Metabolic Health and Fat Loss
Here’s How to Reduce the Risk of Metabolic Disorders and Get Lean, Fit, and Happy.
The benefits of eliminating insulin resistance and having an insulin-sensitive body, with five practical lifestyle solutions
Insulin Resistance and Sensitivity in a Nutshell
Our health heavily depends on the functioning of metabolism.
As I posted several articles about insulin resistance within fat loss and healthy weight management perspectives, my subscribers want to know more about insulin’s impact and the risk factors for metabolic disorders.
Thus, insulin sensitivity is not just for fat loss but also to reduce the risks of metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, and some cancers.
Regular readers of my articles asked me to simplify insulin resistance and sensitivity as they find this topic too confusing.
Therefore, in this post, I explain five lifestyle factors in the simplest possible terms to convey my critical insulin resistance and sensitivity messages. I have written numerous research-based articles, which can be found in my publication.
In this article, I will not cite scientific papers. Instead, I simply share my perspectives based on experience and prior reviews of scientific papers.
Insulin resistance means the body needs more insulin to regulate blood sugar. After a while, when fat stores grow too much, the cells cannot get insulin signals anymore. Ironically, the body keeps creating more.
And finally, insulin-resistant people experience metabolic diseases such as type II diabetes. Insulin sensitivity is about diminishing insulin resistance.
The cells healthily respond to insulin signals when the body is insulin sensitive. Therefore, the risk of metabolic disorders is significantly reduced.
Here are the five broad lifestyle factors to become insulin sensitive and prevent insulin resistance for a healthy and happy life.
1 — Increasing Sleep Quality and Having Fun
I will start with the joyful ones. Who doesn’t like a good night’s sleep? And who doesn’t want to have fun? I believe we all do.
But for various reasons, we experience sleep deprivation and refrain from having fun. We unnecessarily increase our stress and anxiety with sleep deprivation and neglecting fun activities.
When we are sleep-deprived, our stress significantly increases. When we don’t have fun, we have difficulty managing our stress.
What is stress got to do with insulin? In my opinion, insulin’s best friend is another potent hormone, cortisol. Our body uses cortisol to manage stress.
The more stress we experience, the more cortisol is created. Elevated cortisol levels can contribute to insulin resistance when cortisol is higher than the threshold.
This is because the body utilizes more sugar during elevated cortisol levels in the bloodstream.
In addition, when cortisol levels are high, the body cannot use fat as an energy source as it mainly uses glucose. Therefore, it can be tough to tap into belly fat when excessive cortisol is in the bloodstream.
2 — Eating Nutrient-Dense Foods to Reduce Excessive Calories
The quality of food is more important than quantity. Consuming 5,000-calorie food with empty nutrition and 2,000-calorie food with dense nutrition makes a significant difference in our insulin profile.
People who support the calorie theory for fat gain are right. If we burn 2000 calories and eat 5,000 calories a day, naturally, 3,000 calories go to our fat stores.
However, there is one major factor that we need to keep in mind in this equation. It is the effect of the insulin hormone to utilize calories, as I articulated in this article titled: Why Fat Loss Has Nothing to Do With Calories.
Therefore, my point is not all calories are equal. For example, 1,000 calories from carbohydrates are not identical to the same number of calories from healthy fats.
One thousand calories from both carbs and fats give the same energy. However, one skyrockets insulin, and the other makes a negligible impact.
This is not rocket science. It is well documented in the body of knowledge. Thus, practically by reducing carbs and increasing healthy fats, we might gain better blood sugar control and insulin profile.
3 — Practicing Time-Restricted Eating for Hormonal Balance
Eating the same amount of food frequently and eating them in a specific window was scientifically proven to have different hormonal effects. As you guessed, when we eat each time, especially carbohydrate-rich food, insulin is secreted by the pancreas to regulate blood sugar.
It is important to note that our bloodstream can accept very little sugar at a specific point in time. It is believed to be the equivalent of a teaspoon of sugar.
For example, when we consume our food in an eight-hour window and rest the digestive system for 16 hours, during the rest period, the body does not produce insulin.
This is because the bloodstream will mainly get sugar via the gluconeogenesis process, primarily turning amino acids and a bit from fat stores into a small amount of glucose needed for the bloodstream.
In addition, in this fasted state, our growth hormone increases.
More interestingly, if we are on low carbs diet, our body also creates ketone bodies as an alternative energy source.
For example, β-hydroxybutyrate as an excellent signaling molecule, can decrease inflammation and increase mental clarity by topping up Brain-Derived Neurotrophic Factor (BDNF). We know that fasting can change brain chemistry.
Therefore, time-restricted eating can significantly contribute to insulin sensitivity. Medical practitioners use this method to treat people with metabolic conditions.
Fortunately, it is not a theory anymore. If you search the Internet, you will find many legally practicing clinics in many countries, including the United States.
I introduced the therapeutic benefits of time-restricted eating in seven health conditions as new medicine and preventative measure for metabolic diseases in this article: What if We Can Package Fasting as a Therapeutic Tool.
4 — Moving the Body Moderately to Utilize Glucose
Moving the body is essential for numerous health reasons. However, within insulin sensitivity and resistance context, it mainly relates to burning calories timely. It is better not to consume too many calories in the first place.
But life is not straightforward. We are hedonistic animals. Some of us see food as a ritual. There is nothing wrong with eating a little more, in my opinion, as food gives us pleasure.
The solution to eating a little more is moving the body a little more. From my experience, the best time to move the body is two hours after the main meal. When food is digested, it turns into calories.
If we do moderate exercises such as walking 30 minutes two hours after the meal, we can significantly reduce blood glucose and decrease insulin spikes.
Eating less and moving more has been a strategy for weight loss for decades. It works. However, too much exercise can have side effects too.
For example, excessive exercise without proper recovery due to physical stress increases the cortisol hormone. I explained the role of cortisol in relation to insulin in item one.
Maintaining the stress level with moderate exercise can be a good strategy. However, moderate can mean different things to different people. Exercise is an individual matter.
Some people can run for hours, but some can hardly run for a few minutes. Therefore, we need a customized workout plan matching our requirements and body type.
5 — Managing Stress Efficiently for Hormonal Balance
I left this to the end as it relates to all items. Food and exercise create stress. So do sleep deprivation and emotional problems.
Emotional stress is even more complicated than physical stress to managing. We can reduce physical stress by resting and sleeping. But we need more techniques and effort to cope with emotional stress.
I mentioned only cortisol as the principal hormone managing stress. However, more hormones are associated with managing physical, mental, and emotional stress.
I introduced major metabolic hormones in this article titled Three Hormonal Factors Preventing Fat Loss & Practical Tips to Solve Them.
Hormones, especially metabolic ones, are incredibly complex. Even endocrinologists struggle to understand the intricacies of hormones.
We don’t have to know about all hormones and their interactions. However, we can have a better hormonal profile by managing our stress efficiently, especially by keeping insulin under control.
I provided five practical steps to manage chronic stress efficiently.
Conclusions and Takeaways
From my experience, the optimal way to gain insulin sensitivity is to achieve a fat-adapted state.
I documented practical guidance on getting fat-adapted with simple lifestyle choices in this article: Three Practical Tips to Become Fat-Adapted and Shorten Waistline.
1. Increasing sleep quality and having fun with various joyful activities can reduce stress, improve health, and increase quality of life.
2. Eating nutrient-dense foods might reduce consuming unnecessary calories.
3. Practicing time-restricted eating might put us in a better hormonal position.
4. Moderately moving the body without too much stress and recovering timely can utilize glucose better and contribute to insulin sensitivity.
5. Efficiently managing stress can balance hormones, improve metabolic health, and increase the quality of life overall.
Here’s How a Mature-Age Couple Reversed Diabetes and Trimmed Their Bodies with Lifestyle Habits.
Thank you for reading my perspectives. I wish you a healthy and happy life.
As a new reader, please check my holistic health and well-being stories reflecting my reviews, observations, and decades of experiments optimizing my hormones and neurotransmitters. I write about health as it matters. I believe health is all about homeostasis.
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