Insulin Resistance

[Simba15]

For the last two years I have been gaining a ton of weight around the middle. The CF clinic of was NO HELP at all and toldmeto loseweight. I told them I execise daily and am eating under 1,000 calories a day and I am still gaining. Are you ready for this? They stood there and scratched their heads. When I reached out to their dietician - no reply. What a joke they are.

I went to a ND and a nutriontist who is also a nurse. Ton of tests run and I am insulin resistant. My insulin # is 26.7. I did another test where I drank very sweet stuff in the lab and stayed there for 4 hours while they tested me. That one was negative. They are not suggesting Metformin and neither is my MD.
They want me to try the eating plan that is being put together for me.

Anyone here have this issue? What do you eat and not eat?
I already stay away from carbs as much as possible and am gluten free and soy free. I am thinking it wll be veggies and fish for me. I am a vegatarian and the list of what i can eat is getting smaller. What do you have for snacks?

I exercise everyday and have for my whole life.

Thanks!

 

[durwood101]

So, you are not taking an insulin before meals such as Novalog, an insulin pen, for example? I'm almost 41 now and have some weight in the midsection but I think that is normal from what I understand. I take insulin before every meal because of the pancreas no longer producing insulin with the CFRD. I was diagnosed about 5 years ago and have been on the Novalog all this time. If you A1C level is at 26.7, that is indeed very very high.

 

[Simba15]

So, you are not taking an insulin before meals such as Novalog, an insulin pen, for example? I'm almost 41 now and have some weight in the midsection but I think that is normal from what I understand. I take insulin before every meal because of the pancreas no longer producing insulin with the CFRD. I was diagnosed about 5 years ago and have been on the Novalog all this time. If you A1C level is at 26.7, that is indeed very very high.

26.7 is not very very high. The normal range is 2.6-24.9
I am 26.7 which is considered high but just slightly above normal. Very Very high would be 300

I am not on any meds b/c they feel I can change this with diet.

Anyone doing a IR diet?

 

[Simba15]

You have the opposite problem from me. I don't need to take any insulin. My body is making WAY too much of it.

 

[Epona]

First of all, are you a female or male? This can make a big difference in the way to go about this. For females, often hormone disregulation as well as hypothyroidism can screw with your insulin sensitivity. You say you are eating few carbs, how few? And what kinds? Carbs cause weight gain and insulin resistence, as you know. A very low carb diet (less than 50g carb/day) will certainly help with both weight loss and improving insulin sensitivity. However, if you're a female it may be a little more complicated, as the body responds to low carb diets differently. If you are a female, a low carb diet (less than 100g carbs/day) may be more realisitc, and these should be low-glycemic carbs with a lot of resistant starch and fiber (root veggies, whole-grain sprouted gluten free grains, low-sugar fruits, etc.). Getting most of your calories from fat (saturated - ghee, coconut oil, lard, olive oil uncooked), at least 60%, preferably higher. Low-carb high-fat diets are the way to lose weight and boost insulin sensitivity as studies and many peoples' experiences have shown.

Also, a significant amount of weight can be lost by going on an anti-inflammatory diet like the Paleo diet because we retain water when we're in an inflamed state. People often lose an initial load of "water weight" when going on Paleo because they're so much less inflamed than they used to be.

In terms of insulin sensitivity, it has a lot, A LOT to do with cortisol. I recommend you read everything you can on Robb Wolf's blog (robbwolf.com) on the issue of insulin sensitivity and cortisol/adrenal disregulation, including the testimonials. Cortisol is a stress hormone that when overproduced signals glucose to be released from the liver, raising our blood sugar even if it's already high. When you've got more glucose than the cells know what to do with, the liver converts it into fat and stores it in your tissues, and when that doesn't solve the problem the cells downregulate their insulin receptors because your pancreas is producing so much insulin in response to the hyperglycemia, the cells think there's some kind of mistake and they stop listening to the insulin.

So going on a low-carb anti-inflammatory diet like Paleo is gonna help a lot, but other than that, if you're a female, you need to look into what role your thyroid is playing and also your sex hormones. I just listened to several great lectures on the subject, specifically Nora Gedgaudas, Stephanie Ruper, Sara Gottfried, and Mary Shomon. Check them out if you're interested in how hormones affect weight gain and insulin sensitivity.