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INSULIN RESISTANCE
Fed up with diets that don’t work and unexplained weight gain?
Tired of cutting down on the fat and STILL putting on the pounds?
Fed up with diets that don’t work and unexplained weight gain?
Tired of cutting down on the fat and STILL putting on the pounds?
You may have Syndrome X – which means that you have the type of body which, after prolonged exposure to the classic high-sugar Western diet, is unable to efficiently process sugars, turning them instead into excess body fat, particularly around the waist.
When a particular food causes the blood to have a rapidly high glucose content it is said to have a high glycaemic index which means it triggers the pancreas to produce a large release of insulin. Usually, foods with high glycaemic indexes are the obvious ones such as sugary drinks, cakes and desserts, but there are many savoury foods that have an unexpectedly high index such as baked potatoes, French fries, white rice, breakfast cereals and even rice cakes!
The average Western diet consists of a large percentage of those high glycaemic index foods which mean that nearly all of us have a high amounts of glucose in our blood a lot of the time. High blood glucose levels trigger the pancreas to produce insulin, the body’s hormone messenger for telling the energy storage cells to start taking in the glucose for storage because an elevated glucose level in the blood is dangerous to health. The priority storage areas are muscle and liver cells, where that excess glucose is converted into quick release glycogen. Once the quick release energy reserves are topped up, glucose is converted into fat in our fat cells for longer-term storage. However, a combination of high levels of sugar and a sedentary lifestyle means that all these storage areas are usually full , so full that the fat cells have become bloated (we get fatter) and cannot soak up any more glucose. This means that the excess glucose starts to circulate in the blood, where it can potentially damage blood vessels, kidney function, the retina and general metabolic efficiency.
Doctors estimate that as many as 1 in 5 of us have a metabolism which cannot cope with this chronic exposure to high insulin levels caused by this excess glucose in the blood: the storage cells are full and so they can no longer respond to insulin's message to store more glucose, they become insulin resistant. This means that the cells exposed to chronically high levels of insulin have become conditioned to ignore insulin’s message to remove the dangerous excess glucose from the blood. The result is that glucose levels rise as less can be stored, triggering the pancreas to flood the body with even more insulin to try to control it. This creates a dangerous metabolic imbalance which can lead to serious health problems such as excessive free radical damage, hypertension, high blood pressure, unhealthy blood-fat profiles and Type II diabetes. (Insulin resistance is compounded by stress, which naturally signals the body to release even more glucose and fatty acids into the bloodstream so that we are ready for action. It also causes the brain to release stress hormones which further insensitise fat cells to insulin.
So, How can you redress this problem:
No Self-Deprivation: Humans, like all other living organisms, are protected by a strong survival instinct. When threatened our bodies will try to counteract the threat. In other words, the more we try to reduce the caloric intake, the more our bodies try to store reserves for the future. We end up with a paradoxical situation in which the less we eat the fatter we become.
Change your eating habits: It is not only excess calories which cause weight gain, but rather the overproduction of insulin, the dysfunction of the pancreas brought on by the excessive consumption of bad carbohydrates.
Cut out bad carbohydrates which are nutritionally poor foods, and refined foods.
Instead choose carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index to accompany meat, fish, eggs and cheese.
Make the right choices: Contrary to popular belief, the level of dietary cholesterol has little relation to blood cholesterol. Our bodies produces its own cholesterol from fats. Here again one must make the right choices, since we now know that certain fats reduce levels of blood cholesterol (monounsaturated) while others increase it. (Saturated fats)
It has also been shown that one of the major causes of cardiovascular disease has been the over consumption of foods which trigger a drastic increase in blood sugar levels resulting in overproduction of insulin. The good news is though, that it has been proven that the moderate consumption of red wine can help prevent cardiovascular disease.
The average Western diet consists of a large percentage of those high glycaemic index foods which mean that nearly all of us have a high amounts of glucose in our blood a lot of the time. High blood glucose levels trigger the pancreas to produce insulin, the body’s hormone messenger for telling the energy storage cells to start taking in the glucose for storage because an elevated glucose level in the blood is dangerous to health. The priority storage areas are muscle and liver cells, where that excess glucose is converted into quick release glycogen. Once the quick release energy reserves are topped up, glucose is converted into fat in our fat cells for longer-
No Self-
Change your eating habits: It is not only excess calories which cause weight gain, but rather the overproduction of insulin, the dysfunction of the pancreas brought on by the excessive consumption of bad carbohydrates.
Cut out bad carbohydrates which are nutritionally poor foods, and refined foods.
Instead choose carbohydrates with a low glycaemic index to accompany meat, fish, eggs and cheese.
Make the right choices: Contrary to popular belief, the level of dietary cholesterol has little relation to blood cholesterol. Our bodies produces its own cholesterol from fats. Here again one must make the right choices, since we now know that certain fats reduce levels of blood cholesterol (monounsaturated) while others increase it. (Saturated fats)
It has also been shown that one of the major causes of cardiovascular disease has been the over consumption of foods which trigger a drastic increase in blood sugar levels resulting in overproduction of insulin. The good news is though, that it has been proven that the moderate consumption of red wine can help prevent cardiovascular disease.
The information contained in these pages is intended only as a layman’s guide.
It is not intended for use in place of conventional medicines but only as a back up.
I strongly recommend that you discuss it with your G.P. before starting any course of supplements or alterative therapy
It is not intended for use in place of conventional medicines but only as a back up.
I strongly recommend that you discuss it with your G.P. before starting any course of supplements or alterative therapy
