LowCarbDirect.net Issue 03

10 | LowcarbDirect Directory - Issue 3 - October 2016
By Dr Peter Hill
from UpforIt
(www.upforit.co.za)
Insulin
Resistance:
where it all begins to go wrong
If you are one of those unfortunate people who happens
to have a spare tire for a tummy or if your rearend
resembles a large bagel – or both – then there is a
good chance that it’s NOT YOUR FAULT! That’s right - being
overweight or obese is most often not the result of a lack of
willpower and because you eat too much and don’t exercise
enough. It is primarily the result of the metabolic dysfunction
called ‘insulin resistance’.
Are you always hungry and often too tired to
exercise?
Now, you may eat too much (of the wrong foods, especially
carbs) and don’t exercise enough, but that’s because you are
forced to do so by your underlying insulin resistance. Don’t
beat yourself up. You are always hungry and often too tired
to exercise because of physiological reasons and not because
of psychology. And guess what? If you are an overweight or
obese woman then you find yourself in the majority. Almost
70% of all adult females in South Africa are overweight or
obese.
The hormone insulin is secreted by your pancreas in
response to blood sugar (glucose), which is mainly derived
from carbohydrate in your diet. If you are insulin resistant,
which is defined as “ the diminished ability of a given
concentration of insulin to exert is normal biological
effect”, then you may have higher than normal insulin
levels over extended periods of time and, as a result, your
cells will have lost some of their sensitivity to insulin.
Foods high in starch and sugar drive insulin
levels
Starch and sugar are refined carbohydrates and they drive
insulin levels. Bread, pasta, biscuits, cakes, breakfast cereals,
sweets and chocolate, sugar sweetened beverages,
Insulin
Driving
Foods