Insulin Resistance: a challenge for health and weight loss

Insulin is being associated with a rapidly increasing number of common health concerns not the least of which is Insulin Resistance, which can lead to Type 2 Diabetes. Take this quiz to see whether Insulin Resistance might be affecting you:

• Do you put weight on around your belly?
• Do you like foods such as cereal, bread, pasta, rice, fruit, cakes and biscuits?
• Do you find it easy to gain weight and difficult to lose it?
• Are you often tired and/or need stimulants such as coffee, tea or sugar?
• Do you – or your close blood relatives – have adult onset diabetes?
• Do you have high blood pressure or high cholesterol?

If you answered ‘yes’ to any of all of these questions then you should know that they are all signs of metabolic disorders involving Insulin. You can have problems with Insulin even if your blood glucose levels are normal.

What is Insulin?

Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in response to food. It signals to the cells that food has arrived and transports glucose out of the blood to be turned into energy or stored for later use.

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin Resistance occurs when a combination of genes, diet and lifestyle cause Insulin to rise to high levels in the blood. At first this happens only after eating but over time the level remains higher than normal even when you’re not. When cells are exposed to consistently high levels of Insulin, they slowly become deaf, or resistant, to it. When someone is deaf, you need to start shouting to get a response! So your body starts releasing more Insulin than normal after a meal to get the cells to respond.

How does Insulin Resistance affect weight?

Insulin is our storage hormone. When it is released into the blood, cells start collecting sugar and fat and storing it away in fat cells for later use (N.B. sugar can and isturned into fat for storage). When Insulin levels drop back to normal, the flow reverses and fat comes out of cells and is converted into energy. If Insulin levels get too high, or stay too high, then the cells only get the message that they should be storing, or their “fat switch” is locked on. It’s only when Insulin levels drop that fat can come out cells to be used as energy, so it’s only when Insulin levels drop that your body can use body fat as energy and you can start losing weight.

Reverse Insulin Resistance and unlock your body fat store

Diet and lifestyle can lead to high Insulin levels. High Insulin levels make you store body fat and make it impossible to burn body fat.Finding the key to reversing this process will lead to the weight loss you are looking for and many other health benefits.