Insulin
You may be familiar with insulin and its roll in diabetes. If you need a little refresher, here’s the low down on Insulin and how it leads to fat storage.
Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to elevated blood sugar levels. Type 1 diabetics require insulin injections because their pancreas either doesn’t make doesn’t make enough to supply their bodies’ needs. It helps keep blood glucose levels stable by making the body use or store blood sugar by driving all that blood sugar into your cells. When your body experiences a spike in blood sugar as the result of consuming high sugar foods, it will secrete a large amount of insulin.
The problem with this is that it causes an insulin spike, which forces your body to use that blood sugar. If you have more blood sugar than you really need to feed your cells, it gets stored as fat. In fact, the body can only store fat when insulin is present. So, people who are trying to lose weight should avoid insulin spikes. Hence the reasoning behind avoiding high sugar foods.
This is bad enough, but it can also cause you to lose lean muscle. Here’s how…when insulin brings down the blood sugar levels often times it “over-corrects” by causing low blood sugar. The body normally combats low blood sugar by releasing energy from stored fat, but the high levels of insulin will not allow this to happen. The only source of energy in this circumstance is protein. Your body will break down muscle protein when faced with this dilemma. And who wants to gain fat and lose lean muscle at the same time?
The one time that insulin spikes can be good is for those who are bodybuilding. Many weight lifters intentionally eat foods that will cause an insulin spike right after a workout, so that their muscles get fed quickly.
Simplified, insulin turns ON fat storage and turns OFF fat burning
The skinny on being a skinny fat person
This is a crazy s statistic, but approximately half of all Americans have some degree of diabesity, which is diabetes + obesity. When you’re overweight or skinny fat (normal weight but you have too much fat mass), insulin becomes imbalanced and your body will stop using insulin properly. As a result, when you experience blood sugar highs and lows, you store fat because glucose is not being regulated. Insulin has stopped working, your hormones are out of whack and your weight loss goals are off track. And now you’ve stepped on the rollercoaster.
How to reset your insulin
1. Drink filtered water with two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before a high carb meal. This will help reduce blood glucose levels in people with insulin resistance.
2. Give up sugar and artificial sweeteners.
3. Avoid anything made with white flower
4. Eat foods with a lower carbohydrate/low Glycemic Index amount (lean meats and vegetables)
5. Eat foods with a higher carbs/Glycemic Index post workout
