When Eating Carbs Choose Complex Carbs
While complex carbs are an important part of a nutritious diet, refined or simple carbs dont usually contain a lot of fiber or micronutrients and are digested very quickly.
Refined carbs include simple sugars as well as grains that have had the fibrous parts removed. Some examples are cereal with added sugar, highly processed fast foods, foods made with refined flour like certain breads and pastries, and white rice .
Regularly consuming refined carbs can lead to several health problems, including high insulin levels and weight gain (
Summary
Replacing refined carbs, which are digested quickly and can sharply raise blood sugar, with slower-digesting complex carbs and whole grains may help lower insulin levels.
What Tests Will Be Done To Evaluate Insulin Resistance
Your healthcare provider may order the following blood tests to diagnose insulin resistance and/or prediabetes or diabetes:
- Glucose: A fasting plasma glucose or a glucose tolerance test may be used to screen for, diagnose and/or monitor prediabetes, type 2 diabetes or gestational diabetes.
- Glycated hemoglobin A1c : This test reveals your average blood glucose levels over the past three months.
- Lipid panel: This is a group of tests that measure specific lipids in your blood, such as total cholesterol, LDL cholesterol, HDL cholesterol and triglycerides.
Your healthcare provider may also order tests that can help diagnose other conditions that are associated with insulin resistance, such as metabolic syndrome, cardiovascular disease and polycystic ovary syndrome .
How Does Exercise And Weight Affect Insulin Resistance
The good news is that even when diagnosed with insulin resistance, you can take steps to prevent or delay the development of type 2 diabetes. Research from the Diabetes Prevention Program showed that intensive lifestyle intervention that led to weight loss reduced the incidence of type 2 diabetes for overweight and obese adults with impaired glucose tolerance by 58% over three years.
Many other studies found that people who continued with the lifestyle changes were able to delay a type 2 diabetes diagnosis even longer if they continued following their new lifestyle.
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Visceral Fat Vs Subcutaneous Fat
Visceral fat is deposited inside and around the intra-abdominal organs. These include, most notably, the liver, intestines, and kidneys.
Subcutaneous fat, on the other hand, is directly accumulating under the skin.
Furthermore, visceral fat can be divided into the more dangerous intra-organic fat and omental fat accumulated on the outside of organs, such as the pancreas.
Fat deposits inside the liver are most crucial to the development of insulin resistance. They are called intrahepatic fat .
Additionally, intra-organic fat is a major contributor to non-alcoholic fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and cardiovascular disease .
Conversely, omental fats effects are rather insignificant, since its surgical removal doesnt result in metabolic improvements .
Increased waist circumference is a significant sign of visceral fat deposits. Therefore, the occurrence of obesity, where most of the fat accumulates around the abdomen, is known as central adiposity or central obesity.
Notably, it correlates very well with intrahepatic fat deposits .
Moreover, central obesity is an accurate predictor for metabolic issues, insulin resistance, and its progression towards type 2 diabetes independent of total weight .
Hence, visceral fat reduction significantly lowers the risk of type 2 diabetes .
Subcutaneous fat, on the other hand, doesnt significantly contribute to the development of insulin resistance and diabetes.
So how can we easily test for insulin resistance?
How To Reverse Insulin Resistance In Menopause The Natural Way
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Balance your sugar levels, regain your energy, ease fatigue, lose weight naturally and feel extra fresh throughout the day by learning how to reverse insulin resistance!
In menopause, its not just the rise and fall of your hormones that cause fatigue. Insulin resistance, which is a common condition during the transition, is also one culprit. The symptoms of insulin resistance are so similar to menopause that it can be challenging to set them apart.
According to experts, many Americans are tired during the day, because a whopping 25% of them have insulin resistance!
The good news for all of us is there are so many ways to reverse this condition! But first, whats this condition all about?
Lets chat about it more, including insulins job in your body, how it can affect menopause, a list of insulin resistance symptoms and how to reverse insulin resistance for good!
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Can We Cure Insulin Resistance
Once someone has dramatically improved their insulin resistance, bringing insulin and blood sugar levels down by eating a low-carb diet, and improving their exercise, stress management, and sleep, the question then becomes: are they cured?
Probably not. The word cure implies that the person can go back to eating however they want and the insulin resistance will not return. Unfortunately, thats not how it works. The vast majority of people who reverse their insulin resistance, lower their chronically high insulin levels, and lower their blood sugars will see those all return to previous high levels if they stop their lifestyle interventions and return to their old diets and habits.41
This reinforces the need to make lifestyle changes that can be maintained for decades and lifetimes. Crash diets or short-term interventions only help in the moment. Insulin sensitivity is a lifelong balance.
However, some people may have what amounts to a partial cure, especially if their insulin resistance is caught early. Clinical practice suggests that for some people, eating a low-carb diet, losing weight and getting insulin levels down will restore insulin sensitivity and may allow them to regain the degree of metabolic flexibility found in healthy individuals.42
See our companion guide: What you need to know about insulin resistance, which discusses diagnostic tests.
Reduce Your Sugar Intake
Sugar is a fundamental component of any insulin-based condition. Too much glucose in your body often increases the demand for insulin. This causes the pancreas to overproduce insulin and thus promotes insensitivity to the hormone.
However, if you dont have as much glucose in your body, you wouldnt need too much insulin and resistance may not develop.
Sugar is one of the major sources of glucose. To reverse insulin resistance, reduce your consumption of table sugar and added sugar. The latter could be in sweet foods like cookies but it is also in many processed foods. Refined drinks, processed snacks, ketchup, yogurt, or baked beans all have hidden sugar.
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Increase Your Protein Intake
Research reveals that a diet rich in protein can lower insulin resistance, especially in individuals who have type 2 diabetes.
Protein can help control your blood sugar. When your blood sugar is stable, any spike can be prevented. And this is a good thing because a sudden rise and fall in your blood sugar can lead to insulin resistance.
Try experimenting with these options, but make sure that theyre lean:
- Lamb
Whole foods refer to unprocessed foods. These include:
- Fresh fruits and vegetables
- Whole grains
- Legumes
Eating whole foods or a plant-based diet has been shown to ameliorate insulin resistance. It can also help prevent type 2 diabetes.
This is because whole foods contain complex carbohydrates which are longer to break down. Your body digests and absorbs these foods more slowly. In effect, your blood sugar levels remain stable, and you feel full longer.
Hyperinsulinemia & Insulin Resistance Causes More Death Than Ww1 And Ww2 Combined
When youre more insulin resistant, your body requires MORE insulin from your pancreas to push glucose and energy into cells.
High insulin may not cause all chronic disease. But at the very least it exacerbates them. Having persistently high fasting insulin levels is called hyperinsulinemia. It usually goes hand in hand with insulin resistance.
If you have insulin resistance, youre at risk for chronic disease. Theres no chronic disease thats not related to insulin resistance:
- Heart disease
- A waist larger than 35 for women or 40 for men
- A fasting insulin level above 5
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What Are The Causes Of Insulin Resistance
There are genetic factors that can contribute to the development of insulin resistance, including a family history of diabetes, high blood pressure or heart disease, but lifestyle choice can play a major role, specifically carrying excess weight with the extra pounds accumulating in the abdomen . However, insulin resistance can also occur among thin people and present the same risks for heart disease, high blood pressure and diabetes as it does among the overweight.
How Can I Prevent Or Reverse Insulin Resistance And Prediabetes
Physical activity and losing weight if you need to may help your body respond better to insulin. Taking small steps, such as eating healthier foods and moving more to lose weight, can help reverse insulin resistance and prevent or delay type 2 diabetes in people with prediabetes.
The National Institutes of Health-funded research study, the Diabetes Prevention Program , showed that for people at high risk of developing diabetes, losing 5 to 7 percent of their starting weight helped reduce their chance of developing the disease.3 Thats 10 to 14 pounds for someone who weighs 200 pounds. People in the study lost weight by changing their diet and being more physically active.
The DPP also showed that taking metformin, a medicine used to treat diabetes, could delay diabetes. Metformin worked best for women with a history of gestational diabetes, younger adults, and people with obesity. Ask your doctor if metformin might be right for you.
Making a plan, tracking your progress, and getting support from your health care professional, family, and friends can help you make lifestyle changes that may prevent or reverse insulin resistance and prediabetes. You may be able to take part in a lifestyle change program as part of the National Diabetes Prevention Program.
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Here Are Some Ways To Determine If You Have Insulin Resistance:
Find your waist to hip ratio.
Measure yourself around your natural waist and also around the widest part of your hips. Divide your waist measurement by your hip measurement. For women, the ratio should be no greater than 0.8. If you are above that, it means that you are at risk for insulin resistance. The number for men is 1.0.
Get a fasting insulin test
Ask your doctor to order a blood glucose and insulin test. Typically, you fast for 12 hours and then have your first blood draw. Then you will eat a meal and get a second blood draw two hours after your meal. Fasting blood glucose levels should be under 90 mg/dL. If your levels are 100 to 125 mg/dL you are considered in the pre-diabetes range and are insulin resistant. Fasting insulin levels should be around 5 mcU/ml Anything higher indicates insulin resistance.
Get your cholesterol checked
Abnormal blood cholesterol in addition to abnormal fasting insulin and blood glucose may indicate that you have insulin resistance, especially if you have low HDL and high triglycerides. Typically fasting triglycerides should be below 150. But, more importantly, you want to look for a 1:2 ratio of triglycerides to cholesterol.
Do a skin check
A skin condition called acanthosis nigricans is associated with insulin resistance. Look for darkened skin patches on your neck, elbows, knees, and armpits. Skin tags are also a sign of insulin resistance.
How To Really Optimise Your Insulin Levels
If you have diabetes, the first logical step should be to reduce the processed carbs in your diet to the point where you achieve normal blood glucose levels. Its important to note here that this does not require flat line blood sugar with no variance.
In an effort to achieve this, many people resort to avoiding protein and all carbohydrate and end up with a nutrient-poor low satiety diet. Dialling back your carbohydrate intake to the point that you dont see a rise of more than 1.6 mmol/L or 30 mg/dL is a reasonable goal. There doesnt appear to be any benefit in dialling back carbs and protein further and further to achieve even more stable blood sugars.
Some people assume that fat is a free food because it does not raise insulin levels as much. However, the reality is that your pancreas is still ratcheting up your basal insulin to hold your body fat in storage while you burn off the fat coming in through your mouth.
The only practical way to reduce your basal insulin and to reverse diabetes, insulin resistance and all the diseases associated with metabolic syndrome is to find a way to create a sustained energy deficit while still getting the nutrients you need from your food.
This is preferable to the keep calm and keto on attitude or add more fat .
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Can Insulin Resistance Be Prevented Or Avoided
You cannot prevent or avoid risk factors such as race, age, and a family medical history. You can take steps to reduce your insulin resistance by losing weight , exercising regularly, and eating a healthy diet. Choose healthy carbohydrates. For example, eat whole grain bread instead of white bread, drink water instead of soda, and reduce your intake of sugary foods.
If you have or have had gestational diabetes, insulin resistance typically goes away after you give birth. However, you are at greater risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when you are older. That should be a warning to change your diet and lifestyle early so that you can delay it for as long as possible.
Physical Activity And Exercise
Muscles burn glucose for energy. The more you move, the more glucose your muscles take out of the blood for energy use, which helps to lower your blood sugar levels. This allows for a reduction in insulin secretion, lessening the burden on your pancreas.
Likewise, muscles that dont move dont use up blood sugar, so insulin levels can rise to process any excess. Studies show that a mere five days of bed rest induces a state of insulin resistance in completely healthy volunteers.27 Multiple studies show that long-term inactivity is strongly associated with insulin resistance, metabolic syndrome and pre-diabetes.28
Any type of regular movement can help. Studies suggest that high-intensity interval training , resistance training, and cardio training all improve glucose utilization and thereby improve insulin sensitivity.29
No matter what your preferred form of movement or exercise, it is clear: inactivity can lead to insulin resistance. And movement increases insulin sensitivity as long as the exercise continues.30 So if you stop moving regularly, insulin resistance may come back.
One more thing on exercise: you likely cannot outrun a bad diet. Exercising regularly but still eating a high-carbohydrate, high-sugar diet will likely partially, if not completely, counteract many of the benefits derived from exercise.31
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Ways To Combat Menopausal Weight Gain Due To Insulin Resistance
Many women find that they gain weight sometimes a significant amount during menopause. And, to make matters worse, their old tried and true ways of getting the weight off simply dont work.
There are many theories regarding the causes of weight gain at menopause. Its a complex issue that includes a combination of poor diet sedentary lifestyle, stress, and many other factors. But, the truth is, whatever the underlying cause, insulin resistance is the primary driver of menopausal weight gain. And, the key to reversing it and achieving lasting weight loss is to keep insulin levels low.
Now, to be clear, menopause does not cause insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is the result of overall poor hormonal health. If you are struggling with post-menopausal insulin resistance and weight gain here are some additional recommendations:
Have you ever been diagnosed with insulin resistance? What have you done to reverse it?
Additional Resources from Dr. Northrup
Who Gets Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance is most common in people who are overweight and have too much belly fat. Insulin resistance is also linked to some genetic syndromes, conditions that affect hormone levels and stress levels, and some medicines.
Obesity and insulin resistance tends to run in families. Other things that put someone at risk for insulin resistance include:
- not being physically active
- smoking
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How Long Does It Take For Insulin Resistance To Reverse
The amount of time it takes to reverse insulin resistance is very individual – it depends on how far it has progressed and the lifestyle changes you implement. Also, when the pancreas cannot produce enough insulin for your body, theres a chance that insulin resistance may no longer be able to be reversed. The sooner you can address your insulin resistance, the sooner you can take steps to reverse it. Research shows that for some people who are newly experiencing insulin resistance, it may take about six weeks to see improvement after making healthy changes.
Does Insulin Resistance Go Away
If you have or have had gestational diabetes, insulin resistance typically goes away after you give birth. However, you are at greater risk of being diagnosed with type 2 diabetes when you are older. That should be a warning to change your diet and lifestyle early so that you can delay it for as long as possible.
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Eat Protein And Highly Nutritious Meat
What are you supposed to eat now that Ive attacked your sacred vegetables and carbohydrates?
The carnivore diet is the best way to reverse insulin resistance. Why? It maximizes nutrient density and cuts out all of the crap that causes insulin resistance in the first place.
To reverse insulin resistance and achieve optimal health, you need to center your diet around highly nutritious meat and animal products.
Animal products have the most nutrient density and in the context of a low carbohydrate diet, do not raise insulin.
Humans are carnivores. Were made to eat meat. Thats why our body responds so well to it. And why we develop chronic disease when we avoid it in favor of all the nutritional sludge weve invented in the last 10k years.
This allows you to maximize nutrient intake, while minimizing energy. Remember, insulin resistance is an energy overload problem. So you want to give your cells a chance to expend energy, rather than take it in.
This study showed that patients on a high protein diet 30% of their calories completely reversed type 2 diabetes . If this were a drug, doctors would be raving about it
But its the only thing more magical. And that is red meat.
Protein also improves satiation and will reduce hunger. And protein tends to be correlated with low insulin foods.
Another study below showed that a high fat diet will reverse ALL coronary heart disease risk factors including insulin vs a low fat diet.