in today's video we are going to be
going over 15 insulin resistance
symptoms
insulin resistance is extremely common
although it often goes undiagnosed
because doctors do not routinely test
fasting insulin as of 2020 one in 10
americans have diabetes one in three
have pre-diabetes and even more than
that have insulin resistance
when left untreated insulin resistance
can lead to type 2 diabetes pcos heart
disease and other more serious
conditions
however if you catch it early you can
stop it before it progresses to these
other diseases
but how can you know if you're insulin
resistant well keep watching to see if
you have any of the symptoms we're going
to talk about in this video because if
you do you should definitely be bringing
these up and addressing them with your
doctor as soon as possible
now if you are familiar with insulin
resistance some of these symptoms might
be obvious such as excess abdominal fat
however other ones are more subtle and
you might have had no idea that they
were connected to insulin resistance so
in today's video we're going to be going
over 15 signs of insulin resistance
[Music]
hey guys welcome back to my channel if
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said at the start of this video
insulin resistance is extremely common
but it often goes undiagnosed and you
might be wondering how can i know that
it's so common if people do not know
they have it
well here's how it is because insulin
resistance is the same thing as
metabolic syndrome i am sure we are all
familiar with metabolic syndrome which
is a cluster of conditions that increase
your risk of diabetes heart attack and
stroke
and this actually used to be called
insulin resistance syndrome
so if you have metabolic syndrome you're
insulin resistant and i think we all
know just how prevalent metabolic
syndrome is nowadays and if you are
someone who doesn't have metabolic
syndrome yourself it is likely that you
have one or even multiple immediate
family members with it and actually let
me know in the comment section down
below if you or someone is closely
related to you has metabolic syndrome
but anyways this is how we know that
insulin resistance is so common because
it is the same thing as metabolic
syndrome so i'm going to start off
today's video getting straight into it
and talking about the 15 symptoms of
insulin resistance and then at the end i
will talk about what causes insulin
resistance and what you can do to
reverse it because that's the good news
it is reversible
number one waist to height ratio if your
waist measurement is high in comparison
to your height this is a really strong
indicator of insulin resistance take
your waist measurement in either
centimeters or inches and divide it by
your height using the same unit
anything over 0.53 is an indicator of
insulin resistance of course if your
number is higher you'll be more insulin
resistant and if your number is just
over 0.53 you're still in the early
stages
the reason that this simple test is so
accurate is that abdominal or visceral
fat is one of the most common symptoms
of insulin resistance
when you're insulin resistant fat does
not get stored as it normally would
evenly throughout the body and ends up
accumulating more around your organs
instead
so if you have a high waist height ratio
this is a strong indicator of insulin
resistance number two skin techs if
you've heard me talk about insulin
resistance before i'm sure you have
heard me mention skin tags
again these are a really common symptom
of insulin resistance
these tags develop when someone's
insulin is always high because insulin
is a growth stimulating hormone this is
also the reason that it causes us to
gain fat because it stimulates things to
grow
number three high triglycerides high
triglycerides are another symptom of
insulin resistance triglycerides are a
type of fat found in the bloodstream and
almost one third of americans have what
is considered to be above normal levels
high triglycerides are considered to be
anything over 150 milligrams per
deciliter or 1.7 millimolars per liter
number four low hdl cholesterol
now this symptom goes hand in hand with
the last one when triglycerides are high
hdl will be low and when hdl is high
triglycerides will be low it is very
uncommon for both to be low or both to
be high and the ratio between
triglycerides and hdl can tell you a lot
about your insulin sensitivity or
resistance
dr bickman who is one of the leading
researchers in the field of insulin
resistance calls this the poor man's
method for testing insulin resistance
if you have a current cholesterol panel
take your triglycerides and divide them
by your hdl in milligrams per deciliter
a ratio under 1.9 is considered to be
optimal and this means you have good
insulin sensitivity a ratio between two
to three indicates some insulin
resistance and a ratio over three means
you are very insulin resistant
number five high blood sugar
having high fasting blood sugar is
another symptom of insulin resistance
high is considered to be anything over
100 milligrams per deciliter or 5.6
millimolars per liter but here's the
thing insulin resistance can start years
or even decades before there is an
increase in your fasting blood sugar and
this is why it gets missed so frequently
doctors are focused on fasting blood
glucose but by the time this number has
increased enough for you to be
considered pre-diabetic or even type 2
diabetic you've already been insulin
resistant for years so even if you don't
have this symptom if your blood sugar is
normal you can still most definitely be
insulin resistant number six a regular
menstrual cycle
this symptom is for women of course
high insulin can cause the ovaries to
make more male hormones this imbalance
of hormones can cause your period to
become irregular if your period is
inconsistent if it's very long or if you
do not have a period at all these can
all be signs you are insulin resistant
usually this hormonal imbalance is
characterized as polycystic ovarian
syndrome or pcos for short pcos and
insulin resistance go hand in hand many
women find that when they address their
insulin resistance their pcos symptoms
improve as well anyways i have a whole
video on pcos and the connection to
insulin resistance if you want to know
more about that specifically i will link
it above and you can check it out
afterwards
number seven abdominal fat we touched on
this a little bit when we were speaking
about the waist height ratio but even
someone who is thin overall but just has
a large belly can still be insulin
resistant when you're insulin resistant
fat gets stored in places that typically
wouldn't such as around your organs in
your abdomen this is called visceral fat
and it is directly related to insulin
resistance
number eight swollen ankles
another symptom of insulin resistance is
swollen ankles one of the other rules of
insulin is telling the kidneys to retain
sodium and water if insulin is not being
responded to properly such is the case
with insulin resistance fluid can be
retained unnecessarily causing the
ankles to become swollen
number nine dark skin patches
high insulin levels in the blood can
trigger the appearance of dry and dark
patches of skin
usually these will appear on skin folds
such as your armpits your neck and your
groin
number 10 sugar cravings after eating
if you have cravings for sugar even
after eating a large savory meal this
can be another sign of insulin
resistance
insulin resistance means your body is
not regulating blood sugar levels
properly the cells in your body are not
able to absorb the glucose and use it
for energy
so you're eating and the energy is there
but your body can't use it properly
number 11 high blood pressure
this is another really really common
symptom of insulin resistance
over half of all high blood pressure
cases are caused by insulin resistance
and it is estimated that this number is
actually much higher number 12 frequent
urination if you find you're someone who
always has to pee
this can be another sign of insulin
resistance
because insulin is not regulating blood
sugar correctly the kidneys have to make
more urine to help pass the sugar from
the blood
number 13 extreme thirst and of course
this ties in with the last symptom
if you are urinating more frequently
then of course you're going to be more
thirsty
number 14 acne
acne is another symptom of insulin
resistance
and this one often affects women
this side effect stems from the hormonal
imbalance which we spoke about earlier
in relation to irregular menstrual
cycles with more male hormones being
produced the skin becomes oilier and
breakouts can happen
these breakouts can occur not only on
your face but on your chest and back as
well number 15 excess hair growth and
the final symptom of insulin resistance
we're going to talk about today is
excess hair growth this one again
relates mainly to women and is due to
the high testosterone levels that
insulin resistance causes
excess hair can grow in places that it
typically wouldn't such as the face the
stomach and back and this is why women
with pcos
which if you'll remember we talked about
earlier is caused by insulin resistance
responds so well to the drug metformin
metformin is a prescription drug that
improves your insulin sensitivity
9 out of 10 women with pcos see a
reduction in their symptoms including
excess hair growth when they take
metformin
now before you get all excited about
metformin being a super drug which
it kind of is it does have a lot of
benefits i will mention it also has a
lot of side effects and i have a whole
video on metformin and the pros and the
cons that i recommend you check out if
you're considering it i will link that
up above and hopefully it helps you
figure out if metformin is right for you
and those are the 15 symptoms of insulin
resistance to quickly recap
number one a high waist height ratio
number two skin tags number three high
triglycerides number four low hdl
cholesterol number five high blood sugar
number six a regular menstrual cycle
number seven abdominal fat number eight
swollen ankles number nine dark skin
patches number 10 sugar cravings after
eating number 11 high blood pressure
number 12 frequent urination number 13
extreme thirst number 14 acne and number
15 excess hair growth
let me know in the comment section down
below how many of these symptoms you
have now before i wrap up i do quickly
want to touch on what causes insulin
resistance because knowing what causes
it can help you to know what you need to
do in order to reverse it so insulin is
a hormone that is responsible for blood
sugar management when you eat a meal
containing carbohydrates those
carbohydrates are broken down into
glucose and your blood sugar rises
as a result of this rise the pancreas
releases insulin into the bloodstream to
shuttle the excess sugar to your cells
throughout the body and this brings your
blood sugar levels back down to baseline
but sometimes our cells stop responding
to insulin correctly and do not accept
it and this leads to blood sugar levels
remaining higher than they should and
more insulin being secreted as a result
so now you're in a situation where your
blood sugar is high
and your insulin is high now insulin is
also known as the fat storage hormone
because if you think about it when your
insulin levels are high this means you
have a surplus of glucose in your
bloodstream which is energy and because
your body thinks you have all this
excess energy ready to use there's no
need to use your stored body fat for
energy and because your insulin is
always elevated when you're insulin
resistant
this can make it really difficult to
lose weight and lead to the side effects
discussed in this video now there are
several ways to reverse insulin
resistance that are related to our diet
and our lifestyle i have a whole video
that goes over three
basic steps that you can start
implementing today to reverse insulin
resistance i will link that up above if
you want to check it out afterwards i
really tried in that video to simplify
what you need to do so anyone can do it
doesn't cost you anything these are
simple tweaks so i highly recommend that
video but anyways guys that's all i have
for you today again i want to hear from
you in the comment section down below
how many of these symptoms do you have
did you know they were related to
insulin resistance did you know that you
were insulin resistant if you have a lot
of them let me know down below thank you
guys so much for watching remember to
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subscribed if you did enjoy this video
you might also enjoy my video on the
best foods you can eat for insulin
resistance i will link it right here if
you want to catch up on my most recent
upload you can find it here and if you
want to check out my keto diet and
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find them here thanks guys i'll see you
next time bye