Sugar And Insulin Resistance

Why insulin resistance may be the root of our chronic diseases. And sugar is the main trigger.

People usually say we get obese first before we get chronic illnesses. But, is that really the case? 

Insulin resistance may answer this and we will use a supermarket analogy to explain.

Let’s assume the cash register is a cell in our body, the cashier and the bar code reader is insulin and the grocery items that need to be scanned is glucose. 

In a normal situation, there are just enough items for the cashier to scan and the information goes promptly into the cash register and everyone moves along in an efficient manner. 

However, when too many shoppers and items accumulate in the queue, the cashier will get flustered and be overwhelmed. 

If the queue keeps growing at this point, the bar code scanner will eventually break down and the entire line of shoppers will be jammed up and nothing moves. This is insulin resistance.

When we consume the right amount of sugar, insulin acts as the middle man to allow the glucose to go into our cells to burn so our body has energy to use for our daily activities.

We will not have an excess of blood sugar and hence, the queue will always be short and clear quickly. When the cashier can no longer cope, there is a shutdown in the form of resistance. 

When insulin resistance occurs, the excess glucose will be converted to fat and stored in various parts of our body. That’s when unhealthy weight gain happens.

Sugar is the main cause of insulin resistance and when we consume much more that our body can burn, this process of storing excess fat will inevitably happen. 

According to Dr. Robert Lustig, this is why we may be unhealthy first before we become obese. Excess fats leads to inflammation. And chronic inflammation will eventually lead to chronic diseases.

Thankfully, we can still reverse this condition and make our insulin more sensitive instead. By eliminating as much processed sugars from our diet today. 

We recommend cutting down on sugary pastries, packaged snacks, commercial ice creams, fast food, ultra processed foods and all forms of sugared drinks. 

Let’s keep the cashier and bar code stress free.