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5 Incredible Benefits of Insulin Sensitivity – Plus, 11 Ways to Reverse Insulin Resistance

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Insulin Sensitivity

If you want to be your healthiest self, reaping the benefits of insulin sensitivity should be a priority. When you’re insulin sensitive your don’t have sugar crashes, you can eat more deeply satisfying food without gaining weight, and your whole body functions better.

I often see patients who believe they’re doing their best to be healthy, but after a quick conversation about their diet I realize they are prey to old school nutritional information. It’s not their fault, so much misguided ‘health’ information is persistent and it takes time to shift what was once ‘conventional wisdom’.

All too often they are having orange juice, oatmeal, or a fruit smoothie for breakfast thinking they are being healthy, when in fact they are starting off their day with a big dose of insulin which hurts their overall insulin sensitivity baseline. Insulin sensitivity and resistance exist on opposite sides of a spectrum – the closer you are to being insulin sensitive the healthier you are and vice versa.

For example, type 2 diabetes occurs when a person becomes more and more insulin resistant. It’s important to point out that the issues caused by insulin resistance are a slippery slope, which is why you don’t simply get type 2 diabetes overnight.

**Please note, throughout this article as I refer to diabetes, I am specifically referring to type 2 diabetes. Type 1 diabetes is an autoimmune disease and requires a different approach.

 

Insulin Sensitivity vs. Insulin Resistance

First to understand these characteristics, we need to briefly understand insulin itself. Insulin is a hormone created by the pancreas that regulates your blood glucose levels.

There are a number of things you do throughout your day that can cause more insulin to be released – a major one is eating sugar or carbs. When you eat something sugary, your body releases insulin to help bring down glucose levels in your blood.

Insulin sensitivity has a more straightforward name – essentially it refers to how sensitive you are to the hormone insulin as it’s released in your body. Meaning, if you’re insulin sensitive, you’ll need less of this hormone to bring down your blood sugar levels when necessary. On the other hand, insulin resistance occurs when your body needs more and more insulin to bring down blood sugar levels – and if left unchecked long enough, this leads to diabetes.

Fortunately there are steps you can take to reduce insulin resistance and improve your insulin sensitivity.

 

Top 5 Benefits of Insulin Sensitivity

Due to the rise in diabetes, many realize why insulin resistance is bad – but what about the other end of the spectrum? Here are the top five benefits of insulin sensitivity:

  1. Enhancing fat loss
  2. No more sugar crashes or getting ‘hangry’
  3. Reducing risk of disease
  4. Fighting cognitive decline
  5. Clearer skin

 

1. Enhancing fat loss  

This is a huge benefit. If you’re struggling to lose weight even though you think you’re eating right, it could be because you’ve become insulin resistant. When your body is insulin sensitive, you lose weight more efficiently.

In fact, this is partly why many women have a hard time losing and keeping weight off on ultra low fat diets. First, you need healthy fats for functional hormone production and secondly, you are using mostly carbs as an energy source which contributes to insulin resistance. These create the perfect storm for stubborn fat.

 

2. No more sugar crashes or getting ‘hangry’

When you are insulin sensitive you won’t get those horrible sugar crashes jokingly referred to as ‘hangry.’ These crashes are given this name because it refers to the sheer panic that’s created by your body when it’s reliant on glucose and your levels drop so low it make you angry. Insulin sensitivity also means your body is able to use alternative fuel sources such as ketones, when/if your body goes into ketosis. This also reduces your cravings for sugar and carbs, which breaks the vicious insulin resistance cycle.

 

3. Reducing risk of disease

By boosting your insulin sensitivity you are at the opposite end of the spectrum as many diseases. When you are insulin resistant, you have a much higher risk of developing several diseases including type 2 diabetes, hypertension, cardiovascular disease, thyroid conditions blood clot disorders, and more.

 

4. Fighting cognitive decline

Cognitive decline has been associated with increased insulin resistance. In fact, some researchers are are calling Alzheimer’s disease type 3 diabetes. This is because insulin resistance leads to cognitive decline, oxidative stress, and other factors that over time can cause Alzheimer’s to develop. A ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting are extremely effective methods for improving your insulin sensitivity and there’s promising research that indicates these help keep cognitive decline at bay.

 

5. Clearer skin

Insulin resistance causes various skin manifestations, such as acne, acanthosis nigricans, and androgenetic alopecia. This is because insulin resistance cause a cascade of negative health impacts throughout your body. When you work to reverse this and become more insulin sensitive, you may find that your skin conditions clear up significantly.

 

11 Ways to Reverse Insulin Resistance

No matter where you are in your health today, you can always work to improve your insulin sensitivity. If you’ve gotten to the point where you became so insulin resistant you’ve developed type 2 diabetes, it is possible to reverse this.

Some of the best things you can do to increase your insulin sensitivity and reverse insulin resistance include:

  • Adopt the ketogenic diet and intermittent fasting
  • Eliminating sugar and refined carbs
  • Increase healthy fat intake
  • Exercise more, especially strength training
  • Eating low glycemic foods
  • Get better sleep
  • Reduce stress
  • Lose weight and/or body fat percentage
  • Eat insulin sensitivity boosting foods – These work primarily through healing the gut, improving absorption, and reducing free sugar in the blood.
      • Vinegar
      • Soluble fiber
      • Sauerkraut
      • Nuts
      • Turmeric
      • Ginger
      • Fenugreek seeds
      • Cinnamon
      • Garlic
      • Green tea
  • Make sure you’re getting enough magnesium –  Your body needs enough magnesium for insulin signaling. This is the number one supplement I recommend to people showing signs of insulin resistance.
  • Add other supplements that improve insulin sensitivity – Other beneficial supplements include:
    • Chromium
    • Zinc
    • Berberine
    • Resveratrol

 

I believe taking the necessary steps to become more insulin sensitive is one of the best things you can do for your health today. The benefits of insulin sensitivity are widespread and your whole body will look and feel better.

To jump right in –  I recommend looking into the ketogenic diet, which is one of the faster ways to achieve better insulin sensitivity. Mark Sisson and Robb Wolf are excellent resources for all things Paleo and keto. If you are looking for a doctor who is knowledgeable in these diets, check out the Paleo Physicians Network or Re-Find Health.

 

Resources:

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC380256/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3356957/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3314463/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2769828/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5336429/

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10683091

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15319146

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9356027

* These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. The product mentioned in this article are not intended to diagnose, treat, cure, or prevent any disease.   The information in this article is not intended to replace any recommendations or relationship with your physician.  Please review references sited at end of article for scientific support of any claims made.

Categories: Brain Health, Heart Health, NutritionBy Dr. Jill C. Carnahan, MD, ABIHM, IFMCPFebruary 4, 20189 Comments
Tags: diabetesinsulininsulin resistanceinsulin sensitivity
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Author: Dr. Jill C. Carnahan, MD, ABIHM, IFMCP

https://www.jillcarnahan.com/

Dr. Jill is Your Functional Medicine Expert! She uses functional medicine to help you find answers to the cause of your illness and addresses the biochemical imbalances that may be making you feel ill. She'll help you search for underlying triggers contributing to your illness through cutting edge lab testing and tailor the intervention to your specific needs as an individual. She may use diet, supplements, lifestyle changes or medication to treat your illness but will seek the most gentle way to help your body restore balance along with the least invasive treatment possible. Dr. Jill is a functional medicine expert consultant and treats environmental and mold-related illness as well

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9 Comments

  1. Pingback: Intermittent fasting and metabolism การอดอาหารชั่วคราวกับระบบเผาผลาญ – health and wellness
  2. Patrice Martel says:
    September 11, 2018 at 9:12 pm

    Been keto for a while and feel great although my A1c numbers are just borderline, just happened to read this new approach “mastering diabetes.org” that advocate a low fat high carbs and whole veggies to treat diabetes , I am totally chocked now .

    Reply
  3. soundcloud downloader says:
    March 28, 2019 at 7:52 pm

    what is the ideal breakfst for diabetics?

    Reply
    • Jill Carnahan, MD says:
      March 29, 2019 at 8:19 pm

      low glycemic options such as protein smoothie with greens and coconut milk or organic eggs and spinach would be excellent

      Reply
      • Gavin Durkan says:
        December 26, 2020 at 10:34 pm

        What’s best a Ketonic diet or a Vegan diet for some one with Diabeties !.

        Reply
        • Jill Carnahan, MD says:
          December 30, 2020 at 9:12 pm

          Hi Gavin
          It really depends on the person and genetics, I find intermittent fasting with a paleo-style higher fat lower carb plant based diet to be best for most.
          warmly
          Dr Jill

          Reply
  4. Pingback: Can This Powerful Hormone be the Key to Treating Type 2 Diabetes & More? |
  5. Jimmy Fisher says:
    December 4, 2019 at 5:04 am

    Thanks, Jill…
    I appreciate the efforts you have made to publish such an informative and useful blog.
    Insulin plays an important role in the physiological activities of the body as it helps our body to absorb the sugar.
    Lack of an adequate amount of insulin or development of insulin resistant ability of the body could inhibit certain types of physiological activities.
    So, a person should take suitable precautionary measures to prevent such kinds of health-related disorders.

    Reply
  6. Pingback: The Easiest way to Lose Bodyfat and Gain Muscle

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Dr. Jill
Dr. Jill will help you search for underlying triggers contributing to your illness through cutting edge lab testing and tailor the intervention to your specific needs as an individual.
  • Address:
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  • Phone:
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  • Fax:
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