Does Insulin Resistance Cause Weight Gain?
What is Insulin Resistance? Insulin resistance is a condition where insulin levels are constantly higher than normal, which can cause the body’s own sensitivity to the hormone to be reduced. Once this happens, it can be very challenging to reverse insulin resistance and its effects. This excess insulin in the blood stream may cause the body to respond less and less to the insulin, until the insulin hardly has any effect on the glucose in the blood stream. This can in turn lead to various other health issues, including weight gain. Symptoms of insulin resistance One of the symptoms that you will usually notice earliest is weight gain, especially around the abdominal area. Other common symptoms include: Chronic fatigue Constant Hunger Difficulty maintaining concentration High blood pressure (caused by high circulating levels of insulin in the blood) Causes of insulin resistance The cause of insulin resistance can usually be traced back to poor lifestyle habits, such as: An unhealthy diet. This normally means an unbalanced diet, filled with refined carbohydrates and sugars, which causes the constant need for insulin in the body to keep blood sugar levels under control. Insufficient exercise. The truth is that our lifestyles are becoming less and less active, due to our desk-bound jobs and our free-time activities of choice consisting of sitting in front of a TV or computer. When your body does not get the required amount of exercise, you become much more vulnerable to health issues such as insulin resistance and diabetes. Reverse Insulin Resistance to lose weight and rectify other health problems. The good news is that insulin resistance can be reversed through a healthy lifestyle (diet, exercise and dietary supplements). Follow the Manna Diet to reduce the insulin level Continue reading >>
Why Eating Too Many Carbs Makes You Fat
Carbs and carbs alone, not fat, increase body weight. It doesn't matter whether the carbs are from sugar, bread, fruit, or vegetables: They’re all rapidly digested and quickly converted to blood glucose. A short time after a carb-rich meal, the glucose in your bloodstream rises rapidly, and your pancreas produces a large amount of insulin to take the excess glucose out. Just as eating fat doesn’t raise blood glucose, it doesn't raise insulin levels either. This is important because insulin is the hormone responsible for body fat storage. Because fats do not elicit an insulin response, they cannot be stored as body fat. Insulin takes glucose out of the bloodstream. It is converted first into a starch called glycogen, which is stored in the liver and in muscles. But the body can store only a limited amount of glycogen, so the excess glucose is stored as body fat. This is the process of putting on weight. When your blood glucose level returns to normal, after about 90 minutes, the insulin level in your bloodstream is still near maximum. As a result, the insulin continues to stack glucose away in the form of fat. Ultimately, the level of glucose in your blood falls below normal, and you feel hungry again. So you have a snack of more carbohydrates, and the whole process starts over again. You're getting fatter, but feeling hungry at the same time. Ultimately, insulin resistance caused by continually high insulin levels in your bloodstream impairs your ability to switch on a satiety center in the brain. You enter a vicious cycle of continuous weight gain combined with hunger. Under such circumstances, it is almost impossible not to overeat. Taking Off Weight: Only Cutting Carbs Can Do It So you've put the weight on–now you need to take it off again. Here again, “healt Continue reading >>
Insulin Resistance As A Cause Of Weight Gain And How To Reverse It
1. ONE IN THREE AMERICANS AREPRE-DIABETIC OR INSULIN RESISTANT!According to the CDC, about 35% of all Americans are prediabetic! Let us look at thefactors that contribute to the phenomenal rise of diabetes. While most GovernmentAgencies will have you believe that it is the raise in obesity that is causing it, I will showyou it is the raise in InsulinResistance that is causing theobesity epidemic!Also called metabolicsyndrome, insulin resistance iscommon and accounts formany of the metabolicproblems seen with weightgain. If you have some extraweight especially around yourwaist, you might be insulinresistant! An obesity medicinephysician specializing in themedical management ofobesity and insulin resistancemight be able to help.According to Dr. Prab R. Tumpati, MD, a practicing obesity medicine physician, andfounder of W8MD Medical Weight Loss Centers of America, the current diet which isvery high in refined carbohydrates contributes significantly to this phenomenon of insulinresistance. In order to understand this further, let us take a look at the actions of insulin.What is Insulin?Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that helps control the blood sugars. It alsocontrols many aspects of fat cell metabolism and is the principal anabolic hormone inadults, more important than even growth hormone for adults.How do I know which foods are worse in requiring insulin?Glycemic Index of foods is important because it determines how much insulin your bodyis going to need after the meal. The higher the Glycemic Load, the higher the InsulinRequirements. It is believed that eating high glycemic foods such as Bagels, Doughnuts,white breads, white rice, sweetened beverages etc., the body starts to go into Insulin 2. Resistance. The Insulin Resistance, in turn will lead to higher Continue reading >>
Should I Worry About Weight Gain With Insulin?
I am almost 20 years old, have had type 1 diabetes for eight years, and use insulin glargine (Lantus). Should I try to lower the need for insulin to prevent weight gain? I haven't been gaining weight, but I am concerned that I'll get into a cycle of increased insulin dosages and weight gain. Continue reading >>
Reset Your Hormones To Beat Belly Fat
Your Video is Loading While you never want fat hanging around your waist, for many people it’s often the first place it goes and the last place it leaves when you gain a few pounds. Believe it or not, love handles aren't just unattractive, carrying weight around your abdomen is bad for your health – worse than carrying weight on your hips or thighs – and is a key indicator of a hormonal imbalance. If you have struggled to lose weight or keep it off, I guarantee that your hormones are at play. Your hormones control every aspect of weight loss including your metabolism, where you store your fat, your appetite and even your cravings! This means any form of hormonal imbalance will sabotage your efforts – regardless of your diet and exercise habits. Extra belly fat can indicate one or more of the following hormonal imbalances: high estrogen, low testosterone, low DHEA (a hormone of the adrenal glands), high insulin and high cortisol. Abdominal fat also sets a risky stage for aging, increasing the risk of heart disease and diabetes. A program to get rid of this stubborn fat must include proper diet, exercise, sleep and, of course, motivation. All of these components work well to instil a healthy balance that allows fat loss to occur. We will talk more specifically about each of the hormonal players in this process, and my suggestions for supplements that can help get you back on track. 1. High Insulin: Insulin is an essential substance whose main function is to process sugar in the bloodstream and carry it into cells to be used as fuel or stored as fat. A primary cause is excess intake of sugar or carbohydrates typical of many diets today. This includes nutrient-poor carbohydrates such as processed foods, sugary drinks and sodas, packaged low-fat foods, along with ins Continue reading >>
High Insulin May Be Preventing You From Losing Weight
Today I’d like to share with you a case study from my clinic that describes how high blood insulin levels can make a person gain weight and keep them overweight. Evelyn was a 44 year old lady who came to see me for help with losing weight. Her weight had been a problem for most of her life but she could always lose a few kilos in the past if she went on a diet and did some exercise. The problem now is that none of her old tricks were working. She would cut the fat out of her diet and drastically reduce her portion sizes but wasn’t able to lose more than 6 or 7 pounds. She would stay on this strict diet for more than 3 months but couldn’t lose any more weight. The frustration, fatigue and hunger made her give up on the diet and she went back to her old ways of eating and she regained the weight. The thing is, Evelyn’s diet wasn’t too bad; she rarely ate any junk food and she knew about the importance of eating lots of vegetables. Interesting, she had been diagnosed with a fatty liver 5 years ago but her doctor never offered any solutions and just told her not to worry about it. I explained to Evelyn that her fatty liver had everything to do with her weight and that it was vitally important to clear the fat from within it. I ordered a few blood tests for Evelyn and the most striking result was her blood insulin level; it was 4 times higher than it should be and this was preventing her from losing weight. Evelyn was able to lose 54 pounds in 5 and a half months by following my recommendations. High blood insulin levels and fatty liver go hand in hand. In fact it is the high insulin that drives the liver to manufacture fat. Most people do not develop a fatty liver because they ate too much fat; they got a fatty liver because they ate too much carbohydrate, which t Continue reading >>
Insulin And Weight Gain
Q. I am 13 and have had diabetes for seven years and I used to be very big. It wasn't just 'puppy fat', I over eat a lot. At 10 I was very insecure and decided to lose loads of weight. At 12 I was very secure; I looked great and couldn't weight for summer bikinis to come to round it all off. Now I have started excessively eating again, and mum has noticed I am looking 'bigger'. I don't know what to do?! Is it the insulin? What can I do to help this. I really don't want to be upset by the way I look again. A. I do get a lot of queries about whether insulin puts weight on. Insulin does not put the weight on, however, if someone is trying to lose weight it can take longer. From what I understand from reading your question is that you're worried that you're going to start feeling upset about the way you look. This is because you have been feeling good about the way you look previously. You write about eating excessively, so I suppose the first thing to do is to think about that. Now of course you are 13 and that means your body is going to be changing. When you go through adolescence your body is just flooded with a huge amount of hormones. You feel physical changes because of this and you feel emotional changes because of this, also. Physical changes As a teenager you want to look good and fit in with your mates, and I think the trick to looking good is to work with your body and not against it. So if you are thinking about diets to lose weight, the most successful way to do this is start with small steps. Crash diets All the diets you see celebrities doing are crash diets for rapid weight loss. They do this by usually eliminating a food group and this kind of starves the body of what it needs for energy and so the body is forced to break down muscle and fat. The side effe Continue reading >>
5 Ways Pcos Might Be Secretly Messing With Your Weight
If you’ve been diagnosed with polycystic ovary syndrome, or PCOS, it may feel like the numbers on the scale tick up no matter what you do—and that is hella frustrating. “Women with PCOS often say they can’t lose weight,” says Daniel Dumesic, M.D., ob-gyn, a PCOS specialist, professor of obstetrics and gynecology, and division chief of reproductive endocrinology and infertility at UCLA. Though doctors aren't sure about exactly what causes PCOS, symptoms like weight gain and acne are caused by increased testosterone produced by the ovaries. Roughly 10 percent of women between the ages of 18 and 44 have this condition, according to the National Institute of Health. Here, five ways PCOS an cause weight gain and what you can do about it. Excess testosterone is linked to higher rates of insulin resistance, which can cause you to store more fat, especially around the abdomen, says Dumesic. And when you start gaining weight, that further increases your insulin resistance, which promotes the production of testosterone and so on, he says. It's a vicious cycle that could lead to diabetes if you're not careful. Strike back: To keep insulin resistance on the DL, you should get your glucose levels checked by a doctor regularly and start working a little cinnamon into your diet, says Dumesic. A couple of small studies have shown that the spice may balance blood sugar in women with pre-diabetes. Your doctor may also consider the dietary supplement inositol, which is similar to a B vitamin, in pill or powder form, says Lori B. Sweeney, M.D., endocrinologist and associate professor of medicine at Virginia Commonwealth University Health System. Studies have shown that four grams per day can help lower testosterone levels as well as insulin resistance, resulting in weight loss fo Continue reading >>
Can Insulin Cause Weight Gain?
Most people know that insulin has something to do with diabetes and blood glucose, but there is much more to insulin. Before we learn more about the insulin and its effect on the weight of the person, let us first understand some basics. What does insulin do? Insulin affects the carbohydrate, lipids (fats) and protein metabolism. Our body cells need glucose to fulfill their energy needs, which is provided by carbohydrates. Insulin is required for glucose to enter into the various cells, especially muscular cells. Insulin also makes sure that the excess of glucose is either converted to glycogen and stored in the liver or changed to fat and stored in adipose tissues (kind of fat storage tissues). Thus insulin helps to control the level of glucose in blood and play a vital role in its utilization by various body tissues(“Physiologic Effects of Insulin,” n.d.). Insulin inhibits fat breakdown from the adipose tissues, helps to store excess of energy in the form of fats. It is also needed to transport amino acids (building blocks of the body, derived from proteins) to various body cell, thus having an anabolic effect. Insulin is also needed for proper usage of the different electrolytes, especially potassium (“Physiologic Effects of Insulin,” n.d.). Diabetes and relation to insulin Diabetes is caused due to either deficit of insulin or inability of our body to use the insulin (called insulin resistance). Mostly, both these factors play the role(Ferrannini, 1998), resulting in increased blood glucose levels. The level of blood glucose above normal is highly damaging to various body tissues, in particular for blood vessels and nerve tissues. Thus high blood glucose increases the risk of heart diseases, weakens our eye-sight, damages the kidney and decreases the sensory Continue reading >>
Does High Insulin Cause Weight Gain?
Tweet Does high insulin cause weight gain? Over the years Americans have been getting higher fasting insulin and hemoglobin A1c blood levels. A study from Life Extension Magazine showed 66% higher than desired fasting insulin. Twenty-Two percent had hemoglobin A1c levels that placed them in a pre-diabetic state. Hemoglobin A1c measures the percentage of glycated hemoglobin in one’s blood. Hemoglobin A1c levels should be below 5.6% yet more than one in five people test over 6%. Gaining access to this kind of information can prevent severe diabetic related illness. Insulin is a hormone that regulates carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Insulin enables liver and muscle cells to take up blood sugar (glucose) for energy production or storage. Insulin also helps to pack glucose into the fat cells as triglycerides. Once a burst of insulin is released in response to food ingestion, insulin levels should drop below 5 uIU/ml and only a small amount of insulin should be needed to maintain balance. When the fasting insulin levels are above 5 uIU/ml, this indicates a pre-diabetic state that increases the risk of degenerative disease. In people with metabolic disorders or obesity insulin levels remain elevated. While this creates cellular damage it also prevents weight loss by forcing glucose into the fat cells as storage. In a condition called hyperinsulinemia the pancreas stimulates the uptake of glucose from blood into the body’s cells. The inability of the body’s cells to utilize the insulin is called insulin resistance. In hyperinsulinemia the pancreas produces more insulin than normal so there are higher levels of insulin circulating in the blood stream. Normally to process 10mg of sugar a person would have to produce one unit of insulin, but in a person with hyperinsulinemi Continue reading >>
Why Does Insulin Make You Gain Weight?
In a healthy person, beta cells in the pancreas secrete a hormone called insulin to help the body use blood sugar or glucose from food. Type 1 diabetics lack the ability to make insulin and Type 2 diabetics are immune to the insulin produced by the pancreas. Insulin shots may help both types of diabetics, but like any other drug, insulin has side effects, including weight gain. Video of the Day Insulin may cause weight gain because it makes your cells more efficient. Untreated diabetics often excrete glucose in their urine. When you start insulin shots, the hormone helps your cells absorb glucose from the bloodstream, so you are theoretically retaining more calories from food. A Side Effect of a Side Effect Insulin often causes hypoglycemia or low blood sugar. To combat the dizziness and fatigue of hypoglycemia, diabetics on insulin have to eat frequent meals and snacks. Weight gain may simply be the result of an increase in calories. Talk to your physician about the type and dose of insulin you are taking if you notice significant weight gain. Your doctor may be able to adjust your medications. A healthy diet and regular physical activity are also an integral part of weight management. Continue reading >>
Can High Blood Pressure Make You Fat? Does Insulin Cause Weight Gain?
Is high blood pressure linked to not being able to lose weight? Does insulin cause weight gain? Yes, researchers say that lowering blood pressure can help you lose weight successfully. Certainly, hypertension is one of the symptoms of insulin resistance, causing insulin weight gain! But before you go to your doctor for some pills.... You will, instead, want to know about supplements and foods that lower blood pressure to help get rid of belly fat. Why? High blood pressure increases the chances of a heart attack and especially of a stroke, so your doctor will want you to lose weight and be on the meds. But there's a catch... Researchers have NOT been able to show that taking drugs for hypertension prevents heart failure: "Despite reductions in heart attacks and improved control of blood pressure, the prevalence of heart failure does not seem to be falling and may be rising." (British Medical Journal, The Lancet) To avoid serious side effects of high blood pressure medication, it is best to solve hypertension naturally. Here we've posted research to help you out with foods and supplements -- how to lower blood pressure AND lose weight naturally! We have posted lots of diet changes for the long run! And if in the short run need extra help.... For lower blood pressure and reducing the causes of insulin weight gain, consider a supplement based on a Nobel Prize winning discovery. Meet the health guardian, Dr. Harry Elwardt, whose mission is to end heart disease, stroke! His formula can help naturally bring down blood pressure by relaxing the blood vessels: See Dr. Harry's Formula: l arginine supplement with minerals & vitamins for high blood pressure Why Not Just Meds for High Blood Pressure? Nutrition experts Nikki and David Goldbeck point to a reason why reducing blood pres Continue reading >>
What You Need To Know About Insulin And Weight Gain
What is insulin? Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas that helps the body absorb glucose from the bloodstream. Without this natural hormone, glucose cannot get into the body cells to be converted into fuel. As a result, it will stay in the bloodstream. Since the body cannot use the excess glucose in the bloodstream, it will remain in the bloodstream leading to high levels of blood glucose. If not treated, high levels of blood glucose can lead to severe long-term health problems, including blindness, nerve damage, and possibly the loss of limbs. Diabetic patients experience high levels of blood glucose because their body cannot produce enough amounts of insulin that is required to maintain an optimal blood sugar level. Patients with type 1 diabetes require insulin therapy so that they can survive. This is because they cannot produce insulin naturally as a result of beta cells being mistakenly destroyed by the immune system. On the other hand, type 2 diabetes patients are able to make insulin, but their body becomes resistant to it. Usually, type 2 diabetic people can manage their condition through oral diabetes drugs, a healthy diet, and regular exercise. However, in case this does not work, they may require insulin medication. Does insulin cause weight gain? Initially, diabetic patients may experience weight loss before they start insulin therapy. This happens when the body eliminates extra glucose via urine, which makes you feel dehydrated. So, the initial weight loss is as a result of water loss. When you begin to take insulin medication, your body will initially retain more fluids to manage the dehydration. This may result in weight gain as a result of the body retaining excess fluids. Also, diabetic patients with uncontrolled blood glucose levels tend to fe Continue reading >>
High Insulin Levels Stop Fat Loss And Cause Weight Gain
It is impossible to have high levels of insulin in your system while burning fat at the same time. Think about that. If you eat a meal that has too high of a Glycemic Index, your blood sugar will spike, causing a large release in insulin. During this period of time your body cannot use fat for fuel (even if you are operating under a calorie deficit and even if you workout like crazy). You can get everything else right and not make good progress if you allow your insulin levels to get out of whack. [I would highly recommend you avoid anything made with white flower while dieting down. It is okay once you hit your target weight, but try to avoid it to make quick progress.] I Used to Think a Calorie Deficit Was Enough A while back I used to think that as long as you burned more calories than what you ingested, you would lose weight. This is true to a point…you should lose weight under a calorie deficit. The problem lies in the fact that if you eat a high G.I. carb, you may shut down the body’s ability to burn fat for several hours. Even if you do wind up losing weight, you aren’t following the quickest route to your goal. A Quick Overview of Insulin You probably know what insulin is, but if you don’t here is a quick summary: Insulin is a hormone that causes most of the body’s cells to take up glucose from the blood (including liver, muscle, and fat tissue cells), storing it as glycogen in the liver and muscle, and stops use of fat as an energy source. When insulin is absent (or low), glucose is not taken up by most body cells and the body begins to use fat as an energy source. Insulin and Carbs With a High (GI) Glycemic Index The “Glycemic Index” ranks carbohydrates according to their effect on our blood glucose levels. The rating used to go from 0 to 100…s Continue reading >>
Diabetes And Weight Gain
Diabetes can be both the cause of weight gain and the result of weight gain. People with diabetes have an increased tendency to gain weight and those who are overweight have an increased chance of developing diabetes. Insulin is a natural, protein-based hormone produced by the pancreas in normal people. Its function is to promote the absorption of glucose into the cells to be used for cellular fuel. It also manages the absorption and storage of amino acids and fat by cells of the body that are sensitive to insulin (which are mainly the fat and muscle cells). Insulin has the above effects on the body, whether the pancreas releases it naturally or given as exogenous insulin to insulin-dependent diabetes. Diabetics who go on insulin therapy seem to have an increased tendency to gain weight. This is true of both type 1 diabetics and type 2 diabetics. Some of the gain is weight is due to the fact that, when insulin is in the bloodstream, it takes the glucose absorbed by the GI tract and puts in in storage rather than have the glucose be excreted by the kidneys. This causes a natural gain in weight. Some diabetics recognize the connection between insulin and weight gain. In order to lose weight, they often skip doses of insulin so that the blood sugar they take in is not stored but instead is flushed out by the kidneys. They don’t realize that this could be dangerous and can result in life-threatening side effects, such as diabetic ketoacidosis. The most effective way to strike a balance between insulin use and body weight is to take the insulin as directed and also to step up the amount of physical activity you engage in. This keeps the levels of insulin lower and you will lose weight. When you take less insulin and burn calories through exercise, your weight will naturall Continue reading >>
