Insulin resistance

Insulin resistance can have drastic consequences for your health and a significant impact on your daily quality of life. It doesn’t only affect people who are overweight. You can also be insulin resistant even if you have a normal body weight or if you’re underweight.

In this article, I will explain everything about insulin resistance, not only what it is but also what the consequences can be.

Table of Contents:

What is insulin resistance
What are the Symptoms
Possible consequences of insulin resistance
It’s even more dangerous for slim people
What should you do if you have it
Prevention is always better than cure!

What is insulin resistance

Let’s start with the basics: what insulin is and what it does.

Insulin is a hormone responsible for regulating glucose metabolism. After eating a carbohydrate-rich meal, your body releases glucose (sugar), which raises your blood sugar levels and triggers the production of insulin.

Insulin helps your cells open up, allowing glucose to enter and be converted into energy. You can think of insulin as a key. Any glucose that isn’t immediately needed for energy is stored in the liver, muscles, and fat cells.

What happens when you continue to consume more glucose than needed?

When you keep supplying too much glucose to your cells, they become overwhelmed. As a result, your cells no longer allow insulin in (without insulin, glucose can’t enter the cell).

Consequently, your body produces more insulin because it needs to do something with the sugars racing through your bloodstream. The problem is that since cells won’t accept the insulin, there’s only one place left for the glucose to go—your fat cells. Glucose gets stored in your fat cells, leading to weight gain, particularly visceral fat (fat around your organs).

Your body becomes resistant to insulin

Insulin is still produced, but since cells won’t accept it, it becomes ineffective. This results in excess glucose that your body can’t use as intended. In simple terms, insulin resistance means your cells resist insulin, preventing glucose from entering the right cells.

Symptoms

Losing weight becomes increasingly difficult, or you gain weight quickly
You have low energy and wake up feeling tired
After eating a carbohydrate-rich meal, you quickly feel tired and lethargic
You frequently experience hunger and cravings for carbohydrates
ou never feel satisfied after eating (e.g., one cookie is not enough)

It’s essential to keep in mind that experiencing one of the above symptoms doesn’t necessarily mean you have insulin resistance, but it’s essential to monitor these signs.

Possible consequences of insulin resistance

Pre-diabetes
Type 2 diabetes (insulin resistance is always the cause)
High blood pressure
Obesity
Fatty liver disease
Cardiovascular diseases
Hormonal issues
Alzheimer’s disease (also known as diabetes type 3)
Certain types of cancer
Increased risk of chronic inflammatory diseases
Various autoimmune diseases

As you can see, the possible consequences of insulin resistance are severe. Each of these conditions can significantly impact your quality of life.

It’s even more dangerous for slim people

The fat (caused by an excess of glucose) is stored around your organs, which is even more concerning. The danger lies in the fact that it’s not visible from the outside.

For example, in the world of sports, it’s not uncommon to hear about top athletes experiencing “spontaneous” heart attacks without prior warnings. They consume a lot of carbohydrates, but their extensive physical activity keeps them slim, making them appear healthy. This highlights the importance of paying attention to other signals, not just body fat.

What should you do if you have it

Unfortunately, insulin resistance cannot be cured. However, you can improve symptoms and prevent them from worsening by adopting a low-carb (preferably ketogenic) diet. This way, you significantly reduce your glucose intake.

By adopting a low-carb or ketogenic diet, your body switches to using fat as fuel. Because you’re consuming so few carbohydrates, your body requires much less insulin and is under much less strain. This results in more stable and lower blood sugar levels.

The difference made by eating pure and unprocessed low-carb foods is noticeable in most people within a few days. Symptoms resulting from insulin resistance generally start to decrease within a few days, and many people with type 2 diabetes can often start reducing their medication within a few weeks, ultimately achieving complete freedom from medication!

Prevention is Always Better than Cure!

As you’ve read earlier in this article, there are serious consequences to insulin resistance. Since curing it isn’t an option (only managing it), it’s wise to try to prevent insulin resistance from occurring in the first place. Especially considering that, on average, 1 in 4 people have this condition, the chances are quite high that you could develop it too.

How can you prevent insulin resistance?
The answer to this question is actually very simple and straightforward:
Stop consuming large amounts of glucose!

A ketogenic lifestyle is not just for people looking to lose weight or those who already have health issues. In fact, it offers so many benefits, not only for physical health but much more. If you want to learn more about that, read this article.