If you have diabetes, it’s likely that you’ve heard the term “sugar” thrown around as a cause of the disease. But the truth is that it’s not really sugar that causes type 2 diabetes- it’s insulin resistance. Diabetes is not a sugar problem, it is an insulin resistance problem.
Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas that helps regulate you blood glucose levels. When you eat food, your body breaks down carbohydrates into glucose and sends it into your bloodstream. Your pancreas sense this rise in blood sugar levels and releases insulin, which binds to receptors on the membranes of cells and opens up a site for sugar molecules to pass through into the cell to be used for energy.
When cells are insulin resistant, they are unable to let the glucose molecules pass through their membranes. This creates high blood sugar levels in the blood 🍭 depriving the body of fuel and causing damage to various organs including eyes and kidneys. 🚨
Insulin resistance develops when cells are exposed to high concentrations of insulin over time. When constant high levels of insulin “yell” for glucose to enter the cell, it has progressively less effect (insulin resistance). The body’s knee-jerk reaction is to produce even more insulin- to yell even louder. The louder it yells, the less effect it has. If these high concentrations continue, insulin resistance can eventually become full-blown diabetes.
(So when we are using medications that only create a higher concentration of insulin, all we are doing is worsening diabetes).
Type 2 diabetes can be understood as a disease caused by too much insulin, which our bodies secrete when we eat too much sugar. We must lower our insulin levels by reducing our dietary intake of sugar and refined carbohydrates (a form of sugar).
So how do you reverse insulin resistance? You need to lower the amount of insulin your body is producing, and do it over a smaller period of time by:
- Cleaning up your diet, avoiding processed foods
- Intermittent fasting/Nutrient timing
Take away: You need to address insulin resistance in order to reverse type-2 diabetes and your blood sugar will follow.
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