Insulin Resistance
Heart disease is the leading cause of death. But it’s insulin resistance that causes heart disease, strokes, cancers and other inflammatory conditions. Since your doctor won’t help you avoid it, here are 43 sentences that will:
Insulin resistance occurs due to poor metabolic health
When you eat, your pancreas naturally releases insulin to absorb the sugar out of your bloodstream into the muscle, fat and liver cells
If sugar levels are chronically elevated, your body, like a drug addict, requires more insulin to have the same effect
You can be insulin resistant without any symptoms, since it’s a leading indicator and blood sugar is a lagging indicator
Once the pancreas is forced to start putting out more insulin, the body begins the process of dealing with increased inflammation
Over 88% of the population are not metabolically healthy based on blood pressure, blood sugar, triglycerides or waist circumference
Type II diabetes is really an advanced case of insulin resistance
A waist measurement of 40 inches or more for men is linked to insulin resistance which also happens to be the average waist size for men over 25
You can have insulin resistance without being overweight
Exercise and physical activity allow the muscle to pull sugar from your bloodstream and use it for fuel
Walking before or after meals, even for just 5 minutes, helps to stabilize blood sugar
Muscle is the most metabolically active tissue, the more of it you build, the more insulin sensitive you’ll be, all else being equal
Added sugar and refined grains are the foods most closely linked to insulin resistance
Drinking your calories is a recipe for poor metabolic health
Heart disease is an inflammatory cascade kicked off by insulin resistance, not cholesterol or meat
A diet high in omega 6/omega 3 ratio of fatty acids is linked to increased inflammation and disease
Seed oils (canola, safflower, sunflower, soybean etc) have high omega 6/3 ratios and are added to the majority of packaged foods because they are cheap and have a long shelf life
Eating more eggs and less toast for breakfast will improve your HDL (good cholesterol) while decreasing harmful triglycerides
Sun exposure decreased insulin resistance, insulin levels and triglycerides in a study on diabetics
Inactivity and obesity are the number 1 associations with insulin resistance
Carbs are not the enemy for everyone but for those with insulin resistance or specifically type II diabetes, reducing carb intake should be a focus until a normal baseline is achieved
Fasting has shown promising results for glucose control, gut health and improving insulin sensitivity
A high triglyceride to HDL ratio is one of the biggest risk factors for increased mortality
Conversely, a low ratio drastically decreases mortality risk. Triglycerides and HDL are both affected by improving your metabolic health
Resistance training raises HDL and lowers triglycerides and blood sugar
Inflammation to blood vessel walls leads to a cascade that can eventually choke off the blood supply resulting in heart attacks and strokes
Abdominal fat and insulin resistance results in inflammation to your organs that can eventually result in various cancers
Muscle mass lost due to aging greatly affects insulin sensitivity but can be combatted with resistance training
Studies show strength-trained 70 year old can have greater quad strength than untrained 30 year old. Resistance training is the fountain of youth
Insulin resistance places you at a higher risk for:
Hypertension
Type II diabetes
All-cause mortality
Majority of cancers
Alzheimer’s disease
Insulin resistance is prevented or reversed by:
Fasting
Lifting weights
Shedding weight
Regular activity (walking)
Reducing processed foods
Reversing your insulin resistance will result in:
Improved energy levels
Less cravings for junk food
Improved mental health
Longer, happier life
Your children are more likely to have insulin resistance if you do, though this is more due to sharing your lifestyle than your genetics
Diets high in protein are inversely correlated with insulin resistance.
Refined grains like breads and pastas are quickly broken down into sugar in your bloodstream.
Chronic sugar in your bloodstream is damaging to the blood vessels, and results in crashes in energy when your body has to respond with a burst of insulin.
Type II diabetes occurs when your pancreas fails to produce enough insulin to manage the sugar, but the damage starts well before the that
Cardiologists we’re not important doctors years ago because heart disease is a modern issue caused by factory food and inactivity
Reversing even advanced insulin resistance is possible with the right mental fortitude, plan and lifestyle adjustments. But the longer you wait, the more challenging it becomes
When in doubt, eat farm foods. Meat, eggs, dairy and whole vegetables.
Resistance training helps build and maintain muscle, even in the elderly which is perhaps when it’s needed the most.
People with heart disease have more linoleic acid in their fat tissues. Linoleic acid makes up 20-70% of seed oils like soybean, canola, sunflower & corn
Exercise is important, but an active lifestyle is just as critical. Walk, bike, chase your kids, take the stairs, pick a 5K race and put it on the calendar as motivation.
Credits:: Masculine Path