What is insulin resistance

1. What is insulin resistance? Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas. It is like a key, opening the door lock on the cells and allowing the cells to start absorbing nutrients (glycogen). The cells absorb nutrients in the blood, and blood sugar The level naturally drops, so insulin has the effect of lowering blood sugar. Modern people eat a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates, which causes blood sugar to rise rapidly. The pancreas will work overtime to secrete a large amount of insulin to direct the cells to absorb glycogen. The cells are often soaked in a large amount of insulin. Over time, the "keyhole" begins to "rust" and the insulin " It becomes increasingly difficult to open the door. The door of the cell cannot be opened or only opens a small gap. Only a small amount of glycogen is absorbed into the cell. This causes two problems: First, there is a large amount of glycogen in the blood that cannot be absorbed by the cell. , causing symptoms of hyperglycemia. Second, cells cannot absorb glycogen from the blood and are in a state of starvation, unable to effectively provide nutrients to body organs. Although there is a large amount of insulin and glycogen in the blood, the cells cannot normally accept the instructions of insulin to transport glycogen, resulting in a situation where the blood sugar is extremely high but the cells are malnourished, which is insulin resistance. Insulin resistance often presents with the following symptoms: * Sweet craving * Not feeling full after a meal * Feeling hungry soon after a meal * Eating greatly raises mood levels * Post-meal sleepiness * Post-meal brain fog * Memory loss * Abdominal obesity * Fatty liver disease * Fatigue easily* Irritability* High blood pressure* Edema* Frequent urination at night* Polycystic ovary syndrome is more common in women. These are caused by the inability of cells to transport nutrients to the brain or other organs. The body is in a situation of excess calories but malnutrition. 2. What causes insulin resistance? First, eating a lot of sugar and refined carbohydrates for a long time. In order to adjust the taste, modern food processing companies will add a lot of white sugar to food. You can pay attention to the food ingredients list when you go to the supermarket to shop. , see how many foods have white sugar as the second ingredient in their ingredient list, and see how many foods you can find that don’t contain white sugar. Most of our daily food has also been refined and belongs to refined carbohydrates. After this kind of food is refined, the vitamins and trace elements are exhausted, leaving only super high energy. When it enters the body, it will be quickly digested, increase blood sugar, and stimulate The pancreas secretes insulin in large amounts. Second, the development of frequent eating of packaged foods, convenience foods and takeaways allows people to quickly and conveniently purchase any food from any channel at a moment’s notice. There are snacks everywhere at the table, in hand and in the tea room, every time Eating will trigger the pancreas to secrete insulin. We work 8 hours a day, but the pancreas is on call at any time from 6 am to 23:00, and works overtime at any time. And our blood sugar levels have been rising and falling. Cells are opened by insulin several times a day and are soaked in high concentrations of insulin for a long time. Over time, it will become resistant to insulin signals. 3. How to reverse insulin resistance To reverse insulin resistance, we must start with the factors that trigger excessive insulin secretion and the lifestyle habits that frequently trigger insulin. Since sugar and refined carbohydrates will trigger a large amount of insulin secretion, we can try to choose whole grains or low-glycemic index foods in our diet, and adopt a diet that completely cuts out sugar and refined carbohydrates, such as a ketogenic diet. To deal with factors that frequently stimulate insulin secretion, we can use intermittent fasting to reduce the frequency of eating and extend the fasting time as much as possible, so that the pancreas can work less and gain more time to rest and repair. If the above two methods are adopted, the symptoms of insulin resistance can generally be reversed in 3-8 months. For improving the symptoms of insulin resistance, the contribution rate of ketogenic diet is about 20% to 30% (so you can also adopt other low-sugar and low-refined carbohydrate diets that suit you), and the contribution rate of intermittent fasting is about 60%. Around 80% in total. If you use a healthy version of the ketogenic diet (net keto), the contribution rate of the diet can be increased by 10 percentage points, because the net keto diet itself focuses on the intake of trace elements such as vitamins, potassium, magnesium, and chromium. These nutrients Helps speed up the repair of pancreas and cells. The remaining 10% to 20% comes from moderate exercise, reducing stress, and getting enough and good sleep. 4. The first sign of improvement in insulin resistance is that hunger is reduced and disappeared. You can maintain an empty stomach for a longer period of time, without feeling hungry between meals, and can smoothly transition to the next meal. Second, abdominal fat is reduced. You can obviously feel the reduction in waist circumference, because the fat in the abdomen, especially around the liver, is decomposing and disappearing, and the symptoms of fatty liver are significantly improved. Third, blood pressure drops. When you are in a state of high insulin and high blood sugar, the arteries will become very stiff and inelastic. When the above problems are improved, the blood vessels will slowly regain their elasticity and the blood pressure will be improved. However, vascular recovery is a slow process, and it often takes about a year to see significant improvement. Fourth, blood sugar level improvement. For most people, the improvement in blood sugar level will be immediate, but if you have suffered from type 2 diabetes for many years, it may take about a year to truly control blood sugar levels. Fifth, energy level is improved. This is a very obvious indicator. Whether it is during your work or after a meal, your energy level will be significantly improved. Especially post-meal drowsiness and brain fog will gradually disappear. Sixth, memory and concentration are improved. The increase in insulin sensitivity of cells increases the ability of cells to carry nutrients, and the brain nerves can receive more nourishment. At the same time, the high-quality unsaturated fatty acids consumed in the keto diet also help the brain. The growth of nerve conduction and synapses improves memory and concentration. Symptoms of insulin resistance can be reversed by adopting a healthy diet, combined with intermittent fasting, adding appropriate amounts of exercise, and ensuring adequate sleep.