MANAGING INSULIN RESISTENCE. NATURALLY
6 Steps Towards Reversing
Insulin Resistance
Sleep & Stress
Addressing stress and sleep should be your absolute #1 priority when trying to reverse insulin resistance. This is where the healing begins. No diet or exercise regime will fix the problem without addressing these crucial stressors first.
High levels of on-going (chronic) stress increases circulating cortisol, consequently increasing insulin resistance.
Our body doesn't recognise the difference between the threat of being chased by a tiger to modern day threats like pining phones, work pressures or screaming kids. The difference is that in our modern lives, many of us live under constant stress, or hyper vigilant states without 'coming down'. But the biggest problem is that most of us don’t even perceive this as stress. It's just considered 'living'.
While short periods of stress is important and vital for our health and survival. It's the on-going chronic 'low-grade' stress that is doing the damage.
In these states, the body is constantly under pressure to release the hormone insulin, necessary to control the utilisation of glucose. Over time, cells in the body stop responding to insulin (insulin resistance) and therefore not able to control glucose. This leaves glucose circulating in the blood, and not entering the cells.
Increased circulating blood glucose negatively influence poor eating habits, fatigue and sleep disturbances. In-turn, poor food choice, physical inactivity, and poor sleep can also increase insulin resistance.
Prioritising stress management and getting 8 hours of good quality sleep should be of upmost importance.
Exercise
Physical inactivity not only increases your risk of insulin resistance and diabetes, but also a host of other metabolic and age-related diseases including Alzheimer's disease, obesity, cardiovascular disease & cancer.
Being overweight, or carrying too much fat around the middle is a dead give-away that you may be at risk or currently have insulin resistance. For women this can be exacerbated by hormonal shifts during peri-menopause, therefore increasing the importance of prioritising self-care.
Tips for making your exercise regime successful.
Exercise at the same time each day. Schedule it into your daily routine.
Exercise should be enjoyable and not a form of punishment. Find something you love and will actually look forward to doing.
Resistance training 3-4x per week
Aerobic workouts every other day
Regular walking, time outside, playing with children, gardening & dancing are fabulous ways to increase 'incidental' exercise.
Food choices
It's no secret that what you eat and drink will have a significant influence on your metabolic health.
Removing certain foods from your diet should be an empowering experience, not a depriving one. Consider yourself a queen or king that deserves only the very best for your royal body & mind.
Foods to cut / limit
Caffeine
Alcohol!!!
Sugar
Refined carbohydrates
Processed & packaged foods
Foods to add
Herbs & Spices (eg. Ginger, turmeric, parsley, coriander)
Green tea & matcha tea (a fabulous coffee sustitute)
High fibre foods
Good quality lean protein with each meal
Intermitted fasting
Research shows that intermitted fasting or time restricted eating can be helpful for women and men to reduce insulin resistance, especially in older populations.
The best place to start is with 12 strict hours of restricted eating. This means no food except water for an entire 12 hours. Eg. 7pm to 7am.
This is considered safe for all populations aside from infants and pregnant or lactating women.
Aim to stop eating completely 1-3 hours before bedtime, and avoid eating in the first hour of waking. This will promote better quality sleep, digestion, metabolic function and hormone regulation.
For men; exceeding the time restricted window to 16 hours has been shown to be very valuable. However women need to be more careful with longer fasting windows especially if they are a particularly active or are considered a highly strung person.
It's advised to speak with you health practitioner for the best individualised time-restricting protocol.
Supplementation
Before taking any supplement it's important to speak with your health practitioner to get an personalised supplement protocol. This ensures safety and optimal results. Further, not all supplements are considered equal, and can often be a total waste of money. So getting advice from a trained professional means you'll get way more bang for your buck.
Believe it not, but getting all the required nutrients from your diet can actually be very difficult. Even when you're trying to eating a diverse healthy diet.
3 reasons why we aren't getting enough vitamins and minerals from our diet
Commercially grown fresh produce typically has lower vitamin and mineral density than organic produce. It also usually spent months in storage and travelled through multiple states by the time it gets on our plate, further degrading it's nutritional value due to time.
Throw pesticides and herbicides on top of that, and the bioavailability of vitamins and mineral is reduced again.
Stress! When we are in a stressful state (sympathetic nervous system dominance), our body goes into 'fight or flight' mode restricting energy and resources into digestion. Even the smallest stressor or mindless eating behaviour like eating your lunch while working or driving will significantly reduce your ability to digest and absorb nutrients properly. What a wasted opportunity. Always try to eat in a relaxed and distraction free environment. A good tip is to take 5 deep belly breaths before eating any meal. This can trick your body into a parasympathetic 'rest and digest' state.
Processed and packaged foods are not always as healthy as they claim to be. Marketing companies are very clever at advertising something as 'healthy' or containing nutrients like 'probiotics' or 'high fibre' when indeed the contribution of such ingredients is very minimal amongst the added sugar and refined ingredients. Overall packaged and processed foods lack nutrient diversity and are often laden with pro-inflammatory ingredients like vegetable oils and sugars.
Nutrients to help lower insulin resistance
Chromium
One of the most studied nutrients for insulin resistance is the mineral chromium. Chromium improved glucose tolerance and supports insulin regulating activities.
Magnesium
Magnesium (especially for women) plays a vital role in regulating metabolic function and insulin resistance. Magnesium can also help with exercise recovery, sleep quality and stress management, necessary for managing insulin resistance.
Seek support
Get advice from a registered health practitioner to support you towards better health and longevity. Profession support can help you make informed decisions and put into practice an action plan based on your individual circumstances and health needs.
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