In this episode we dive deep into insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is a normal physiological process that has promoted survival from starvation for humans throughout evolution. But today, in this day and age, insulin resistance is activated by overnutrition in our toxic food environment.
It is a very prevalent metabolic dysfunction. An estimated 87 million American adults have pre-diabetes and 30% to 50% will go on to develop Type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is the root cause and precursor to pre-diabetes and Type 2 diabetes.
Simple lifestyle changes can improve insulin resistance and reduce the risk of a lot of the health conditions that go along with it.
In this episode you’ll learn:
What is insulin resistance?
What causes insulin resistance?
Who gets insulin resistance?
What are the biomarkers to look for?
How can we reduce or reverse insulin resistance?
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Aesha Tahir is an award-winning author, keynote speaker, corporate trainer, and columnist. She delivers high-energy presentations that challenge audiences to leverage their focus to what matters most at work and in life, their health. Audiences love the practical strategies she shares. She helps the organizations create a culture of wellness by implementing health programs that put organizations’ biggest asset, the employees first.
Aesha earned her Master in Exercise Science from Concordia University. She is a distinguished Toastmasters, a designation held by less than 1% of professional speakers. She engages groups from the moment she steps in front of them and leaves them with empowering tools that they can use for the rest of their lives. She has presented workshops and spoken at organizations such as Salesforce, Coffman Engineers, Pyramid Club, Voyager Media Group, National Libraries, 92NY, and Coaching4Leaders to name a few.
🌟 🌟 🌟 You can learn more about Aesha Tahir at https://www.aeshatahir.com
Welcome to the nine to five wellness podcast, a show about corporate wellness solutions with innovators and forward thinking leaders who are at the forefront of the workplace wellness movement. I'm your host Ayesha Tahir.
Hello and welcome to today's episode of 9 to 5 wellness show. Today, I want to dive into the topic of insulin resistance because I see a lot of nutrition counseling clients who have been recently diagnosed with insulin resistance, and they are looking for answers. They're looking for solutions. So I'll be giving tips on what you can do to reverse it.
And also they want to understand it better. So I was like, okay, why not try it? bring it to the show. Why not share it with the audience of 9 to 5 wellness show. So let's get started. First, let's define insulin resistance. Insulin resistance occurs when cells in your muscles, fat and liver don't respond as they should to insulin.
Now, insulin is a hormone your pancreas makes when which is essential for life and it is necessary for regulating blood glucose or sugar levels. So I'll be using sugar and glucose interchangeably in this episode. Don't be alarmed, they're not two different things. Sugar is the term we use for sucrose that we eat in food form, but It converts into glucose in our body when we eat it.
Insulin resistance can be temporary or chronic, but the good news is, in most cases, it's treatable. In order to fully understand what insulin resistance is, we have to understand the mechanism behind it. So this is how it starts. It starts with your food. When you eat food, your body converts that food into dietary sugars.
or glucose. Glucose enters your bloodstream. Now, when it enters your bloodstream, it's a signal for your pancreas to release insulin. Insulin signals your cells to open up. Almost like open up like their doorways or open up the gateway to that sugar. So in this way, insulin helps glucose in your blood enter your muscle, fat and liver cells.
That glucose is then used for energy, or stored for energy. later use. When glucose levels in your bloodstream decrease because now your cells have processed the glucose, it's a signal to your pancreas to stop producing insulin. Now this is when everything is working in order. Your muscle, liver, and fat cells are healthy and responsive to insulin.
Your pancreas are healthy and can release insulin. Everything is working harmoniously and everything is fine. You are healthy. Now what happens When your muscle, fat, and liver cells cannot respond properly to insulin, your cells don't react to insulin. So all the sugar in your bloodstream from food has nowhere to go.
That results in excessive sugar in the blood. Over time, the pancreas keeps trying to regulate the blood sugar, producing more and more insulin. Because your pancreas is like, I need to help process this sugar, over months and years, the beta cells in your pancreas that are working so hard to make insulin, they get worn out, they get tired, right?
It's like anything. If you just keep going and producing more and more and more, ultimately you'll get worn out. So they can no longer keep pace with the demand for more and more insulin because the glucose in your blood keeps rising.
. So then years after insulin resistance silently began in your body, you were probably not aware of it. Your blood sugar starts to rise. And the next step to that is you develop prediabetes or type 2 diabetes. I do want to explain that there are two aspects of insulin resistance.
One aspect of insulin resistance is the phenomenon of altered insulin signaling. where the hormone insulin isn't acting the way it did at various cells in the body. There's another important aspect related to insulin, which is chronic elevated insulin, super high circulating levels of insulin in the blood.
That is where our diet comes into play. We wake up in the morning after a fast. And then what do we do? Globally, we eat a starchy, sugary breakfast with some form of white bread, or cereal, or granola bars, or we eat some form of simple carbs. Hey, I'm not putting you on the spot here. Bread with Nutella, like a Nutella sandwich?
was my go to breakfast in my 20s I just didn't know. I didn't know the effect it was having on my body and what was going on inside. Now this breakfast makes your insulin spike and then we are hungry again. So two hours later, we spike it with a lunch sandwich or a sugary snack and the cycle goes on again and again and again.
Every waking moment is spent in a state of elevated insulin. So the problem starts as soon as we wake up. So one is how the insulin works on the cells, how the cells become resistant to the effects of insulin. And two is super high circulating levels of insulin in the bloodstream. So these are two aspects of insulin resistance.
When they converge is when you have insulin resistance. Over time, We have increased fat accumulation or adipose tissue inside the liver and muscle cells because in liver and skeletal muscle, these are the organs where insulin normally promotes glucose storage as glycogen.
Insulin resistance, if you think about it as a whole, is probably you're thinking it's a harmful process, right? So why did humans evolve to have this process in their bodies? Please. Research shows that it is an adaptation to periodic starvation. Research shows that it is an adaptation to periodic starvation for humans.
During starvation, your body breaks down stored fat and adipose tissue. which mobilizes and leads to fat accumulation in liver and muscle cells. If you are starving, these organs become insulin resistant because it helps our body preserve glucose in the bloodstream to fuel brain metabolism. Our body is going to give preference to our brain because without our nervous system you cannot survive.
It also preserves sugars for some other cells that primarily work on glucose like red blood cells. In this way, insulin resistance is a normal physiological process that has promoted survival from starvation for humans throughout evolution. But now, in this day and age, Insulin resistance is activated by overnutrition in our toxic food environment.
Anyone can become insulin resistant, but in particular, people with excess fat percentage and weight are at a higher risk compared to the general population. This risk is further increased if 2 diabetes age over 45. If they have a history of smoking and then certain medications like steroids can also predispose you to insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance is associated with other diseases like obstructive sleep apnea, fatty liver disease, polycystic ovarian syndrome, also known as PCOS. So how can you tell if you are resistant to insulin?
What are some of the symptoms? Very often, honestly, people don't have any symptoms at all. It is usually picked up by your doctor during an annual health exam or routine blood work. That's where the five key biomarkers for metabolic health come in handy. And the next episode is on that. So you make sure that you tune in to the next episode of 9 to 5 Wellness Podcast.
But here are some of the signs of insulin resistance. which you can rule out on your own, a waistline over 40 inches in men and a waistline over 35 inches in women, a blood pressure reading of 130 over 80 or higher, a fasting glucose level below. equal to or above 100 milligrams per deciliter. These are the common ones.
There are other indicators that your doctor can suggest and you can look at it while diagnosing insulin resistance.
I highly recommend booking an appointment with your physician and going over your labs with them so that you can rule it out. Now, maybe you're thinking, Oh, it does not affect me. I don't think I should care about insulin resistance. But let me tell you, friends, you should. It's very prevalent. An estimated 87 million American adults have prediabetes and 30 to 50 percent will go on to develop type 2 diabetes.
So it's very, very common. It might just not be under your radar. yet. It's a good idea to get it checked. Also, insulin resistance leads to a lot of chronic diseases. So it's linked to a lot of chronic diseases, which can occur in future, like People with insulin resistance are at a much higher risk for cardiovascular disease.
It is linked with higher risk of obesity cancers. Insulin resistance is related to memory function decline, increasing the risk for Alzheimer's disease. So these are just a few common things that we know of, but there is a lot more that happens in the background which can affect your health down the road.
So now that you know that insulin resistance can have a significant impact on our health, you're like, what can I do about it? The good news is that there are steps you can take to combat it. One effective way to treat insulin resistance is to lose fat. Yes, you heard it right.
Losing fat can help reverse insulin resistance. Research has shown that even a modest reduction in body fat can lead to a decrease in liver fat and a reversal of liver insulin resistance. and type two diabetes. And in fact, in my own practice too, that's what I've seen. I've noticed that even a 10 percent weight reduction or fat reduction can make big difference in increasing insulin sensitivity.
So you want. to take care of your health. If you want to take care of insulin resistance, what are you gonna do? You're gonna decrease your body fat percentage. Let's talk about some dietary changes that you can make which would make a tremendous impact for you. My go to recommendation for my clients is to focus on protein.
Including protein rich foods in most of your meals, like meat, chicken, eggs, fish, Greek yogurt, nuts, or other vegetarian sources of proteins like tofu and beans, can improve your blood sugar levels. Protein slows down the digestion of carbohydrates and the absorption of glucose into your bloodstream.
And it helps to keep your blood sugar more stable. Additionally, protein increases your satiety, making you feel fuller for longer. Second thing that I highly recommend in your diet would be adding fiber. So I want you to take a look at your fiber intake. Complex carbohydrates, which are rich in fiber, aren't digested well.
That's good news, which means that don't raise your blood sugar. Any food that you eat that does not spike your blood sugar is good for insulin resistance, for treating insulin resistance, increasing your insulin sensitivity. Like protein fiber is broken down slowly. preventing those pesky blood sugar spikes.
So be sure to include fiber rich foods in your diet, such as whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Now, let's talk about what to cut back on in your diet. Sugar and simple carbohydrates is the answer. Sugary drinks, are a major culprit. So avoid them. Avoid fruit juices. Avoid soda. Avoid any kind of sugary drink because if you do, you can greatly improve your blood sugar control.
Instead, I highly recommend opting for drinks with No sugar like you know water you can flavor your water with lime or lemon. I love that in Summertime I put cucumber sliced cucumber in my water that You know, it just gives it a little bit of flavor. Strawberries are great. Any kind of berries are great.
Pineapple is good. It really tastes good with pineapple. Or use unsweetened tea. Also, it's important to limit the intake of simple and refined carbohydrates in food. These foods lack fiber and are quickly digested, which cause which causes sudden spikes in your blood sugar levels. So, you know, what are those common foods, especially potatoes, like white potatoes are a big no no.
Any kind of processed food, they're all refined carbs. white bread rice, white rice. So these are a few of the examples of simple and refined carbs.
Now that we have tackled what to eat, let's talk about eating cadence. Establishing a regular meal routine is another key aspect of managing insulin resistance. I recommend That you aim for three well balanced meals throughout the day, and then you can complement them with one or two high protein and high fiber snacks.
So, my go to high protein snack is a cheese stick with a handful of cherries , those are both really good options. They're high in protein, high in fat and fiber. Also, remember, consistency is key to keeping your blood sugar stable. So, skipping meals can lead to overeating later on.
That could lead to a blood sugar spike again. And, Then it results in blood sugar lows, which you don't want following the spikes, and it will leave you feeling sluggish. So remember, regular meals and snacks not only help stabilize blood sugar, but it will also help make the portion control easier for you and in general keep your metabolism healthy.
Let's talk about movement because nutrition and what you eat. Food is a big part of it and it's one side of the coin, but then the movement and exercise is the other side of the coin.
Exercise opens the door for glucose transportation into the muscle cells. Bypassing the block in insulin action. So this is really, really good news for you, because if you have muscle insulin resistance, you can normalize the storage of ingested carbohydrates, you know, the carbohydrates you ate from food, into the muscle as glycogen, decreasing the conversion of carbohydrate to fat in the liver.
Let me break it down for you a little more. When you eat Your food is converted into sugar. Now, that sugar could be stored as glycogen in your muscles, which we want. We don't want it to be converted into fat in the liver. So when you are working out regularly, when you exercise, what happens is the sugars that you eat in your food, they get stored as glycogen in your muscle.
and that prevents it from being stored as fat in the liver,
a lot of my clients ask me what kind of exercise they should do. Should they do cardio, resistance? A lot of the people have been doing high intensity interval training and they're like, Oh, but I get my cardio from high intensity interval training. So I want to talk a little bit about that. Now, cardio is a lot of times used synonymously with the aerobic exercise, aerobic exercise or steady state exercise is.
a form of cardio where you stay in your green zone or your fat burning heart rate zone. It's a steady state exercise. You can do it for a very long period of time. You're, you don't really spike up your heart rate in that form of exercise. So it is different than high intensity interval training because high intensity interval training is like quick bursts of training where you are going all out and then you are taking a break in between.
So those are two different types of cardio movements and they hit different different physiologic systems. One is aerobic, the other is anaerobic. Aerobic means that you are using oxygen for fuel and in the other one you're not using oxygen for fuel. And then there's third type of exercise, which is resistance training , commonly known as strength training.
Each of these types of exercise have unique impacts on insulin sensitivity, making them all valuable tools. Now, aerobic exercise such as brisk walking or cycling or running, it's all about getting your heart rate up and your breathing in a steady pace. This type of exercise enhances insulin sensitivity.
Primarily by improving the body's ability to use glucose for energy because you're going to break down the glucose in your muscle cells and use it at that time. It, the increase in blood flow and glucose uptake in the muscle cells really helps in managing insulin resistance. So aerobic steady state exercise is very important.
to treat insulin resistance. But let's not forget about strength training because this type of exercise focuses on building muscle strength. And research shows that it increases insulin sensitivity even if there is no change in body composition. So if you're not seeing the results in, in your body, which you will, Eventually, but if right away you're not starting to see any change, it's okay.
Internally, things are changing. Simply put, it improves the ability of muscle cells to respond to insulin and use glucose more effectively. And then HIT is very important too, because that is when you use your anaerobic engines.
And I would really want you to include one or two HIT sessions during the week too. They also improve the So there you have it, , a few simple yet powerful strategies to reverse insulin resistance by losing fat. adjusting your dietary patterns to focus on protein and fiber, and cutting back on sugar and simple carbohydrates. You can take control of your blood sugar levels and improve your metabolic health.
Thank you so much for listening to me today. Take care of your metabolic health. Bye.
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