in today's video we are going to be talking about if and how it is possible to reverse
insulin resistance with a vegan or vegetarian diet i have several videos on my channel where
i talk about how to reverse insulin resistance and the methods that i outline in these videos
i have had great success with with my insulin resistant clients but these methods entail
prioritizing animal protein which is obviously not compatible with vegan and vegetarian diets
and lately i've been getting a lot of questions about if and how it
is possible to reverse insulin resistance if you are limiting animal products so in
today's video we're going to talk about reversing insulin resistance on a vegan or vegetarian diet
hey guys welcome back to my channel if you're new here my name is kait i'm a health coach and i post
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to start your free trial today we're going to start off today talking about why i advocate for
a low carb high animal protein diet when reversing insulin resistance just so you can understand
where i'm coming from and then we will get into how you can tailor it if you are a vegan or
vegetarian so for those of you who are new to my channel i am a big advocate for low carb diets not
only have i seen improvements to my own health in terms of my weight hormones and energy levels but
i've also seen it work for my clients as well for a wide range of conditions with that being said i
am not dogmatic about diet i am not anti-carbs i do think that carbohydrates do have a place
especially for athletes but the reality is is that the vast majority of the population does not
fall under the category of athlete most people in the western world have issues with excess weight
excess abdominal fat especially blood sugar regulation and insulin sensitivity and all
of these stem from insulin resistance which means the body is not able to utilize carbs efficiently
because every time we eat carbohydrates they are broken down by the body into glucose or sugar and
they enter our bloodstream at which point insulin is released to bring the excess sugar from our
blood to our cells for energy but if our cells are not responding to insulin correctly because we are
insulin resistant then this is where you begin to run into issues with blood sugar weight gain pcos
and a whole host of other diseases so for someone who is trying to reverse insulin resistance
limiting carbs is absolutely key because when carbs are low in the diet blood sugar is more
stable less insulin is needed and our cells start to become more sensitive to insulin once again and
as your cells start to become more sensitive again then yes you will be able to handle a few more
carbohydrates in your diet but as i said before when you are trying to reverse insulin resistance
limiting them is absolutely key so of course if you are not limiting animal products
then following a low carb diet is pretty easy and this is the general strategy that
i recommend prioritize bioavailable protein beef chicken fish eggs etc limit carbs and fill the
rest of your diet with fat until satiety so that's avocados coconut oil egg yolks butter olives etc
so what this ends up looking like is animal protein non-starchy vegetables and fat at
every meal meal frequency is two to three meals in a day with no or limited snacks and i say no
snacks because remember we are trying to limit the amount of insulin our bodies have to produce
and every time we eat our insulin is bumped up of course it's bumped up more when you're eating
higher carb foods but no matter what you eat there's always going to be at least some bump and
i do have a whole other video that's a three-day meal plan if you guys want to know exactly what
this looks like in practice i will link that video up above but now let's get into why you clicked on
this video and that is how to follow this method if you are vegan or vegetarian now i think i've
made it pretty clear why i recommend the strategy that i do when you are not limiting animal protein
in your diet when you're actually prioritizing it then it is easy to eat low carb and also to get
adequate protein on the other hand this is very hard to do if you are avoiding animal products
because plant protein sources also come with a lot of carbohydrates protein is the most
important macronutrient it is the building block for our cells and under consuming it can lead to
hair loss weak bones and muscle loss protein should be the main focus of our diet
and should be prioritized we all need at least one gram of protein per pound of our gold body weight
so if your ideal body weight is 140 pounds for example then you want to be consuming 140 grams
of protein every day the next most important component of our diet especially when trying
to reverse insulin resistance is keeping carbs low ideally less than 50 grams of total carbs in a day
but even less than 100 can be beneficial so let's take a look at some popular plant protein sources
and their macronutrient breakdown a cup of lentils for example has 18 grams of protein which isn't
too bad but that comes with 40 grams of carbohydrates so going by our example body
weight of 140 pounds in order to get enough protein in a day relying on lentils alone
you will need to consume seven cups of lentils which comes with 280 grams of carbs and black
beans and other types of beans and legumes have a similar macronutrient breakdown some are also much
worse such as chickpeas where one cup gives you 40 grams of protein but also 120 grams of carbs
peanut butter and other nut butters are another popular vegan protein source however
two tablespoons of peanut butter only provides eight grams of protein and comes with six grams of
carbs and it is also pretty calorically dense with those two tablespoons having close to 200 calories
so again this isn't really a viable option tofu is probably going to be your best protein source
macronutrient wise with a cup having 20 grams of protein and only 5 grams of carbs however
soy is definitely not something you want to be consuming in large quantities and even still the
macro breakdown isn't that great you would have to have seven cups of tofu in a day to hit your
protein goal of course there are some plant-based protein powders that you could supplement in
but relying on these is your main source of protein again just isn't viable and i know
that this is probably not what you want to hear if you're trying to limit your meat consumption
but this is the reality unfortunately when you avoid animal products it is extremely
difficult to eat enough protein while also keeping your carbohydrates low which is what
is needed to reverse insulin resistance now if you are following a vegetarian diet you might
be able to pull it off eggs are a great source of protein and fat and are also low in carbs
as are dairy products such as cheese and greek yogurt but yeah the reality is you're gonna have
a much easier time if you include animal products in your diet now before i wrap up and give you my
final thoughts i'm going to take a quick moment to tell you about today's sponsor squarespace
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to squarespace for sponsoring this video so in summary i do not think that following a vegan diet
if you're trying to reverse insulin resistance is a viable strategy i do think that people can get
some results if they switch from the standard american diet rich in processed food to a whole
foods plant-based diet simply because they'll be getting a lot more fiber which can be beneficial
for blood sugar regulation however i have done a whole video where i look at the research that
looks at low carb diets and insulin resistance and also plant-based diets and insulin resistance
and the evidence is pretty clear about which one is more effective i will link that video
up above if you want to check it out anyways guys that's all i have for you today remember to give
this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it click that subscribe button if you're not already i do
have a whole bunch of other videos about reversing insulin resistance and answering other questions
that are about insulin resistance and leave me a comment down below i love chatting with you guys
in the comment section if you did like this video you might also like that video that i mentioned
earlier about studies done on insulin resistance you can check it out here if you want to catch up
on my most recent upload you can find it right here and if you want to check out my keto diet
and carnivore diet coaching programs you can find them here thanks guys i'll see you next time bye