You know, I hear it in my clinic each and every day - my doctor’s checked my blood sugar levels and I’m totally ok…  Doug or I check their insulin resistance and it’s in the high risk for diabetes.  It’s damaging and inflammatory and it’s NOT OK!

What is insulin resistance?

It means that when you eat carbohydrates (anything that turns into sugar - grains, sugar, flour, fruits, starchy vegies (potatoes, pumpkin, carrots, corn etc) creates insulin which, instead of creating energy, increases inflammation and is NOT giving you energy…  Your cell membranes are either not functioning properly - not allowing insulin inside the cells OR the internal pathways within the cells are getting jammed and not allowing the energy production from insulin.

Is insulin bad?

No.  It is a crucial hormone - each and every cell in your body requires it to make energy.

Is insulin resistance bad?  What health problems does insulin resistance cause?

Yes!  When insulin isn’t getting into our cells it becomes a very inflammatory and dangerous hormone which has the ability to create:

• blood sugar issues
• dizziness
• diabetes
• peripheral neuropathy
• dementia
• memory issues
• degeneration of the nerves in our hands, feet and brain
• chronic fatigue and fibromyalgia
• insulin, being a hormone, if out of whack can create an imbalance with any other hormone

How can I find out if I have insulin resistance?

We do a simple blood test (2-3 drops from your finger - the more hydrated you are the easier the test is!!!) which gives us the results in about 3-4 minutes.  Easy!

Are there supplements I can take to reverse insulin resistance?

Yes there are:  My favourite supplements are

• Insulex; 6 daily which is for insulin resistance combined with lots of pain
• Resist X; 4 daily which is for insulin resistance, sugar cravings and low energy (also helps girls gain a ‘waist’ over a period of time; contains ingredients such as korean ginseng, cinnamon and chromium
• combination of these 2 if it’s really dangerous!
• Krill oil works through increasing HDL cholesterol (good HDL levels are crucial for good hormone production and decreasing our risk of stroke, heart disease and diabetes) - there are many qualities of krill oil - be careful with supermarket brands
• Shake It Extra - high protein meal replacement with the ingredients of insulex in the formula.

What foods should I avoid until my insulin resistance is within the ’safe’ range?

Anything that turns into sugar is very inflammatory and exhausting for your body to cope with when we have insulin resistance.  Insulin is a fat-storing hormone when out of balance - and a huge reason for obesity.

• All grains and flours:  wheat, rye, spelt, rice, oats, barley
• All fruits
• All starchy vegetables:  potatoes, pumpkin, carrots…
• breads, cakes, cereals (obviously - they contain the ingredients above)
• sugar (yes, I commonly get ask if it’s bad)
• alcohol - turns straight into sugar - and our body burns it down first, before anything else!

Starting to make a little sense??

Talk soon,

Madonna
Chief Clinician
New Leaf Natural Therapies
3348 6098 / 0417 643 849

Do you have blood sugar highs and lows?  Insulin Resistance can be a huge contributor to pain: causing us to store fluid, become more acidic, be more inflamed… and doctors RARELY find it!

We work with many weight loss challenges in our clinic, and insulin resistance is huge!  We have a small blood analysis machine that tells us on the spot how ‘insulin resistant’ someone is.  This is a pre-diabetic condition which medically doesn’t get picked up due to the fact that it’s NOT diabetes.  Medically (and there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this) they are always waiting for tests to be bad enough to 1. put us on medication; 2. send us to a specialist or 3. operate.

I tell my clients all the time ‘thank goodness they didn’t find anything!!’.  Insulin resistance means that the cells are not taking in insulin easily and/or the internal mechanism of the cell which deals with insulin isn’t working.

One of my clients yesterday has been exercising his butt off, changing his diet and weight hasn’t come off.  Yesterday his insulin resistance was huge (about 6x maximum level for ’safe’ insulin levels - no wonder his body isn’t losing weight.  The small amounts of carbohydrates he’s having (fruits, rice crackers, bread…hmmm, and cereals) are simply storing as fat.  His body can’t handle them at the moment.

By the way, insulin is a very inflammatory hormone when out of whack - it can be a major cause of obesity, heart disease, diabetes and pain.

Luckily we have some fabulous products which help reverse insulin resistance.

Madonna Guy ND

Chief Clinician at New Leaf