THE BENEFITS OF INSULIN SENSITIVITY AND HOW TO IMPROVE IT

What does insulin sensitivity mean?

Insulin sensitivity is a measure of how well your cells respond to the signals that insulin sends. And insulin's main function is to allow your body's cells to use glucose (sugar) for energy. When you eat any type of carbohydrate, the food is digested in your stomach and moves to your intestines, where the sugar enters your bloodstream as glucose. Your blood sugar levels rise in response to eating, and your pancreas secretes insulin to allow cells to absorb glucose as energy, lowering blood sugar levels.

If you are sensitive to insulin, you need less of this hormone to lower your blood sugar after eating. Insulin resistance occurs when your body requires more and more insulin to reduce blood sugar levels, and if not controlled long enough, this can lead to type 2 diabetes, inflammation, and many other chronic diseases.

Currently, more than 1 in 3 adults in the United States have prediabetes, which means their cells are becoming insulin resistant. It is also estimated that 2 in 5 adults will develop type 2 diabetes. Diabetes and many other chronic diseases share a common root cause of metabolic dysfunction, mainly due to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. Continually consuming too many carbohydrates creates a constant bombardment of insulin into your cells. After a long period of time, your body's cells begin to become insulin resistant.

Think of this process like constantly receiving spam phone calls on a continuous basis. Eventually, you get frustrated and stop picking up the phone. This is a bit like what happens to your cells – they become less and less responsive to the messages that insulin sends and they become more insulin resistant.

Benefits of insulin sensitivity

Losing weight is easier

When you are insulin resistant, you are more likely to have difficulty losing weight or maintaining a healthy body weight. This is because when insulin is high, you are more likely to store calories as fat, instead of burning them for energy. If you think you're eating healthily but still aren't losing weight, you may have reduced insulin sensitivity.

 Insulin sensitivity.

Low risk of disease

Healthy, balanced blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity are essential for whole-body health. Insulin resistance increases the risk of all chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, fatty liver, Alzheimer's disease, type 2 diabetes, etc.

Better brain and cognitive health

Many people have accepted cognitive decline as a normal part of aging, but insulin resistance plays an important role in the development of neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer's disease and other types of dementia. Some researchers now refer to Alzheimer's disease as “type 3 diabetes” to further strengthen the connection between insulin resistance and brain health.

Less cravings and less hunger

When you have reduced insulin sensitivity, you are likely to experience a decrease in appetite as your body quickly burns through stored carbohydrates. If you're insulin resistant, you'll be less able to use body fat for fuel, which can lead to sugar cravings as the brain searches for the next easily accessible source of energy.

Insulin resistance can also cause dozens of other problems, from acne to mood swings, etc. While the above are some of the major benefits of being more insulin sensitive, almost every organ and tissue in the body all benefit from the effects of insulin sensitivity.

What to do to improve insulin sensitivity?

Regardless of your health status, you can always take steps to reverse your insulin resistance.

To improve insulin sensitivity, eat less:

• Industrialized seed oils such as canola oil, vegetable oil, and corn oil. These are inflammatory oils and should be avoided if possible. The inflammation triggered by these oils can reduce the ability of your cells to respond to the messages insulin sends.
• Refined carbohydrates: Bread, pasta, cereal, cookies and other processed carbohydrates raise blood sugar the most and create more work for your pancreas. They often provide little or no nutrition and may contribute to chronically high insulin levels.
• Sugar: Sugar comes in many forms such as added sugar in candies and more obvious desserts, but sugar can be hidden in beverages, condiments and many other foods. Some of the worst culprits are foods we consider “healthy” like granola or fruit juice.

To improve insulin sensitivity, do:

• Eating quality fats and proteins helps promote balanced blood sugar levels by slowing the release of glucose into the bloodstream.
• Intermittent fasting has been shown to improve fasting insulin levels in multiple studies. Intermittent fasting can be done in a variety of ways to suit your lifestyle and does not require strict adherence to see results. benefit. Start by fasting overnight (from dinner to breakfast the next day), then slowly delay breakfast in the morning until hunger naturally kicks in.
• Strength training: Muscle mass improves your body's ability to use blood sugar for energy and maintain insulin sensitivity. Maintaining enough muscle is especially important for older adults, as muscle naturally declines as we age, reducing our insulin sensitivity.

Exercise helps improve insulin sensitivity.

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