The 21 Day Challenge To End Diabetes – Follow at #Diabetes21

I always need a race on my calendar to stay motivated to train. That’s why I’m a member of Team Diabetes. There’s always another race that I’m fundraising and training for – it keeps me on track. Without that race carrot, I would very easily slip back to a lifestyle without exercise.

To be honest, I kind of do that anyway. After a great Team Diabetes race in Australia to start the summer, I slacked off for the next few months. Life got busy, work got busy, and I didn’t do much to get to keep up the pace.

So I’m getting off the couch, and rebooting my routine with The 21 Day Challenge to End Diabetes.

Research has shown that physical activity, managing your diet, and reducing your stress levels not only improves your health and quality of life, but can help you prevent and manage diabetes.

This is so important as governments struggle to get health care costs under control. Diabetes is the canary in the coal mine for so many other problems and levels of type 2 diabetes are reaching epidemic proportions. I don’t have diabetes in my family, but I run with Team Diabetes to keep that carrot in front of me, to keep myself healthy. I raise money to send T1D kids to summer camp, help support research, and raise awareness to hopefully inspire other people to get healthy too.

Changing your lifestyle overnight isn’t easy, but it takes only 21 days to form a habit. So it’s time to start a new habit.

For my 21 Day Challenge to End Diabetes, I will be doing something called 5BX.

The 5BX program is a series of five basic exercises (5BX) created in the ’50s by Dr. Bill Orban for Royal Canadian Air Force pilots. The exercises were meant to be done in just 11 minutes, in remote places with little access to equipment, to keep the pilots fit and focused.

The exercises are simple bends, stretches, crunches, pushups, and running routines. Here’s a breakdown taken from fit450.com

So, after wearing Team Diabetes colours in a couple of recent races with my sons, I’m going to get into a routine where I will be dropping in the simple 5BX routine amongst my runs to get some strength and flexibility mixed in with my training and my busy fall schedule.

I’ll be tracking my progress on social media across Facebook, Instagram, Twitter, and Snapchat. I’d love it if you would take the challenge too, and then shared your progress on social using #Diabetes21. Once you get up and running, become an inspiration to challenge friends, family, and colleagues to do the same.

Each day as I throw up a post on my #Diabetes21 journey, I will be challenging a different person to join #Diabetes21.

Day 1 Challenge: Alberta Health Minister Sarah Hoffman
Day 2 Challenge: Erika Jahn of Peaks and Paddles and The United Way
Day 3 Challenge: Stephanie Maggs, a Team Diabetes alum who is always working out
Day 4 Challenge: Gratitude for those who have embraced the challenge
Day 5 Challenge: Nancy, Paula, Nicole, Chelsea, and the gang at North Strategic
Day 6 Challenge: Chris, Mike, Mike, Casey, Justin, and all my favorite Canadian Dads who blog to get out and do something with their kids.
Day 7 Challenge: James, Shannon, Luke, and all the parents chauffeuring their kids around to activities.
Day 8 Challenge: Don, Joanne, and the Coach, Rob Christie, and Ruby & Cruise, the morning shows for the radio stations I work on.

The timing is perfect, with a start this week, you'll be right at the peak of your #Diabetes21 challenge on World Diabetes Day, November 14. You could do something little, something big, something strenuous, something easy, just make a step to change your life for the better. Here are some ideas to get you started: Then go to 21DaysforDiabetes.ca and sign up now! 1 in 3 Canadians has diabetes or pre-diabetes, together we can change that.