Understanding Insulin Resistance
Blood sugar may change for many reasons, including the level of insulin resistance. This post will help you understand what insulin resistance is and why it is important.
We're diving into the fascinating world of insulin resistance. Before I begin, it is helpful to understand a bit about insulin. Insulin is the hormone that moves glucose (Sugar in the bloodstream) into your cells. When you have prediabetes or Type 2 Diabetes, your body can’t do this effectively. There are lots of reasons why, but one is that the insulin your body produces doesn’t work as well as it used to. If you think of insulin like a knife, imagine that your knife is dull.
Think back to when you were diagnosed with prediabetes or diabetes—your medical provider had to ask and answer three key questions.
How big is your insulin knife? (Meaning, are you making insulin, and if yes, how much?)
How sharp is your insulin knife? (Meaning, how effective is the insulin you are making?)
How much work is your knife doing? (Meaning, how many carbohydrates are you eating at one time?)
Insulin resistance can change, and shifting your diet and lifestyle can sharpen a ‘dull’ insulin knife. Let’s circle back to the three questions.
1. The Size of Your Insulin Knife: Think of insulin as a knife - for illustration purposes, imagine you're born with a knife around 20 inches long. But when diabetes comes into the picture, it's like that knife is now 10 inches long. You might wonder if a 10-inch knife can still cut. Of course, it can! Having less insulin doesn't automatically mean high blood sugar. Assuming that you are making insulin, the question becomes what other factors are in play that make the insulin you are making ‘dull.’
2. The Sharpness of Your Knife: Imagine if all you have to chop veggies is a 10-inch knife; you want that knife to be sharp, not dull, right? Insulin resistance is one reason why blood glucose levels increase. As I have said, it is like you are cutting up veggies with a dull knife. That is no fun! You may wonder, what is dulling your knife? It can be a lot of things, including certain medications, stress, inactivity, pain, lack of exercise, and poor sleep habits. Keeping your knife sharp is a way to improve blood sugar control effectively. No weight loss is required. This is why your medical provider might talk to you about being more active, getting enough sleep, healing an infection, or managing your pain more effectively.
3. The Workload of Your Knife: You can see that consuming all your daily nutrition in one meal is putting a lot of stress on your smaller, duller insulin knife. But if you spread your meals two or three times a day, you're giving your smaller knife more manageable tasks. This is why you hear suggestions about eating smaller, more frequent meals when managing diabetes.
The concept of workload makes it easy to assume that not eating is better than eating. If this is happening to you, that is an earworm from diet culture. Shoo, shoo! Not eating isn’t sustainable; over time, it sets you up to overeating/binge eating. Many of my clients find that by shifting their workload and eating MORE during the day, blood sugars stabilize, energy improves, and decreases food thoughts and cravings.
What does it mean if my provider prescribes medication? Your provider will suggest medication when your insulin knife is too small or dull or shifts the workload is ineffective. Diabetes is a progressive condition, so the amount of insulin you make over time decreases. If your body isn’t making enough insulin for you to eat a balanced diet, then adding medication is appropriate. Remember, you didn’t fail. 77% of people with type 2 diabetes take medication. Understanding these three aspects of insulin resistance can help you come up with a plan that works best for you.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to No Weight Loss Required to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.