Insulin resistance: "the ๐ in the room."
Insulin resistance is the root cause of all evil.
About 80% of the chronic illnesses that afflict humanity is from insulin resistance.
80% of the hospital admissions and medications prescribed deals with diseases related to insulin resistance.
Even children as young as 4 years of age have been found to be suffering from insulin resistance.
What is insulin resistance:
Insulin, is a hormone, protein in nature secreted by beta cells of the pancreas. It is primarily responsible for reducing the glucose levels in the blood. They act as gatekeepers and helps in reducing the glucose levels in the blood by transferring them inside, to the cells of muscle, liver, brain, fat and other tissues.
Recurrent spikes of insulin levels (hyperinsulemia), is a result of a predominantly high carbohydrate diet. Humans are used to consuming them on a daily basis leading to the insulin produced by the body to lose its effectiveness, causing insulin resistance.
Hyperinsulemia is a condition in which the body doesn't respond as it should to the effects of insulin. In this case, the pancreas creates more insulin than it should in order to overcome this resistance.
These high levels of circulating insulin have a deleterious effect on all the tissues and organs in the body
Causes of insulin resistance:
Primary cause:
Sugars, Refined carbohydrates, High carbohydrate diet
Secondary causes:
Obesity, Processed and ultraprocessed food. Seed oils (except coconut, olive, and avocado oils), Lack of good quality sleep, Chronic stress, Sedentary lifestyle.
Diseases related to insulin resistance:
Type 2 diabetes. Ischemic heart diseases. Hypertension. Cardiomyopathy Cancers (breast,colorectal and prostate) Shortening of telomeres which results in cancers and aging. Obesity. Migraine. Dementia. Parkinson Disease. Alzheimer's disease. Stroke. Peripheral Neuropathy. Osteoarthritis. Poly cystic ovarian disease syndrome (PCOS) Erectile dysfunction. Non alcoholic fatty liver disease. Gallstone disease. Gout. Sarcopenia. Increased inflammation, produced in the body, making you more prone to infections and also reducing your ability to fight infections. Eg psoriasis and acne
Lastly, the side affects of all the medications we are forced to take to treat these chronic illnesses, caused by insulin resistance.
Simple measures to avoid insulin resistance:
In children
Avoid giving sweets, fruit juices, and sodas with high sugar and fructose content to children.
Sugar addiction starts from childhood, and if we can prevent this from happening, it will be a big game changer. Train the children to eat their fruit as a whole, such that the high fibre content in these fruit reduces the absorption of sugar and fructose. When you juice the fruit, the sugar gets concentrated and lack of fibre makes the sugar absorption very fast.
In Adults:
Low carbohydrate diet
Intermittent fasting
Exercises.
Low carbohydrate diet.
Reducing the amount of carbohydrate consumption as well as switching the carbs we eat to complex high fibre carbs like millets helps reduce sugar absorption and Hyperinsulemia. Also, reduce carbohydrate ingestion to about 10 to 15% of your total calorie intake. Let the bulk of calories come from fats and proteins. We have to reach the state of metabolic flexibility wherein our brain attains the ability to use both ketones and glucose as its fuel,depending on the availability of either one of them
Intermittent fasting:
Periods of fasting helps to bring insulin levels down to normal. A two meal per day plan will work well for adults, a low carb breakfast by 8.00 am and a low carb dinner at 17:00 hours will give a 15 hour gap between dinner and breakfast resulting in low levels of insulin and increased insulin sensitivity.
Exercises:
An adult should exercise every day and this habit should continue to very old age, in order to prevent sarcopenia and it should be a combination of cardio and resistance exercises. This will help increase muscle mass and reduce loosing muscle mass ,thus increasing insulin sensitivity
In conclusion
Insulin resistance can be easily reversed with simple lifestyle modifications
Contributers
Michael Sebastian
Reference:
Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease--and How to Fight It
Benjamin Bikman