consistent we're doing it, the better it's going to be. So I generally say every second day, let's do something. And if we're just going for a walk, doing our bit like it just helps tremendously. So just being consistent and doing it every second day is is a really great way just to aim for the guidelines.

Anthony Hartcher: 8:58

And there's that element that type two diabetes is that you know, that lifestyle disease where we consume too much, and I'm going to get into that as a counter strategy to that for the nutrition part that yeah, we're consuming too much. We're sitting on the couch watching Netflix, getting quiet, relaxed are very parasympathetic, I mentioned the sympathetic dominance, the parasympathetic state can obviously, you know, be a certainly a correlation factor to type two diabetes people that are gaining weight and not exerting themselves enough or doing much. So that sort of lay person that hasn't been to the gym for a while. How would you work with them obviously, you know, like what I just heard is quiet. You know, it's what's recommended to obviously you know, really manage those glucose levels, but then I'm thinking of there's that person that hasn't been in the gym for maybe you know, a hole of COVID and has been, you know, doing all the emotional eating, you know, watching Netflix and now Are they really want to get back and get started? How do you work with them?

Stefan Velevski: 10:03

Yeah, definitely. So what we do is we'll we'll just guide them towards trying to get to those guidelines. So for some people that might seem a bit high and a bit out of reach. And we just said that as the goal, we want to hit this as the goal. And we want to hit that in X amount of time. So to start off with, what we're going to do, is we're going to do even a 10 minute or a day, or we can break it up into, you know, five minute walks, let's do three five minute walks a day, if that's if the 10 or 20 minute walk is too much, it doesn't have to be even one block of time, there's more consistently removing the more we're gonna get a result. So even even just from that aerobic point of view, let's just move several times per day, and then say, like, just being really consistent with that, and trying to move as much as possible. And we can really make it simple in that term. And even from the resistance training point of view, we don't have to get too fancy with that, if we're thinking of large muscle groups, legs are pretty big. So we're gonna do something as simple as doing a sit to stand, which is you're sitting down on the chair, you're standing back up, and then you're sitting down again. Okay, so it's like doing a squat. But onto a safe essentially, those are pretty, pretty simple things that I think most people would be able to do. And it's going to have a great effect on managing the type two diabetes and lowering the glucose levels in the blood. So it's all about making it small and achievable. And then over time, working our way up slowly, slowly, but everyone is capable of doing it.

Anthony Hartcher: 11:34

And part of your qualifications is to work with those that may have some injuries or, you know, conditions, maybe it's some sort of arthritis or osteoporosis that they have as well. So you obviously know what to do and what how to work with those clients that may come with those additional conditions.

Stefan Velevski: 11:54

Yeah, most definitely, like a common comorbidity is having peripheral neuropathy. So having that reduced feeling in your hands or feet, or even pain sensations through those areas. So one thing to keep in mind is to check your feet just to make sure there isn't anything nasty happening down there, which is quite common. If you don't feel your feet, you want to know, if you've had any trauma down there or anything building up with that peripheral neuropathy as well. In the feet, if you have that loss of sensation, it can affect balance. So that's another consideration, we'll take into account. So we can make sure we're exercising them in a safe way, while also trying to improve their balance to prevent falls from occurring. As you can imagine, if there's a fall that's occurred, they're going to be a bit hurt from that bit shaken up, and it's going to reduce their likelihood they're going to continue to exercise. Or do you just kind of kind of snowball that condition. So we want to keep them on track and moving in the safest way possible. Essentially, there is a lot of other comorbidities as well, and we can dive into it. But another common one is just your heart health as well, that's commonly affected for accountability with type two diabetes. So just just that we'll do a thorough check of that prior to commencing exercise as well, and making sure the intensity is safe for that person as well.

Anthony Hartcher: 13:09

Yeah, absolutely. And just in terms of just the common areas that you see these clients like because, you know, I certainly see it is that they have got so used to a certain lifestyle and having you know, now to break those habits and get into a you know, a more vigorous, more active lifestyle with change eating, there's a lot of change, and it can be quite a journey for them. So is there some tips that you have in terms of how to make that journey a bit easier? I mean, obviously, you've got that element of accountability that you provide, as their exercise physiologist and seeing them and helping them along is there some tips that you could share in terms of helping, you know, really get started and then keep that momentum going?

Stefan Velevski: 13:55

Yeah, just trying to find out what motivates them is really important thing, trying to get them to understand what can happen with type two diabetes, if it's not managed properly, and it's not fantastic, and nobody really wants to hear about it. Sometimes you need a little bit of tough love, just so they understand it. Obviously, as a health professional, you want them to get the best outcomes. So in that regard, sometimes you have to be a bit cool to be kind, but not always, some people are generally pretty good. And obviously it varies a lot from person to person. But say for someone that doesn't move often they haven't moved in a long time. And that you know, walking 500 meters is out of reach. Just an example, building up to be able to hit that, you know, say in four to six weeks, we can walk half a kilometer now, that's a huge tip for someone that's a big milestone. And this is breaking down to the smaller table things that we can do that are still working towards our goal, I think is very important. So they can just tick some boxes along the way to building up those lifestyle habits and just remaining overall a bit bit more control of the diabetes.

Anthony Hartcher: 14:57

Absolutely finding that hot button that really gets them Going and, you know, get some out of bed and get some going for the day, you know, what is it and how, like, if they get on top of the management of this condition, how will enable them to fulfill, you know what they love doing, whether it be spending more time with family, or recently I had a client come to me and he's starting to gain weight and feeling, you know, just not as mobile as he used to being he said, I've got four young kids, you know, I want to be able to keep up with them, I want to be able to play with them. And so he's really motivated by just, you know, wanting to be there for his kids and be able to play and enjoy, you know, and be part of their lives, as opposed to, you know, this, someone that can't participate in what they're doing and playing the game. So I can hear I really liked that linkage you've drawn to, you know, what is really inspires that person, you know, tying that management of type two diabetes into that inspiration. And then as you said, it's, you know, starting small and building. So in terms of when I work with clients with, you know, come to me with type two diabetes, or they could be a little overweight. And again, it's that generally that insulin resistance, or as you alluded to earlier, that lack of insulin sensitivity. So, some of the nutrition strategies to improve that insulin sensitivity, or certainly reduce calorific intake as a whole. And this is where some of these fad diets that are popular at the moment, such as the five and two or the time restrictive, feeding that 16 and eight those sorts of approaches, they do serve that purpose of reducing the total calories consumed in a day. And that fast, so even like a 12 hour fast, or you know, up to a 16 hour fast, really helps the body start to will certainly start the repair work that needs to happen, allows the body to get on top of the inflammation and then allows the body to then better manage blood glucose so that blood glucose dysregulation as you alluded to, can be contributed by stress. So helping the person manage stress at the same time is really important. And one of my strategies that I employ is, you know, getting them to see an exercise physiologist, because that is a great way to alleviate stress as well as improving insulin sensitivity. So it's like killing two birds with one stone. So yeah, reducing overall calories is fundamental. And there's so many ways of doing that it really comes down to personalization as to what will work for that person. The other important point around nutrition is reducing the carbohydrate intake. So essentially, the Western diet is, you know, it's really high in carbohydrates. It's excessive, but again, it's not going keto. I mean, obviously, the keto diet will be advantageous and can be a strategy, we don't need to jump from one extreme to the other, like going from high card to just, you know, virtually no carb overnight. So that, you know, again, it's swinging that pendulum, for me, it's helping the client find that center line and that center line that works for them. So that enable to do that and enact on that strategy for a lifetime or, you know, tool, it serves what they're using it for, and it could be to get on top of the management of type two diabetes. So certainly, you're reducing carbohydrates, and it's really the high GI so it's the foods that are really high in the glycemic index. And that's essentially a high glucose count. And they're foods like cakes and biscuits and lollies, you can just imagine all the foods I think most people would know what those high GI foods are. And then eating more foods that are I guess more slowly absorbed by the body that are you know, have less of a glycemic index and less of a low glycemic load on the body. Those foods generally a whole foods that you'll you'll hear about. So it's really cleaning up the diet and eating more whole foods eating less processed foods. Processed foods will contain more sugar sugars cheap, so they just load it with sugar. It saves the money they make more profits, it tastes good for the consumer. And in that way, it's when virta in the case of type two diabetes. It's Yes, the commercial person wins and the type two diabetes person loses. So consume less processed foods eat more whole foods and so that's whole grains. It's legumes. It's nuts, seeds, beans. So really expanding your palate and embracing more vegetables is key. Part of this condition is needing the body to help manage the inflammation. There's generally these people with type two diabetes acquired inflamed and so having a diet rich in whole foods will help lessen the inflammation and then enable the body to get better in control of the blood glucose. regulation. So that's I guess, in a nutshell. But again, it needs to be personalized, just as the exercise physiologist does in terms of personalized the exercise prescription to the client, a nutritionist will personalize the nutritional plan to the client based on their preferences and their lifestyle. So for example, I recently saw a client this week with insulin resistance and was doing night shift and that night shifts going to continue for the next 18 months, so it's not going away. And we know that night shifts are certainly going to have a negative effect on improving insulin sensitivity. So it's again working with that client and working strategies that really fit in with giving the client the best chance to optimize their health whilst they're undergoing that sort of lifestyle. So that's probably if you've got any questions for me, Stefan,

Stefan Velevski: 20:57

and what kind of strategies would work best to help someone make that transition? Would it would it be maybe substituting certain foods out or being be more prepared with eating what's what's your kind of go to things to go?

Anthony Hartcher: 21:10

Yeah, so it does, again, vary from person to person, I'll have those people that will say, I'm just too busy, you know, I don't have time to prepare. And I mean, because of the supermarkets are so moving more health conscious, there's generally like, pre made salads in the supermarket. So it's, you know, go into the supermarket, buy a premade salad, you know, you can get a Caesar salad, or you can get a nice mixed green salad, and then go and get a tenor tuna. I mean, it's very basic, but that's, you know, if that person's time poor, you know, it's putting the tuna on top of the salad and putting some salt and pepper. And that is not too bad. I mean, I haven't myself, so it's those sorts of working in with the clients. But it definitely comes down to preparation. So the more time you put into preparation, just like with exercise, the enhanced outcomes, the greater success you'll have. And so I like you sit down with my client, and talk to them about the benefits of preparing their own food and how to make it enjoyable. So I mentioned that dad that wants to spend more time with his four children, and you know, play with them. Kids love getting in the kitchen and playing with food, right in terms of making a creation and contributing to the family dinner. So that's a strategy I employ is actually helping the father then come up with ways in which he can get the kids involved with preparing a meal. And it can be quite simple. And it's just really just stepping through the process and showing how simple it is, as opposed to people just thinking it's complicated. So so definitely the preparation is key and like going shopping and making sure your cupboards full of whole foods, if your cupboards full of quick, ready to go process meals, then that's what's going to be consumed when you're running around, you know, trying to meet your work deadlines and life deadlines and what not. So really important that the right foods in the house to begin with. And that, again, comes back to preparation. So putting aside that time, but again, the supermarket's are making it easier for us with you know, home deliveries and things like that. Another strategy is, I think, like you, it's starting small. So as you mentioned, the substituting or swapping things out. So what I'll start is with the clients, what they're currently eating, and I will just tweak things about that what they're currently doing in their diet, just to take them towards better managing their type two diabetes. So it's not totally do without what you're doing. And, you know, make it really difficult and throw this in and do this. It's okay, we'll just swap out, you know, coffee with green tea, for example, will do. And again, it may be enabling them to have that morning coffee, but then not that one at lunchtime, and one in the afternoon. It's saying well, then that let's find a substitute after the morning coffee, that's going to better serve that outcome that you're trying to achieve. And then, you know, some of the substitutes are just looking for better grains in more of a whole form. So it could be, you know, going from white rice to brown rock, white rice or to wild rice or, you know, introducing quinoa or other types of grains. With vegetables, it's just expanding the colors of which they're consuming. So it's Yeah, again, as you said, it's all about that substitution. It's all about finding the time making the time and, you know, aligning it to what they ultimately want to achieve by get better managing the Type Two Diabetes condition.

Stefan Velevski: 24:48

Yeah, I think what you're touching about before as well, where you said it's, you know, the body's having an inflammatory response and you manage that through nutrition, which is really important. And then exercise also has as inflammatory anti inflammatory properties as well, that it's great to say the both of them coming together and working together. I think the main one of the main takeaways from this is that it is a loss of condition, essentially. And there is just so much we can do around to prevent or just have really good management of the condition like we just spoke about so much as I'm sure there's even more we can speak about it, there's just there's so much that can be done to to help manage it. And I think it is so vital to take that kind of lifestyle approach and make that slow, steady change over time. So there's going all out at once and being kind of disheartened because you're thinking this is it hard to do. And that's slow, steady change over time, we'll just end up being you know, set 1% Every day, but over time, that just goes crazy. You just made really, really good results from that.

Anthony Hartcher: 25:46

100% stiff and the other one is you just touched on. It was you know, there's others there's that yeah, that's sleep, how is the person sleeping? As you know, both nutrition and exercise really help in with getting a better night's sleep? And yeah, like so, you know, reducing the overall caffeine consumed during the day. You know, obviously apply movement, which you know, increases adenosine, we know adenosine is linked to that tiredness and needing to replenish and getting a good night's sleep. So yeah, so certainly helping the client getting some sleep routine, I find is really beneficial just because it also helps with what they then choose to eat the next day, because if they're sleep deprived, they will struggle to find the motivation to exercise or the energy to exercise. Furthermore, want to consume high calorific food because the brain is wanting to stay away and it knows what helps it stay awake. It's high GI food. It's your chocolate. It's your lollies, it's your sugar, cakes, everything like that. Yes, if they're not sleeping, well, I find they don't eat well. And they'll struggle to get around to doing the exercise. So I really find that sleep element, a really key part of the puzzle.

Stefan Velevski: 27:02

Yeah, most definitely. Sleep is just so so important. And I buy us a good night's sleep over doing so much. Because I just know that if I don't sleep well and the cranky old man and I don't do the things I want to do if overnight sleep well. So yeah, I think it's super important just for your overall health as well. So I definitely will bias by sleep over doing a little bit of extra something. And then as you said, like a lot of people come with the excuse, I'm too tired to do something today, I'll do it tomorrow. And then that tomorrow becomes a day after. And it's that snowball effect from there. So just being consistent with those good habits really helps to kind of cement things in and really make good choices over time.

Anthony Hartcher: 27:42

Yeah, I agree. And it's also being accepting that you're human. And you will have those days where you're really struggling for whatever reason, and you missed that exercise, but not then, you know, sabotage the whole plan by then thinking I'll just give up. And you know, it's all too hard. So what I encourage my clients is that you'll, you'll fall off the rocking horse or whatever. And just as kids do, though, they'll get back on or you know, you're you stumble as you're learning to walk, but you'll keep trying to walk. And again, type two diabetes is one of those conditions where you'll have your good days, your not so good days, but as a whole, you want to be moving in the right direction. And so you might have a really great day on exercise, but not so good day on nutrition, but you shouldn't beat yourself up over it, you should just continue forward and realize that over time, you'll pick the pieces up as you go along. And as you mentioned, it's those one percenters each day, we're not looking or asking for a lot. It's just what is that incremental improvement you're doing today? Like, is it an extra, you know, 500 steps or 1000 steps in a day? Or is it that you're going to have a salad instead of a sandwich for lunch? And it's just those incremental changes that then yeah, just build and snowball in a positive way?

Stefan Velevski: 29:01

Definitely, yeah, I think people will get better and better and a finding strategies that work for themselves as well through exercise, I'm sure nutrition as well. For myself, I find exercises they enjoy doing more than others. And you know, we obviously want to favor that as long as it's kind of still hitting the guidelines and still going to achieve their goals. So as long as they're doing that they can, there's a bit of variety in what we can do, which makes it fun. Just finding what works for them. And what they enjoy doing is is super important, because that just makes it so much more sustainable long term, which is which is what we want to achieve. We want to achieve that whole lifestyle change. So super cool.

Anthony Hartcher: 29:35

Yeah, no, totally. It is all about that sustainability and being able to maintain the momentum. Yeah, really appreciate the discussion we've had today. Stefan it's been very insightful in terms of it was something else has just popped out whilst I mentioned this is that I find that when my clients are exercising, they just automatically or want to eat better. And so I, I really find that exercise is fundamental around what they eat. And then you probably find that in terms of their exercise performance is fundamental in terms of what they've eaten, like.

Stefan Velevski: 30:15

And in the same way as well, where they've started eating well, and then they want to start doing exercise as well. So is that the coin but the artist say from my own first?

Anthony Hartcher: 30:22

Yeah, it's very true. And I am fine with myself. If I've done exercise, I generally just have this gravitation towards more whole foods, it's quite incredible the how each area interplays with one another, it's important that the clients, the listeners, approach it as a whole, I really appreciate your time in terms of coming on the show and sharing your knowledge and wisdom on this topic of type two diabetes and how exercise plays a fundamental role in terms of that management of type two diabetes, and increasing their insulin sensitivity, which will ultimately get them to a state where their body starts to heal and correct itself. So thanks, once again, Stefan for coming on the show.

Stefan Velevski: 31:05

That's why I do thanks for having me on. I think it's really good to see both sides of you know, how we approach the condition and see both angles is really important for the overall view of the patient, understanding how that other allied health professionals deal with these things. So no, thank you for having me on. I think it's really, really good. Always learn a bit coming on here. So thank you,

Anthony Hartcher: 31:25

100%. And the listeners I'm sure would also understand that from the point of view, that they're getting the holistic approach to the condition and just realizing how health it's not just one aspect that you need to work on. It's, it's the whole and that gives you greater outcomes and how they all interact and help feed one another in a positive way. So yeah, and listeners, thanks for tuning in to another insightful episode of me and my health up, I really appreciate you listening in and stay tuned in for more insightful episodes. If you've enjoyed the episode, please share it with others, particularly those that you know, that might have the condition of type two diabetes, it's really important that we get the information out to those that are most needed, so that we can best support as many people as possible. Before we go, I forgot to ask Stefan, how are the listeners can reach out to you?

Stefan Velevski: 32:15

go on the longevity website. But most of our clinics are based up in Sydney. So if you're a Sydney listener, there is quite a few clinics up there from Randwick, Marrickville, Rose Bay, Drummoyne and a few others. They're also based in Canada now, which is pretty cool. So we're gone global. I'm down in Coburg. So if you ever want to reach out, please just Google longevity exercise physiology in Coburg and you'll find me there.

Anthony Hartcher: 32:48

Absolutely, listeners and I'll have that link in the show notes. Thank you once again, Stefan. Really appreciate it. And thank you listeners.