Lollipops are yummy (and as proven by this photo quite sexy!) but if you’re insulin resistant you better read on before eating one…(thanks be to flickr)
One condition that many people aren’t quite familiar with is insulin resistance. You’ve likely heard of diabetes before, without a doubt, and know what this condition is about, but insulin resistance is another story. This is yet another condition that involves the hormone insulin and how the body handles the foods you eat – in particularly carbohydrates.
Insulin Resistance Defined
Insulin resistance occurs when the cells of the body do not respond to insulin in the way they should. This means that in order to deal with an intake of carbohydrates effectively, the body will have to produce more insulin to uptake the glucose into the cells than an individual of normal health would.
Furthermore, if this condition persists over time, it could eventually lead to type 2 diabetes, which would occur when the pancreas simply cannot keep up with the cells that are resisting the insulin.
What Causes Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance can occur due to a number of different factors. One of the most influential factors is being overweight. Maintaining a high body weight also sets you up for metabolic syndrome and hypertension, both of which are associated with insulin resistance.
Having a high degree of stress in your daily life can also cause problems, as can a being pregnant. There is some evidence that this is a genetic condition as well, so being aware of your family history would be a good idea so you can make changes in your current lifestyle if this is something you are more susceptible to.
Typical Symptoms
The symptoms that are associated with insulin resistance include:
-feeling dizzy or ‘fuzzy-headed’
-difficulty concentrating
-feelings of fatigue
-sleepiness after consuming a meal that is 20-30% carbohydrates or higher
-depression
-feeling shaky, jittery, nauseous, or light-headed when going without food for too long
What You Can Do To Treat Insulin Resistance
Luckily, if this condition is caught early, you can treat it reasonably well with some simple lifestyle changes.
The first thing to consider is modifying your diet to reduce the need for so much insulin secretion. You do this by utilizing a diet that is higher in protein and fat content, while reducing your carbohydrate intake. Because carbohydrates cause by far the largest reaction in terms of insulin secretion, removing these from the diet as much as possible will help manage the condition.
Since you do require some carbohydrates in order to maintain high intensity exercise though, being sure to eat these strictly around the workout period (when insulin sensitivity is highest), will be important. The rest of the day you should focus on eating very low GI carbohydrates (vegetables along with some whole grains). That will help keep blood sugar level sunder control and help manage the problem.
In addition to changing your diet, get yourself on a good cardiovascular program, as this has been shown to also help increase insulin sensitivity in the body. This means that when you do eat carbohydrates, your body should not have such a hard time bringing the glucose into the cells for energy or storage.
Weight lifting will also help the condition, since you’ll have more muscle mass tissue which will utilize glucose for storing muscle glycogen, but with respect to this condition, cardio is really the important component so be sure you are at least doing that much.
So, if you are experiencing any of the symptoms listed above, do not hesitate to seek medical advice from a professional. It is critical that you catch this in the early stages so you can learn how to deal with it rather than letting it progress to the point where you are diagnosed with type 2 diabetes.
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