{"id":2685,"date":"2026-03-07T17:33:59","date_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:33:59","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/centresstop.com\/?p=2685"},"modified":"2026-03-07T17:49:55","modified_gmt":"2026-03-07T22:49:55","slug":"what-is-insulin-resistance-how-does-it-affect-our-weight","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/centresstop.com\/en\/insulin-resistance\/what-is-insulin-resistance-how-does-it-affect-our-weight\/","title":{"rendered":"What is insulin resistance? How does it affect our weight?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Insulin is a hormone made by pancreas beta cells. It helps to feed the cells of our body. It signals the cells to uptake glucose and fatty acids and use them to make energy to sustain their lives and fulfill their functions. Without insulin, the cells will starve to death even if they are surrounded with abundant blood glucose and fatty acids.<\/p>\n

Our body is a delicate system. High blood sugar level is toxic to many tissues. When we constantly raise the blood glucose level by ingesting high carbohydrate foods or sweet drinks, we need to constantly secret insulin to remove the glucose from the blood and store or utilize it in cells. \u00a0There are two storages options: liver to store glucagon (derivative of glucose) or fat tissue to store fat, which was converted from glucose by the liver.<\/p>\n

Our cells have limited capacity to store or utilize glucose. Therefore, they reduce their response to insulin signal to prevent glucose overflow. However, our body still want to reduce blood glucose level. Therefore, it signals the pancreas to produce more insulin. High insulin levels induce more resistance. It goes in a vicious circle. The net effect is a constant elevated blood insulin level.<\/p>\n

What does an elevated blood insulin level means? One of the functions of insulin is to encourage fat storage and prevent fat expenditure. So, it becomes a major obstacle for weight loss. Although you have excessive fat tissue, your body cannot access it for energy usage but keep sending you signal for more food intake. Therefore, insulin is a gatekeeper, it locks the access of your fat storage and prevent weight loss. To lost weight, we need to lower the insulin level.<\/p>\n

How to reduce insulin resistance?<\/h2>\n

Since high insulin level prevents weight loss, reducing blood insulin level is essential to facilitate weight loss. How to achieve this objective?<\/p>\n

Due to the regulation system of our body, the way to reduce insulin production is to increase insulin sensitivity of our cells. Once insulin resistance drops, the blood insulin level drops.<\/p>\n

The major cause of insulin resistance is repeated large spikes of blood glucose. Therefore, the solution is to reduce the height of the spikes and the number of the spikes. It basically means that we need to watch out what we eat<\/u> and how often we eat<\/u>.<\/p>\n

\"shocking-effects-of-insulin-resistance\"<\/p>\n

1. What, how, and when we eat matters<\/h2>\n

To curb the spikes, we need to reduce the amount and slow down the speed of glucose going into our blood stream after each meal and snack.<\/p>\n

What we eat<\/h3>\n

Now it becomes obvious that low carbohydrate diet certainly helps.<\/p>\n

Very first thing is to avoid sugary drinks such as soft drinks and fruit juices, which contain large amount of sugar and have nothing to slow down the digestive process and absorption; deserts and ultra-processed foods contain mostly only carbohydrates should be avoided as well.<\/p>\n

Low carb diet contains foods rich in protein, fat and fiber, such as leafy vegetables, meats, poultry, fish, eggs, dairy and nuts. They should be the main components of our meals. Carbohydrate containing natural wholesome foods, such as legumes and whole grains, contain fibers that help to reduce glucose spike level. They can be included in the diet with limited amount. If you have like sweets, whole fruits, especially those containing abundant fiber such as different types of berries, are nature\u2019s candies to satisfy your craving.<\/p>\n

How we eat<\/h3>\n

Besides choosing the right types of foods for your meal, correctly arranging the sequence of different components of your meal can slow down glucose absorption and reduce insulin levels as well. Research shows that fiber in vegetables forms a kind of mesh along small intestine during digestion, and it slows down absorption of other nutrients. Protein stimulates digestive hormones that delay stomach emptying. Fat physically slows down movement of the food through the gut. \u00a0Therefore, eat your vegetables first in the meal, then protein and fat, and carbohydrates the last. This order reduces glucose surge level by 40% comparing to putting carbohydrate first in the meal with the same components.<\/p>\n

For snacks, never eat carbohydrates alone, but pair them with some protein and fat. For example, put peanut butter on your toast, add cheese with your crackers, and yogurt with your fruits.<\/p>\n

When we eat<\/h3>\n

Not only the height of the glucose spikes affects insulin sensitivity, but the frequency of the spikes also plays a significant role as well. We were told that we need to eat 3 meals a day and preferably add 2 snacks in between to prevent us from being too hungry in the evening and eat too much at dinner subconsciously. The new research shows that whenever we eat, insulin is secreted. Therefore, if we eat too often, the insulin level remains high constantly, and the body is always in a storage model. This becomes an obstacle to weight loss. We need to create a period of time when the insulin level falls to baseline, so glucagon and fat is allowed to be used. Intermittent fasting is an eating plan that involve a long voluntary fasting and a shorter eating window daily. Adopting this eating plan allows our body to stay in low insulin level for a period of time and become more insulin sensitive, and fat expenditures and weight loss becomes possible. The most practised intermittent fasting plan is 16\/8, which means that you fast for 16 hours and leave an 8-hour window for eating. For example, you may eat your first meal at noon and the last before 8pm.<\/p>\n

Is it contradictory to the old school concept that the breakfast is the most important meal of the day? Research shows that there is a phenomenon call dawn effect. This refers to the fact that in the early hours just before we wake up, our body releases more hormones such as cortisol, HGH (human growth hormone), adrenalin, and glucagon, which increase alertness and stimulates the break-down of stored glycogen and fat to generate energy. It is a pre-deposit genetic feature that we adopted from our ancestors who depend on hunting for survival and needs capacity to work with food for long periods of time. Dawn effect mobilize energy and increases blood sugar level. Therefore, insulin level increases as well. So, we are more insulin resistant in the morning. When we are trying to lose weight, it is better to take advantage of the energy mobilization of the dawn effect, and not to add more sugar to the already elevated glucose level in the blood. Therefore, yes, breakfast in the morning is not a good idea. It is more favorable to weight loss to delay breakfast 2-5 hours after waking up.<\/p>\n

2. Muscle building: effort to reduce blood glucose spike by burning them at the spot<\/h2>\n

Muscle tissue is the largest glucose storage site in the body. When muscle contracts, it pulls glucose from the blood stream without needing much insulin. So, it is very effective to lower blood glucose level if you go for a walk within 30 minutes after a meal. A large muscle mass promotes stable blood sugar level and preserves metabolic health. 2 to 3 sessions per week resistance training will do the trick to build and keep sufficient muscle mass. Remain active after each meal and use your muscle to flatten the glucose spikes.<\/p>\n

3. Ensure sufficient sleep: stress and insulin resistance<\/h2>\n

Stress raises the stress hormones adrenaline and cortisol and trigger the stress response including raising blood sugar level. Poor sleep has the similar effect and raises cortisol 2-3 times, and it also affect certain appetite hormones. The consequence is that we become more insulin resistant, less satisfactory when eating and have cravings for sweets. Therefore, it is very important to manage your stress level and ensure that you have 7 to 9 hours sleep daily.<\/p>\n

4. Avoid Alcohol: even moderate drinking has significant effects on insulin resistance<\/h2>\n

Research shows that alcohol disrupt blood sugar regulation by<\/p>\n