what causes insulin resistance the answer is a combination of diet and lifestyle and this
should be encouraging to hear because with a few small changes to your habits and routines
you can reverse insulin resistance lose that stubborn fat and feel years younger
so if you want to learn more about what causes insulin resistance how it leads
to type 2 diabetes and PCOS and how to reverse it keep watching [Music]
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is Kait I'm a certified health and
nutrition coach I post videos twice a week here on YouTube talking all things insulin resistance
weight loss sleep and more so if you're ready to take control of your metabolic Health make sure to
click that subscribe button and you can also find me on Tick Tock and Instagram where I share new
posts every single day today's video is sponsored by Squarespace for everything from websites and
online stores to marketing tools and analytics Squarespace is the ultimate platform that does it
all head to squarespace.com forward slash health coach Kate to start your free trial today insulin
resistance has become an epidemic it is thought to affect over 80 percent of American adults although
most cases go undiagnosed it is the main cause of poor metabolic Health leading to excess abdominal
fat high blood pressure and difficulty losing weight all of which are extremely common nowadays
signifying just how prominent insulin resistance is when left untreated insulin resistance will
eventually progress to pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes it can also lead to PCOS for women
hypertension heart disease certain Cancers and a whole host of other side effects but if insulin
resistance is so common if it contributes to so many other diseases and side effects why
does it so often go undiagnosed it's because doctors do not routinely test fasting insulin
they only test fasting glucose or blood sugar but the issue is is that insulin can rise years even a
decade before fasting blood sugar starts to go up and it gets missed because once again insulin is
not tested now what is insulin you might be asking insulin is a hormone and one of its main roles is
to tell ourselves to taking glucose glucose of course also being known as blood sugar so when
our blood sugar goes up after we eat a meal for example the pancreas releases insulin which takes
the excess glucose from our bloodstream to our cells insulin resistance is when our cells are
no longer responding to the actions of insulin correctly and they are not taking in glucose as
they should as a result the body pumps out more insulin to deal with the excess sugar that hasn't
been let into the cells and insulin levels end up remaining higher for longer than they should
and it is these high insulin levels that lead to a lot of the side effects these include excess
abdominal fat skin tags and dark patches of skin high insulin also causes your HDL cholesterol to
decrease and your triglyceride to increase but why do our cells start resisting insulin in the first
place let's take a step back and talk a bit more about how blood sugar works and what causes our
blood sugar to rots now when we eat foods that are rich in carbohydrates these carbohydrates
are broken down by the body and they're broken down into sugar which causes our blood sugar to
rise insulin is then released to deal with this excess sugar that's in the blood take taking it
out of the bloodstream and to our cells that need it and this is a normal function of the
body our bodies are equipped to deal with this influx and blood sugar and like I said deal with
it accordingly and this is a normal function of the body our bodies are equipped to deal
with these influxes and blood sugar however if we are constantly eating high carb foods
throughout the day our blood sugar is constantly rising and it might not have enough time to come
back down to Baseline before we eat again so like I said before as a result more insulin is pumped
out and Insulin ends up remaining elevated for longer periods of time and this causes our cells
to become overwhelmed because our bodies are basically trying to continually Force glucose
into them despite them being already full and this turns into a vicious cycle where High
insulin is causing insulin resistance and insulin resistance is causing High insulin and the problem
gets progressively worse until it manifests as other diseases having high glycemic variability
which is when our blood sugar has big fluctuations throughout the day is associated with an increased
risk of insulin resistance because if your blood sugar is constantly spiking this means that your
body continually needs to pump out insulin to deal with it and if your insulin doesn't have a chance
to come back down to Baseline before you eat again if your insulin remains high and this is where the
cycle starts having high insulin is also known as hyperinsulinemia and this is really what leads to
all of the associated symptoms and diseases now before we get into how insulin resistance will
eventually lead to type 2 diabetes and how it can also lead to PCOS I'm going to take a quick moment
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let's talk type 2 diabetes not to be confused with type 1 diabetes I do have a video talking
about the differences between the two because while they're both classified as diabetes they
really are polar opposite issues so I'll link that video up above if you want to know more
but anyways type 2 diabetes is defined by having high blood sugar or hyperglycemia and this relates
to insulin resistance because insulin resistance is the direct cause of this high blood sugar in
the early stages of insulin resistance the body is creating enough excess insulin to deal with
the huge influxes in blood sugar which we spoke about earlier so when you have your fasting blood
sugar tested it's going to remain normal but your insulin will be high and again this is why insulin
resistance often goes missed doctors routinely test fasting glucose but not fasting insulin
and like I said in the early stages this High insulin is enough to keep your fasting blood sugar
in check but as time goes on and more and more insulin is produced there comes a Tipping Point
where it's not able to keep up and that's when you're going to start to see your fasting blood
sugar creep up eventually it's going to creep up enough that you'll be diagnosed with pre-diabetes
and then type 2 diabetes so if you have any of the symptoms or side effects associated with insulin
resistance definitely ask your doctor to test your fasting insulin and if they aren't willing
to test it I want to give a quick shout out to so well health they actually have an at-home testing
kit that you can order online this is the only kit on the market currently that tests fast the
insulin along with other biomarkers of metabolic Health all it takes is a finger prick your test
will get reviewed by a physician and you're going to receive a report back outlining the current
state of your metabolic health and this is also going to give you some advice on next steps you
can take so I'm going to link that kit down below if you want to know more unfortunately it is only
currently available in the United States but now I want to talk about something that affects only
women which is PCOS short for polycystic ovarian syndrome PCOS is the most common cause worldwide
of female infertility in Western countries 1 1 in 10 women of childbearing age has PCOS
symptoms include missed periods weight gain excessive hair growth and acne women with
PCOS often have difficulty getting pregnant and seek infertility treatments and a lot of
women are surprised to hear about the connection between insulin resistance and PCOS because just
like type 2 diabetes the vast majority of PCOS cases are actually directly caused by it to be
diagnosed with PCOS you have to have two out of the three main symptoms on a regular period high
testosterone and cysts on the ovaries now there is a lot of confusion surrounding PCOS a lot of women
who are diagnosed with it are told that it's a lifelong condition that it can only be managed and
it can't be reversed but this isn't true it can be reversed because it's caused by insulin resistance
so when you address insulin resistance and improve your insulin sensitivity your PCOS is going to
improve as well and we see this very clearly in how effective the prescription drug metformin is
a treating PCOS Metformin is a drug that works to improve insulin sensitivity and it is effective
for over 90 percent of women with PCOS now I'm not really a fan of Metformin it comes with a
long list of side effects but I do think that its Effectiveness highlights the insulin resistance is
the root cause I do have a full video on Metformin and the side effects if you are on it there are
some ways to mitigate some of these side effects which I talk about in that video so I'll link that
up above but you can get the same effect through diet and lifestyle changes that improve insulin
sensitivity as well but okay how exactly does insulin resistance cause PCOS it is actually the
hyperinsulinemia or high insulin which directly 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 don't 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 of
PCOS which we spoke about earlier irregular periods high testosterone and ovarian cysts
but anyways guys that's all I have for you today I hope this video helped to provide some clarity
and clear up some of the confusions surrounding the cause of insulin resistance let me know down
below if you found this video helpful and also feel free to share it with a family member or
a friend who you think could also benefit from it if you did enjoy this video you might also
enjoy my video on three easy steps you can take to reverse insulin resistance you can check that
out here if you want to catch up on my most recent upload you can find it here and if you feel like
you need a little bit more guidance and support in your journey to reverse insulin resistance you can
check out my seven day insulin resistance Master Class here thanks guys I'll see you next time bye