• Fatigue after meals
• Crave sweets during the day
• Eating sweets does not relieve cravings for sugar
• Must have sweets after meals
• Waist girth is equal or larger than hip girth
• Frequent urination
• Increased thirst & appetite
• Difficulty losing weight
• Afternoon coffee at Starbucks

What is Insulin Resistance?

Insulin resistance plays a major role in a vicious cycle that alters hormone metabolism towards androgen dominance. Androgen is the generic term for any steroid hormone that stimulates or controls the development and maintenance of masculine characteristics. They are also the precursor of all estrogens, the female and male sex hormones. Androgen Dominance may eventually lead into PMS, Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS), endometriosis, ovarian cysts and tumors. It is the most common female hormone disorder in menstruating women. PCOS is primarily characterized by hyperandrogenism, insulin resistance and chronic menstrual irregularities. Symptoms of androgen disorders tend to appear gradually over a number of years and range from mild to serious. They include irregular periods, infertility, unexplained weight gain, fluid retention, fatigue, mood swings, and acne beyond puberty, hair loss, and unwanted hair growth. Insulin resistance is associated with estrogen proliferative cancers, acanthosis nigricans (darkening of the skin, age or liver spots), increased cardiovascular disease and elevated cholesterol / triglyceride levels.

Insulin resistance occurs when the normal amount of insulin secreted by the pancreas is not able to unlock the door to cells. This is due to free radicals damaging the receptor sites on the cells. Think of it as a lock and key. Insulin – a hormone – is the key. The receptor site is the lock. Free radicals are vandals.
 
The vandals (free radicals) damage the lock which prevents the key from working. Unable to unlock the door, your body can not provide your cells with glucose. Your body produces more insulin which is unusable due to the damaged locks (receptor sites). Now the glucose and insulin stay in your blood stream. Some of the glucose and insulin are converted into vandals (oxidized into free radicals), and the glucose is converted into fat cells. Your body still needs energy and provides it through a process in the liver. The by-products of this process are weight gain, high cholesterol & triglycerides, and Polycystic Ovary Syndrome.
 
These by-products are then collectively called Syndrome X. The apple shaped body is often blamed for causing these by-products. This is “worst comes first” thinking. The by-products of insulin resistance cause the apple shaped body.
 
When the body looses the ability to transport glucose into the cells, due to inflammation damaging the insulin receptor sites, glucose stays in circulation and is oxidized into free radicals, which cause further damage or is made into fat cells. We loose the ability to produce energy for muscle movement. The person becomes lethargic, further decreasing the demand for energy, and Mitochondria – our cellular power plants – shut down, further decreasing our need for glucose. But we are still eating, putting food into our body, which is then stored as fat. Fat cells make estrogen. Excess estrogen lowers thyroid function so the body can not break down fat for energy, making it impossible to loose weight.
 
Exercise is necessary to reactivate the mitochondria, which enables the body to burn off excess energy of the blood sugar. This decreases the free radical production and reduces the cellular damage. After the damage stops the body can repair.  Clinical Nutrition alone will fail in treating these conditions. There are four “must do’s” to repair Insulin Resistance.