We have all heard of Insulin, especially if you know of someone with diabetes. The wonder drug that will keep you from dying if you are diabetic. But how does insulin work? What exactly is insulin? Why does it matter to know?
I am not a medically qualified person, nor do I profess to know everything there is to know about insulin, insulin spikes, diabetes, nutrition or the hormonal processes in our bodies. What I do understand is I can learn a lot by having a healthy curiosity. Our world is full of information about any subject you can think of. I happen to be very interested in the way insulin acts.
What does insulin do?
Insulin is a hormone secreted by cells in your pancreas. The secretion is triggered by the presence of glucose in your body. Too much glucose and the pancreas secretes the correct dose of insulin to maintain a healthy level of glucose in your bloodstream. By the way, a healthy level of glucose in your bloodstream is about four grams, one teaspoon full of glucose in your bloodstream.
Your body needs to burn the glucose as quickly as possible and insulin is the lock that opens your cells glucose channel so that your cells in your body can burn the glucose. The control of glucose levels in your bloodstream is vitally important to your health.
The other effect insulin has on your body is that it facilitates the storage of fat. The knock-on effect of this fat storage means that you cannot access existing fat storage for your body to burn.
Yes, if you are trying to lose weight, you will be unable to do so effectively while consuming Carbohydrates. Carbohydrates are converted to glucose in your bloodstream, which in turn, elicits an insulin response from your pancreas. The insulin keeps you from having access to your fat stores to burn fat and lose weight.
Stop insulin spikes?
Manage the levels of insulin in your blood as best you can. We all want to have a lean, healthy body. For us to be able to achieve this, we need to have access to our fat stores to burn. The only way to get access to our fat stores is to keep our insulin levels low. The only way to keep our insulin levels low is to restrict the consumption of the food that triggers insulin. Carbohydrates have by far the biggest impact on insulin response in our body. Carbohydrates are a non-essential nutrient. Logic then dictates that we should avoid carbohydrates to avoid insulin spikes. Without insulin spikes, we can access our fat storage to burn and thereby lose weight.
So what do you do when you need to add insulin to your body if your pancreas has stopped working and not producing insulin. Well, a very well documented and proven strategy is to cut carbohydrates right down, which leads to a lower requirement of insulin. Many people were able to stop taking insulin as a medication based on the restriction of carbohydrates. Speak to your doctor if you are on insulin medication and you are thinking of cutting your carbohydrates.
