Insulin Resistance

Everyone is talking about insulin resistance - but what exactly does it mean? 

Insulin is a hormone released by the pancreas that regulates blood sugar (glucose). It maintains normal blood glucose levels by shifting it into the cells, where it is used up as energy. Any excess glucose that is not used up as energy gets turned into glycogen and fat for storage, a process that is facilitated by insulin. Insulin also prevents lipolysis (breakdown of fat).

Traditional dietary advice revolves around a diet that is high in carbs and frequent small meals. Remember, carbs = sugars. So, if we're eating 6 meals a day that is full of grains, cereals, starches and fruits (think breakfast, morning tea, lunch, afternoon tea, dinner, snacks whilst watching TV in the evening), there is a constant stream of glucose that is being taken up into the cells. But before we have even had the chance to use up this glucose, we are already eating again! And also remember that any excess glucose that is not used up as energy is turned into fat. This means our body becomes less responsive to the effects of insulin, so we need higher and higher levels of insulin to continue to maintain a normal blood glucose level, and all the while more and more fat is being stored in the liver and other organs (visceral fat).

And this is what is known as insulin resistance.

For a while, our body can still compensate. We just need a higher insulin level to keep our blood sugars normal. But eventually, this also starts to fail, and we start to see a rise in our blood glucose levels. And this becomes prediabetes or diabetes. So you can see from this whole process, that insulin resistance is often present many, many years before prediabetes even starts to show up!

But a high blood glucose is not the only problem.

Insulin is a fat storage hormone. When it’s circulating in high levels, as is the case in insulin resistance (hyperinsulinaemia), it prevents the body from accessing our fat stores as energy, even when we have plenty of fat! So the body has to keep relying on accessing our immediate food as fuel - glucose. This sets up that all too familiar roller coaster of “sugar highs”, followed by crashes and cravings, repeatedly. When we keep eating carb-rich foods, we can only use glucose as our energy source. Blood glucose drops quickly, and we feel hungry and cranky (or hangry) with brain fog, and we need to eat again. And again. And again. This results in weight gain, hormonal and immune imbalance, and worsening insulin resistance and inflammation, with resultant chronic diseases. Insulin resistance is the main driver behind most chronic health conditions that we see today - cardiovascular disease, metabolic dysfunction-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), chronic kidney disease, Alzheimer's disease and cognitive impairment, polyendocrine metabolic ovarian syndrome (PMOS) and cancer.

Most doctors treat each of these conditions as if they are separate. They prescribe pills for your cholesterol and blood pressure. Insert a stent if you have a heart attack. Give you more pills to help your kidneys after they start failing.

Wouldn't it make much more sense to just treat the underlying cause upstream??

A low carb lifestyle does exactly this.

Yes, medications are important, of course, but we should first and foremost be trying to avoid needing them in the first place!

Food is medicine.

So what can we do to stop this vicious cycle?

Simple - stop eating carbs! Fuel our bodies with protein and fats instead, and give our bodies a break by not eating constantly. Then we can start to access our fat stores. And start to see improvements in our health.