If You Can't Lose Weight No Matter What You Try, You May be Insulin Resistant

Many people have tried every diet in the book, every exercise, and they still don't know how to lose the weight? If this sounds like you or someone you know, then you may be insulin resistant, and need to learn a new, but easy way to eat so that way your body can best use your food to give you energy and be at a healthy weight. To know whether you are insulin resistant, we need to first understand what it means to be insulin resistant and possibly pre-diabetic. These are different things.

To understand the difference we first must understand that insulin is made from the pancreas and actually determines how well each cell absorbs glucose or sugar. Insulin resistance, also known as syndrome X, actually refers to people who produce insulin as they should, but their body does not know what to do with it. In turn, their cells are not absorbing as they should. To compensate, the pancreas then will produce more insulin. Pre-diabetes is actually where the level of sugar in the body is higher than normal, but not so high that it can be considered Type II Diabetes. In essence Insulin Resistance can lead to pre-diabetes which can lead to Type II Diabetes. Therefore, if you fall under any of these, you want to consider a change in lifestyle. Through The Insulin Resistance Diet Book by Hart and Grossman, you can learn easy ways to change your diet, while still eating the foods you love. I first became aware of the book through my doctor and am glad I did!

One of the most important things to realize is the likelihood that you are insulin resistant. Of those who are considered overweight, 75 percent are insulin resistant or worse. About 30 million people in the United States are insulin resistant, and they can be this for ten to twelve years before developing Type II Diabetes.

To know if you are insulin resistant it is good to know the symptoms, here is an extensive list of possible symptoms. According to hart and Grossman, if you have at least three of these, you are at high risk of being insulin resistant. The more that you have, the more likely you are. This list is not as comprehensive and much more simplified than the quiz you will find in the book.

• acne
• overweight with inability to lose despite exercise and diet
• hypoglycemia
• feeling jittery
• polycystic ovarian syndrome
• high blood pressure
• craving sugar and carbohydrates
• apple shaped obesity
• hirsutism (unwanted hair)
• skin tag
• the need to eat often or excessive amount of food
• gaining weight even when eating small amounts of food
• irregular periods - skipping months
• headaches and difficulty thinking
• nausea that goes away when you eat
• afternoon fatigue
• gout
• history of blood clots

If you have three or more of the above symptoms it is very likely that you suffer from Insulin Resistant.

In order to understand why insulin resistance would lead to being overweight, or even obesity, it is important to understand the role that insulin plays in our bodies. Insulin has three main functions: It transforms food into energy, helps regulate blood sugar levels, and helps store fat. As you can see, if your insulin levels are not as they should be it will effect your energy levels, and you will also have extra fat stored.

Our main source of energy is found through carbohydrates, which would include starches, sugars, fruits, etc. These carbohydrates are broken down into sugar. Ideally it will be broken down to glucose, since that is the simplest sugar and the only one that can be used as energy. What often happens in an insulin resistant person is their body will actually overreact when they eat carbohydrates by producing an unnecessary level of insulin, which in turn causes you to store more fat. 

What this means for weight gain is, when your insulin levels are high, you are storing more fat, so you need to learn how to lower your insulin levels so that way we won't be gaining weight. In fact, if we can keep them at a lower threshold than we will actually begin to lose weight. One would think that with all this insulin, the energy level would be better, but when someone is insulin resistant they are more apt to store glucose as fat, not energy.

First, buy your copy of The Insulin Resistance Diet to better understand this. No I do not get paid to promote them, I just think their book really really makes sense, and people would benefit from it. You can actually buy this used at Amazon for $.01 plus shipping, and I strongly recommend you do that. Or get it through your library.

Until you have a chance to fully understand their diet, you can give yourself a start, by following these simple tips.

Whenever you eat, pair a protein with whatever you eat. So if you are going to eat toast, put no-sugar-added peanut butter on it, or eat a can of yogurt, or a hard boiled egg. When you go to grab some chips for a snack, eat a stick of string cheese. If you want to be more healthy grab an apple and smear peanut butter on it. Make sure you have a protein at every meal. Preferably a healthy one. The third chapter goes into details about what proteins are best, and how much to eat of each one. Don't be overwhelmed it's actually simple. Follow the books guidelines and learn the details slowly, so it will be much easier to follow.

Through this diet, you won't have to prepare yourself different food than your family, like you do with the Atkins or other diets. You also won't have to make out charts and lists. You just have to understand the importance of different types of food. Good luck, and I hope you find success losing weight. For those of us who don't need to lose weight, you will realize you have more energy, in just a short time!

• http://www.ehow.com/facts_5602704_differences-between-pre_diabetes-insulin-resistance.html
• Hart, Cheryle R, Mary Kay Grossman. The Insulin-Resistance Diet; Lincolnwood, IL: Contemporary Books, c2001.