Why you need to know about insulin and what it does in your body.

As part of our Fall Leaner Stronger Sooner  Fat Loss program, we offer our clients sample menus to follow to get an idea of how to eat in real life.  These menus enable them to eat a wide variety of whole foods that also have a low glycemic load to keep their blood sugar stable to maximize energy and fat loss throughout the day.  These menus are based on 1400, 1600, and 1800 calories since that is a common caloric range for most of our clients for weight loss.

When we talk about the glycemic load of foods, we are not just talking about the glycemic index of foods.  In his book, The Glycemic Load Diet, cardiologist, Ron Thompson, MD explains the negative effect of too much sugar and starch in our diets.

“Two recent discoveries have turned the world of nutrition upside down: a) the discovery that most overweight individuals and people with adult-onset (type 2) diabetes have a condition called insulin resistance and b) the concept of glycemic loads of carbohydrates.”

“Insulin resistance,” he writes, “isn’t exactly a disease—it’s a variation in the way people’s bodies process carbohydrates, foods your body breaks down into glucose.  About 22% of the American population can’t handle the starch and sugar in their diets without producing excessive insulin.”

Why should I care about insulin resistance?

Insulin resistance is a condition in which the body produces insulin but does not use it properly. Insulin, a hormone made by the pancreas, helps the body use glucose for energy. Glucose is a form of sugar that is the body’s main source of energy.

The body’s digestive system breaks food down into glucose, which then travels in the bloodstream to cells throughout the body. Glucose in the blood is called blood glucose, also known as blood sugar. As the blood glucose level rises after a meal, the pancreas releases insulin to help cells take in and use the glucose.

When people are insulin resistant, their muscle, fat, and liver cells do not respond properly to insulin. As a result, their bodies need more insulin to help glucose enter cells. The pancreas tries to keep up with this increased demand for insulin by producing more. Eventually, the pancreas fails to keep up with the body’s need for insulin. Excess glucose builds up in the bloodstream, setting the stage for diabetes. Many people with insulin resistance have high levels of both glucose and insulin circulating in their blood at the same time.

Insulin resistance increases the chance of developing type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Learning about insulin resistance is the first step toward making lifestyle changes that can help prevent diabetes and other health problems.

While there is a genetic predisposition to insulin resistance, not everyone will develop a problem.  That’s because something else- something in their activity and eating patterns brings it on.  Insulin resistance, Dr Thompson explains, is also a muscle problem.

Remember when we talked about the important role that muscle plays in your metabolism? That’s because your muscles are the main users of glycogen and insulin regulates their consumption.  Exercise increases your muscle’s responsiveness to insulin so they take up more glucose.  Inactivity decreases their sensitivity, so they take up less.  That physical inactivity combined with a genetic predisposition towards insulin resistance is often manifests a problem.

If we only ate meat and raw vegetables we wouldn’t have much of a problem because it doesn’t take much insulin to digest these foods.  Meat contains virtually no glucose and the glucose in fresh fruit and vegetables trickles into our bloodstreams slowly, requiring only small amounts of isulin.

The only foods in our diets that call for large amounts of insulin are refined carbohydrates. Insulin resistance becomes a problem only when we consume more starch and sugar than our bodies can handle.

There’s another important factor that brings on insulin resistance and that is being overweight itself.  It’s a vicious cycle.  Weight gain worsens insulin resistance and insulin resistance, in turn, promotes more weight gain.  Even if you weren’t insulin resistant to begin with, if you are overweight, you’re more insulin resistant now than you were before.  Insulin resistance literally locks you into being overweight!

That’s why looking at the glycemic index, the effect of foods on our blood sugar is so important. By constructing our meal plans around foods that do no spike our insulin, our bodies release less insulin and store less body fat.   That means we are not only leaner overall but healthier as well.

We'll talk more about the specific glycemic loads of specific foods in our eblast on Thursday!  In the meantime, check out this previous post ideas to help you eat breakfast!  Breakfast sets the tone for your entire day:  eat breakfast to keep  your blood sugar stable, your energy high and your waist line trim.

For more information on our Leaner Stronger Sooner Fat Loss and Pilates programs, call us at 913 499 7510 today!   Because at Pilates 1901, we don't just change bodies, we change lives!

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