A Doctor's Guide to INSULIN RESISTANCE, the root cause of DIABETES and how you can reverse it!

foreign I'm board certified in Internal Medicine and today's video is all about insulin resistance which is the root cause of diabetes insulin resistance is the number one hormonal and metabolic problem that I see in my practice as many of you know there's now a worldwide epidemic of obesity sadly most people are unaware that they even have insulin resistance because most doctors only check the fasting glucose and hemoglobin A1c which is a marker of the blood sugars for three months I tell my patients that the blood glucose is really just the tip of the iceberg the big underlying Iceberg which is the main problem is high fasting insulin believe it or not half the US population may have insulin resistance but they're just undiagnosed an ideal fasting insulin should be around six sadly many people have never had their fasting insulin checked a normal fasting blood glucose is under a hundred between 100 and 125 is considered pre-diabetes and a fasting glucose over 126 is considered diabetes the hemoglobin A1c is a marker of your blood sugars over a three-month period normal is under 5.6 5.7 to 6.4 could indicate pre-diabetes and over 6.5 could indicate diabetes but insulin resistance can start long before you develop diabetes let me introduce you to two of my patients so here we have Kevin and Veronica Kevin's fasting glucose is 97 which is normal his hemoglobin A1c is 5.6 which is also normal but is fasting insulin is really elevated at 18. Veronica's fasting glucose is 107 and her A1C is 5.7 so technically she has pre-diabetes but her fasting insulin is really elevated at 27. so they both have that big underlying iceberg that I was talking about which is insulin resistance insulin is a hormone and it works like a key it tells your cells to take up blood glucose in order for insulin to work the insulin receptors on your cells have to be unlocked and receptive to insulin insulin is produced by the beta cells in your pancreas the problem is many people have insulin receptors that are locked they're not listening to insulin the pancreas then tries to compensate by producing even more insulin so now you have lots of insulin in your bloodstream but this causes a problem it leads to hunger fat storage weight gain and inflammation so this leads to a vicious cycle which we call insulin resistance the high levels of insulin are driving the hunger and it causes cravings for carbs and sugars these kinds of foods cause your pancreas to make even more insulin and Insulin signals your body's cells to store fat so the way to fix this problem is to activate your insulin receptors remember if your receptors are locked your pancreas responds by making more insulin if we get your receptors open and working there's a lot less insulin made by your pancreas the enzyme that activates your insulin receptors is called amp kinase so now you may be wondering what's the root cause of insulin resistance the first is a diet that's high in sugar and starches next we have visceral fat which I'll describe in a moment genetic factors do play a role and epigenetics is how your genes interact with the environment this is why if children are exposed to high levels of sugar and starches at a young age it could impact their pancreatic beta cells and put them at higher risk of insulin resistance later in life visceral fat is the fat that surrounds your internal organs it's located under your abdominal muscles and it's the type of fat that causes insulin resistance the soft fat rolls that you feel on your abdomen that's usually subcutaneous fat which is superficial to the abdominal muscles liposuction removes subcutaneous fat so it'll have no impact on insulin resistance in some patients I can suspect insulin resistance before even running their blood work based on some of the outward Clues I see on physical exam an apple shaped body habitus is a big clue that there's likely visceral fat that's causing insulin resistance skin tags on the neck or armpits or darkening on the neck or armpits called acanthosis nigricans or other clues of insulin resistance insulin resistance is really bad for your organs and it can lead to almost all chronic diseases including cancers it can cause fatty liver disease because insulin causes your liver cells to produce and store fat it causes inflammation in your heart and blood vessels which could lead to a heart attack in your brain the inflammation can cause a stroke Dementia or Alzheimer's disease that's why they now call Alzheimer's disease type 3 diabetes okay it can also damage your kidneys leading to chronic kidney disease and the need for dialysis [Music] so type 2 diabetes is a problem of too much insulin insulin resistance is what's driving the disease there's two ways to approach diabetes the first is to prescribe medications to control the blood sugar and sometimes diabetics are even prescribed insulin the problem with insulin injections is it causes a lot of weight gain because remember insulin causes fat storage the other approach is to address the root cause and shut down the production of insulin by activating insulin receptors this approach not only controls the blood sugar it reverses the disease and we see significant weight loss as well as reduction in inflammation markers which approach do you prefer if you're willing to change your diet and lifestyle the great news is that insulin resistance and type 2 diabetes are reversible now let's talk about how we can activate the insulin receptors insulin resistance is a dietary disease so it Demands a dietary solution I recommend a low-carb paleo diet and I'll go over this in more detail other things that help are fasting exercise and key supplements the great news is no drugs or surgery are needed to fix insulin resistance the first step is understanding how the different macronutrients impact your blood sugar and insulin level carbohydrates especially carbs from grains can really spike your blood sugar and insulin level proteins have a moderate impact on blood sugar and insulin and fats have minimal to no impact on your blood sugar and insulin can you see a problem with the food pyramid in the United States it puts grains at the bottom of the food pyramid recommending that 40 of your diet come from grains which include breads pastas and cereals no wonder half the US population has insulin resistance we can fix this pyramid by Crossing out the grains and this will significantly reduce your insulin levels so what we're left with is a paleo diet which is a diet of our Paleolithic ancestors this is a grain free and dairy-free diet dairy products have the sugar lactose and Whey proteins which can Spike insulin levels the best way to stabilize your blood sugar is to have protein fat and fiber at every meal [Music] you want to get plenty of fiber by eating lots of vegetables I always recommend that half of your plate be vegetables the dark leafy greens like arugula kale and chard are especially good for insulin resistance now what about fruit it's fine to have one serving of a low glycemic index fruit like berries or tart apples however you want to avoid tropical yellow fruits like bananas pineapple and mangoes because these are really high in fructose which can Spike the insulin levels you may be wondering why am I recommending the paleo diet as opposed to a keto diet the keto diet is a high fat low carb diet the keto diet requires restricting carbs to a very low level so that your body enters a state of ketosis this is where your body Burns fats into ketones for fuel as opposed to using glucose for fuel although the keto diet is very effective at reversing insulin resistance the problem is that it restricts certain vegetables for example carrots are higher in carbohydrates this approach may end up starving the microbiome of good fiber and due to all the restrictions it's really hard to sustain this type of diet long term that's why I love the paleo diet because it allows unlimited vegetables it's good for your microbiome and its sustainable long term as a lifestyle what's a good idea for breakfast well nothing also known as intermittent fasting is a great option if you have insulin resistance to make the fast easier you can blend your coffee with a teaspoon of MCT oil which is medium chain triglyceride oil from coconut oil MCT oil is great brain fuel and it gives you a lot of energy without having any impact on insulin production fasting activates autophagy autophagy means self-eating and it's a great way to break the cycle of insulin production autophagy is a fascinating topic and I have a whole video dedicated to this so please check it out if you do decide to eat breakfast these are some great paleo options you can have an omelet with plenty of vegetables and avocado or a green smoothie made with good fats like almond butter or walnuts and a protein powder of your choice like collagen or a plant-based protein or a blueberry paleo muffin made with almond and coconut flour so it's low in carbs [Music] here's some ideas for hearty Paleo meals so instead of spaghetti bolognese which will spike your insulin you can have zucchini Bolognese and you'll get lots of great fiber from the zucchini instead of chicken with rice you can have chicken with cauliflower rice another great option is grilled salmon with vegetables you can find recipes for all types of Paleo meals by searching online or getting a Paleo Cookbook now let's talk about exercise a great way to unlock and activate your insulin receptors is through cardiovascular exercise find an exercise you enjoy whether it's brisk walking jogging swimming or dancing and do 30 to 45 minutes every day strength training is really important as well because it increases your muscle mass and the more muscle you have the better your insulin sensitivity here are some of the key supplements I recommend to my patients with insulin resistance methyl B complex is the stress Vitamin it helps boost your energy and your mood and it also lowers sugar in carb cravings my number one favorite supplement for activating insulin receptors is berberine and I'll talk about it more in a minute pharmaceutical strength cinnamon and chromium are also great for activating insulin receptors alpha lipoic acid is a powerful antioxidant that also helps with insulin recognition finally fish oil has omega-3 fatty acids which are essential fatty acids that help to reduce inflammation in the body now let me talk a little bit more about my favorite supplement berberine so berberine comes from a plant that has bright red berries and the capsules from berberine are bright yellow in color berberine actually has the same mechanism of action as a common diabetes drug known as metformin so they both work to activate insulin receptors there was a study comparing berberine at a dose of one gram to metformin 1500 milligrams per day and they found them to be equally effective at lowering blood sugar and hemoglobin A1c berberine is special because it has additional anti-inflammatory benefits it improves your lipid profile and it also works to kill bad bacteria in your gut microbiome the downside to metformin is some people experience GI upset and diarrhea and it also has frequent recalls it's important to be aware that berberine does have a few drug interactions with blood thinners and a few other medications so it's good to check with your doctor the great news is berberine can also be used in combination with metformin if needed now let me introduce you to my patient Sanjay when I first met Sanjay he weighed 298 pounds and he told me his appetite was out of control well that's because this fasting insulin was 35 which is super high and remember insulin makes you hungry what was scary was that his hemoglobin A1c was 11 and as fasting glucose was 302 meaning that he was an uncontrolled diabetic Sanjay was really motivated and he wanted to do everything naturally so he followed my protocol for insulin resistance he started intermittent fasting and followed the Paleo Diet he also walked for 45 minutes every day and he took his supplements which included berberine cinnamon and chromium every day the transformation that I saw in Sanjay over six months was incredible he looked like a different person because he lost over 50 pounds he told me he was no longer hungry which made sense because his fasting insulin had come all the way down to seven his hemoglobin A1c dropped from 11 down to 5.7 and his fasting glucose went from 302 to 97 which is normal so Sanjay had reversed his diabetes remember my patients Kevin and Veronica from the beginning of the video they also followed my protocol for insulin resistance and after three months Kevin's glucose came down from 97 down to 82. his hemoglobin A1c improved from 5.7 down to 5.2 and is fasting insulin improved from 18 down to 7. Veronica's blood glucose improved from 107 down to 85. her hemoglobin A1c improved from 5.8 to 5.3 and her fasting insulin came down from 24 to 6. so they both reverse their insulin resistance and they both lost over 20 pounds each in a three-month period here are the key points insulin resistance is the root cause of diabetes insulin resistance creates a vicious cycle of weight gain and inflammation you can reverse insulin resistance through a paleo diet intermittent fasting and exercise berberine is a plant-derived supplement that can activate your insulin receptors and has anti-inflammatory benefits I want to emphasize that insulin resistance is reversible please leave your questions and comments below I'd love to hear from you all thanks so much for watching this video If you enjoyed it please give it a thumbs up and subscribe to my channel please share it with your friends and family thank you again and have a wonderful day foreign

Channel: Rajsree Nambudripad, MD

Views: 148,055

Keywords: fasting, autophagy, fatty liver disease, insulin resistance, diabetes, prediabetes, berberine, metformin, blood glucose, A1C, HgA1c, weight loss, intermittent fasting, paleo diet, low carb diet, reverse diabetes, visceral fat

Id: 9swHzLLRCAg

Length: 17min 27sec (1047 seconds)

Published: Mon Oct 11 2021