Insulin Resistance

If you’ve had trouble losing weight, you may have insulin resistance and not know it. Basic blood tests may show a normal or slightly high fasting blood glucose, which would not alert your doctor to order further testing. A glucose tolerance test will expose insulin resistance.

After consuming a sweet beverage, the patient’s blood is drawn up to 4 times to measure fasting and blood sugar levels.

The problem with insulin resistance is that the cells are no longer sensitive to the hormone…they are resistant to it.

Therefore, insulin is unable to open the cell’s door to let glucose in.

This results in high insulin and glucose levels in the blood. Yet the cells themselves are malnourished, which results in tissue weakness and susceptibility to disease. It’s like standing before a table full of food with tape over your mouth.

Unfortunately, insulin causes an increase in body fat when it is inappropriately high consistently, which then leads to increased morbidity.

What causes insulin resistance? A diet high in simple carbohydrates over a long period causes the cells to be less sensitive to both sugar and insulin, causing these to rise in the blood.

A family history of diabetes may also be a contributing factor.

Elevated insulin can lead to increased body fat, cholesterol, diabetes, and elevated DHT (dihydrotestosterone), a strong form of testosterone.

5 alpha reductase is the enzyme that converts testosterone to DHT. Elevated insulin causes high alpha reductase activity, producing more DHT.

This can be very negative for women as it causes hair growth on the face, back and abdomen.

The most effective way to treat this is to eliminate all simple carbohydrates.

Herbs that inhibit the 5-alpha reductase enzyme may also be prescribed.

If you think you may have insulin resistance, fill in the contact request for a complimentary 10-minute consultation.

In Good Health,

Jane Hendricks NMD