Beep! Beep! Delivery coming in! That’s what insulin sounds like in your body. If you’ve been hearing a lot of buzz lately about insulin resistance and think that your menopause belly might have something to do with that… stay tuned.
Today I want to make it super easy to understand what this hormone does for you, why you should care and offer 7 fast, simple ways to balance your blood sugar.
I know you’ve heard it all before. Insulin is a hormone manufactured in your pancreas and it is responsible for moving glucose into your cells. Yawn. Do I need to know this for the test, right?
Here’s the way I finally started to get the real low down on insulin. With a story!
A Love Story
Let’s say you eat a really wonderful meal. All that fuel is digested and your body has a brilliant shipping and receiving system set up. Way better than Amazon even. It gets the nutrients to the places you need them in record time.
That wonderful meal contained proteins, fats and carbohydrates. Each one of the macronutrients has its own special pathway. The carbs are quick fuel for your system. As soon as possible, the molecules are converted to glucose (otherwise known as sugar) and your body races to get these energy packed nuggets to where your body requires get up and go.
Carbs are all the bread, pasta, rice, muffins, syrup, jam, popcorn, chips, starchy vegetables, legumes, candy, soda…. Your body absolutely needs carbs to provide that quick energy.
Ok… so you ate that gorgeous meal and you have glucose ready to go. Can you picture all the little sugar molecules dressed for a hot date and waiting for the Uber? Bazillions of little molecules, lookin’ hot and just floating around.
Ahhhh. Here comes their specialized Uber now. Insulin! Wow he’s lookin’ hot! Bazillions of insulin molecules pull up and load the glucose. Woot! Woot! We’re on the road, looking for a hot spot to kick up our heels.
Now the best place for a zesty glucose molecule to hang would be muscle tissue. That’s where the real action is. But, sometimes, muscle tissue isn’t really rocking. Maybe it’s sleep time. Or just a really good Netflix documentary for like 4 hours. Not much movement so muscles really don’t feel like hooking up.
Poor glucose! I guess a bit like being a wall flower.
Anyway…. There are other options for this hang out. Glucose can head to the liver or be stored in fat tissue. These are not first choices but hey, a girls’ gotta do what a girls’ gotta do.
Labour Troubles
As the Uber (our insulin hormones) pulls up at the storage facility, either the liver or the fat tissue, ambitious warehouse guys figure out how to pile it all in. But these guys get cranky with a lot of overwork. If that glucose keeps flooding in, day in and day out, they start grumbling… “why doesn’t that muscle do it’s part???”. They start a little work to rule. They stop responding to unload the glucose from the Uber (insulin) and so the Uber keeps driving around and around. Can’t get out of the loop. Stuck in the blood stream.
This my friends is insulin resistance. Your warehouse guys are on work to rule…they’re burnt out. Storage gets really sloppy which means a lot more fat in places that you would not choose. Liver gets congested which causes a big commotion with our skin, hair, digestion. Ack!
And your doctor warns you that your blood sugars are running high. Which puts you at risk for cardiac disease, diabetes and Alzheimers.
And you know the really frustrating part?
There’s really an excess of glucose available out there. Lots of hotties lookin’ for love. But due to the inventory management debacle, our warehouse guys practically on strike, the body THINKS we need more energy. It takes a lot of calories to run this gorgeous machine that we call the human body, especially our amazing brains.
And the brain has got a big procedural manual. Developed over your whole lifetime, even in times way before your daddy winked at your mommy. In this tome, your brain has experience that if we need quick glucose, send up a flashy billboard to attract the ladies. You experience this sordid attempt at romance as a craving.
It FEELS like you have low blood sugar. You feel hungry even. At least peckish. It’s probably not an actual meal time so you just grab what’s easy and appeals to you. Which will almost always be a simple sugar like a donut in the break room, a granola bar from the bottom of your purse, an iced coffee, a bag of doritos. Your very smart brain knows that those sort of cravings get answered quickly and dependably.
Unfortunately, the brain does not read the press releases from your warehouse guys and knows little about that labour unrest. It doesn’t know that the warehouses are in a sloppy mess and there is plenty of glucose and love to go around. It will default to the quickest and more habitual solution. Carb craving.
This is so interesting to watch. I’ve been using mindfulness tools to really try and feel this happening in real time in my own body. I’ve written a free guide to mindful eating that I’d love to share with you.
Remember… this is not the fault of your insulin. The poor Uber drivers are just following the app, right? They aren’t responsible for the extra fuel we’ve ingested. They can’t make the muscles do more. They can’’t solve the labour problems in the warehouses. They just drive the glucose girls around. It’s supply and demand, man.
You know who can solve this whole mess? YOU!
The Exciting Part of the Story
The part where you fly in wearing a super hero cape and save yourself from all those horrid chronic diseases. Wow, you’re amazing!
Some really simple shifts in your habits can solve all that labour unrest. You can reduce the number of girls out there looking for love. You can get those muscles to do their part. It’s all just common sense really.
Here are 7 Simple Habits
These will reduce insulin sensitivity and your risk of cardiac disease, diabetes, Alzheimers and so many other nasty and annoying conditions we thought we due to aging. But it’s really just an energy mis-match.
The first two tips address the muscle movement problem.
1. Take a 1000 steps post meal. This equals about 10 minutes strolling casually. This is not a power walk. It’s not about burning calories. In fact, research shows that delaying your walk 30 minutes post meal and going longer is actually less helpful. This works because the large muscle groups you move walking will signal the Uber to drop the glucose ladies with them instead of going to the warehouse. Already your labour troubles are eased.
2. Another movement trick… calf raises. There’s something about those calf muscles that really attract the ladies. All it takes is 10 up on the toes and down with the heels done quite quickly. Really pulls in the glucose.
Now, how can you reduce the glucose hit without giving up all the carbs that you absolutely do need?
3. Eat the protein and veg first during your meal. These macronutrients take longer to break down so glucose will be delayed. Absence makes the heart grow fonder! The warehouse guys will have more time to get organized.
4. Consider eating the salad first and use apple cider vinegar dressing. It’s so simple to make… 1/3 vinegar, 2/3 olive oil and salt & pepper to taste. You can get fancy and add a dollop of dijon mustard or a bit of honey but it’s so basic. If you’re not eating salad this meal, you can take 1 T vinegar in 8oz room temp water. That’s great first thing in the morning. The acetic acid in the vinegar boosts the power of your digestion. Breaks the glucose down more thoroughly so the stomach empties well. Sluggish digestion really confuses the Uber drivers.
And the timing of your meals is important. In my mindful eating guide, I’ll explain how to plan effectively so the whole when to eat and what to eat becomes effortless.
5. Because your warehouse guys are fresher in the morning, shift your eating window earlier in the day. Before they get too tired and cranky. Meals ideally are spread over 10 - 12 hours per day. The remaining hours without glucose going into the system allow the warehouse to get better organized. And it might even stimulate the stores of fat to give up a few glucose goodies when the brain realizes that cravings just won’t get them the love. But your brain will DEFINITELY try the cravings first. It’s science.
6. Which brings us to, yes, breakfast may be the most important meal of the day. Skipping that first meal tends to bring on greater blood sugar spikes at lunch. The wild Uber ride gets the girls just too excited and the whole system is destabilized.
So many people just don’t feel hungry at breakfast or they lack time to make anything substantial. Remember… you don’t have to rely on cereal or toast. You can eat leftovers. A really good hit of protein and fibre first thing will set up your digestion for a stellar day. I know everyone is pushing the protein…and it’s not the be all end all… but if you’re looking at about 30 grams at breakfast, you’re well set. This would be 3 eggs, whole grain toast with nut butter and a bit of Greek yogurt. Which probably sounds like a lot of food. But in mindful eating, we don’t count calories. We look at eating smart. Timing your protein is smart. I have a smoothie most mornings with pea protein power, almonds, kefir, ground flax seed and greens. I don’t think I hit 30 grams but I’m close. On days that I lift weights, I’ll add a homemade protein bar which clocks in at about 8 grams. These kind of details don’t matter to the glucose girls. They just need the Ubers to show up on time and the muscles to be ready to rock n roll.
7. And I bet you guessed that I’d get around to stress. How can I yoga therapist address insulin resistance without that conversation? Cause it’s huge!
Simply put, when you are experiencing chronic stress (and who isn’t these days???), your body produces cortisol. That’s the stress hormone everyone talks about. But it’s real. Stress hormones are meant to support your body to fight or flee. Which means those muscles may need to spring into action. So your super smart body, when there’s cortisol rising, signals the warehouse guys in the liver to ship out some glucose girls. Which would be amazing IF the muscles were actually going to fight or flee. But highly likely they’re not. We’re exhausted. We’re stressed. We’re too busy. It’s all just too hard. So the glucose girls are once again floating around in their Ubers looking for love in all the wrong places. Which means… higher blood sugar numbers even if you watched your diet!
How depressing is that! You resisted the carbs cravings… which spiked your stress hormones… which upped your blood sugar anyway. Ugh!
I really hope you look at my mindful eating program. I have a free guide to get you started but if you really want to get to the bottom of this mis-match, the SHE Mindfulness program takes it deep. We look at the stress in your life. Go further into the hormone mess. Create structure and support to tackle all this. You don’t have to do it alone. Drop me a comment and we can talk more.
