Be Sensitive – Especially with Your Insulin Levels

Be Sensitive – Especially with Your Insulin Levels

If you don’t have diabetes and no one in your family does either, consider yourself lucky and perhaps one of the chosen few. Over 100,000,000 Americans have diabetes and pre-diabetes, (a term for early onset diabetes), which accounts for about one of every two of us. Diabetes causes insulin resistance that, in turn, causes inflammation and irritation in all cells of the body, and left unchecked, can bring about damage from head to toe.

 

 

Insulin is a hormone that helps control the amount of glucose, or sugar, in the body that is used for energy. It’s good to be insulin sensitive, where your body doesn’t produce an abundance of insulin in an attempt to keep glucose levels normal. Insulin is also a growth hormone, and too much of it (as is the case with insulin resistance) can promote weight gain, especially around the midsection. We get tired after meals, crave sugar, our cholesterol numbers take a hit, blood pressure climbs, and we can have problems with blood clotting.  Premature aging occurs as cells are insulted by the extra insulin in our system, increasing rates of heart attack, stroke, dementia and cancer. Who needs any of that?

 

 

This is what you do

There’s no reason to turn tail and run. Instead, stand tall and start a few healthy lifestyle habits to maintain insulin sensitivity and live a long and healthy life.

Eat whole, fresh foods

Food is information that controls your gene expression, hormones (think insulin) and metabolism.  Make vegetables a staple to every meal, include several servings of fruit, have a small handful of nuts or seeds, and eat three to six servings of whole grains like quinoa, barley, oats and wild rice on a daily basis.  If you consume animal products, have three servings of nonfat or low-fat dairy and 3-6 ounces of fish, seafood, poultry or lean meat daily.

Limit sugars and unhealthy fats

These are the inflamers in our diet, upping insulin levels and promoting inflammation and disease with the downward spiral of loss of glucose control.  Fruit really is delicious, and sometimes sweeter than sweets, so go for it first. The longer you avoid sweets, the less they’ll be craved. Steer clear of coconut oil (I know, it’s touted as healthy, but it’s 97% saturated, and that’s the unhealthy fat), palm oils, fatty meats like bacon, sausage and ribs, and read labels to limit saturated fats to < 10 grams daily.

Find the fiber

Another reason to adopt a veggie/fruit/nuts and seeds/legumes/whole grain-heavy diet is because these high fiber foods reduce the body’s need for insulin, helping to keep us insulin sensitive.

Move it

It being you.  A daily dose of any type of exercise, combined with more steps in your day, more movement of any kind in your day, may be the most powerful medicine to make your cells more insulin sensitive.  One of the best exercise combos for normal glucose and insulin levels is HIIT training (High Intensity Interval Training) and weight resistance exercise.

Manage stress

Chronic stress elevates cortisol, your main stress hormone. Increased cortisol levels elevate glucose and promote the accumulation of belly fat. Manage stress by whatever means work for you; exercise, meditation, yoga, deep breathing, visualization …

Protect your sleep

Studies show that making sufficient, sound sleep a priority contributes to insulin sensitivity.  A good night’s sleep also helps manage stress, so limit food intake before bed, develop a sleep routine of relaxing before bed, clear your mind of the day’s thoughts, and get your z’s.

 

 

If this feels like a lot, start with one or two items, and get them in your routine, then branch out.  It isn’t an all-or-nothing mentality that keeps us insulin resistant (that’s stressful for Pete’s sake), it’s being in the ballpark 75% of the time.

 

Karen Fisher, MS, RDN, CDE is a dietitian in Reno, Nevada, happily promoting the benefits of healthy foods at her nutrition consulting firm, Nutrition Connection. Find her website at www.NutritionConnectionNV.com