Healthy Dieting

The body starts resisting the effects of insulin because:

The insulin produced by the body is not fully accepted or utilised, or the body simply does not manufacture enough insulin.

What causes insulin resistance:

The causes of insulin resistance might be found in age and/or genetic heritage, One of the many results of this condition is usually obesity, of which 80% of sufferer; develop diabetes mellitus II, or adult-onset diabetes.

However, lifestyle and stress are major causes of diabetes and more particularly, continuous snacking on refined carbohydrates, usually combined with a high intake of fat. Although all sugars and starches provide glucose, the most damaging effects come from consuming too much refined carbohydrate too often for too long.

Carbohydrates enter the bloodstream as glucose at varying rates. The rate depends – amongst other things – on the concentration of readily available carbohydrates in the food. For instance, the glucose derived from rolled oats, which is unbleached, unrefined and still contains all its natural dietary fibre, ‘drips’ into the bloodstream at a much slower rate than the concentrated, undiluted carbohydrates of refined white sugar or flour. The fibre in the oats retards the speed of entry into your bloodstream, producing a steady, even rise and fall in your glycogen levels. This, of course, also results in a steady, effective release of insulin.

This starch speedometer is called the Glycaemic Index (GI). The GI of sugar and white flour, for instance, is 100, whereas that of raw rolled oats is 47. Dried beans and lentils, by the way, have of the slowest GI of all starch foods – around 21 to 28. But more about the benefits of a slow GI diet later. Let’s examine how the glucose/insulin loop sets insulin resistance in motion.

Most varieties of pre-packed, refined breakfast cereals have a GI of 100 – clearly the wrong way to start your day, since a high GI causes a rapid rise in blood sugar. This triggers the rapid release of a surge of insulin into the bloodstream. A while later, the blood sugar has been used, but there is still some insulin left in your blood. This reduces the blood sugar level, often to below normal. So you feel lethargic, cranky, slightly depressed, a little nauseous and hungry despite having eaten a ‘healthy’ bowl of breakfast cereal. You have a cup of coffee with loads of sugar and there it starts all over again. Your blood sugar rises rapidly, calling for more insulin to get rid of it; you’re left with more insulin than blood sugar, so it reduces your blood sugar levels to below normal. At lunchtime you have a few sandwiches, a packet of crisps and some chocolate, washed down with a Coke or a Fanta … and so your day continues, each time with exactly the same results.

This continues year after year, until one not-so-fine day your body becomes resistant to the constant high levels of insulin released into your sugary bloodstream, because you’re in a cycle of highs and lows of carbohydrate hinging. Your body stops releasing sufficient insulin or the communication between your insulin and muscle cell receptors that should open and close to let insulin in, breaks down, to put it in lay terms. They no longer respond to the insulin’s request to allow glucose in, to be used/burnt as physical energy. When this happens, the body is unable to metabolise the carbohydrates properly, and to a lesser extent, the protein and fats. And you are landed with sugary blood, but only for the moment….

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