Insulin sensitivity, I am sure if you are even slightly interested in fitness, you would have heard of this term in recent years. But how many people actually understand what it means? In fact, everybody should be learning more about insulin sensitivity, because it can make a huge difference in building muscle, losing fat, and even managing the risk of having a list of chronic diseases!
What does it mean to be insulin sensitive, and what is the condition of insulin resistance? How do these affect our bodies? Which one should we prefer? And how can we achieve it?
Insulin sensitivity is actually a very deep topic, and we can literally discuss it for weeks non-stop. Today we are only going to go through the basics so you would not get overwhelmed and bored.
How do our bodies work?
Since the way how insulin works in our bodies can be extremely abstract and complicated, we are going to use a metaphor today to first introduce you how insulin works in our bodies.
What is insulin?
Insulin is a hormone produced when our bodies sense that the glucose level in our blood is above baseline (our bodies prefer the glucose level in the bloodstream to remain its baseline level, anything above or below is not optimal), insulin signals insulin receptors shovelling glucose from the bloodstream into our muscles and organ where glucose can be utilised.
Think of our bodies as gardens, our muscles and other functional cells as plants in the gardens, glucose in the blood (aka blood sugar) as weeds in the gardens, and ourselves as insulin receptors.
Optimal Insulin Sensitivity
The way how it is suppose to work is that whenever we see weeds growing in our gardens, we would pick out the weeds, put them into a fertiliser processor, which will turn the weeds into fertiliser, which will be used to fertilise our plants. As a result, our plants are strong and healthy, and our gardens looks nice and bright without excessive weeds.
Usually when we ingest carbohydrates (and protein as well to a certain extent), the carbohydrates are broken down to glucose and enter the bloodstream, insulin is be produced, insulin receptors take the signal and shovel those glucose into our muscles and other functional cells so that they can be utilised. As a result, our muscles are strong, our organs are healthy, and our bodies work perfectly.
Insulin Resistance
On the other hand, if there are weeds popping out too often outpacing us picking up them out, we would start out doing what we are suppose to do, for a while. But sooner or later, we are going to be demotivated because it seems like an impossible task to clear the weed, and be like "Screw it, this is ridiculous!" We may still be picking weeds out here and there and process them as fertiliser, but far from an efficient manner since our motivation is gone as we are getting used to having weeds in our gardens. As a result, there is no nutritients for our plants, and our gardens look ugly and dull because they are full of weeds.
When we ingest high GI (>70) carbohydrates too often, the glucose in our blood is constantly elevated, our insulin receptors will eventually be fed up and start slacking. Insulin is still produced, but our insulin receptors become less responsive. As a result, our bodies and organs would not get the optimal nutrition to function, and the excessive glucose in the bloodstream will be deposited as fat and other undesirable substances, which can ultimately lead to type II diabetes!
In short, being insulin sensitive allow us to make the most out of our dietary intake in fuelling our muscles and organs, and thus gaining muscle and losing fat easier. On the contrary, being insulin resistance lead us to inefficient utilisation of our dietary intake which can lead to sub-optimal functioning of our bodies while building up fat and increasing risk of chronic diseases.
The Problem
In the standard modern day diet of most developed countries, the issue is that people are exposed to high GI (>70) food and snacks so often. Especially when someone is living a very busy life, choices out there for quick meal options are limited. High GI (>70) food itself is not a bad thing, but consuming too much high HI food too often will cause the glucose level in the bloodstream to be constantly elevated and developed into insulin resistance.
Improving Our Insulin Sensitivity
To improve our insulin there are actually a lot of ways doing so, today I am going to introduce you the 2 most effective and doable ones.
Exercising
Exercising itself serves the function of reversing insulin resistance since exercising can improve the ability of our muscles absorbing glucose from the bloodstream. Exercising also helps with losing weight if you are overweight, and being overweight is directly connected to decreased insulin sensitivity.
Diet
As mentioned above, the major cause of people nowadays developing insulin resistance is that there are too many high GI (>70) foods so readily available around us. Consuming high GI (>70) foods too much in amount too often constantly elevates our glucose level in the bloodstream, which is the leading cause of obesity and different chronic diseases.
Clean Eating
The most simple way to fix the problem is to take a list of high GI (>70) foods away from our diets. Our goal here is to take out all simple sugars and refined starches out of our diets. A general rule of thumb is that when it comes to food, if it is white, it is a no-go. When it comes to drinks, your best option is water and nothing else. Sauces are usually hidden sources of sugar as well, especially when you are dining out since most sauces has been enhanced by the use of sugar to make them more tasty. Take these out of your diet and your body will thank you millions!
Intermittent Fasting
Of course it would be great if you are very passionate about healthy eating and can eliminate high GI foods (>70) from your diets, but for most of us busy individuals living in a city having full time jobs, it is simply very difficult to find convenient low GI meal choices in stores or restaurants as we never know exactly what has been put into the food. Most of the time pre-packaged and restaurant meals are flavoured by sauces loaded with sugar or even sugar itself! And most people simply don't have the time to prepare a few meals daily for themselves. Luckily, there is a very innovative group of diet protocols came out in recent years that can allow us to eat relatively without restrictions on most days or during most times of a day but still be able to control our insulin sensitivity! That is intermittent fasting. There are a lot of intermittent fasting protocols out there and I have personally tested most of them out, below I will briefly introduced 2 protocols that I found the most effective and the easiest to follow.
1. 16/8
This intermittent fasting protocol is popularised by Martin Berkhan, a Swedish fitness specialist. This is a daily fasting protocol. Followers would have 16 hours of fasting period and 8 hours of feeding period daily. Most people who follow this protocol choose to start their 8 hour feeding window at lunch hour till dinner. They can eat normally during this feeding window until satisfied (not stuffing their faces with food until feeling ill), and simply skip breakfast everyday.
2. 5:2
This is a twice a week fasting protocol. Followers has to pick two days within a week to just have one single nutritious meal with about a quarter of their daily calorie requirement, but are allowed to eat with minimal restriction (again, not stuffing their faces with food until feeling ill) during the rest of the week.
We will have an article talking more in-depth about both intermittent fasting protocols mentioned above! Stay tuned!
What does it mean to be insulin sensitive, and what is the condition of insulin resistance? How do these affect our bodies? Which one should we prefer? And how can we achieve it?
Insulin sensitivity is actually a very deep topic, and we can literally discuss it for weeks non-stop. Today we are only going to go through the basics so you would not get overwhelmed and bored.
How do our bodies work?
Since the way how insulin works in our bodies can be extremely abstract and complicated, we are going to use a metaphor today to first introduce you how insulin works in our bodies.
What is insulin?
Insulin is a hormone produced when our bodies sense that the glucose level in our blood is above baseline (our bodies prefer the glucose level in the bloodstream to remain its baseline level, anything above or below is not optimal), insulin signals insulin receptors shovelling glucose from the bloodstream into our muscles and organ where glucose can be utilised.
Think of our bodies as gardens, our muscles and other functional cells as plants in the gardens, glucose in the blood (aka blood sugar) as weeds in the gardens, and ourselves as insulin receptors.
Optimal Insulin Sensitivity
The way how it is suppose to work is that whenever we see weeds growing in our gardens, we would pick out the weeds, put them into a fertiliser processor, which will turn the weeds into fertiliser, which will be used to fertilise our plants. As a result, our plants are strong and healthy, and our gardens looks nice and bright without excessive weeds.
Usually when we ingest carbohydrates (and protein as well to a certain extent), the carbohydrates are broken down to glucose and enter the bloodstream, insulin is be produced, insulin receptors take the signal and shovel those glucose into our muscles and other functional cells so that they can be utilised. As a result, our muscles are strong, our organs are healthy, and our bodies work perfectly.
Insulin Resistance
On the other hand, if there are weeds popping out too often outpacing us picking up them out, we would start out doing what we are suppose to do, for a while. But sooner or later, we are going to be demotivated because it seems like an impossible task to clear the weed, and be like "Screw it, this is ridiculous!" We may still be picking weeds out here and there and process them as fertiliser, but far from an efficient manner since our motivation is gone as we are getting used to having weeds in our gardens. As a result, there is no nutritients for our plants, and our gardens look ugly and dull because they are full of weeds.
When we ingest high GI (>70) carbohydrates too often, the glucose in our blood is constantly elevated, our insulin receptors will eventually be fed up and start slacking. Insulin is still produced, but our insulin receptors become less responsive. As a result, our bodies and organs would not get the optimal nutrition to function, and the excessive glucose in the bloodstream will be deposited as fat and other undesirable substances, which can ultimately lead to type II diabetes!
In short, being insulin sensitive allow us to make the most out of our dietary intake in fuelling our muscles and organs, and thus gaining muscle and losing fat easier. On the contrary, being insulin resistance lead us to inefficient utilisation of our dietary intake which can lead to sub-optimal functioning of our bodies while building up fat and increasing risk of chronic diseases.
The Problem
In the standard modern day diet of most developed countries, the issue is that people are exposed to high GI (>70) food and snacks so often. Especially when someone is living a very busy life, choices out there for quick meal options are limited. High GI (>70) food itself is not a bad thing, but consuming too much high HI food too often will cause the glucose level in the bloodstream to be constantly elevated and developed into insulin resistance.
Improving Our Insulin Sensitivity
To improve our insulin there are actually a lot of ways doing so, today I am going to introduce you the 2 most effective and doable ones.
Exercising
Exercising itself serves the function of reversing insulin resistance since exercising can improve the ability of our muscles absorbing glucose from the bloodstream. Exercising also helps with losing weight if you are overweight, and being overweight is directly connected to decreased insulin sensitivity.
Diet
As mentioned above, the major cause of people nowadays developing insulin resistance is that there are too many high GI (>70) foods so readily available around us. Consuming high GI (>70) foods too much in amount too often constantly elevates our glucose level in the bloodstream, which is the leading cause of obesity and different chronic diseases.
Clean Eating
The most simple way to fix the problem is to take a list of high GI (>70) foods away from our diets. Our goal here is to take out all simple sugars and refined starches out of our diets. A general rule of thumb is that when it comes to food, if it is white, it is a no-go. When it comes to drinks, your best option is water and nothing else. Sauces are usually hidden sources of sugar as well, especially when you are dining out since most sauces has been enhanced by the use of sugar to make them more tasty. Take these out of your diet and your body will thank you millions!
Of course it would be great if you are very passionate about healthy eating and can eliminate high GI foods (>70) from your diets, but for most of us busy individuals living in a city having full time jobs, it is simply very difficult to find convenient low GI meal choices in stores or restaurants as we never know exactly what has been put into the food. Most of the time pre-packaged and restaurant meals are flavoured by sauces loaded with sugar or even sugar itself! And most people simply don't have the time to prepare a few meals daily for themselves. Luckily, there is a very innovative group of diet protocols came out in recent years that can allow us to eat relatively without restrictions on most days or during most times of a day but still be able to control our insulin sensitivity! That is intermittent fasting. There are a lot of intermittent fasting protocols out there and I have personally tested most of them out, below I will briefly introduced 2 protocols that I found the most effective and the easiest to follow.
1. 16/8
This intermittent fasting protocol is popularised by Martin Berkhan, a Swedish fitness specialist. This is a daily fasting protocol. Followers would have 16 hours of fasting period and 8 hours of feeding period daily. Most people who follow this protocol choose to start their 8 hour feeding window at lunch hour till dinner. They can eat normally during this feeding window until satisfied (not stuffing their faces with food until feeling ill), and simply skip breakfast everyday.
2. 5:2
This is a twice a week fasting protocol. Followers has to pick two days within a week to just have one single nutritious meal with about a quarter of their daily calorie requirement, but are allowed to eat with minimal restriction (again, not stuffing their faces with food until feeling ill) during the rest of the week.
We will have an article talking more in-depth about both intermittent fasting protocols mentioned above! Stay tuned!