In a simplified nutshell, when we eat carbohydrate/sugar, insulin shows up on the scene and opens the door on the cell for sugar to go in and help it make energy. When we have IR there is always so much sugar and insulin running around that the cell won't open its door anymore. If the sugar can't get into the cell, it calls for more insulin to help, and so on. Insulin is a hard worker. It will take that sugar and put it somewhere. It starts piling it up in the liver then around the organs and around the middle causing central obesity. Eventually, your pancreas can't keep up with the demand for insulin and that's when you have diabetes.
Sometimes it's the symptoms that can clue you into that something is not right. Some people with IR will experience extreme tiredness after a meal. They will crave sugar or indulge in what they call the dessert stomach and eat sweets even though they are full. Sometimes people with IR will not ever feel full and regularly overeat. Another common occurrence is that you may experience signs of both hypoglycemia and IR at the same time. Everyone is different according to their bio-individuality and may express differently.
Usually, your doctor will diagnose you with IR if your fasting blood glucose levels are over 126 and your HbA1c is over 5.6. A better predictor of disfunction would be your HOMA-IR score. it is calculated by multiplying your fasting blood glucose by your fasting blood insulin and dividing it by 405. Your score should be under 1.1. If your score is higher, you have some work to do.
This is not a life sentence! It has been taught that once you have diabetes, you'll only go downhill from there. More and more medications are needed and then you start getting all the complications associated with diabetes. First, you start with Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, elevated cholesterol, high blood pressure, heart disease, neuropathy and it keeps going from there. Commonly, not always, doctors tell you to lose weight, exercise then start you on medication. If we were really smart we would take that advice and leave the medication at the pharmacy.
Diet and exercise are the best and only ways (without medication) to combat diabetes type 2 and reverse insulin resistance. Now before you start groaning and shaking your head about all the work you don't have time for, let's see what we can do. It can be fun and you can experience all sorts of new and interesting foods, activities and friends.
Let's talk about exercise first. Did you know that muscles can use sugar without insulin? (1) Yes, your muscle cells can suck the sugar out of your blood without increasing insulin! Exciting, huh? If you knew that you might be a lot more motivated to do some exercise. There are a number of studies that investigate the different types and duration of activities to help you decrease your insulin resistance. Yeah! The cheapest and most fun way to treat yourself with love and self-healing.
Next, let's address the fuel you use to make energy. What you eat is your fuel. If you are eating a lot of carbohydrates you are demanding a lot of insulin to open the door of the cell for usage. Remember, you can only use so much carbohydrate or sugar and the cell stops responding to the door knocking. Your cells can efficiently use other fuel sources without calling out all the insulin.
Carbohydrate and sugar are the easiest fuel to use, kind of like using kindling to build a fire. It burns quickly and calls for more. This action causes you to crave sugar and keep pouring on the insulin and store the sugar as fat. You can switch your fuel and burn longer without cravings by using fat for fuel. Yes, fat can be a great fuel source and not require insulin to open the cell's door. But when carbohydrate is around, it's going to use that first always, It's easiest to use.
This does not mean that you can just eat all the fat in any form you want. Studies show that the best type of fat is unsaturated fatty acids (2). These fats are from plant-based sources. Fats that are liquid at room temperature are from foods like avocados, olives, nuts, and seeds are the best choices. Saturated fats have not been shown to be useful in decreasing insulin resistance. Saturated fats are solid at room temperature.
So, now diet and exercise don't sound so bad as compared with a heart attack and losing your foot. The earlier you start controlling your insulin resistance the easier it will be to reverse it. The farther along the path you are the harder it will be. If you have done a great job and reversed your IR or diabetes you still need to be vigilant. The appropriate term would be remission. If you fail to keep up the good habits of eating healthy and exercising IR and Diabetes type 2 will surely return.
So grab your friend, pick up a new cookbook, hire a coach to guide you in this new, fun lifestyle. With a little direction, motivation, and accountability, you can recover your health.
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(1)Erik A. Richter, and Mark Hargreaves 01 JUL 2013https://doi.org/10.1152/physrev.00038.2012
(2)Nat Rev Mol Cell Biol. 2018 Oct; 19(10): 654–672. doi: 10.1038/s41580-018-0044-8
(3) PMID: 30378706 DOI: 10.1111/dme.13851
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