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Measured by the Diet Questionnaire
2 Sedentary lifestyle: lack of physical activity and exercise, and lack of muscle (see chapter 10 (#litres_trial_promo))
Measured by Exercise and Lifestyle Questionnaire
3 Weight: being overweight and/or having an elevated BMI (see this chapter)
Measured by BMI calculation, observation and body composition measurements
4 Stress: abnormal stress hormones (cortisol and DHEA) have a negative effect on Insulin Resistance (see chapter 9 (#litres_trial_promo))
Measured by Stress Questionnaire and adrenal hormone saliva test
5 Lack of nutrients: chromium, magnesium, essential fats, other nutrients (trace minerals, minerals, vitamins) including antioxidants (see chapters 6 (#litres_trial_promo), 7 (#litres_trial_promo) and 8 (#litres_trial_promo))
Measured by Diet and Signs and Symptoms Questionnaires and blood tests
6 Genetic influence: a family history of diabetes, heart disease and obesity and being of South Asian, African, Polynesian or Mexican origin (see chapter 11 (#litres_trial_promo))
Measured by Family and Health History Questionnaire
The Insulin Connection
Age and insulin
Whatever your ethnic origin, your risk of Insulin Resistance increases as you get older. If you remain active, take gentle exercise to reduce loss of muscle mass, reduce the amount of calories you eat but increase the quality of your nutrient intake (as we age we become less efficient at digesting food), your age will not work against you and you will also find that you age more slowly.
However, it is also true that Insulin Resistance is becoming increasingly common in younger and younger people and a person’s chronological age is a less obvious risk factor than it once was. In actual fact, people who develop Insulin Resistance as early as the late teens and early twenties have a prematurely aged metabolism – i.e. they have the metabolism you’d expect to see in someone at least twice their age. Don’t worry if this sounds like you. Not only will the Insulin Factor Plan put your insulin and glucose levels back on track but it will also help you take years off your body’s biological age – the best kind of side-effect!
See Resources (#litres_trial_promo) for help interpreting your Insulin Resistance Blood Test.
If you have done a blood test and know what degree of Insulin Resistance you have, turn to the Resources (#litres_trial_promo). However, without a blood test you can still get a good idea about what degree of Insulin Resistance you have, and take the appropriate action as outlined below. Your questionnaire scores will reflect a low, moderate or high risk of Insulin Resistance, which correlate with the different stages of Insulin Resistance that would be determined by the blood test.
Low Risk – Stage 1
You are insulin sensitive, and insulin levels fluctuate depending on food and drink intake, but you have normal fasting insulin and glucose levels. This does not mean you are free of symptoms, since you can put on weight if you eat too much, but this is not a dramatic or rapid process. You can also get symptoms of low blood sugar after eating a sugary meal like a big baked potato, because your insulin works well and is stimulated in large amounts by the high-sugar potato and consequently stores glucose into liver, muscle and fat cells rapidly, resulting in ‘post-prandial hypoglycaemia’. At this stage your blood test results would all be normal.
Action: Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan One
Moderate Risk – Stage 2
Your fasting insulin is still normal, as is your glucose. However, you can gain body fat more easily in this stage, and your fasting triglycerides (blood fats) would be elevated and the good cholesterol (HDL) low.
Action: Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan Two
High Risk – Stage 3
Your fasting insulin is elevated, as it is after eating, the triglycerides (blood fats) are high too and the HDL is low, and, generally, you are overweight, especially around your middle.
Action: Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan Three
High Risk-Stage 4
Your scenario is the same as for stage 3 above, except that your fasting blood glucose is a little too high.
Action: Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan Three
Stage 5
At this stage you would technically be diabetic because your blood glucose would be too high.
Action: Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and follow doctor’s drug prescription. Supplements may be appropriate but should be recommended by a qualified nutritionist working with your doctor.
So, now you know your risk of Insulin Resistance. However, before you get going with the Insulin Factor Plan you need to take a closer look at the diet and lifestyle influences that will really make a difference to the speed at which you reverse Insulin Resistance. These are the two main areas of change that you will form part of your Insulin Factor Plan and getting to grips with them will make it much easier for you to succeed.
Summary of key points
A high Body Mass Index (BMI) is a significant, independent risk factor for Insulin Resistance.
The six major causes of Insulin Resistance are: 1 Eating too many refined carbohydrates and over-processed foods 2 Sedentary lifestyle 3 Being overweight 4 Stress 5 Lack of nutrients 6 Genetic influence.
Age is not a specific risk factor, but an associated one for Insulin Resistance.
Insulin Resistance in younger people indicates an accelerated biological age.
There are degrees of Insulin Resistance and these help to distinguish appropriate dietary and exercise recommendations.
Part Two
Let’s Take a Look at Diet (#ulink_2250b6f2-3c06-5e0e-8332-411efdc0fbae)
4 How Your Digestion Affects Insulin (#ulink_e476eb3e-b932-5f12-a233-01e846baabbc)
Digestive problems are a hidden cause of Insulin Resistance. This is mainly because as much as 70 per cent of the body’s immune system is located within the gut, and if your gut immunity is taxed the gut is flooded with cytokines – if you remember these are immune messengers – and in large quantities these blunt receptors for insulin in your body. This means insulin becomes less effective at storing glucose away so the body produces more insulin to compensate. For example, this is why, if you have a food intolerance, you can have difficulty in losing weight: your immune system is battling with a perceived threat and, in producing cytokines to fight it, interrupts the usual efficient function of insulin.
It’s not just food intolerances that cause an immune reaction in the gut: yeasts such as candida albicans, unfriendly bacteria, parasites and maldigestion trigger cytokine activity as well. Poor diet is a major culprit since not only does it not provide adequate nutrients for optimal immune function but it creates an environment within the gut that favours and feeds unwanted bugs.
The other thing that causes or exacerbates the likelihood of both gut problems is stress. Stress directly weakens immunity within the gut, thereby leading to an inability to distinguish friend from foe (i.e. overreacting to an everyday food) and prevent the colonization of unwanted bugs.
Digestive problems are extremely common as the typical Western diet is high in refined foods and we lead high-stress lifestyles.
Gut Health Questionnaire
Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following questions. Each ‘yes’ answer is awarded a single point. Your total score will help you determine the likelihood of your digestive system contributing to Insulin Resistance.
Do you regularly (every few days) have:
1 Indigestion or heartburn?
2 Bloating after meals?
3 Nausea?
4 Excess flatulence?
5 Abdominal pain?
6 Cramps?
7 Irregular bowels?
8 Diarrhoea?
9 Constipation (less than one motion per day)?
10 Haemorrhoids (piles)?
11 Known or suspected food intolerances?
12 Antibiotics?
13 Anti-pain medications (e.g. aspirin or ibuprofen)?
14 Yeast or candida overgrowth?
15 Parasite or gut bacterial infections?
16 Food poisoning?
17 More than 14 units of alcohol per week?
Score out of 17 =
If you have any one of these regularly then your digestive health needs attention. If you’ve scored more than 5 then it almost certainly means it is compromising your Insulin Resistance, and warrants immediate action. If you have a pattern of any of these symptoms after eating specific foods then this suggests you have a food intolerance and this could be affecting your insulin sensitivity. It would be worth your while eliminating the suspected culprit food for a trial period of four weeks to see if your symptoms improve.
To address any digestive problems start the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and the Gut Supplement Plan rather than the Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan. It may take a number of weeks to reduce your questionnaire score, and only when you have reduced the score to 4 or less, and the symptoms are less regular, should you start following any of the Insulin Resistance Supplement Plans.
Summary of key points
70 per cent of your immune system is located in the gut.
Gut problems almost always involve the immune system.
Immune system reactivity produces cytokines.
Gut cytokines travel to the bloodstream and blunts the action of insulin.
Food intolerances play an important role in the production of cytokines in the gut.
Invariably, if you have Insulin Resistance and gut problems too, you need to address the latter first.
5 Carbs and Proteins – Your Key to Reverse Insulin Resistance (#ulink_a2451b49-a64c-55c4-8cc0-099676f08d61)
The Insulin Connection
Mixed messages
With all this discussion about refined sugars and carbohydrates you may be wondering if you should still be eating them, particularly as we are bombarded on a daily basis with conflicting opinions and information on what we should and should not be eating. First we are told that ‘fat is bad’, then it’s carbohydrates. What are we to do – not eat either? And how can we do that when we’ve been told that too much protein isn’t good for us either? It’s hardly surprising there are a lot of confused people.
What the headlines – and often the articles themselves – fail to explain is that there are good and bad fats, good and bad carbs, and good and bad proteins, all of which should ideally be eaten in balance with each other for optimum health. They also make an assumption that we are all the same, which is evidently not the case as each of us requires a different balance of nutrients to achieve good health. Take twins for example: they can have up to a twenty-fold difference in needs for some nutrients.
(#litres_trial_promo) Imagine how different it could be between people who are not related!
To help you start to get to grips with some useful nutritional facts, this chapter looks at carbohydrates and fibre, the Glycemic Index, and then proteins. Lastly you’ll find out what proportions of carbs and protein you should eat to reverse Insulin Resistance.
There are two questionnaires to help you figure out what kind of carbs and proteins you are eating. The carbohydrate questionnaire is the first.
The Carbohydrate Questionnaire
Scoring the questionnaire
Each ‘yes’ answer scores 1 point.
Do you regularly:
1 Eat sugar or hidden sugars in food or drink?
2 Eat packet foods such as breakfast cereals?
3 Eat white flour products (e.g. bread, pasta, biscuits, cakes) and/or white rice more than 5 times a week?
4 Crave sweet foods?
5 Smoke cigarettes?
6 Drink more than 2 glasses of wine or beer a night?
7 Drink more than 3 cups of tea a day?
8 Drink more than 2 cups of coffee a day?
9 Drink fizzy drinks on most days?
10 Feel dizzy or irritable after 3 hours without food?
11 Get nauseous if you go without food, especially in the morning?
12 Get the shakes if you go without food for too long?
