Insulin Resistance is a complex condition in which your body is unable to respond to the amount of insulin (a hormone produced by the pancreas). Insulin helps protect the body from getting too much glucose (sugar). Insulin resistance can cause adverse effects on metabolism, increased tiredness, high blood sugar (type II diabetes), high cholesterol levels and weight gain.
Under normal conditions, the body breaks down food into glucose(sugars), your body's primary energy source. Once glucose has been broken down, it enters your bloodstream, which signals your pancreas to make insulin, which monitors glucose in muscles, fat, and liver cells as a source of stored energy. Once the glucose has reached your cells, the levels in your bloodstream should decrease, and the signals to your pancreas to produce insulin are turned off.
There are many reasons why this conversion does not run smoothly, and muscles, fat, and liver cells do not respond appropriately to the insulin, which means they do not use the glucose as it was intended and cannot store it for later when energy is required. The pancreas does not recognize the communication breakdown, so it keeps producing more insulin.
Your cells are resistant to the insulin, leaving an abundance of insulin in your bloodstream, which can lead to a number of conditions, such as
- Obesity
- Type II Diabetes
- Metabolic Syndrome
- Cardiovascular disease
- Fatty Liver Disease
- PCOS
- Increased weight gain
- Increase fat around the midsection
How to manage insulin resistance naturally
- Getting more exercise ( just keep moving ) can help improve insulin resistance. Dietary and lifestyle can help overcome insulin resistance, especially if you combine exercise that requires the muscles to contract. During muscle contraction, insulin uptake to the cells is improved.
- Manage your response to stress and do your best to improve sleep. When the body is under continued stress, it releases hormones associated with insulin resistance.
- Manage your intake of high-carbohydrate foods. Diets lower in carbs may help reduce the amount of insulin circulating in the blood.
- Increasing your consumption of soluble fibre can slow digestion, reducing the amount of free-flowing insulin required.
- Dietary supplements such as berberine and resveratrol have shown tremendous promise in helping to manage insulin resistance.
Resveratrol is a natural compound found in the skin of grapes. It is believed to benefit insulin resistance by activating specific hormones and improving glucose metabolism, insulin intolerance and insulin metabolism.
Berberine is a natural compound found in the roots, stem and bark of plants such as barberry and Oregon grape. Berberine can help manage insulin resistance by stimulating glucose uptake into the muscle cells and lowering fasting insulin. Berberine may also help to lower blood glucose by increasing receptor expression. Berberine is also known to delay the breakdown of carbs into simple sugars, reducing sugar spikes and protecting the pancreas from repeated damage due to blood sugar diseases.
Thank you for reading.
