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The following article was published in Your Health Magazine. Our mission is to empower people to live healthier.
Susanne Woodlan, MD
Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Syndrome

Insulin Resistance and Metabolic Syndrome

Insulin is a hormone made by the pancreas that allows your body to use sugar (glucose) from carbohydrates in the food that you eat for energy or to store glucose for future use as glycogen. Insulin helps keep your blood sugar level from getting too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia). Many of the body’s cells rely on insulin to take glucose from the blood for energy.

Insulin resistance can happen from eating too many processed carbohydrates. Insulin resistance is when cells in your muscles, fat, and liver don’t respond well to insulin and can’t use glucose from your blood for energy so your pancreas makes extra insulin to make up for it. For a while, this will work and your blood sugar levels will stay normal. Over time, your pancreas won’t be able to keep up. If you don’t make changes in the way you eat and exercise, your blood sugar levels will rise until you have prediabetes. Insulin resistance could affect as many as 1 in 3 Americans. You may also hear it called metabolic syndrome.

Metabolic Syndrome is a cluster of conditions that occur together, thereby increasing your risk of heart disease, stroke, and type 2 diabetes.

Some signs of insulin resistance include, but are not limited to:

• A waistline over 40 inches in men and 35 inches in women

• Blood pressure readings of 130/80 or higher

• A fasting glucose level over 100 mg/dL

• A fasting triglyceride level over 150 mg/dL

While genetics, aging, and ethnicity play roles in developing insulin sensitivity, the driving forces behind insulin resistance include excess body weight, too much belly fat, a lack of exercise, smoking, and even skimping on sleep.

If metabolic syndrome goes untreated, it could lead to:

• Severe high blood sugar

• Severe low blood sugar

• Heart Attack

• Stroke

• Kidney disease

• Eye problems

• Cancer

• Alzheimer’s disease

A healthy diet for metabolic syndrome is healthy for your whole family. It replaces most processed, packaged foods with nutritious, whole foods. It should be a consistent lifestyle choice and not a temporary diet. Cook simple foods at home, such as grilled chicken or fish with plenty of vegetables.

When you do moderate exercise, like walking, that makes your heart beat a little faster and breathe a little harder. Your muscles use more glucose. Over time, this can lower your blood sugar levels. It also makes the insulin in your body work better.

Ideal Protein is a tool used to help in the fight against metabolic syndrome. Ideal Protein is a science-backed, 3-Phase, structured protocol that resets your body to burn its fat as its primary energy source.

The Ideal Protein Weight Loss Protocol is not just about losing weight; however, it addresses weight issues at their source; reducing carbohydrates and fats while ensuring adequate daily protein intake. In other words, the goal is to lose fat, not muscle. While on the protocol, through personalized coaching, you’re also provided with a healthier lifestyle education so that you are empowered to sustain your weight loss results over your life course. From day one it will empower you to learn healthier habits and make decisions that can improve your health.

(Information obtained from IdealProtein.com and webmd.com)

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