Video | HOMA-IR | Blood Sugar Stability | Skin Improvements | Waistline Measurement

Insulin resistance can be measured. However, the gold standard method is invasive, expensive, and simply not practical in a clinical setting. 

How do you know if your efforts toward better health are paying off and making your body more insulin sensitive? This blog post shares a test and observable signs that you are overcoming insulin resistance. 

Signs You’re Overcoming Insulin Resistance [Video]

In this video, you’ll learn…

• Four signs that you’re overcoming insulin resistance.
• More information on each of the four signs—what to look for, how to measure, online resources, etc.
• Additional lifestyle actions that make a difference!

Sign #1: Your HOMA-IR Score is Improving

The gold standard for measuring insulin sensitivity, referred to as the hyperinsulinemic euglycemic clamp, is not practical outside of the research lab (1).

However, there is a surrogate index that is often used to estimate insulin resistance that is accessible to you. That index is referred to as HOMA-IR (Homeostasis Model Assessment of Insulin Resistance).

To utilize it, you’ll need to ask your doctor for two blood tests: fasting glucose and fasting insulin. 

You can then take those values and plug them into an online calculator, like the one found on The Blood Code’s website, to gain insights into the extent of insulin resistance in your body. 

While this calculation is not meant to be a definitive diagnosis, you can determine your HOMA-IR score today to form a baseline. You can then monitor where your results fall over time, with the goal being to move from a high level of insulin resistance into the healthy range. 

Sign #2: Your Blood Sugar Level is Stabilizing

HOMA-IR estimates insulin resistance based on your blood glucose and insulin levels. It requires a visit to your doctor’s office because there is no way to test insulin at home. However, there are at-home ways to monitor your blood glucose or blood sugar. 

Because a primary function of insulin is to move blood sugar, how much sugar you have at a given moment is a good indicator of your blood insulin level. 

Testing can be accomplished with a blood glucose monitor (glucometer) that you pick up from your local pharmacy. The monitor analyzes a drop of blood obtained from the fingertip to calculate your blood glucose level. This is sufficient for learning where your blood glucose is at that moment. 

However, to evaluate insulin resistance, you want to know what is happening throughout the day. That makes a glucometer impractical because you would need many finger pricks, and you would not know what was happening as you slept. 

A CGM, or continuous glucose monitor, makes it possible to monitor glucose levels 24 hours a day. CGMs have not always been available to the general public, but they are now, thanks to companies like Levels. 

Once attached to your arm, a CGM will send readings of your blood glucose level to your smartphone throughout the day and night. 

If you are not regulating your blood sugar, and therefore insulin, levels sufficiently, you’ll see a timeline that is all over the place with large peaks and valleys. And if that is what you see when you put your CGM on for the first time, that’s OK. It is where you are at, and it gives you something to aim for. 

What you want to see is a stable level with little variability or fluctuation of your glucose levels throughout the day. 

Notice that a stable blood sugar doesn’t mean a straight line. Your blood sugar will constantly rise and fall based on your activity, the foods you eat, and the fact that insulin pulses out of your pancreas; it doesn’t flow out in a steady stream. 

Your goal is to minimize peaks and valleys. To maintain lower variability, try to eat so that your post-meal blood glucose peak is less than 30 mg/dL above your pre-meal glucose level.

Here again, where you start is your baseline. Once you know that, you can control lifestyle factors and see the real-time effects of your efforts, aiming to keep your stability high day over day. The more blood sugar stability you have, the easier it is for insulin to do its job. 

Sign #3: Your Skin is Improving (e.g., Skin Tags and Dark Patches)

Insulin resistance is a condition going on inside of you. However, signs of insulin resistance can be noticed on your skin in two ways, either as dark patches or skin tags. 

These skin changes will not be seen in everyone with insulin resistance, and there can be other causes. However, if you have them, successfully treating the underlying cause and, therefore, becoming more insulin-sensitive can allow them to fade or even disappear. 

Dark Patches

The brown to black patches, called acanthosis nigricans, most commonly appear in the armpits or the back and sides of the neck. However, they can also occur in other skin folds, like the elbows, groin, knees, and the area around your belly button (2).

Skin Tags

Skin tags are small, benign skin growths that pop up commonly in the armpits, neck, and groin. But, they can develop on the trunk of your body or your eyelids. 

Why they develop so often on the skin of those with insulin resistance is debated. However, scientists speculate that because insulin is a growth-promoting hormone, the sustained high insulin levels that result from the condition may be responsible for developing these growths that we call skin tags (2) (3).

Therefore, when you get insulin under control, it makes sense that skin tags will decrease or disappear. 

Sign #4: Your Waistline is Shrinking

Being overweight and having a large waist circumference is a risk factor for insulin resistance. This belly fat is referred to as visceral fat, and when you have too much, it creates inflammation that drives insulin resistance. Therefore, reducing your waist circumference acts as an indicator that you are overcoming the condition. 

How much belly fat is too much?

Too much belly fat is typically defined as more than 40 inches (102 cm) for men and more than 35 inches (89 cm) for women. (4).

If your measurements are currently above those marks, bring them down, and you will improve your metabolic health and move away from insulin resistance.  

Actions to Overcome Insulin Resistance

Before leaving this blog post, I want to touch on lifestyle actions that make a difference. I have many post on actions to overcome insulin resistance. For now, let me give you the Cliff Notes to get you started. 

#1: Don’t drink carbs.

This includes soda, energy drinks, sweet tea, and fruit juice. These drinks contain nothing to slow the absorption of the sugars, leading to steep blood sugar and insulin spikes. 

#2: Say No to Sugar and Stay Low with Starch.

Desserts, bread, cereal, potatoes, and pasta. Like the drinks I just mentioned, these foods digest too quickly for good metabolic health. 

#3: Eat-Stop-Eat.

Frequent meals, especially those with refined carbs, keep blood sugar and insulin elevated. Instead, eat low-carb/healthy fat meals that are substantial enough to carry you through to your next meal. 

#4: Stop Eating 3 Hours Before Bed.

Putting your digestive system to rest before you go to bed frees insulin from having to work overnight, and you benefit from improved insulin sensitivity and fat loss. 

#5: Move More.

Regular exercise makes it easier for your cells to take in glucose, reversing the resistance they once had, and any form, from walking to high-intensity training, will help. 

Takeaway

When you overcome insulin resistance, you will notice additional changes, such as fewer cravings and more energy. While these are wonderful to experience, they are subjective changes and, therefore, hard to quantify. 

In this blog post, I focused on objective signs, namely, looking for skin improvements, including fading dark spots and fewer skin tags. Measuring your waist circumference and bringing it under the danger zone is another sign you’re moving in the right direction. 

With the help of a blood draw from your doctor, you can check your HOMA-IR result today and compare it to the result you get after making diet and exercise changes. And, with Levels, you can continually monitor your blood sugar using a CGM, working to minimize the dips or peaks throughout the day.

Thank you for reading and have a wonderful day!

References

(1) Gutch, Manish, et al. “Assessment of insulin sensitivity/resistance.” Indian journal of endocrinology and metabolism 19.1 (2015): 160.

(2) González-Saldivar, Gloria, et al. “Skin manifestations of insulin resistance: from a biochemical stance to a clinical diagnosis and management.” Dermatology and therapy 7 (2017): 37-51.

(3) Tamega, Andréia de Almeida, et al. “Association between skin tags and insulin resistance.” Anais brasileiros de dermatologia 85 (2010): 25-31.

(4) Hardy, Olga T., Michael P. Czech, and Silvia Corvera. “What causes the insulin resistance underlying obesity?.” Current opinion in endocrinology, diabetes, and obesity 19.2 (2012): 81.

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.