Insulin Resistance

Understanding Insulin Resistance


We heard a lot about insulin in the days of low-carb diets. And for good reason. Problems with insulin are a root cause of some of the most dangerous health conditions, as insulin affects almost every cell in the body.

Insulin plays a critical role in how your body uses food. Its most important role is to lower the concentration of glucose in your blood. When you eat, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose, and the glucose recirculates in your blood stream. In response to the rise in glucose after a meal, the pancreas releases surges of insulin, whose job is to clean the glucose from the blood. Some of the glucose is diverted into the liver, where it's converted into stored glucose, called glycogen, for later use by the muscles. Insulin then helps turn any leftover glucose into fatty acids and stores them in fat cells where they can be tapped later for fuel.

By making poor food choices, like scarfing down too many highly processed, refined carbs (like white bread and pasta!), we can do things to cause our bodies to create too much insulin. When you repeat that cycle too many times (like by repeatedly eating sugary junk on an empty stomach) your pancreas will overcompensate and produce more insulin, which your cells will eventually start to ignore. This is called insulin resistance and it is the precursor to type 2 diabetes and it is common in overweight people. Turned away at the door, the sugar is left with no where to go. If it hangs around in your blood too long, doctors call this impaired fasting glucose (if measured in the morning) or impaired glucose tolerance (if measured two hours after a meal). You could develop full-blown diabetes if both conditions go unchecked.

While high levels of blood glucose trigger insulin release, low levels suppress it, Maintaining low levels of insulin — one of the primary goals of the diet — allows your body to more easily tap in to your stored fat for fuel. Conversely, being insulin-resistant can hamper your weight-loss efforts. Try to avoid spikes in your blood sugar, by eating regularly. Pair carbs with protein, eat whole foods, avoid sugar juices and fruits, and highly-processed carbs. When your insulin-release mechanism works the right way, it helps keep your weight in check. So strive to keep it balanced!

Stretching

How to Warm Up and Cool Down


Q: What do you suggest for warm-up and cool-down exercises?

A: The best kind of warm up before a tough workout is a few minutes of cardio (such as jumping rope or jumping jacks) followed by dynamic stretching. We were taught years ago to sit or stand and stretch one muscle group at a time. Contrary to popular belief, this kind of static stretching — which helps prevent muscle soreness and improves flexibility — is best performed AFTER a workout, when your muscles are very warm and loose.

In the past several years, fitness experts have discovered that there is a much more effective and healthy way to stretch BEFORE a workout: the dynamic stretch. Dynamic stretching is basically stretching with motion, so your body gets a chance to warm up the muscles slowly and in a functional way. It's a 1-2-3 punch: You warm up your body, get your heart rate up, and stretch all at the same time!

Below are some examples of dynamic stretches. Do them on a level surface for a total of about five minutes before you begin your workout. You will notice that with time the exercises will become easier and they will help improve your coordination, flexibility, and balance. Start by performing the exercises over a distance of about 30 yards; increase to 50 yards as you get more comfortable.

High-Knee Walking

Purpose: To bend your hips and knees, stretch your glutes and hamstrings, and warm up your arms and calves.

The stretch: Take an exaggeratedly high step, driving your knee as high as possible, and simultaneously drive your opposite elbow forward. Make sure that you push up onto your toes so that your calf gets involved. Use a normal running arm motion, with a 90-degree angle at the elbow; elbow goes from chin level to as far back as possible while maintaining forward straight posture.

Key points: Drive your knees up as high as possible; get up as high as you can on your toes; and drive your arms with each step.

Deep Side Lunge

Purpose: To bend your hips and knees, and stretch your glutes and your groin.

The stretch: Keep your torso upright and take a wide step out to the side. Lower your body so you are in the sumo squat position. Recover by bringing your feet together and standing upright. Never cross your feet. Keep your hands on your hips.

Key point: The lower you lunge, the greater stretch you will achieve.

Trunk Rotation

Purpose: To stretch your lower back.

The stretch: Stand with your hands on your hips. Place your feet shoulder-width apart, toes pointing straight in front of you. Rotate from the waist to the right, then left. Go as far as you can while keeping your feet in the same position. Do the rotation about 25 times.

Key point: Start slowly; as you get going, you can go a little faster, with more rotation.

Butt Kicks

Purpose: To stretch your quads.

The stretch: This can be done walking or jogging. As you walk or jog, exaggerate the knee bend so that you are trying to kick yourself in the butt. You want your knee to point straight to the ground as your heel comes toward your butt. Keep your arms pumping in the normal running motion.

Key point: The higher you get your heel and the more you keep your knee toward the ground (instead of coming up in front of you with hip flexion), the more of a quad stretch you'll get.

Arm Swing

Purpose: To stretch your pecs and loosen your upper back.

The stretch: Stand with your feet shoulder-width apart. Raise your arms out to your sides and swing them forward, crossing one over the other, so that you hug yourself, then open them up and out to the sides so you feel a stretch in the front of your shoulders. Keep your stomach tight as you do this exercise and start slowly. Increase your speed and range of motion as you get warmed up. Repeat about 30 times.

Key point: Cross your arms right over left and then left over right so you get equal stretching on both sides.

Portions

Easy Calorie Counting


When it comes to losing weight, "calories in/calories out" is the name of the game. Burn more than you consume — it's that simple. But how do you know how many calories you consume in the first place?

Getting an accurate calorie count is easy on days when you can measure all your meals and snacks with the help of a measuring cup and scale. Once you've done all the scooping and weighing, you can get the number by adding up the calories based on your portion sizes. But how do you estimate calories when those tools aren't available?

If you're eating out, here are some useful tips for assessing portion sizes:

The size of your fist is roughly equal to a 1-cup serving of cereal, wild rice, black beans, and most other grain foods.

The size of your thumb is roughly equal to a 1-ounce serving of cheese.

The center of your palm of your hand, without fingers, is roughly equal to a 3-ounce serving of fish, chicken, beef, or other meat.

Easy, right? Give yourself a hand — no pun intended — and start measuring!

Exercise

boredom

Stave Off Boredom and Stop Overeating


Hey, you! Yeah, you! Did you just spend the last three nights in a row mindlessly munching in front of the television? If this sounds about right, you're not alone.

Boredom is one of the most common causes of overeating. SO many of us are drawn to the fridge the minute we have a little downtime. But if you eat because you can't find anything else to do, then you're sabotaging yourself.

So, what's the good news here? Well, part of your work is already done — you've identified boredom eating as a problem. But that was the past. Focus on the present — take the time to think ahead and come up with ways to combat every potentially sabotaging situation. For example, if food commercials on television make you hungry and/or drive you to snack uncontrollably, record or TiVo your shows so that you can skip those tempting commercials. Or, keep a few magazines close by so that you have something to zone out with until the commercials are over.

Losing weight isn't about making willpower an overwhelming new personality trait; it's about changing your everyday behavior. You can do this.

Make A Meal of It

When you eat, make a meal of it. No, I don't mean have several dishes when you're not that hungry. I mean take the time to enjoy your food. Turn off distracting noises, shut doors if possible to create a calm atmosphere. Play soothing music, set a nice table using your best dishes and silverware. And, no multi-tasking! That means no phone conversations, reading or working while you eat. Just focus on your food. Not only will you savor your food more this way, you'll be more aware when you are full and less likely to eat beyond hunger.

HCG

Some of you may have noticed HCG is in the news.  Between you and I, this isn't the first time it has been.  A couple of important facts:
1.  There is a group of individuals that falsely claim that hcg cures your appetite or cures obesity.  This is one group that is now under fire in the news - and rightfully so.  I never teach my patients this bogus mess - hcg does not supress your appetite or cure obesity. 
2.  Low calorie diets cause weight loss: not hcg or any other medicine - period!  Medicines are a tool to help you eat less calories.
3.  I offer low dose hcg to every patient if they want it.  There are many people who believe that low dose hcg (which is completely harmless) triggers your body to burn abdominal fat stores at a higher rate while dieting.  This has never been tested in large studies.  All of the evidence for this is anecdotal only. 

If you want to use hcg and you feel it is helping you, then great.  If you feel it is not helping you, then stop using it.  Always remember - if you think hcg or any other medication will erase your bad eating and lifestyle habits, you are wrong.  Your primary mission should always be to develop good, long term habits that lead to prolonged weight loss and maintenance.  Our job is lifelong.  The finish line is the grave.

About UNC

Occasionally I post about subjects other than diet.  I had the chance to attend the ACC Mens Basketball Tournament this weekend.  The games were great!  For those of you who watched, you probably noticed that UNC came out each day playing cold - almost unmotivated in a way.  As I give this some thought, I think I know why.  Coach Williams, if you see this post, I hope you will try this strategy in the NCAA tournament.  9 days ago UNC looked like the best team in the country as they demolished Duke in Chapel Hill.  That team looked fired up!  So what was the difference between then and the tourney?  The difference was in the starters.  The starters 9 days ago were the walk on senoirs led by former Cresset Christian Academy standout Van Hatchell.  He personally set the tone with his aggressive play from the start.  Even I got fired up from my living room.  The entire team and arena responded to this, and played inspired all night.  Let the walkons set the tone from the start - it is apparent that they play like there is no tommorow.  After 2 minutes take them out.  So, coach if you're listening consider this - start Van and his gang and they will set the tone for you.  They won't let you down!

March Madness

Going to the ACC tournament final today. What's my strategy? Plan ahead! Eat lunch before getting to the arena - that way I control the food choices. Don't eat the arena food and sweets while at the game. Don't celebrate the outcome with calorie-laden drinks and "sports bar food." Remeber this - just because March and early April will have a lot of great basketball is not a reason to consume a lot of high calorie, high sodium, high fat food like wings, burgers, pizza, fries, etc.
Eat because you need too not because you want too.

Insulin

How Insulin Plays A Critical Role
One of the endocrine system's most important hormones is insulin, which plays a critical role in how your body uses food. When you eat, your digestive system breaks food down into glucose, and the glucose circulates in your bloodstream (where it's often referred to as blood sugar). In response to the rise in glucose after a meal, the pancreas releases surges of insulin, whose job is to clean the glucose from the blood. Insulin directs some of the glucose to the body's cells, which use it for energy. Some of the glucose is diverted to the liver, where it's converted into glycogen (stored glucose) for later use by the muscles. Insulin then helps turn any leftover glucose into fatty acids and stores them in fat cells, where they can be tapped later for fuel.
Problems arise when your body starts creating too much insulin, which can happen for several reasons. One of the most common is that you ate too many highly processed, refined carbs, such as white bread or pasta. Such carbs increase blood sugar dramatically, requiring a rush of insulin to clear the blood. If your blood sugar surge is really dramatic (as it would be if you ate those refined carbs on an empty stomach), insulin overreacts and works twice as hard to clean the sugar from the blood. This overefficient removal of sugar means that your blood sugar concentration drops, with the result that you feel hungry again and crave (and probably eat) more carbs. That's the postsugar "crash and binge" cycle, the root of sugar addiction. In addition, when your muscles are still fueled from your last snack, the insulin converts those extra calories into fat. And as long as large amounts of insulin remain in the bloodstream, your body won't have a chance to tap into your fat stores for fuel — so you won't burn any fat, either.
This cycle can eventually lead to insulin resistance, a condition in which your body produces insulin but the cells become insensitive to it — as a result, the insulin can't do its job to lower the glucose concentration in the blood. Insulin resistance is a precursor of type 2 diabetes and is common among overweight people. Elevated levels of glucose in your blood is a surefire sign of it.
There is hope for preventing the problem. The key is to maintain low levels of insulin by eating whole foods, pairing carbs with protein, and avoiding highly processed carbs. When your insulin-release mechanism works the right way, it helps keep your weight in check. When it's not working, you're in trouble. If you can take control of your insulin's ups and downs, you'll be primed to lose weight and restore your body's hormone power!

Muscle Helps, Too!

Every pound of muscle burns three times more calories than does a pound of fat. Muscles scoop up blood sugar and enhance your body's insulin sensitivity — the more muscle you have, the more cells are available to absorb glucose, and you won't have to produce as much insulin after meals. Your muscle cells will be more efficient at using glucose for fuel, so your body won't have to store as much food as fat.

Change?

Fear of Change
Fear of change can keep you in a soul-crushing job, a bad relationship, or a physically destructive lifestyle. Ask yourself: Is the devil-you-know approach really good enough for you? Is your life making you happy? If you answered no to either of those questions, WHAT do you have to lose by embracing change?
The truth is, things should be changing — your body is changing, your habits are changing, your attitude is changing. This might be the point where, because of so much change, you're starting to freak out a little bit. You might be asking yourself, What will all this change mean — to my life's direction, my relationships, my identity?
I can't stress enough how important it is to resist any pressure you may be feeling from others to stop improving your habits or to remain a certain size. And don't worry if your spouse, family members, or friends aren't on board with your plans. You can't control them. They'll change if and when they want to change. Take care of yourself first.
Maybe you're afraid you won't know how to love yourself if you're not a certain size. Many people are buried in their weight, not knowing who they would be without it. This is especially a risk if you've never identified yourself as "skinny." Don't be afraid of what you'll be like when you're thinner. Feel the fear and do it anyway! And don't sabotage your efforts because you don't deem yourself worthy — you are SO deserving of achieving your weight-loss goal! Let's dig deep, get our hands dirty, and do this. What is there to be afraid of when you're healthy — besides living the life you're supposed to lead? When you're overweight and uncomfortable, there is so much less you can do, and you always live with the threat of having a stroke, developing type 2 diabetes, or getting cancer. Obviously, a lot more risks are involved if you give up and stay stuck instead of making changes.
The only thing that's holding you back from achieving your dreams is YOU. Believe in yourself, and stop letting your excuses keep you from living. Screw surviving — it's time to thrive!

Sticking With the Status Quo

Here's a really common manifestation of the fear of change, one I hear about all the time: You're afraid your partner won't love you if your size changes. And your partner is fearful that if you change, you might outgrow the relationship and leave. As a result, you or your partner — or you and your partner — might be trying to sabotage your weight loss so you can stick with the status quo. That's the wrong way to go, buddy. You are trying to change your life, but that doesn't mean your partner shouldn't or won't love you for doing just that.