I want to let you know right away that if your body holds onto fat in certain areas and it seems like no matter what you do you can’t seem to lose it? Then keep reading.

If you’re experiencing other symptoms such as poor sleep, problems with cholesterol, brain fog and inability to focus, sleepiness after meals, poor skin, hypertension, or cravings. All can be signs of insulin resistance and could be preventing you from achieving your ideal body.

This is equally good for those who have never been serious about health before, and also for those who have been serious for a while now and want to be better and take your body to the next level.

What is insulin sensitivity and what can you do about it?

One of the most important health goals you should have in mind is to improve your insulin sensitivity. So what is insulin sensitivity? First, let’s discuss insulin and its function. Insulin is a storage hormone. After you eat, your body converts the carbohydrates of that meal into glucose. This glucose enters the bloodstream and is used by all the cells of your body.

Insulin is the hormone that stores the extra glucose that your body doesn’t use. Your body has a limited capacity to store this extra glucose (also known as glycogen). A typical male can store around 500 grams of glycogen and females around 300gm. When your body can no longer store anymore, the excess glucose is taken up by insulin and stored as fat.

Insulin sensitivity has to do with how well your cells respond to insulin. People that are highly insulin sensitive require very little insulin to store carbohydrates. Therefore, people that are insulin resistant (type II diabetics), need larger amounts of insulin to move those carbohydrates around the body.

What this means is that when your insulin sensitivity is high, you are able to eat carbohydrates without such a large rise in insulin. When insulin is kept low enough, fatty acids can still be released. However, once insulin gets too high, fat loss comes to a halt. People that have bombarded their bodies with high-glycemic carbohydrates and processed foods over their lifetimes have become somewhat resistant to the effects of insulin. Therefore, when they eat carbohydrates, it causes a larger release of insulin. This inhibits the release of fatty acids.

Bottom line: Higher insulin levels = more fat storage.

In my nutrition consulting practice I specialise in helping men and women with stubborn weight to lose so therefore I attract a lot of clients with this type of problem.

Here are my top 5 ways to improve your insulin sensitivity:

Eat low glycemic

Many of you will be familiar with the glycemic Index. In short the glycemic index measures how quickly a particular carbohydrate is digested by your body. The higher the GI of that carbohydrate, the quicker your blood sugar levels rise, and in response, your body releases more insulin to store that energy. We teach that the closer the carbohydrate is to nature, the lower the glycemic index will be. Protein can also trigger the same response if too much is consumed at one time.

Often what is not considered is the glycemic load. Glycemic load takes into account the quantity of carbohydrates you eat. The amount and speed of insulin released is directly correlated to both the amount of carbohydrates (glycemic load) you eat and the GI (glycemic index) of that carb.

For a low glycemic load keep the serving size of starches, grains and breads to ½ cup. Most other vegetables have a zero glycemic load so eat as much of them as you like.

Make exercise part of your lifestyle

We were designed to move however one of the disadvantages of our western living is that we have become a very sedentary society.

A recent study concluded that exercise can be considered an essential role in the treatment and prevention of insulin insensitivity.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10683091

Here are just two reasons why:

1. Moderate and frequent exercise allows your back up tanks of stored sugar to deplete. This prevents spillover into fat storage in the event of excess insulin.
2. Relative to the intensity and level of difficulty. Sensitivity to insulin can increase for up to 16 hours post exercise.

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10683091

Take a practitioner grade multivitamin

A key antioxidant vitamin for insulin resistance is alpha-lipoic acid. Additional vitamins, such as vitamin E and coenzyme Q10, or CoQ10, are most effective when taken together with alpha-lipoic acid. Dr. Ziadi, author of “Take Charge of your Diabetes,” reveals that alpha-lipoic acid regenerates vitamin E and CoQ10. Other vitamins that support insulin resistance include magnesium and the B vitamins, especially vitamin B 12. Vitamin C is the superstar vitamin and definitive research suggests that vitamin C improves insulin sensitivity, according to The American Journal of Physiology. Another insulin resistant support vitamin is chromium picolinate. To support insulin resistance, Dr. Zaidi recommends a daily multivitamin, multi-mineral supplement that contain the above ingredients.

Increase Omega 3

Essential fatty acids (EFAs) cannot be manufactured by the body, so they need to be ingested through your diet. They also affect inflammation, hormones, mood, metabolism, behavior, and increased absorption of nutrients into the cell, including insulin. Omega 3 and omega 6 fatty acids are the two fatty acids that are essential. A diet supplemented with omega 3 fatty acids improves insulin sensitivity and lowers triglyceride levels.

http://europepmc.org/abstract/MED/3038454/reload=0

The problem with modern nutrition is that the ratio of omega 6 to 3 in our diets has been skewed over time and mostly this comes down to the the way we use vegetable oil. Western diets have a ratio of 15:1 (or more) in favor of omega 6. You really want that number closer to 3:1. That means you need to be eating more foods that are higher in omega 3 fatty acids. Foods like salmon, tuna, flaxseed, walnuts, and omega 3 eggs will all help bring that ratio into line. You could also supplement with practitioner grade fish oil, one that has a guaranteed distillation process removing heavy metals.

Increase Fibre

A study showed that increasing insoluble dietary fibre intake for 3 days significantly improves whole-body insulin sensitivity http://care.diabetesjournals.org/content/29/4/775.short

Fibre intake is also inversely correlated with the risk of developing insulin resistance and type II diabetes http://jama.jamanetwork.com/article.aspx?articleid=414104  In other words, the higher your fibre intake, the better your insulin sensitivity, and the lower your risk for diabetes. Adding fibre to your meals lowers the glycemic index of your meal, which will in turn increase insulin sensitivity and slow down the release of glucose into the bloodstream.

As a side effect, bloating in the lower abdomen will settle showing the flatter belly that most are after.

For high quality food sources of fibre, choose foods that contain both insoluble and soluble fibre such as fruits, vegetables, beans and legumes.

Insulin Sensitivity is at the heart of our health problems including weight management and quality of life. If you follow my recommendations, include them into your daily practice and continue to perfect what you’re learning you could be a machine and it can be a total game changer for you.

Tarryn Thompson

Your Virtual Health Coach