If you thought insulin only mattered for people with diabetes, you’ve been underestimating one of the most pivotal players in metabolism. Insulin is a hormone that acts as a significant driver of food addiction, unhealthy weight gain, and chronic disease. That’s why at DishQuo, we believe that insulin science (not calorie counting) is the new gold standard for healthy eating.
What’s Missing from Most Diet Programs
With most diet programs, losing weight feels like a battle against nature. Other eating plans fall flat because they fail to account for how our hormones respond to the food we consume. By carefully selecting each ingredient to optimize glucose response and insulin levels, DishQuo works with your body instead of against it. Here’s how.
Insulin is the “Key” to Success
To understand how insulin works, it helps to imagine it as a key. When our blood glucose gets too high (like after eating a large dessert or drinking regular soda), the pancreas releases insulin into the bloodstream. Insulin acts like a key, unlocking the door to cells throughout the body. Insulin lets the sugar in, providing energy to power everything from our brains, muscles, and even our lungs.
Without insulin, we can’t survive. In type I diabetes (an autoimmune disorder), the immune system attacks the pancreas, rendering it unable to make insulin. When left untreated, people with type I diabetes are unable to absorb nutrients and calories. Due to a lack of insulin, they eventually succumb to malnutrition. Fortunately, we now have options for injecting insulin, so type I diabetes is a treatable condition.
Insulin Resistance, a Hidden Health Problem
The extreme example of type I diabetes demonstrates why insulin is essential. The absence of insulin can kill us. However, too much of a good thing can also be bad. For various reasons, our bodies may grow resistant to insulin’s effects. Genetics, excess body weight, high-stress levels, a lack of physical activity, and the foods we eat all contribute to insulin resistance, and for some, the development of type 2 diabetes.
In reference to the above metaphor, the “key” gets rusty in insulin resistance. If insulin can’t perform its job well, the sugar stays in the blood instead of entering our cells. This excess blood sugar has to be filtered and flushed out through our kidneys instead of being used by our cells, wreaking havoc on our circulation and organ systems in the process.
It’s been said that having high blood sugar is like shards of glass floating in our bloodstream. Sugar chips away at us internally, causing inflammation, artery damage, and in the worse cases, kidney failure, blindness, and amputations.
Unfortunately, the symptoms of insulin resistance aren’t always noticeable, especially in the early stages. It’s easy to adapt to your blood sugars being on the high side. It can take some time for your body to get used to running on “normal” blood sugar levels when you start to improve your lifestyle. A well-rounded nutrition program provides slow-releasing energy that keeps you sustained and satisfied as you adopt positive changes.
What You Can Do to Boost Insulin Sensitivity
The good news is that there’s a lot we can do to improve our cells’ sensitivity to insulin. Since high circulating insulin levels are contradictory to fat burning, it only makes sense to get insulin under control to help manage body weight. Balanced nutrition, stress management, adequate sleep, and physical activity support optimal insulin levels and weight loss.
To minimize blood sugar and insulin spikes, start with food. Suggestions include:
- Balancing meals with healthy fats and sufficient protein
- Choosing high-fiber, low-sugar carbohydrates
- Including antioxidants from a vibrant array of natural foods
- Reducing your intake of saturated and trans fats
Together, these changes can help you reach a healthier body composition, protecting against the hazards of insulin resistance with a better ratio of lean body mass to adipose tissue. DishQuo’s scientifically-based algorithms formulate the ideal food pairings to assist you in achieving your goals. With DishQuo handling the menu, you’ll have more time and energy to take care of everything else.
References:
- John Hopkins Medicine. The digestive process: What is the role of your pancreas in digestion?.
- Kolb H, Stumvoll M, Kramer W, Kempf K, Martin S. Insulin translates unfavourable lifestyle into obesity. BMC Med. 2018;16(1):232. Published 2018 Dec 13. doi:10.1186/s12916-018-1225-1
- Lennerz B, Lennerz JK. Food addiction, high-glycemic-index carbohydrates, and obesity. Clinical Chemistry. 2018;64(1):64-71. doi:10.1373/clinchem.2017.273532
- Petersen MC, Shulman GI. Mechanisms of insulin action and insulin resistance. Physiol Rev. 2018;98(4):2133-2223. doi:10.1152/physrev.00063.2017
- Featured image: Photo by Julia Koblitz on Unsplash
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