Insulin Resistance - Part 3
In some people, the body compensates for the down regulation by producing more and more insulin. This increased level manages to get the message through. It is not as effective, but it does help the person hold steady. However, if the person is eating high levels of fat as well, the story changes. After seven weeks of a high fat diet, insulin sensitivity is reduced by 57% .(Kaiyala, 1999) This is a striking finding!
Now, you may be starting to get the gist here. So, we who are fatter have fewer places with receptors and if we are eating a lot of foods that evoke insulin, we will create down regulation and have fewer receptors. As you might guess, our opportunity to burn up the glucose is getting smaller and smaller. Our chance of getting fatter is getting bigger and bigger, so to speak.
If we are sugar sensitive, the deck is stacked even more. We are carbohydrate sensitive. Our bodies produce more insulin in response to carbohydrates than a normal body. If we are overweight and sugar sensitive, this is even more true. Gerald Reaven, is a scientist at Stanford University is considered the “Father” of Insulin Resistance. As long ago as 1983, he noted that the degree of obesity is correlated with insulin resistance. (1983)
Reaven is the one who coined the term “Syndrome X” to describe the health effects of high insulin. (1994) These include diabetes, increased triglycerrides, decreased HDL cholesterol (the good kind) and hypertension. Many people who are overweight have increased triglycerrides, imbalanced cholesterol ratios and hypertension (high blood pressure). They may not have been diagnosed with diabetes but the “worry” is there. But their primary focus remains on being fat. I believe it is critical to hold the bigger picture when dealing with insulin resistance.
And so you are more and more miserable about being fat, you keep eating sugar stuff and white things as comfort and things get worse and worse. No wonder we are desperate and miserable. It feels overwhelming and unsolvable . No wonder so many people try so many diets.
Many of the popular diet programs are designed to address the problem of insulin resistance. “Cut the carbs, increase the protein and don't worry so much about fat,” they say. And this will decrease the amount of insulin. Decreasing the amount of insulin will reduce your insulin resistance and you will start losing weight. This is true. This is why these programs have so much appeal. They have a dramatic effect for a little while.
But the story is bigger and more complex . Increasing fat contributes to insulin resistance as well. So you may initially lose weight on the high protein/low carb diets by reducing your carbohydrates. But the increased fat levels are wreaking havoc with your insulin resistance. This won't show up for a while. While you are rejoicing over your weight loss, your body will be setting the stage for trouble down the line.
There is more. Your body needs carbohydrates to function. Carbohydrates provide fuel. They give you energy. Your muscles need them in order to ignite the burn process. Your muscles use fat as their primary fuel, but the glucose that comes from the carbohydrate serves as the lighter fuel to ignite the longer burning fat.
And most important to you as a sugar sensitive person, you need to guard your serotonin levels. If you are working rigorously to reduce the carbs without understanding the whole picture, you are going to get into trouble. If you have low serotonin, you need a controlled insulin response to make sure the tryptophan you get from protein can cross over into your brain and make serotonin. If you work REALLY hard to minimize anything which produces an insulin response, you will end up shortchanging your serotonin. And the serotonin is what gives you impulse control. This is part of the reason why after six weeks on Atkins or Hellers you feel cranky, depressed and raging for something sweet. Your ability to “just say no” goes out the window.
We need to reduce the insulin reactions, but we want to take care of serotonin as well . Here is where the potato comes in. Yes, it is glycemic, and yes, it causes a release of insulin. This is exactly what we want. One, carefully timed, strategic insulin “hit” for serotonin. Keep your mood up, enhance your impulse control, stave away depression. Ole spud works.
But just cutting down on carbs won't fix all the insulin resistance. We will talk more about that story next week. Work on understanding the problem. Really work on making sense of it so when I talk to you about the solution, you can follow step by step what you want to do to heal your insulin resistance. AND protect your sugar sensitive brain.
(c)Kathleen DesMaisons 2006. All rights reserved.
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