Insulin Resistance – What It Is, The Symptoms & How To Reverse It
Insulin resistance is becoming increasingly common in today’s world. The function of insulin is to help our body regulate the levels of blood sugar we have in our body. It removes sugar from our bloodstream after we eat a meal full of carbohydrates and it should turn that sugar into muscle, rather than fat … as long as we treat our bodies right.
Unfortunately, we don’t treat our bodies right. Generally, we eat too many carbs and take part in too little exercise. The result is that our bodies simply cannot keep up anymore. This is where we start to develop insulin resistance.
As a consequence, our bodies are no longer able to burn fat efficiently and we start to store fat, generally in the worst possible places. Besides the fact that this affects the way we look, it also potentially affects our health, as we may start to develop Type 2 diabetes, as well as various other health problems. All of these conditions are lined to insulin resistance.
Symptoms of Insulin Resistance
So, have you started to develop insulin resistance? Are you finding that your body is starting to store fat, even though you never put weight on before?
Did you know that as much as one in four Americans suffer from insulin insensitivity and resistance? It’s best to be able to recognize the symptoms before it is too late.
“When you struggle with insulin insensitivity, the glucose in your blood stream cannot get into the cells of your body that desperately need it for fuel. As a result, you can get tired, even fatigued, drowsy, and often driven by an insatiable appetite and food cravings. This makes it extremely difficult to exercise and eat well…and that makes it almost impossible for your body to lower your blood sugar to normal, healthy levels.” – Glucalite
The Link between Carbs and Insulin Sensitivity
Everybody has a degree of insulin sensitivity. The problem starts to occur when you are insulin resistant. The sensitivity of your insulin will determine how your body deals with the insulin itself. Insulin, in turn, is responsible for storing and breaking down carbohydrates. If you have high sensitivity, you only need a tiny bit of insulin in order to deal with the carbs. However, if you are resistant, such as a Type II diabetic, you will need a lot more insulin in order to be able to move the carbohydrates around your body the right way.
“Once insulin gets too high, fat loss comes to a halt. People that have bombarded their bodies with high-glycemic carbohydrates and processed foods over their lifetimes have become somewhat resistant to the effects of insulin. Therefore, when they eat carbohydrates, it causes a larger release of insulin. This inhibits the release of fatty acids.” – Coach Calorie
Increase Your Fat Loss by Reversing Your Carb Intake
As soon as you start talking about diets that make you change your carb intake, people start to think about the now highly discredited Atkins Diet. This isn’t about a diet with a plan that you have to follow step by step. The problem Atkins Diet is that although it seemed to make sense, it was poorly researched. It was released well before it had been appropriately tested because those behind it were focused on the fact that it would make millions … which it did.
So, move away from the Atkins Diet, but start to realize just how important carbohydrate intake is in terms of keeping your insulin levels right. It isn’t about cutting carbohydrates out of your diet completely, but more about replacing sugary carbs with fiber carbs.
This means that there are various tasty foods that will make you feel full and will give you loads of energy, but they will not make you insulin resistant, nor will you start to pack on the pounds.
You will notice that you start losing weight really quickly, becoming healthier overall.
Remember that it isn’t just about your diet, you also have to take part in regular physical exercise. However, changing your diet is a very important first step and the most life-changing one as well. While there are effective supplements like I talk about in my review of IC-5, changing your diet is the most important step. Get that right, and you will find yourself having more than enough energy to actually want to take part in physical exercise as well. The reality is that people think they don’t like to go to the gym or fitness classes, but they actually don’t have the energy. They don’t have the energy, in part, because of their insulin levels and the consumption of the wrong kind of carbs.
Any type of bean will give you the right kind of carb. Beans are delicious and tasty and go well as an accompaniment to loads of other dishes.
Another great source of carbs low in sugar and high in fiber is found in almost any fruit. Fruits are also incredibly healthy in terms of the vitamins and minerals they give you, plus they are really sweet because of their natural sugars, which will give you a good outlet for any sugar cravings you may have.
Any green vegetable is good as well, and as a side-dish, you could consider rice (wild rice or brown rice) or couscous for instance.
The difference you will see and feel ever so quickly after changing your diet will truly amaze you!
David
May 13, 2013 @ 9:03 am
Hi,
Thanks, interesting read. I think it worth mentioning that insulin is not required to store fat and will only do so when eating in caloric excess and also that protein which is very filling and very useful for dieting also spikes insulin just as much as carbs. This is worth a read and he comes from the same background as Lyle McDonanld and Alan Aragon.
http://weightology.net/weightologyweekly/?page_id=319
Cheers
Kevin
August 5, 2013 @ 9:15 am
Very good article and points David, thanks!
David
August 5, 2013 @ 9:27 am
You’re welcome Kevin, love your site by the way
Kenneth Pierce
May 28, 2013 @ 6:38 am
This post is really informative and I hope everyone who has this condition read this. Diabetes can cause a lot of complications to the human body. Having this insulin resistance will make everything more difficult. It is important that we know how to control it and manage it.
Kevin
August 5, 2013 @ 9:14 am
Thanks Kenneth!