Unfortunately insulin resistance is a rapidly growing problem in the United States and it does not get much attention. Insulin resistance is when your cells in your body start resisting or ignoring the signal that insulin (which is a hormone) is trying to send to our cells. Insulin is telling our cells to grab glucose out of our blood stream and to put it in the cell for use or storage. Simply put, our cells are refusing to take any more glucose (sugar) into the cells, thus they are resistant to the signals from insulin.
This causes our bodies to create more insulin in order for our cells to absorb the sugar in our blood. As insulin resistance takes place (can take months or even years), your blood sugar levels will gradually increase. Once your blood sugar levels get so high, you would be considered diabetic. Simply put, the cells have too much sugar in them and don’t want to take any more in from your blood. The result is the amount of sugar in your blood rising because the insulin can’t transport it to your cells to remove it from the blood stream.
I think of this as a subway train/tram. The passengers are sugar, the train is insulin, and the tracks are your blood stream. When working normally, the passengers (sugar) get on the train (insulin) from the terminal, and ride the train to their homes (cells), where they depart the train. The train then returns to the terminal and pick up more passengers (sugar) and the loop continues.
When you are insulin resistant, the train picks up the passengers (sugar) and when they stop at their homes (cells), they find that there are too many people (sugar molecules) already there, and they can’t fit inside. So, they just stay on the train, riding the loop (blood stream) continually until they find a home (cell) they can enter. Eventually the train is full of people (sugar) that can’t get off. So, your body creates a new train, and another, and another to try to deal with all of the passengers (sugar). The more sugar that is consumed increases the number of trains (insulin) that is needed. Since the passengers (sugar) can’t get off the train, your blood sugar rises.
Your body has to do something with sugar that is consumed. The bodies response to excess sugar is to create more insulin (trains) to transport the sugar until a cell is able to accept it. Hopefully my example helps you to understand why blood sugar goes up, and also why your body has to create more insulin to handle the sugar.
Interesting fact: People with insulin resistance have 5-7 times more insulin than people that do not have insulin resistance.
How common is Insulin Resistance?
In one word, very. According to endocrineweb.com 87 million Americans are pre-diabetic, and of those 30-50% will develop type 2 diabetes. Another article stated, 1 in 3 Americans are currently insulin resistant. Of those that are 60 and older, that number grows to 1 in 2 or 50%.
According to this article by The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism, 27% of American are obese (about 45 million Americans) and diabetes affects 7.7% (about 16 million Americans). Adults that have a body mass index (BMI) of 40 are 7.4 times more likely to develop diabetes, 6.4 times more likely to develop hypertension, 1.9 times more likely to have hypercholesterolemia and have increased death rates from all cancers combined that are 52% higher for men and 62% higher for women. In children 6-19 years old, 13-14% are reported to be overweight, which increases their risk for all of the above issues, and a whole slue of others.
Why is this important? There is a direct correlation between obesity, insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes. Insulin resistance is one of the triggers that starts our bodies into fat storing (but not the only reason). The more resistant our cells become to insulin, the more our bodies store the sugars in our fat cells. It is a chain reaction that we don’t even realize is taking place until we look in the mirror and say “What the heck happened, I used to be fit”.
Insulin resistance alone is responsible for 46.8% of coronary heart disease events in type 2 diabetics, 6.2% of coronary heart disease events in non type 2 diabetics, and 12.5% of coronary heart disease events in the total U.S. population. The total cost of insulin resistance is in the 10s to 100s of billions of dollars.
This article from the US National Library of Medicine National Institutes of Health took a look at 45 boys and 51 girls between the ages of 4-17 that were obese. Overall, they found that of all of the participants that 58% were insulin resistant. Another interesting find was that 70% of the adolescents were insulin resistant as compared to 49% of the preadolescents. There was also a higher percentage of insulin resistance among the females. Think about this, our kids whom are our responsibility, are starting their life out with a higher risk of life altering preventable diseases because we as a society are too ignorant to change our diets.
I sincerely hope parents that are reading this really take a minute to think about what you are feeding your kids. Please learn 
to tell your kids no when it comes to sugary snacks and drinks. They may hate you for a few minutes, but as a parent you know you are protecting your kids from potential harm (even if it isn’t obvious harm). You wouldn’t allow your child to play with a rattle snake because you know they are dangerous, but sugar can be just as deadly (it is just a more silent, slow poison).
Some indications that you are insulin resistant.
There are many factors that can affect insulin resistance like weight, age, genetics, lack of exercise and smoking. There are still some things you can look for to see if you are on the track to becoming insulin resistant or are already insulin resistant.
- Belly fat. Take a look in the mirror, if you have extra weight around the middle you have a good chance of being insulin resistant. Depending on how much extra you have, you could be in the beginning stages or you are insulin resistant. You may work out and still have trouble getting rid of belly fat.
- Signs of metabolic syndrome. If you have 3 or more of the following issues, you likely have a metabolic syndrome.
- High triglycerides. Levels of 150 or higher or taking medication to treat high levels of these blood fats.
- Low HDL. Low- high-density lipoprotein levels below 50 for women and 40 for men, or you are taking medication to raise low high-density lipoproteins.
- High blood pressure. Readings of 130/85 mmHg or higher or taking medication to control high blood pressure.
- High blood sugar. Levels of 100-125 mg/dl (the pre-diabetes range) or over 125 (diabetes level).
- High fasting blood sugar. Mildly high blood sugar may be a sign of diabetes. If you are on medication for high blood sugar.
- Develop dark skin patches. If you have severe insulin resistance, you may notice new dark patches on your skin. These include patches of darkened skin on the back of your neck, elbows, knees, knuckles, or armpits. This discoloration is called acanthuses nigricans.
- If you are dieting, you may hit a plateau. You are watching what you are eating (but still consuming some carbs and sugars) and can’t continue to lose weight.
- Eating carbs seems to reduce your stress.
- Constantly crave sugars or carbs.
- Feel like you need a nap after you eat a meal.
- You tend to get brain fog.
- If you have noticed that your eyesight at night is not as good as it was.
- You are not satisfied after you finish a meal. You are still having a craving, or want more even though you are full.
- Need to urinate frequently at night. While there may be other reasons for urinating at night, this can be another indicator that you are insulin resistant. If you have too much sugar in your blood, your body may try to flush it out in your urine.
- Bloated belly. If you feel like your belly has swollen, especially at the end of the day. Eating sugars can cause your body to retain more water, causing the bloated feeling.
- A fatty liver. A fatty liver can be caused by other reasons, but it can also be caused by insulin resistance.
Ultimately, you will need to talk to your doctor to determine if you are insulin resistant. These are some of the symptoms or warning signs that your body may be telling you. If you have one or more of these symptoms, I highly encourage you to visit with your doctor. Recognizing and detecting insulin resistance early can greatly reduce your risk of all of the related diseases I have discussed in this blog.
What to do if you are insulin resistant?
If you are insulin resistant, don’t stress about it. It is fixable. Millions of Americans are in the same situation. If you are reading this blog, then you know that I am a huge proponent of the ketogenic diet. There are other diets that can help with insulin resistance, but I think that the ketogenic diet is the best for many reasons, mainly it is simple, effective, and you still get the nutrition and energy you need.
I was insulin resistant when I started this diet. At the time, I was a mid 30’s male with an active job. I was 6’2” and about 225 lbs. While I carried extra weight, I was not considered obese for my frame. My doctor ran some tests for me, and found that I had a fatty liver and my blood sugar was almost in the pre-diabetic range. I couldn’t understand that, I was active and thought I was eating a fairly healthy diet. I didn’t drink much soda (a few per week), didn’t drink alcohol very heavily or often, ate wheat bread (I loved potato bread) because it was better for me, and tried to incorporate more vegetables into each meal (fries are a vegetable right!?).
It was at this point that I decided to make a lifestyle change by starting the ketogenic diet which has changed my life. I am no longer on prescription meds, no longer pre-diabetic, my liver is no longer fatty, I feel better, and I have lost about 50 lbs. After I got off my meds and felt better, I wanted to understand why and how. That is the reason for me starting this website and wanting to share some of the things I have learned.
By eating a ketogenic diet, you are going to cut almost all sugars and carbohydrates out of your diet. That in of itself will help with your insulin resistance. If your body does not have additional sugars or carbohydrates to process, it also does not have to create huge amounts of insulin to keep up with it.
Cut out the alcohol. I know that this is hard for many Americans. Alcohol seems to be one of those things that people don’t think of when they want to cut sugars and carbs. Beer is filled with carbohydrates that you don’t want on a ketogenic diet (if you regularly drink beer, you will never get into ketosis). Most mixed drinks are so high in sugars that you may as well be drinking a soda. While there are some liquors that are low sugar and low carbohydrate, I wouldn’t recommend that you drink them until you get healthy. Then only drink them rarely and in moderation.
Don’t forget regular exercise. There is a lot of debate about which type of exercise is the best, but some of that debate is dependent on what you are wanting. Some are better for loosing weight, others for building muscle, others for endurance etc. Any type of exercise is better than none, as long as you are not doing too much for your body to handle. If you are very obese or have a heart condition, make sure you talk to your doctor to make which types of exercise would be best for you. You may need to literally walk before you can run.
Sleep. Yes, sleep is actually very important for a healthy body. Who knew!? Your sleep or lack there of can directly impact how your body functions. Typically we only think that if we are tired that we are sluggish and have brain fog. What we don’t realize is that our cells and internal systems are affected just as much as the symptoms that we notice. If you are trying to get healthy, make sure you are getting plenty of sleep. That is when your body can repair itself and will actually help improve your insulin sensitivity.
Once your body becomes fat adapted, you will no longer need a high intake of sugars and carbohydrates. Your body will run on ketones that are created from fats, which are a better fuel source that your body can use. The ketogenic diet is recommended by some doctors for type 2 diabetics and in many cases have actually reversed their diabetes. If you are insulin resistant, you are on track to become a type 2 diabetic, so fix the problem before it gets worse. Simply changing your diet to a ketogenic diet can fix a huge list of medical conditions. The one key to the ketogenic diet is that it isn’t just a diet, it needs to be a lifestyle change. What I mean is that you shouldn’t use this diet to just loose weight and fix your insulin resistance and then go back to eating the average American diet.
If you do go from the keto diet to an average American diet, you will get right back to where you started. You will likely be surprised at how quickly you can put on weight if you do go off diet. Remember, you will retain all of the fat cells you have, they will just be “deflated”, as you lose weight. What that means is if you quit the keto diet, those fat cells are formed and ready to reinflate when you introduce sugar back in your diet. Since those cells are already there, you can quickly regain the weight and become insulin resistant again within a very short period of time. If you are really wanting to change your life, then incorporate the ketogenic diet into your lifestyle, don’t treat it as a “diet” that you do for a while and quit. If you do, you will be very disappointed. Either you eat for your health, or you don’t, the choice is yours.
