Video | Fat Metabolism | Hunger and Cravings | Inflammation | Steps to Reduce Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is a condition where the body’s cells become less responsive to insulin, a hormone responsible for regulating blood sugar levels. As a result, the pancreas produces more insulin to compensate, leading to chronically high insulin levels that significantly impact your weight loss efforts. This blog post explains what goes wrong and how to break the cycle. 

How Insulin Resistance Affects Your Weight Loss Journey [Video]

In this video, you’ll learn…

• How insulin resistance affects weight loss efforts.
• Three ways to reduce insulin resistance.
• Actionable steps you can take over the next 30 days to feel like a different person.

Insulin Resistance Impact #1: Fat Metabolism

One of the primary ways insulin resistance hinders weight loss is by promoting fat storage and inhibiting fat breakdown. Insulin is a key hormone involved in energy storage. When insulin levels are elevated, the body is primed to store energy from food, with the excess going into fat cells. This makes it difficult for your body to do the opposite action, which is releasing stored fat. 

Insulin Resistance Impact #2: Hunger and Cravings

Insulin resistance also wreaks havoc on hunger and satiety signals. High insulin levels often lead to fluctuating blood sugar levels, causing frequent hunger pangs, cravings for sugary foods, and energy crashes. This makes it challenging to adhere to a calorie-restricted diet and can lead to overeating, especially of refined carbohydrates that rapidly raise blood sugar and insulin levels, perpetuating the cycle of insulin resistance and weight gain.

Insulin Resistance Impact #3: Inflammation

Insulin resistance is also linked to chronic inflammation, which can slow metabolism and impair the body’s ability to burn calories efficiently. 

As I mentioned, when excess insulin circulates in the bloodstream, it promotes fat storage, much of which accumulates in the abdominal area. This deep fat contributes to the release of pro-inflammatory substances called cytokines, resulting in chronic, low-grade inflammation that festers in the background.

Over time, this inflammation damages cells, increases oxidative stress, and further disrupts insulin signaling, creating a vicious cycle that interferes with metabolism, slowing down the body’s ability to burn calories efficiently.

From altered fat metabolism to cravings to inflammation, insulin resistance makes your weight loss journey challenging. But you can improve insulin sensitivity and reverse these effects. 

Breaking the Cycle

When you break the cycle of insulin resistance, your body can better regulate blood sugar, enhance fat burning, and support long-term weight management. 

The tricky part is that the consequences of insulin resistance are not pronounced. In fact, it’s hard to connect the dots between insulin resistance and those few extra stubborn pounds, an uptick in cravings, and low-level inflammation, so we continue through life with a sense that we are getting away with it. Unfortunately, the adage is true: you cannot outrun a poor diet. So, let’s discuss how to break the cycle. 

Steps to Reduce Insulin Resistance

Insulin resistance is said to be a lifestyle disorder, which means it is produced by or exacerbated by lifestyle choices. The upside of that is that the condition can potentially be prevented or reversed through diet and lifestyle changes. The most important thing is to bring quick-digesting carbs under control.

Solution #1: Cut Out Sugary Drinks & Refined Carbs

The high-fructose corn syrup used in soda and sugary drinks, as well as refined foods high in sugar and flour, are known contributors to insulin resistance. So, cutting them out of your diet is the first step toward reducing your risk. 

That is easier said than done when you consider the fact that these ultra-processed items make up over 60% of our food supply. 

If the idea of going cold turkey builds anxiety, give yourself some grace. For example, there are soda alternatives with more natural sweeteners like stevia (i.e., Zevia, Spindrift) and unsweetened carbonated waters, like seltzer, that still deliver the fizz but none of the chemicals and sugar of soda. 

As for carbohydrates, if you set a daily cap at no more than 100 grams, you’ll automatically avoid highly refined carbs and stabilize your blood sugar. 

Removing your dependence on these foods and drinks does not mean you’ll feel deprived. In fact, once your tastebuds and brain chemistry are no longer hijacked by the intense sweetness of these foods, you’ll enjoy food more, and you will notice the change in as little as one month. If you want a guide to help you get there, pick up a copy of my book, Zero Sugar / One Month, on Amazon. 

Solution #2: Stop Eating 3 Hours Before Bed

Creating the daily habit of stopping eating 3 hours before bed gives you two weapons against insulin resistance. First, it eliminates mindless, late-night snacking, which tends to include sugary drinks and refined foods. Second, it allows your blood sugar and insulin levels to drop before bed, encouraging the release of fat from fat cells overnight as you sleep. 

Solution #3: Move More

Regular exercise makes it easier for your cells to take in glucose, essentially reversing the resistance they once had. The nice thing is that all forms of exercise have been shown to help, so whether you enjoy aerobic-style exercises like walking or riding a bike or you prefer lifting weights at the gym, you will benefit, and if you do a combination of exercises, you’ll boost your benefits even more.

Honorable Mention: Stress Management

I am also going to give stress management an honorable mention. Chronic stress wreaks havoc inside the body and can worsen insulin resistance. There are specific stress management techniques but ultimately the best approach for reducing stress is improving your diet and exercise habits as we discussed. Just get the ball rolling, commit to making changes for one month, and you will see results. 

Takeaway

There is no question that we are in the midst of a health crisis as a nation and a world. It can feel daunting when you look at the big picture, but you don’t have to change the world; you just need to change the foods you’re buying and move more so your body can take up and use the nutrients you are taking in. 

Cut out soda, track your carbohydrate intake, aiming for no more than 100 grams a day, stop eating three hours before bed so your digestive system can rest as you sleep, and go for a daily walk or visit the gym. Do that for 30 days, and you will feel like a different person. 

About the Author

Becky Gillaspy, DC, is the author of The Intermittent Fasting Guide and Cookbook and Zero Sugar / One Month. She graduated Summa Cum Laude with research honors from Palmer College of Chiropractic in 1991.