Tips for Insulin-resistance

Thanks to the Standard American Diet (SAD), 88% of Americans are metabolically unhealthy and 50% have diabetes or pre-diabetes. Unfortunately, the American diet has led us to where we are today – leaving us having insulin-resistance!

Many Americans followed these “healthy recommendations” and in doing so caused our hormones to run amuck!

• Six small meals a day or “grazing”;
• Consuming “fat free” foods; and
• Pre-packaged, processed, and fast foods.

You most likely did what you were told, like the rest of us, so it is not your fault!  Now, add that to genetics and other contributing lifestyle factors and you have the perfect equation for metabolic dysregulation.  

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The GREAT news is we can turn Insulin-resistance around with the right information. 

Check out all our tips on insulin-resistance below….. 

Grazing:  Our body is always striving to be in a state of physiologic balance (homeostasis).  Our metabolic hormones are meant to wax and wane depending on the time of day and other factors.  For example, cortisol levels should be high in the morning giving us a kick start for the day.  By night the levels decrease so that we can relax and go to sleep. 

The problem starts when there is constant stimulus, and we start having constant productions of these hormones.  Over time the receptor sites for these hormones become insensitive making us produce even more of the hormones in an attempt to compensate.

Insulin:  Insulin is a hormone that acts as a key to open a door (the cell) allowing sugar (glucose) to enter (rather than staying in the bloodstream). 🔑 When we eat our body produces insulin. When we do not eat our body does not produce insulin!

What happens when we eat throughout the day – every day? Our body is constantly producing insulin.  If you restrict your calories but continue to eat throughout the day – you will initially lose weight.  However, in time your metabolism slows down because it perceives a “famine” or lack of food.  In turn, you will gain your weight back.

This leads me to the most logical and efficient approach to reversing insulin-resistance  – INTERMITTENT FASTING!! Do not panic – there are endless variations and tips on introducing time-restricted eating into your lifestyle.

Enter our Tips

• Use the time that you sleep to your advantage.
• Start off making smaller consistent changes – this leads to an increased likelihood for long term lifestyle changes.
• Decrease your intake of ultra-processed foods – saving them for special occasions and events.
• Drink half of your weight in ounces of water per day.  For every 8 oz of caffeine replace with 8 oz of water. (160lb = 10 cups of water!)
• Begin by pushing back the amount of time that you stop eating before bed.  3 hours is ideal.  If that is too challenging at first then you may find it easier to push your first meal back later in the day.
• Start by shooting for 14 hours between your last meal and your first meal of the day. BREAKFAST IS NOT THE MOST IMPORTANT MEAL OF THE DAY!
• 16 hours between the last meal and first meal and an 8-hour eating window is a great habit to integrate into your lifestyle. 
• Focus on getting 8 hours of quality sleep a night.

There are boundless benefits to prolonged fasts.  Feel free to discuss that at your next visit contact us today to get an appointment