Is Insulin Resistance stopping you from losing weight?
Summary:
Read this article to know if insulin resistance is the culprit behind not losing weight as you hoped. What other problems can it cause?
Insulin resistance. Let’s start with understanding what insulin resistance is.
Insulin is this hormone responsible for allowing your body cells to absorb the glucose from your blood. Your pancreas makes this hormone, which helps in reducing the glucose amount in your blood. When your body cells develop insulin resistance, the cells don’t absorb glucose as much, as the cells are not responsive towards insulin anymore. This makes the glucose stay in the bloodstream, which increases blood sugar. We know what happens next.
However, the pancreas sometimes rescues the situation by making more insulin, which helps when the cells have a weaker response. Nonetheless, if overlooked or ignored, it can give rise to high blood pressure, high cholesterol, obesity, and type-2 diabetes in the long run. As per National Urban Diabetes Survey, 14% of the population is pre-diabetic in India. High time that we pay attention to this.
Why does it happen?
The root cause of this is the body cells losing their ability to respond to insulin. How it happens, researchers are not sure, but it has been strongly linked to lifestyle, diet, and genetics.
What to do about it?
To answer the question in the title, no. You can still lose weight while having insulin resistance in your body. As long as you start early in taking care of your health, eat healthy, work out and do regular checkups, you should be fine. Here’s how to reverse the insulin resistance-
Eat healthily
Diet is an integral part of treating insulin resistance. Consume a lot of whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. Plan your meals and avoid high-calorie food and drinks. Plan your meals to mind your sugar and starch intake, include proteins and fiber in your diet more.
Exercise regularly
Physical activity makes your body more sensitive to insulin. Make sure to get at least 30 mins a day of moderate activity more than five times a week. The earlier you start this, the better chance you will have at avoiding diabetes.
Maintain a healthy weight
Though there are many ways to find an ideal healthy weight, it cannot wholly depend on these methods, as they can miscalculate muscle mass with fat mass. The best option here is to talk to your dietician or your healthcare provider.
With only a few lifestyle changes, you can avoid being diabetic at later stages of your life. Make these 3 points your mantra and follow them religiously. You’ll find yourself walking out of the worries of being diabetic when you’re older.
Points to remember:
- The food you eat is broken down into glucose.
- The glucose needs to be absorbed into your body cells, broken down further to release energy.
- If the cells somehow lose the ability to respond to insulin (insulin resistance), the glucose remains in your bloodstream.
- As the glucose accumulates, it turns into high blood sugar, a precursor to type-2 diabetes.
- To avoid all these, work out regularly, eat healthily, and maintain a healthy weight.
References:
- National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases, (2018). Insulin Resistance & Prediabetes [online] Available at: https://www.niddk.nih.gov/health-information/diabetes/overview/what-is-diabetes/prediabetes-insulin-resistance
- Mayo Clinic, (2020). Insulin and weight gain: Keep the pounds off [online] Available at: https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/diabetes/in-depth/insulin-and-weight-gain/art-20047836
- CDC, (2021). Insulin resistance and Diabetes [online] Available at: https://www.cdc.gov/diabetes/basics/insulin-resistance.html
