Do you worry about being insulin resistant but don’t know what the signs are?
Tell me if this sounds like you:
You don’t feel as healthy and chipper as you used to — but you attribute it mostly to age.
You have constant brain fog, unwanted weight gain, and high blood pressure markers — but your doctor says you’re not at risk for diabetes.
You know certain foods make you feel ill — but outside, you look like the definition of ‘thin’ and ‘healthy.’
Sound familiar? You’re not alone. In fact, two in five of us struggle with this cluster of conditions.
And if you’re seeing signs and symptoms on a day-to-day basis, there’s a high likelihood you’re living with insulin resistance.
Don’t be afraid if you’re not familiar with the term. Insulin resistance hasn’t been explained well to doctors and health practitioners, although it’s increasingly studied by metabolic researchers.
And thanks to America’s watered-down healthcare system and poor education, you’re needlessly suffering from an invisible illness that destroys good health, wealth, and longevity.
Either way, you deserve to know what’s happening to your body.
Here’s what it means to be insulin resistant.
Understanding insulin resistance
Before we talk about insulin resistance, let’s explore the function of insulin in the body.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas to manage sugar from the foods you eat. It also controls how much sugar is present in your bloodstream, and stores any excess in muscles, fat, or the liver.
Your body releases insulin at the start of each meal to regulate sugar and utilize energy. The more sugar is present, the more insulin is released — which is where the problem begins.
Eating lots of sugary products (breads, sodas, sweets, etc.) releases a large amount of insulin into the blood. If this is done repeatedly, your body will get used to the high levels of insulin and become resistant. This means your body requires more and more insulin to absorb the same amount of sugar.
Your pancreas may keep up with demand for a while, and will do what it can to keep blood sugar low. But as your glucose levels continue to rise and more and more insulin is released, your cells will no longer respond to the hormone correctly. Sugar is left to flow freely in the blood, causing damage to organs, muscles, and tissues.
This is what it means to be insulin resistant.
Insulin resistance isn’t always tied to external signs. In fact, they rarely are. You may experience some limited symptoms — hair loss, fatigue, and acanthosis nigricans — but a true diagnosis must come from a blood panel.
This means you can be insulin resistant even if you’re:
- Diabetic
- At a healthy weight
- Young or adolescent
Food is the biggest contributor to insulin resistance. However, it’s not the only factor that could be affecting your body. You may have a higher risk for insulin resistance if:
- You regularly take steroid medications
- You have a family history of diabetes
- You stay under chronic stress (including stress inside the workplace)
- You have a sedentary lifestyle
- You are overweight or obese
I encourage patients to pursue a full lipid panel to evaluate their cholesterol, triglycerides, and blood sugar at regular intervals. Otherwise, if you’re looking for something more immediate, you can use a metabolic syndrome calculator to get preliminary results.
Can insulin resistance be reversed?
Insulin resistance is a dangerous precursor to diabetes and chronic disease, boosting your risk factors for strokes, heart attacks, and cardiovascular illness. Letting it linger could do irreversible damage to your metabolic health, as elevated sugars put your heart under pressure.
However, this isn’t the end of the story.
Insulin resistance can and has been reversed after making healthier lifestyle changes. While changes probably won’t happen to you overnight, you can start seeing measurable changes within two weeks.
I suggest:
- Getting a blood test. If you are insulin resistant, you’re not going to see it as much as you’re going to feel it. Looking at yourself in a mirror isn’t going to do you much good, which is why a full panel blood test is worth its weight in gold. In other words, don’t guess — test.
- Focus on cumulative exercise. Resistance training is the best form of exercise for metabolic health, but walking, jogging, or even taking the stairs can do wonders for improving insulin sensitivity. In fact, a single bout of rigorous exercise can impact insulin sensitivity for up to 16 hours.
- Change your diet to whole, real foods. If you’re not eating ingredients that come from the ground or are raised on the ground, it is time to adjust your habits. Focus on animal proteins, leafy greens, nuts, and seeds.
Don’t feel bad if you’ve never heard of insulin resistance before today. That’s a failing of the modern healthcare system — and the shoddy science behind the American food pyramid.
That being said, the ball is now in your court. You have the knowledge needed to make informed decisions about your health, including reversing insulin resistance.
If you’re looking for simple, actionable advice on improving your health, get a copy of my book: Stay Off My Operating Table®. I’ll walk you through my own journey of insulin resistance and the steps I took to reverse it.