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 »

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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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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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.

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 »

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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Insulin Resistance Diet and Travel

As many of you may know, I live in Sydney, Australia, but originally come from England. Although I don’t make the trip back to the UK as often as I would like, when I do get on one of those long-haul flights, I know I’ll be sitting in one place for many, many hours at a time. So how can you keep to an insulin resistance diet when you travel?

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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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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 »