482. INSULIN - Insulin Resistance Treatment

Insulin Resistance Treatment

Reversing Insulin Resistance

The great news is that insulin resistance symptoms can be reversed simply by changing the diet and engaging in regular exercise. Yes, it's that simple. Experts like Dr. Charles Gant, Professor Loren Cordain, Dr. Joseph Mercola and Dr. Al Sears tells us that insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes can almost always be reversed with diet and exercise.
Since the primary cause of insulin resistance is sugar and the consumption of carbohydrates, when you remove these foods from your diet, and replace them with adequate fat and protein then the vicious cycle will stop.
If their is not excess sugar in the blood stream, then cells will start to burn off what is stored as fat, the pancreas will stop releasing insulin all the time and the glucose receptors will stop being resistant. Thus blood sugar and insulin levels will stabilize. When insulin restablizes, then triglycerides, blood pressure, cholesterol etc. stabilize as well.
Exercise will also be crucial because it burns glucose off and lowers insulin levels. Brief periods of intense exercise, such as that found in the PACE exercise program is the most effective form of exercise in this case because it helps stabilize the autonomic nervous system by telling the adrenals gland to stop releasing adrenalin that triggers the liver to dump glycogen into the blood stream.
However, exercise alone will not work because you'd have to exercise continually to burn off all the sugar if you continue to eat carbohydrates. But when used in combination with the removal of starchy carbohydrates it enhances the reversal. If you have a lot of stress in your life, then exercise is even more important.
Of course, other substances that trigger adrenalin and the liver to release glucose in the blood stream must cease as well, like smoking, drinking alcohol and caffeine.
Reduce stress and get adequate sleep. The regular practice of deep breathing exercises, mindfulness and mindfullness based meditation are simple yet powerful ways to bring blood sugar down triggered by stress, because they turn off the stress response system. Make time for eight or nine hours of sleep a night and take naps if needed.
Since nutritional deficiencies are a common cause of insulin resistance, a comprehensive nutritional supplement program designed with the help of your health care provider can be helpful. Three of the most common and beneficial include Chromium, B6 and glutamine. Each of these aids in the process of regulating blood sugar and assists during the process of changing the diet. Other important nutrients may include all the B vitamins, magnesium, manganese, vanadium, vitamin C and E. A health care provider who practices functional medicine can help advise you when designing a nutrient plan.

The Best Diet for Insulin Resistance

The bottom line is that all foods that cause blood sugar levels to rise need to be eliminated or at least greatly restricted. Dr. Charles Gant tells us that starchy carbohydrates are totally non-essential in the diet. You can acquire all the energy needed through protein and short-chained fatty acids.
All carbohydrates break down into glucose in the body. However, the most important factor is how rapidly they convert to sugar and how long the blood sugar remains high. All foods high in starch like whole grains, potatoes and beans cause a rapid and intense rise in glucose. Potatoes, for example, are about equal to sugar. Carbohydrates found in non-starchy vegetables and whole fruits have less impact on blood sugar.
One of the first steps you want to take when looking for the best diet for insulin resistance is to become familiar with the GI, also known as the glycemic index. Foods that are high on the glycemic index cause a higher spike in blood sugar, while foods that have a lower glycemic index are processed slower, which results in smaller amounts of sugar appearing in the blood stream at one time, which is easier for the body to manage.
Dr. Al Sears recommends that you don't eat foods that have a GI of more than 40. Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, recommends keeping your carbohydrate consumption to no more than 22 grams per meal.
However, the easiest and truly the best diet for insulin resistance symptoms is to follow the Paleolithic Diet. as Professor Loren Cordain points out in his book, The Paleo Diet, All the components needed to reverse insulin resistance are inherent in the Paleolithic diet simply because you are eating the foods that natured intended you to eat. The foods you were genetically designed to eat do not result in disruption of blood sugar and insulin levels.

The best diet for insulin resistance is very simple:

·an abundance of lean meats and fish

·eggs

·an abundance of non-starchy vegetables

·small amounts of nuts and seeds

·small amounts of low-sugar fruits

·fat from meat, as well as olive oil, avocados or avocado oil, walnut oil, flax and fish.

·an abundance of clean water

·that's it. nothing more

Wheat, corn, rye, rice, brown rice, barley, beans, potatoes, sweet potatoes, peas or any other starchy food should be avoided or eaten only on occasion.
Fruit juices, caffeine, soda pop, alcohol etc., should be avoided.
Dried fruit should be eaten only on occasion as it is high in sugar as well.
A low-fat diet is the worse thing you can do for yourself.
Although not technically part of the Paleolithic diet, butter will not have a negative impact on blood sugar and yogurt won't either if eaten moderately without sugar.
        Food should be organic, because the presence of pesticides, herbicides, additives, preservatives etc., trigger the stress response system, which as we learned earlier releases adrenalin, which alerts the pancreas to release insulin.
        When we look over the list of foods that will reverse insulin resistance we clearly see that when we return to the diet that our ancestors ate we are giving our body exactly what it needs for optimal health.
        The best diet for insulin resistance is also the best diet for any other health condition and humanity in general.

Insulin Resistance Test

An actual insulin resistance test per se is not available. Instead diagnoses is made by looking at the comprehensive picture of your health using a variety of tools, including the presence of insulin resistance symptoms, health conditions you have and lab work. Your lifestyle, level of stress, type of diet you eat and patterns for exercising will be taken into account as well.
For example, if you have high triglycerides and low HDL which typically occur in insulin resistance then a knowledgeable physician would suspect resistance and pursue further testing like a glucose tolerance test.
Dr. Charles Gant recommends a blood test that measures insulin after fasting overnight and then again two hours after a high carbohydrate meal. He states a normal insulin level is 6 to 8, while 12 is problematic and 16 indicates a definite problem. Marcelle Pic recommends a glucose level no higher than 75 to 80. If fasting glucose climbs to 100 then we're talking about pre-diabetes, and if it hits 126 then we're looking at diabetes.
According to Marcelle Pick, OB/GYN NP, it is believed that at least 25% of the population has full blown insulin resistance, which amounts to more than 80 million Americans. However, due to the diet we consume, most everyone has some degree of resistance. She also tells us that the percentage is much higher in women who are in perimenopause. Other studies have prevalence as high as 44 percent in the elderly population.
These are alarming statistics and a clear indication that the diet most of society consumes is deadly. Ideally the time to make changes is before insulin resistance symptoms began to develop and testing is required. Insulin resistance is completely avoidable by making the right choice in food and exercising.
It's important to be aware that many traditional main-stream physicians are not educated about insulin resistance and therefore you should be seeking a health care provider who practices what is called functional medicine to make an accurate diagnoses and design a plan for recovery.