Live Longer Now
Who doesn’t, but you should also want to live well. Insulin resistance- which most doctors call prediabetes. What is it, and why should I care if I don’t have diabetes?
Insulin resistance is the condition where our body, or cells, are not sensitive to insulin. Our body reacts by increasing the amount of insulin in our blood to get the sugar out of the blood and into cells.
Most doctors will order fasting blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c to test for insulin resistant or prediabetes. The term insulin was mentioned in this email 5 times. So why don’t most doctors test for insulin? That’s a really good question.
If your blood sugar is 90, which is in the normal range, wouldn’t you want to know how much insulin it took to get you to a fasting blood sugar?
Hemoglobin A1c is how your body handled blood sugar over the last 120 days. Excess sugar in our body bind to proteins, a process called glycation,that renders that protein not to work properly. We measure how much glycation we have in our bodies with this test. Hemoglobin is a protein. The higher the number of hemoglobin A1c the more of our hemoglobin is not working properly. Every function in our body is controlled by proteins. Every tissue in our body is made up of proteins. If we have a high hemoglobin A1c proteins all over our body are not functioning properly. In fact a high hemoglobin A1c, elevated blood sugar, resulting in an increase in insulin which is the number 1 cause of aging.
Here’s what high levels of insulin due:
It reduces the production of ATP, which is the energy your body requires causing you to be tired. Do you have a problem with lack of energy?
It causes an inflammatory response- causing increased pain and degenerative joint disease. Does that sound familiar?
It increases lipoprotein lipase which opens the door to your fat cells causing you to store more fat from the sugar in your blood. Most of this fat becomes visceral fat (fat in your abdomen and around your heart) which causes more inflammation and a condition known as metabolic syndrome. Do you have belly fat?
Insulin also increases hormone sensitive lipase, which prevents the body from utilizing fat for energy. Thereby making it difficult to lose the visceral fat. Hard to lose weight? Especially belly fat.
Lastly, it causes leptin resistance. Leptin is a hormone that tells the brain that you are full, satisfied- a feeling of satiety. This results in hunger cravings and you eat more. Checking out the fridge after dinner?
You may remember the past emails that inflammation is the cause of most if not all of our chronic illnesses. Chronic illnesses represent 80% of our healthcare spending. That’s why insulin resistance/prediabetes is important.
The solution is to stop consuming all sugary junk and other refined carbohydrates such as potatoes, pasta, rice, and flour of any kind.
You should have the balance of your omega 6 versus omega-3 oils tested. These are fish oils involved in many functions of the body especially inflammation. You need to have your fasting blood sugar, hemoglobin A1c, and insulin checked the same time.
There is a lot of evidence that cinnamon sharpens the sensitivity to the insulin receptor. Chromium has been studied extensively to increase the sensitivity of the insulin receptor. I should mention that the insulin receptor is the part of the cell that’s not working creating insulin resistance. Consuming trans-fats also gums up the insulin receptors. Do not drink sugar-free soda and other products that are sugar-free. It is now known that this also causes insulin resistance.
One last note. This been a lot of controversy primarily from the industry that produces high fructose corn syrup. The argument is that it’s the same sugars as in corn and fruit. This is poison to our body. The difference is that high fructose corn syrup does not have vitamin C and fiber. These are essential to processing fructose in a healthier way.
There are 2 excellent books that I think everybody should read. The 1st is Primal Blueprint by Mark Sisson, 2009. It’s an excellent book about the developing world and insulin resistance, it’s a very easy read. The 2nd and also easy to read this book by a pediatric endocrinologist from UC San Francisco, Robert lusting. The book talks about insulin resistance as being the most deleterious health issue in the developing world. He uses different metaphors such as Superman, Lex Luther, Sherlock Holmes and Prof. Moriarty. It’s very entertaining and very informative. He also has a cookbook by the same name.
