How can an insulin resistance diet help me?

If you’ve just been diagnosed as insulin resistant (prediabetic), you may be very confused and wondering where to start. I know how you feel!  I’ve been where you are now and I understand what it’s like to be faced with this.

For many people this is completely new territory, but if you follow an insulin resistance diet:

1. it will bring your weight down where other diets have failed
2. you will quickly gain control of your appetite and cravings
3. your blood sugar will stabilize
4. you will greatly reduce the risk of ever getting diabetes
5. you will learn what foods you can eat to be able to maintain a healthy weight
6. you’ll finally be able to reduce your abdominal fat

Insulin Resistance Diet Menu

One of the challenges insulin resistance brings is the planning of your meals from day to day. Before I was diagnosed, my meals were very different – cereal for breakfast, sandwich for lunch, main meal at night would pretty much always include rice or pasta or potatoes. I’m sure many of you are the same, and things need to change on a low carb diet! So what is a typical insulin resistance diet menu?

Breakfast on an Insulin Resistance Diet

For many people, breakfast means eggs. I don’t like them much so I’d never want to start my day that way, but I know I’m in the minority! Have them any way you want – they’re nutritious even with the yolks, and we all know there are a lot of different ways to cook them. Continue Reading »

What is a healthy diet for someone with insulin resistance?

Lots of people have told me that they think their diets are quite healthy – much more so than many of their friends, who may be consuming vast quantities of “junk”. Yet if you have insulin resistance, one of the most frustrating things is that your weight will stay the same (and may even go up), even if you’re making a conscious effort to stay away from the chips and cakes. In fact, you may not even be eating much at all.

I was in the same boat, and let me tell you, I was super-disciplined! Exercising almost daily, keeping to very small portion sizes, very rarely indulging in anything that I thought would derail my efforts, including alcohol. I remember being into my 11th week of a strict regime I had put myself on. Who could question that kind of dedication? And still I did not see any results.

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Blood sugar imbalance

As many of you know, I have put together a program over at reverseinsulinresistance.com to help people learn to make changes to their diet when they have been diagnosed as insulin resistant. These changes are the ones I have applied myself and I can testify that they work (as can many hundreds of people who have done the same thing). I have mentioned the core principles here on this website many times, but let me summarize:

To start to lessen the spikes in blood glucose which result in the over-production of insulin, the key elements you want to focus on are as follows:

• Decrease the amount of starchy carbohydrate and sugar that you consume
• Increase protein
• Increase fiber by eating more green vegetables
• Exercise regularly

This is a great place to start and is a simple concept that anybody can apply. People who have done just this have emailed me to report enormous changes – weight loss, controlled appetite, feeling better in general, more energy… it all starts with awareness.

However, there is so much more to know, if you’re interested!

When I was collating information for my program, I looked more deeply into the whole subject of blood sugar imbalance, because I know that insulin resistance is only part of the story. There are all kinds of hormones at work, and when they’re not functioning right, you can really feel off your game! Weight gain is a common result of blood sugar imbalance, but other symptoms include feeling “fuzzy”, fatigued and controlled by cravings. As well as insulin, the adrenal hormones (cortisol and adrenaline) contribute to these symptoms in a major way.

Interview with an expert

I was fortunate enough to interview an expert in this field, Dr Ritamarie Loscalzo, for my program. She is a holistic practitioner in Austin, Texas, and she helped me to really understand how these hormonal imbalances occur and gave me some great tips on how to start to address them.

I have attached part of my interview with Dr Ritamarie here for you to listen to – I hope you find it as useful and informative as I did! (click the little “play” button on the left to open the player and listen – you can even download this if you like – when you open the player, you’ll see the word “Download” – right click on this and save the link as an mp3).

As you can tell, Dr Ritamarie really knows what she’s talking about! She has several programs you may want to try, such as her B4BeGone program, which teaches you how to reset your metabolism and get your hormones back in balance. Or simply click on her photo to go to her main website.

If you would like to hear the rest of this interview, and more from Dr Ritamarie (she also discussed supplements with me) the audios are available in my own program, the Fast Insulin Resistance Success Training Program.

The easiest Insulin Resistance Diet breakfast

Those of us with insulin resistance know that we should have protein with every meal, and for many people that translates to “eggs” for breakfast. I don’t really like eggs that much (I’ll eat them if I have to but always choose something else if there’s an alternative!).

If you want to make your own healthy protein shake, you have to get the blender out … which takes time and is messy! Who can be bothered, right?

Or you may be the kind of person who prefers to skip breakfast – you know you should have something, but you don’t feel like much.  If so, this will interest you…

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Insulin resistance symptoms

How do I know if I’m insulin resistant?

The apple shape vs the pear shape

The first clue that you may be insulin resistant is the distribution of fat on your body, as demonstrated in the “apple” vs “pear” shaped body images.

Insulin resistance is characterized by abdominal fat, as in the “apple” shape on the left. The rolls of fat around the midsection, the swollen belly – these are the classic signs. The accumulation of fat around and above the waistline is a danger sign.

In the “pear” shape, the weight is mostly below the waistline, on the hips and thighs, and the abdomen is markedly flatter. If you’re pear-shaped, you are unlikely to have insulin resistance. Continue Reading »

Low carb meals quiz

Test your knowledge about carbohydrates, insulin resistance and low carb meals

How much do you know about carbohydrates?

If you have insulin resistance, you’ve probably read a lot about carbohydrates and what effect they have on insulin production. I thought I knew some basic truths about low carb meals, but in fact, since being diagnosed as insulin resistant and by researching this more fully, I’ve found out some surprising things!

If you’d like to know more, see how many of the following you get right…

With regard to insulin resistance – are the following statements true or false?

1. The main thing to understand is the difference between simple and complex carbohydrates
2. Eating fruit is a bad idea because it is full of fructose
3. Brown/wholemeal versions of bread, rice and pasta are not much better for you than their white counterparts
4. Foods that are labelled “high fiber” are not always good choices
5. The Glycemic Index can help you decide which carbohydrates to include in your diet
6. You can have coffee on a low carb diet
7. Potatoes, rice, bread, pasta, cereals and all forms of sugar must be restricted, if not eliminated.

My insulin resistance diet success formula

Over the years of searching for an answer to my weight problem, in particular the abdominal fat, I have done a lot of research into various methods, bought and tried a host of products and subscribed to countless sites. Since being diagnosed with insulin resistance, I have finally settled on a diet and a course that works for me.  I have taken a little of this, a little of that and combined the best advice I could find.  I now have a method that truly works!

The path I have followed has given me

• freedom from cravings
• 100% more energy
• the certainty that my weight loss is permanent

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Why am I insulin resistant?

Insulin resistance is so prevalent now (various statistics I’ve seen say 1 in 4 people, sometimes as high as 1 in 3 (in the US), have insulin resistant bodies. How can it be that this is so widespread?

Yes, a proportion of these people are genetically predisposed to the condition and may already have quite healthy diets and exercise regimes. But the great majority have been affected by what they do/don’t do and eat/don’t eat.

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What are carb blockers?

Carb blockers (also known as starch blockers) are supplements which claim to keep your insulin levels stable by preventing the rapid absorption of starch.

They are formulated to inhibit the body’s production of the starch-digesting enzyme, alpha-amylase. With less alpha-amylase, the body converts a smaller amount of starch into glucose for further digestion. This consequentially reduces the calorie intake, but more importantly for us, it causes a less extreme spike in blood glucose, which happens when we eat refined, high glycemic carbs. A rapid glycemic response (this “spike”) will cause an immediate over-production of insulin.

Carb blockers are helpful for anyone who wants to limit carbohydrate absorption, so it makes sense that we insulin resistant folks would benefit especially from something specifically formulated to target our number 1 enemy and stop its negative effects on our bodies. Carb blockers are often made from white kidney bean extract, a natural and safe supplement.

Please understand that they are not a license to over-indulge.  You should still follow a low carb meal plan but a supplement like this is useful for those times when you have starchy carbohydrates in your meal and want to avoid any possible absorption.

Most carb blockers are tablets or capsules that you take before a meal - only if that meal has starch in it.  You don’t need them if you are just eating protein, fat and non-starchy vegetables.  They will not only prevent the carbohydrates from being rapidly absorbed, they will also act as an appetite suppressant.

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The “Link and Balance” formula

The key to the way of eating known as Link and Balance, as outlined in The Insulin Resistance Diet, is to be able to control the effects that carbohydrates have on our bodies – not by never eating any again, but by not eating them in isolation. Linking and Balancing is a way to ensure that your body gets the necessary amounts of protein and carbohydrates to prevent insulin spikes – and as a result, control your appetite and lose weight.

Linking simply means adding protein to your diet. It is something we don’t naturally think of.  Sure, most of us have protein in the form of meat or fish with our evening meals, but many of our snacks are carbohydrates and we would normally just consume them on their own, without even thinking about the type of food we are eating.

Balancing is making sure you have the right quantities of protein with your carbohydrates.  You do have permission to eat carbohydrates, but for each serving you have (and there are limits), you need to balance the carb with protein.  It is a principle that makes this insulin resistance diet a more realistic approach than some of the others out there. Continue Reading »

Some low carb food reviews

Since beginning an insulin resistance diet, I have swung between trying to have very few carbohydrates (very difficult to sustain long term) and “linking and balancing” my carbs with protein. Some weeks it is just easier, other times I feel like I need some new items in the pantry.

I am looking for products that will be better for my long-term health as well as help me to keep the weight down. I am not trying to cut out all carbohydrates, but I am definitely interested in low glycemic carbs and ways to keep my menus varied. In the day-to-day search for better alternatives, I am continually looking at and comparing food labels, and today I want to share a few of the things I’ve found.

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Insulin Resistance Weight Loss

Does insulin resistance weight loss happen for everyone on a low carb diet? Whereas it’s hard to say with 100% certainty, the results are more likely with a low carb diet than any other way. By getting rid of the refined starches in our diets, we not only regain control of our appetites, we also start to increase insulin sensitivity, so that our bodies respond more normally to our food intake.

Our diet dilemmas are different from other dieters’ – people with insulin resistance are not just looking for quick weight loss, we need something that will sustain us and which will help to restore us to good health.

But what if I’m not losing?

Insulin resistance weight loss is usually quite fast when you begin your new regime, but for those of you who have hit a plateau or are just not seeing the results you’d like, this post is for you! Continue Reading »

Good fats, bad fats

Most people know that there are different types of fat: saturated fat, monounsaturated fats, polyunsaturated fats, trans fats. Any ideas which ones are the good guys? Which are the worst types? Which ones do we get from animals? Which ones are derived from plants? Which are man-made?

And the most important question of all: Should we be afraid of fat if we are insulin resistant?

As you may have guessed from the title, not all fats are bad. A basic knowledge will help you to make the best choices and the short answer is NO, we should not be afraid of fat! Except for one type: see below.

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What is insulin resistance and what can I do about it?

What is insulin resistance? Insulin resistance is another term for pre-diabetes. In short, it is a condition where you produce too much insulin. As a result, you will store fat around the abdomen (and visceral fat around the internal organs – a very dangerous situation). Left unchecked, it is highly likely to develop into Type 2 diabetes and there are numerous other inherent health risks.

Why does this happen? Well, it can have various causes, but a great proportion of people with insulin resistance have become that way through their diet. It has been well documented that insulin resistance occurs in some people when they Continue Reading »

Insulin resistance diet tips

Over the months of following an insulin resistance diet, I have found that certain things have helped and others haven’t worked. It depends on the individual, of course, but I thought it would be good to list a few tips to help others who might be in this situation. This post is more about keeping yourself motivated – for practical tips to get over a weight loss plateau, there are several strategies to help you here.

It’s tough being insulin resistant! This is no ordinary weight loss journey and the discipline required is harder than for most people. You will sometimes notice that you’re not losing weight, or that your appetite/cravings seem to have come back with a vengeance. You may be incredibly bored with the food you’re “allowed” to eat and need some inspiration to continue. Sound familiar?!

OK – here are my insulin resistance diet tips to stay motivated and on track: Continue Reading »

Top 3 fast food choices for insulin resistance

You’re at the mall with your friends or family. Everyone’s getting hungry and you know you still have hours to go before you can get home.

Much as you’d like to be in control of everything you eat, you know that you’re going to be getting something from the food court, and because you suffer from insulin resistance, you’re worried about how your choice might affect you.

What can you do in this situation? Continue Reading »

Cinnamon and insulin resistance

I recently came across an article which had some interesting information about the effects of cinnamon on people with type 2 diabetes and insulin resistance. It’s not the first time I have seen claims that cinnamon is beneficial to us, both for weight loss and in increasing insulin sensitivity.

The article I read cited the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement  in 2000 of  ”preliminary findings that cinnamon may significantly help people with type 2 diabetes improve their ability to regulate their blood sugar and even that it has been shown to increase glucose metabolism 20-fold.” The author of the article also claimed to have had some success in reducing abdominal fat Continue Reading »

How long have you been following a low carb diet?

Do you think you’ll ever have a meal with lots of carbs again?

That’s the thing – if you are truly committed to this way of eating (and if you’re insulin resistant and want to change that, you probably are), you’re likely to shudder at the thought of having that kind of food again. Well yes – on a regular basis, it’s not on the cards. It’s fine to have the occasional sandwich, it’s fine to have some “good” carbs as long as we balance them with protein.

But what happens if you’ve been invited somewhere where you know you will have no control over the type of food that will be offered? If you think you can avoid high carb food forever you’re not being very realistic!

I recently went to an informal birthday celebration where Continue Reading »

Atkins Diet Review, Part 2

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In the Atkins Diet Review Part 1, we looked at the 4 phases of the Atkins Diet and the foods you are allowed to eat at each stage. Now let’s concentrate on the overall benefits and drawbacks of the original low carb diet.

Comparing the Atkins Diet to other diets

People have drawn comparisons between the Atkins Diet and several others, most recently the Dukan Diet, which is very popular right now – although I personally don’t see much resemblance, other than the fact there are 4 phases to each. However, Protein Power and The Schwarzbein Principle both recognize the value of a high protein, low carb diet which has a fair amount of fat in it. In all of these, the type of fat is key: and the one to avoid is the trans fat (the man-made type).

Atkins Diet Pros and Cons

The Atkins Diet name has both its advantages and its drawbacks. On the one hand, a lot of people have heard of it, Continue Reading »