Finding out you are insulin resistant or pre diabetic doesn't mean much unless you understand what that implies, and how it effects your health.
Insulin resistance is an issue with hormone signaling in your body, and the bottom line is that if the condition is ignored, it can develop into pre diabetes, metabolic syndrome or worse, type 2 diabetes.
You can find out whether you have insulin resistance or prediabetes by checking out the symptoms with your doctor. If you have more than 3 or 4 of those symptoms, it might be time to make some dietary changes.
The insulin resistant condition is rooted in the metabolic effects of a high carb diet in combination with a lack of exercise. Weight gain is a symptom of insulin resistance, rather than a cause.
Carbohydrates are foods which contain either some form of sugar or starch, or both. For instance, orange juice is full of fructose, a type of sugar, and white potatoes contain large amounts of starch. Both types of carbohydrate are broken down in the body into glucose, a simple sugar, which your cells can use for energy to do all the things that cells do.
To control the flow of glucose in your body, your pancreas releases a powerful hormone called insulin.
Insulin acts to quickly remove the glucose from the bloodstream into your cells where it can be burned or stored. But there's a catch.
To get the glucose into the cells, the cell's glucose "storage tanks" have to be empty. This is logical when you think about it. Imagine what would happen if you tried to fill up your car's gas tank if it were already full.
And just like running a car burns up gasoline, when a person exercises, the glucose which is already in the glucose tanks get used.
Now there is room for insulin to push the glucose made from the last meal into the muscle cell for fuel. If a person exercises frequently, lots of carbohydrates can be eaten without impacting blood glucose levels very much.
The carbs instead act as a quick source of fuel. This is why professional athletes, who may exercise for 6 hours a day, are coached to eat a lot of carbohydrates.
For us regular folk who might sit at a desk 8 hours a day, any extra glucose which hasn't been utilized gets shunted off to the liver and be transformed and stored as body fat.
As you can now understand, when a regular person consumes a daily diet high in carbohydrates while avoiding exercise, excess glucose is created, and it still has no place to go. In response, the body releases more and more insulin to get the liver to metabolize the glucose into more fat for storage.
Eventually, the liver, muscles and fat tissue are so stuffed, they can't take any more. They put up a big stop sign to insulin, and the glucose is left in the blood stream with no place to go. The person's baseline blood sugars go up, their blood sugars stay high even when no food is eaten, and eventually the person is diagnosed as insulin resistant.
Some doctors diagnose the patient has having metabolic syndrome. Either way, the risk of developing pre diabetes or Type 2 diabetes now increases dramatically.
If you've been diagnosed as insulin resistant or as having metabolic syndrome, you can do something about it.
Read a book about low carb diets. Use what you learn to decrease the amount of carbohydrates that you eat. In addition, add a weekly or daily exercise program to your life. Even a simple exercise like walking several times a week can help reduce insulin resistance. For quicker results, look into high intensity interval training.
These changes really do work if you stick with them. I am using a ketogenic diet plan to completely reverse not only insulin resistance and prediabetes, but the symptoms of Type 2 diabetes as well.
I'm not saying you can reverse severe metabolic issues overnight. You have to have patience. Remember that it took years to develop metabolic health issues, and it may take years to reverse the damage. However, every change you make will help you feel better, and starting today is great step toward better health.
8 ounces cream cheese, softened to room temp
1 medium ripe Haas Avocado, scooped from shell, and cut into small cubes
1 tablespoon mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon of granulated garlic or 1/2 teaspoon minced garlic clove
1/4 teaspoon onion powder or 2 ounces finely minced onion
salt to taste
1 pound thinly sliced smoked turkey
Using a hand mixer, whip the cream cheese until smooth
Add the remaining ingredients and whip about a minute more, until mixture is smooth.
Spread the turkey slices out on paper towels and pat dry if needed.
Spread entire turkey slice with a thin layer of the avocado cheese mixture
Starting at one end, roll up the turkey slice like a jelly roll.
Enjoy immediately, or store in sealable container in the refrigerator. These make a great lunch.
8 ounces ripe tomatoes, cut into 1 inch chunks
1 medium ripe Haas Avocado, scooped from shell, and cut into cubes
2 tablespoons mayonnaise
1/4 teaspoon onion powder or 2 ounces finely minced onion
salt to taste
Place ingredients in a mixing bowl, and mix well.
Enjoy immediately, or store in sealable container in the refrigerator.
Avocados provide nearly 15 vitamins and minerals for good health, and are one of the tastiest, low carb ways to increase your potassium intake.
Here’s a low carb food list .. which will help you buy ketogenic foods that offer the best nutrition.
Fats and Oils
Since the majority of calories on a ketogenic diet will come from dietary fats, choices should be made with digestive tolerance in mind. Most people cannot tolerate eating a large amount of vegetable oil, mayonnaise or even olive oil over time. And this is a good thing, since vegetable oils are high in polyunsaturated Omega-6 fatty acids.
The Omega-6 fatty acids (found in nut oils, margarines, soybean oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, corn oil, and canola oil) should be limited due to the inflammatory effect they trigger within the body. Most nuts (with the exceptions of macadamias and walnuts) are high in Omega 6 fatty acids as well, so go easy on them). Your intake of polyunsaturated fats should be balanced between Omega 6 and Omega 3 types. Eating wild salmon, tuna and shellfish will provide balancing Omega 3 fatty acids and are important part of a low carb food list. If you don't like seafood, then consider taking small amounts of a fish or krill oil supplement.
Saturated and monounsaturated fats such as butter, macadamia nuts, coconut oil, avocado and egg yolks are tolerated more easily by most people, and since they are chemically stable, they are less inflammatory. Fats and oils can be combined in sauces, dressings, and other additions to basic meals. Over time, it will become a habit to add a source of fat to each meal.
Avoid hydrogenated fats such as margarine to minimize trans fats intake. If you use vegetable oils (olive, canola, sunflower, safflower, soybean, flaxseed and sesame oils) choose "cold pressed." Keep cold pressed oils like almond and flaxseed refrigerated to avoid rancidity. Avoid heating vegetable oils. Use clean non-hydrogenated lard, beef tallow, coconut oil, ghee and olive oil for frying, since they have high smoke points.
Avocado (very high in fat)
Avocado oil
Almond oil
Beef tallow
Butter: try to find organic sources
Chicken fat, organic
Duck fat, organic
Ghee (butter with milk solids removed or clarified butter)
Lard such as organic leaf lard (make sure it is NOT hydrogenated)
Macadamia Nuts
Macadamia oil
Mayonnaise (most have carbs, so count them. Duke’s brand is sugar free.)
Olives
Olive oil, organic
Organic coconut oil, coconut butter and coconut cream concentrate
Organic Red Palm oil
Peanut Butter: make sure to use unsweetened products, and limit due to Omega 6 content.
Seed and most nut oils: Sesame oil, Flaxseed oil, etc. These are higher in inflammatory Omega 6 fats, so limit amounts, and don’t heat them.
85-90% dark chocolate can be used in small amounts.
Fattier cuts of meat are better because they contain less protein and well, more fat. Choose grass fed animal foods and eggs if possible.
Meat: beef, lamb, veal, goat and wild game. Grass fed meat is preferred, as it has a better fatty acid profile.
Pork: pork loin, Boston butt, pork chops, ham. Look out for added sugar in hams.
Poultry: chicken, turkey, quail, Cornish hen, duck, goose, pheasant. Free range is better if it’s available.
Fish or seafood of any kind, preferably wild caught: anchovies, calamari, catfish, cod, flounder, halibut, herring, mackerel, mahi-mahi, salmon, sardines, scrod, sole, snapper, trout, and tuna.
Canned tuna and salmon are acceptable but check the labels for added sugars or fillers. (Exception: Avoid breaded and fried seafood.)
Shellfish: clams, crab, lobster, scallops, shrimp, squid, mussels, and oysters. (Exception: imitation crab meat. It contains sugar, gluten and other additives.)
Whole eggs: These can be prepared in various ways: deviled, fried, hard-boiled, omelets, poached, scrambled, and soft-boiled.
Bacon and sausage: check labels and avoid those cured with sugar or which contain fillers such as soy or wheat. Specialty health food stores carry most brands of sugar-free bacon.
Most non-starchy vegetables are low in carbs. Choose organic vegetables or grow your own to avoid pesticide residues. Avoid the starchy vegetables such as corn, peas, potatoes, sweet potatoes, and most winter squash as they are much higher in carbs. Limit sweeter vegetables such as tomatoes, carrots, peppers, and summer squashes.
Alfalfa Sprouts
Any leafy green vegetable
Asparagus
Bamboo Shoots
Bean Sprouts
Beet Greens
Bok Choy
Broccoli
Brussels Sprouts
Cabbage
Cauliflower
Celery
Celery Root
Chard
Chives
Collard Greens
Cucumbers
Dandelion Greens
Dill Pickles
Garlic
Kale
Leeks
Lettuces and salad greens (Arugula, Bok Choy, Boston lettuce, Chicory, Endive, Escarole, Fennel, Mache, Radicchio, Romaine, Sorrel.)
Mushrooms
Olives
Onions (limited amounts, as they are higher in sugar)
Radishes
Sauerkraut
Scallions
Shallots
Snow Peas
Spinach
Swiss Chard
Turnips
Water Chestnuts
Heavy whipping cream
Full fat sour cream (check labels for additives and fillers. Look for brands such as Daisy which are pure cream with no added milk; carbs and protein will be low.)
Full fat cottage cheese
All hard and soft cheeses: (count each 1 ounce portion as 1 carb generally)
Cream cheese (count each 1 ounce portion as 1 carb generally)
Unsweetened whole milk yogurt (limit amounts as it is a little higher in carb) (Fage full fat Greek yogurt is divine)
Mascarpone cheese
Nuts: macadamias, pecans, almonds and walnuts are the lowest in net carbs and can be eaten in small amounts. Cashews, pistachios and chestnuts are higher in carb, so track carefully to avoid going over carb limits. Nuts are also higher in Omega 6 fats, which are inflammatory so don't rely on nuts as your main protein source.
Nut flours, such as almond flour. Almond flour is a great flour substitute.
Clear broth or bouillon
Decaf coffee
Decaf Tea (unsweetened)
Herbal tea (unsweetened)
Water
Flavored seltzer water (unsweetened)
Lemon and lime juice in small amounts.
Spices do have carbs, so be sure to count them if they are added to meals made using this low carb food list. Commercial spice mixes like steak seasoning usually have added sugar. Sea salt is preferred over commercial salt, which is usually cut with some form of powdered dextrose.
Basil, Black pepper, Cayenne pepper, Chili pepper, dried, Cilantro/Coriander seeds, Cinnamon, ground, Cloves, Cumin seeds, Dill, Ginger, Mustard seeds, Oregano, Parsley, Peppermint, Rosemary, Sage, Thyme, and Turmeric.
Avoiding sweetened foods in general will help “reset” the taste buds. However, if there is a desire for something sweet, these are the recommended choices for sweeteners. Note that the powdered forms of most artificial sweeteners usually have maltodextrin, dextrose or some other sugar added, so liquid products are preferred.
Stevia, liquid preferred as the powdered usually has maltodextrin in it.
Erythritol
Xylitol (keep any food with this sweetener in it away from dogs)
Monk Fruit
Inulin and Chicory Root (Just Like Sugar brand)
