Why Do Some People Become Insulin Resistant?
The more sugar and carbohydrates we eat, the more our body’s fat and muscle cells get overfilled with glucose.
Insulin gets tired of knocking for the fat cells to open their doors to let more glucose from the bloodstream in and the cells eventually begin ignoring insulin’s knocking. The cells then become ‘resistant’ to insulin over time.
Insulin Slows Weight Loss
One key point to remember as it relates to weight loss is that we cannot lose weight in the presence of insulin! So you don’t want excess insulin floating around in your bloodstream all the time. And unfortunately, doctors usually do not screen or test for insulin resistance as part of their standard of care.
With insulin resistance and chronically high levels of insulin circulating in the body, the brain continues to signal for the body to secrete more and more of the insulin hormone to help try to convince fat and muscle cells to open up and let in excess glucose from the food we eat (and for the liver to store it).
Insulin Keeps Knocking
When the glucose from the food has no where to go, high blood sugar results. This wreaks havoc on the body as it increases inflammation levels.
When a person has insulin resistance, the pancreas has to secrete increasing amounts of insulin just to keep the cells energized and blood glucose levels under control. This is one of the reasons why people type 2 diabetes tend to have elevated levels of circulating insulin.
Since the pancreas is still able to produce insulin, most people don’t have symptoms in the early stages of this progression of disease. Thus, they won’t know they are having insulin or blood sugar issues! This could go on for years without any major symptoms.
Beta Cells Get Worn Out
Over time, however, insulin resistance gets worse as pancreatic beta cells that make the insulin get worn out. This is when the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to overpower the cells’ resistance to it. At this stage, we start having higher blood glucose (blood sugar) levels and are labels prediabetic, which typically leads to type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is typically present in both prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, but can affect type 1 diabetics also.
Improving Your Body’s Insulin Sensitivity
While it may not be possible to overcome insulin resistance completely, there are ways in which we can help our body become more sensitive to insulin. These include:
1) Exercise and building muscle help reduce insulin resistance indirectly by reducing the cells’ dependence on insulin for energy. It can help people who are insulin resistant improve their blood glucose control.
2) Weight loss improves insulin resistance. So, eating foods that are higher in healthy fats and lower in carbohydrates help with the weight loss that improves insulin resistance.
3) No medications are specifically approved to treat insulin resistance. However, one commonly prescribed diabetes medication, Metformin, is an insulin sensitizer that lower blood glucose by reducing insulin resistance.
4) Supplements that have been shown to help improve insulin sensitivity include:
🍎Alpha-lipoic acid: an antioxidant nutrient that improves the cells’ response to insulin and helps to stabilize blood sugar levels.
🍎Magnesium: helps improve insulin sensitivity. Look for magnesium citrate, chelate, or glycinate. Avoid magnesium oxide.
🍎Chromium: mineral that helps stabilize blood sugar, helps improve serum lipid profiles, and helps the body utilize glucose more effectively and burn fat.
🍎 Gymnema sylvestre: improves blood glucose levels, lipid levels, and aids in weight loss.
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SOURCES:
http://www.diabetesforecast.org/…/understanding-insulin-res…
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28459647
