- Today's video is gonna be all about insulin resistance.
What it is and how it is related to metabolic syndrome,
type 2 diabetes and PCOS.
Now, I have several videos on my channel about
various topics surrounding insulin resistance
and I usually give a quick recap
at the start of these videos
talking about what insulin resistance is,
but I realized that I didn't have a full dedicated video.
(Kait laughs)
So I thought I would make one.
And this is gonna be the first in a two part series.
Today's video is going to be all about
insulin resistance, as I said.
What it is and how it relates to metabolic syndrome,
type 2 diabetes and PCOS.
And then in the second video,
we're going to do a deep dive into how to reverse it.
Because yes, PCOS and all of the associated diseases
that I just mentioned, are reversible.
So stick around if you wanna know more
about insulin resistance.
(soft music)
Hey guys, welcome back to my channel.
If you're new here, my name's Kait.
I'm a health coach and I post videos
on a high-fat nutrient dense way of eating.
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and Facebook where I share new posts every single day.
Now before we even get into anything today,
I just want to say that insulin resistance
and metabolic syndrome are the exact same thing.
Metabolic syndrome used to actually be called
insulin resistance syndrome.
So if you know that you have metabolic syndrome
but you weren't too sure if you are insulin resistant
or not, you are.
And in case you're not familiar,
metabolic syndrome is characterized by five main components.
A large waist circumference, high triglycerides,
low HDL cholesterol, high blood pressure
and high fasting blood sugar.
If you have three or more of these symptoms,
you'll be diagnosed with metabolic syndrome,
a.k.a insulin resistance.
And I like referring to it as insulin resistance
because the label of metabolic syndrome is very vague.
It doesn't tell you anything about what it actually is
and what is causing the symptoms.
Whereas with the label of insulin resistance,
we can see that the root issue
is our body resisting insulin.
But anyways, I'm getting ahead of myself,
we're gonna get into this a little bit more in the video
but I just wanted to make this really clear
at the start of the video that insulin resistance
and metabolic syndrome are the same
because this is something that I feel like
not many people know.
So we're gonna start off the video
talking about what insulin resistance is
and what causes it
and then we will get into it's relationship with
type 2 diabetes and PCOS.
What is insulin resistance?
Insulin is a hormone in our body whose main role
is to keep our blood sugar at the right level.
It is responsible for signaling our cells
to take in glucose,
which in turn brings our blood sugar down.
So when our blood sugar goes up after we eat, for example,
the pancreas releases insulin
which takes the excess glucose
from our bloodstream to our cells.
Insulin resistance is when our cells will no longer respond
to insulin correctly and cannot easily take in the excess
glucose from your blood.
This leads to insulin levels remaining higher
than they should for long periods of time
and results in side effects such as excess abdominal fat,
skin tags and dark skin patches.
It also causes your HDL cholesterol to decrease
and your triglycerides to increase.
But why do our cells start resisting insulin
in the first place?
When we eat foods rich in carbohydrates,
they're broken down by the body into glucose.
This glucose enters our bloodstream
and causes our blood glucose to rise.
Insulin is then released to deal
with the excess blood sugar.
Taking it from our bloodstream and putting it in our cells.
And this is a normal function of the body.
Our bodies are equipped to deal with
periodic rises in blood sugar.
However, if we are constantly eating high carb foods
throughout the day,
which are broken down into glucose,
our blood sugar is constantly spiking.
It might not even have time to come back down to baseline
before we eat again.
And then more insulin is pumped out
to deal with the excess blood glucose.
And then our cells become overwhelmed
and start resisting insulin
because they're already filled with glucose.
And this turns into a vicious cycle.
Where the high insulin is causing insulin resistance
and then the insulin resistance is causing high insulin.
And the problem gets progressively worse
until it manifests as other diseases.
Having high-glycemic variability,
which is where your blood sugar levels fluctuate a lot
throughout the day, is associated with insulin resistance.
If your blood sugar is constantly spiking
throughout the day,
this means that your body is pumping out
a lot of insulin to deal with it.
And if your insulin doesn't have a chance to come back down
to baseline before you eat again,
then your insulin stays high
and this is where the cycle starts.
Having high insulin is known as hyperinsulinemia.
And this is really what leads to all the associated symptoms
and consequential diseases.
Type 2 diabetes.
Type 2 diabetes is defined as having high blood sugar
or hyperglycemia.
And it relates to insulin resistance
because insulin resistance actually causes
type 2 diabetes.
Because in the early stages of insulin resistance,
the body is producing enough insulin
to deal with the excess glucose.
So your blood sugar remains what is considered to be normal
but your insulin is high.
And this is why insulin resistance often gets missed.
Doctors routinely test fasting glucose
but not fasting insulin.
And like I said in the early stages,
the excess insulin is enough to keep blood sugar in check.
But as time goes on,
your body will not be able to produce enough insulin
to keep up.
And this is when you're gonna start to see a rise
in your fasting blood sugar.
And you will eventually be diagnosed with prediabetes
or type 2 diabetes.
PCOS.
PCOS, which stands for polycystic ovarian syndrome,
is a syndrome that only women can develop.
And PCOS is the number one cause of female infertility.
In western countries,
one in 10 women of childbearing age have it.
Symptoms include missed periods, weight gain,
excessive hair growth and acne.
Women with PCOS have difficulty getting pregnant
and often seek up infertility treatment.
And a lot of women are surprised to hear that PCOS
is connected to insulin resistance.
Because like type 2 diabetes, most women are told
that it is something they're stuck with for life.
But the reality is, is that the vast majority of PCOS cases
are caused by insulin resistance.
And by addressing insulin resistance, you can reverse PCOS.
To be diagnosed with PCOS,
you have to have two out of three of the main symptoms.
An irregular period.
A hormonal imbalance with high androgen levels.
Androgens being male sex hormones such as testosterone
and cysts in the ovaries.
Now there is a lot of confusion surrounding PCOS,
as I previously said, a lot of women who are diagnosed
are told that it is something that can only be managed
and they're prescribed drugs such as metformin.
And what is interesting about Metformin
is that it is a drug that improves insulin sensitivity.
Which goes to prove that insulin resistance
is the root cause.
And metformin does an amazing job at improving symptoms.
90% of women with PCOS
who are prescribed the drug, see improvements.
However, it does not come without
a long list of side effects.
So reversing insulin resistance naturally
might be a better option.
And I know that a lot of women who are prescribed metformin
and men who are prescribed it for diabetes
or insulin resistance as well,
are not aware of the side effects.
And I do have a whole video going over the side effects,
which you can check out afterwards
if you want to know more.
But let's talk about exactly how insulin resistance
is related to PCOS.
Because it's actually hyperinsulinemia,
which is high insulin, that causes the three main symptoms.
Every month, just before ovulation,
there should be a big spike in the hormone estrogen.
All estrogen is made from testosterone.
But high insulin levels block the ovaries
from converting it
and the spike in estrogen doesn't happen.
So you do not ovulate and the eggs remain in the ovaries
and become cysts.
And you are left with high testosterone levels as a result.
And those are the three main symptoms
which we spoke about earlier.
Irregular periods, high testosterone
and cysts in the ovaries.
Anyways guys, I'm going to wrap this video up here.
I hope that you found it helpful.
I will link part two when it's up on the end screen.
So make sure to check that video out afterwards.
Like I said, that one is going to be going into exactly how
to reverse insulin resistance.
And I want to hear from you guys
in the comment section down below.
Let me know what you thought of the video.
Did you find it helpful?
Let me know.
Do you have insulin resistance or PCOS
or type 2 diabetes?
Or maybe you have metabolic syndrome
and didn't even realize that it was related?
Let me know down below.
I love chatting with you guys in the comments section.
And if you did like this video,
I will link part two here when it's up.
In the meantime, I'll put my insulin resistance playlist,
which has a whole bunch of other videos
which you might find helpful.
If you want to catch up on my most recent upload,
you can find it here.
And if you wanna check out my keto diet
and carnivore diet coaching programs,
they'll be right here.
Thanks guys.
I'll see you next time.
Bye.
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