What is Insulin resistance?
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First let me discuss what insulin a hormone made by the pancreas does for you in the body.The major nutrients you consume daily in your food are Carbs, fats, and proteins.Carbs are digested and converted into simpler sugars called glucose for absorption easily through your gut.
This sugar gets into your blood stream through the portal veins to enter the liver.Insulin helps you to courier the sugar into your liver, fat deposits and muscles, for storage and use for energy.It is same with petrol you pump into your car to provide energy to run.
So, basically insulin helps you to maintain a normal sugar level in your blood stream, preventing blood sugar spikes.When the blood sugar is high, we call it hyperglycaemia and too low – hypoglycaemia.
Insulin secreted by your pancreas responds well by the cells in your body with no evidence of resistance in healthy people with no diabetes, obesity including other metabolic diseases. We call this “insulin sensitivity”
Exercise alone can increase your insulin sensitivity
It refers to how sensitive the body cells are in response to insulin.
In insulin resistance the cells in your muscles, fat and liver don’t respond well to insulin, and as a result sugar seems to remain in your blood stream and can’t use glucose from your blood for energy.
High insulin sensitivity allows the cells of the body to use blood glucose more effectively, reducing blood sugar.
Low insulin sensitivity is known as insulin resistance – we are discussing today.
Insulin resistance syndrome
Let’s talk about the “Insulin resistance syndrome”
It is a group of conditions such as obesity (too much of belly fat), high blood pressure, high cholesterol and type 2 diabetes, occurring in adults.
As insulin resistance develops, your body fights back by producing more insulin.
Insulin Resistance is the root cause of many diseases.
Insulin has a hand in every kind of disease is the current thought.
With more resistance to the function of insulin in the body, you seem to get sick, according to Dr Ben Bikman, a researcher and Associate Professor.
According to the Associate Professor, many root causes of diseases, such as heart disease, hypertension, kidney disease, diabetes, Alzheimer’s, obesity, migraine, ovarian diseases, infertility, prostate disease are caused by insulin resistance.
According to him, every person diagnosed as a chronic disease should have a glucose tolerance test to check whether one has insulin resistance.
It is important to treat the insulin resistance first rather than treating chronic diseases mentioned earlier.
The Professor seems to think that improving insulin resistance can prevent a wide range of diseases, rather than treating specific diseases first.
A good example is that in type 2 diabetes, it is more sensible to lower the insulin resistance, rather than pumping in more insulin to normalise the blood sugar levels.
What all this means is to keep your insulin levels healthy.
Too much protein eaten along with fat, may lead to Insulin Resistance.
among obese people, also can produce insulin resistance, and diabetes.
What was found by Dr. Chris Newgard, PhD Duke metabolism researcher is that certain amin acids from the high protein diet affects the metabolism and cause insulin resistance.
Moderation in diet is important to prevent insulin resistance.
Remember, in ketogenic diet you are allowed ad lib, amounts of dietary fats and proteins to produce energy from ketone bodies.
This diet can cause insulin resistance.
Diet plays an important part in reducing insulin resistance.
As you know, insulin resistance increases your risk for developing prediabetes, type 2 diabetes, and most chronic non-communicable diseases.
Insulin resistance is also an early warning sign for other chronic diseases.
Healthy lifestyle choices, including regular exercise and eating a balanced diet are important.
Generally, it’s best tochoose whole, unprocessed foods and avoid highly processed and prepared foods.
I hope this article was helpful.
