A buzz term in the health and nutrition media right now is insulin resistance. People are pointing to it as a major cause of various diseases and ailments in North America. The issue is, it’s not a buzz word. Insulin Resistance is a serious complication in your body that can lead to many serious side effects and ultimately death. Today’s blog will focus on the what, the how, and the why of insulin resistance.
What is Insulin Resistance?
Insulin is a hormone created by the pancreas to help us get blood sugar into our cells. When your body senses sugar in your system it releases insulin to get that sugar stored for future energy use. Overtime the cells don’t respond as well to the process and the body makes more and more insulin. This creates a vicious cycle where your pancreas is producing more and more insulin, yet your blood sugar continues to go up and up.
Eventually this will lead to your pancreases being unable to keep up with the demand. The damage caused creates the inability to produce sufficient insulin and you’re diagnosed with diabetes. That seem simple enough accept the medical field isn’t exactly sure how insulin resistance happens.
How is Insulin Resistance Caused?
Normally at this point in any science article I mention I’m not a doctor, nor a scientist, but in this case I have about as much idea of what causes insulin resistance as they do. Peer reviewed research doesn’t point to an exact cause, but document that people with a history of Type-2 Diabetes in their family have an increased risk. Other factors linked with insulin resistance are an inactive lifestyle and obesity.
Symptoms of insulin resistance vary from case to case, but warning signs are extreme thirst or hunger even after eating, frequent urination, tingling sensation in the hands, and fatigue. If you top this with the fact that there is no definitive blood test to show insulin resistance you can see why doctors have a hard time diagnosing it.
Methods to Help
There is no medication that helps with insulin resistance, so doctors give basic guidelines to people that are either diagnosed with insulin resistance. The list is the who’s who of a healthy lifestyle.
First and foremost is more physical activity. It’s believed exercise will “wake” the cells up in a sense and get them re-energized to start accepting the energy again. Next and the first for almost all lifestyle diseases is lose weight. We then move onto getting more/enough sleep and finally, and the most interesting on the list: avoid high sugar foods.
Can Keto Help with Insulin Resistance
I threw that heading in there because we all know this is where I’m going. Everything on that list to help with insulin resistance are part of a keto lifestyle. You may not set out to be more physically active, but I’m willing to guarantee as the weight comes off and your health improves you will be much more active than before you started your journey. Just based on your new mobility alone.
We then move on to lose weight. I think weight loss and keto are a well documented relationship. If you switch to a ketogenic lifestyle, the weight will come off. This will lead right into the next point. More sleep. Taking off excess pounds opens your air way considerably. Even if you didn’t have sleep apnea your body will rest better with more oxygen, and won’t get into the brain fog lifting and allowing you to relax. But it’s a thing.
Keto and Sugar
The final point to help with insulin resistance is avoid high sugar foods. The theory is the less sugar you take in, the less insulin you need. How much sugar do you take in on a keto diet, how about, none. At least that’s what we aim for. Keto gives your pancreas a vacation. There is minimal insulin produced and your body is burning ketones as opposed to the glucose insulin helps produce.
So, to answer the question above. Can keto help with insulin resistance? I don’t think you need a doctor to tell you cutting out the need for excessive amounts of insulin will help with your resistance to it. From a layman’s standpoint, keto sounds like the perfect solution.
Bill
