Insulin: Friend or Enemy?

Why are we talking about insulin? Because insulin is at the heart of this issue of diabetes. What does insulin do? Insulin is responsible for our continued existence on this planet. We would not be able to survive without insulin. Why?

Well, what insulin does is when we eat something, especially carbohydrates, those carbohydrates are broken down into blood sugar and that blood sugar is called glucose. Now it's floating around in the bloodstream and somehow we have to get it out of the bloodstream, into the cells that can use it to create energy that the body needs to do all of its work.

So insulin is the key to opening this door to the cell and getting that glucose into the cell. And all of that goes very smoothly. Everything works really well until we're at a point where we're getting too much.

The reason that insulin has kept us alive is because of something that we went through eons ago, when we didn't have food available to us at our fingertips. In the summertime, when there was lots of food around and we were hunting and gathering and storing food, we ate, we ate a lot, right?

So that took care of our right away energy needs. And we started packing on the weight. So insulin took that extra energy and stored it as fat. So in the famine times, like during the winter, when there wasn't an abundance of food around, we would burn that fat and have the energy we needed to survive so that we could reproduce and continue living right up until this modern age in our world.

Today, many of us do not have this issue of food scarcity, right? We can go to a grocery store and they're full of food.

The problem is that we're not eating in a way that really supports our health.

So when we're eating processed food or packaged food or convenience food, or fast food, those foods on the face of it might look like a pretty healthy meal. However, they are loaded with sugar and the same with sodas and coffee, drinks and shakes, and like that.

When we take in those foods, we take in a tremendous amount of sugar. And seriously, your pancreas is revved up, your body says give us some more insulin. Insulin is trying to put this stuff into the cells. And the cells are like, Hey, we are full. We can't take anymore. You're going to have to do something else with this. And so insulin, then, will store it as fat.

Now, when the cells don't respond to the insulin, it's called being resistant to it, right?

So no matter how much insulin we make - and the pancreas just keeps making it. Cause, well, apparently there's not enough because there's still a lot of glucose out there. It just keeps making it and making it, but it's not going anywhere. The sugar isn't going anywhere now, what is the problem with having all that sugar in your bloodstream?

Well, sugar is sticky and it sticks to red blood cells and it gums up the works. It also is very inflammatory. So it causes a lot of problems. And this is when we start to see things like metabolic syndrome and pre-diabetes and type two diabetes, because under all of that is something called insulin resistance.

So all of that sugar is has to go somewhere. So it ends up being stored as fat. And we're going to talk more about this fat next time.

So who is really susceptible to this?  Who is really at risk for metabolic syndrome and then moving into pre-diabetes and then full-blown diabetes? Pre-diabetes is a high blood sugar, but not high enough to be diagnosed with type two diabetes.

So who's at risk?

Well, somebody who's overweight, generally speaking, people who are 45 years and older, although that age is getting lower.

If you have a family member who has diabetes, you could be susceptible. If you're a woman who developed gestational diabetes during pregnancy, you could be at risk. And also women who have polycystic ovary disease. They also can be susceptible to type two diabetes.

Now - is all lost!

When you're diagnosed with one of these things, metabolic syndrome pre-diabetes, or type two diabetes, it can definitely be managed or even reversed. All you need is some support and some guidance and a little more information to help you make the kinds of changes that you need to make to live a healthy life.

I am in the middle of developing a program that does exactly that. It gives support and guidance and how to manage or even reverse your diabetes. And I'm going to tell you more about that later, but for now, if you have any questions that you want to talk to me about regarding your diabetes, please click the health chat link below and sign up for a call and we'll talk.

Thank you so much for listening.

Dr. Elaine.

Click here to schedule a health chat: https://calendly.com/drstewart/healthchat

This information is for educational purposes only and is not intended to replace the medical advice of your doctor or healthcare provider. Please consult your healthcare provider for advice about a specific medical condition.