Ep. 199 What Is Insulin Resistance And How Do You Know If You Have It?

Optimizing insulin and blood sugar is really the hidden gem for a lot of people’s hormone healing and weight loss journeys.

After consuming food, especially carbs, blood sugar levels rise. The pancreas detects this increase and releases insulin. Insulin facilitates the update of glucose by cells, promoting conversion into energy or storage as glycogen in the liver and muscles.

In periods of low blood sugar (fasting, between meals, or during physical activity), the pancreas releases glucagon to stimulate the liver to convert stored glycogen into glucose, releasing it into the bloodstream to raise blood glucose levels.

Blood glucose levels are constantly changing within the body, and feedback mechanisms adjust insulin and glucagon release accordingly.

Over time, insulin insensitivity can occur when blood sugars are consistently high, and the pancreas keeps on secreting big dumps of insulin, and the cells start to become resistant to it. Meaning that the message is sent, but it’s never delivered or read.

To compensate, the pancreas will then secrete more insulin in order to push that message through. This can eventually lead to high levels of insulin and blood sugar at the same time!

Insulin resistance can result in:

Excess storage of fat, especially in the midsection (apple shape!)

Reduced energy production.

Less ability to burn calories and tap into fat stores.

Poor blood sugar regulation.

Muscle loss.

Systemic inflammation and immune system issues.

Other hormonal imbalances.

It may also contribute to high triglyceride levels, low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure, and propel you toward metabolic syndrome, increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

In this episode, we want to take a deep dive into all things insulin and insulin resistance so you understand what your body is doing from a hormonal level and what you can do to counteract these potential consequences.

Everyone is different though so make sure you seek out those trained to handle more complex cases like us here at Vital Spark!

Time Stamps:

(2:14) Insulin Resistance

(3:52) What Is Insulin?

(6:20) Storage Forms of Glucose

(8:29) What Happens When Blood Sugar Gets Low?

(12:57) Omar’s Honest Thoughts Where He’s At

(19:16) Common Signs of Insulin Resistance

(24:44) Fasted Blood Insulin Marker

(27:44) Normal vs Optimal

(30:12) Tracking Blood Sugar

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