July 17, 2025 • 13 mins
This episode is a re-release of one of our most impactful conversations — full of insights you’ll want to revisit or hear for the first time.
In this episode, Hailey sits down with Dr. Stacy Sims to explore the topic of insulin resistance. Learn from one of the leading experts on how insulin resistance affects your health, its connection to other conditions, and actionable strategies to manage it. Whether you’re dealing with metabolic health concerns or just want to understand the science behind it, this conversation will give you the tools to take control of your health and well-being.
In this episode, Hailey sits down with Dr. Stacy Sims to explore the topic of insulin resistance. Learn from one of the leading experts on how insulin resistance affects your health, its connection to other conditions, and actionable strategies to manage it. Whether you’re dealing with metabolic health concerns or just want to understand the science behind it, this conversation will give you the tools to take control of your health and well-being.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
Today on the Body Pod, we are re running one
of our most popular episodes from last season with doctor
Stacy Simms. Stacy is not only my business partner, but
a dear friend, and in this short episode we cover
insulin resistance and how it really creeps up in perimenopause.
So enjoy this short session with doctor Stacy Simms. Hi everyone,
(00:25):
my name is Haley and this is Lara and welcome
to the Body Pod. Hi everyone, welcome back. We are
so excited. I'm so excited I have doctor Stacy Simms.
I'm actually sitting in New Zealand with her right now,
(00:45):
and we decided to answer some questions that have come
up since we did our Instagram life a couple of
weeks ago. So Stacy, are you ready?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, let's go.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
All right. So, a question that a few of you
asked had to do with insulin resistance and if this
is a piry post menopause symptom.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
We do see insulin resistance coming up in perimenopause, so
this can contribute to some of that abdominal adipacity, some
of the serial fat gain. So what we need to
be very mindful of is making sure that we are
doing our high intensity work because that does help with
metabolic control as well as a type of carbohydrate we're eating.
(01:26):
So if we're talking about changing and having more fruit
and veg, make sure they're very fibrous for our gut,
but also to help moderate and modulate that insulin resistance.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Okay, So it really comes down to dyeing an exercise. Yeah,
like everything else exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And the other thing is I know that I always
harp about strength training and the more metabolically active tissue
we have by building that lean mass, the better it
helps with our insulin and our glucose control. Because as
we are training and we are teaching our skeletal muscle
to be active by theft and doing high intensity work,
(02:02):
it's also telling the muscle that we don't need insulin
to pull that blood sugar in, so then we are
able to rely less on insulin to have better blood
glucose control. So this is another reason why we're always
harping on that high intensity spread interval for metabolic control
as well as that strength training to get more metabolically
active tissue to help with blood glucose control.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Okay, So anyone that is aging, say entering that perimenopause
phase somewhere in the late thirties forties. Whenever they're hitting
that do you recommend and when you're recommending that carbohydrate,
we know that plays a role. You're not saying to
eliminate carbohydrate or go very low carb but not because
(02:46):
of the insulin.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Resist not at all. I'm saying, instead of eating more
refined simple carbohydrates, which we tend to gravitate towards, especially
in the States, we don't want to go with ultra
pross foods. These process the better. So we're looking at bananas, pairs, peaches, carrots, apples, potatoes,
(03:09):
rice spilt, any ancient grains, anything that has fiber with
carbohydrate screen. Women need carbohydrate. You need it to fuel
your brain, you need to fuel your muscles. Help avoid
getting into a low energy situation because when we have
low carbohydrate intake, it can be perceived as low energy availability.
So it's not the elimination of carbohydrate, it's not dropping
(03:31):
it to a low point. It's being very mindful of
the kinds of carbohydrates you're eating. And you do have
the opportunity, if you are someone who loves more simple carbohydrates,
to have that before and after training because before training,
your blood glucose comes up, you use that during training,
then after you have an acute window of recovery where
(03:51):
glucose is up taken into the muscle without the use
of insulin. Okay, so we're still fueling for the demands
of training. We're just being art with our carbohydrates. And
is this something that people that women will figure out
or find out if they're insulin sensitive by a blood
test or can it be they just don't feel great?
(04:12):
Does it have to be diagnosed with a blood test?
It doesn't. But you'll find that you might be putting
on a little bit of extra body fat if you're
eating more carb than you know. You're eating pasta meal
or something, and you've always been doing that, and then
all of a sudden you're like, why am I putting
more weight on? I don't understand that. Then it's like,
(04:32):
let's change to pulse pasta instead of wheat pasta. So
you're just putting more protein fiber in with that carbohydrate.
And then you'll notice that, oh, Okay, I'm feeling better,
I'm not as bloated, I'm not holding on to as
much weight is coming off a little bit easier. So
you'll start seeing signs and symptoms. If you're really worried
and you have a family history of diabetes, or you
(04:55):
have preclamcy or anything like that, any complications during pregnancy,
and yeah, you might want to get a fascinating lucas.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Okay, and if women, So we talked a little bit
about strength training. We both talk about this a lot
for women that are postmenopausal and they're hearing the message
about strength training, but there's still a little bit timid
fearing injury. There's still a way that they can work
(05:23):
around that strength training without this fear. There's more than
one method to the heavy lifting.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, so I want people to realize that we're not
talking about a training block. We're talking about a lifestale change.
We're looking for the eye of resistance training the rest
of our lives. So we want to encompass a lot
of mobility work, some functional movement work. So we're looking
at how do I squat, what are my sticking points,
how are my knees, my hips, my ankle is flexibility there,
(05:52):
you're working on mobility through that range of motion before
you add load. If you're someone who is compromised in
their squat position instead of trying to do a deep squat,
you're squatting to a box or you're squatting to a
box with the plateon it. So you're within your own
range of motion. You're developing strength, but as you're getting
stronger in that range of motion, you also are able
(06:13):
to increase your range of motion. So we want to
make sure that you move well before you add load.
And when we say lifting heavy, it's all relative. So
if you don't have a history and strength training, you know,
not even go in and start trying to squat sixty
kilos or you know one hundred and fifty pounds. You
are going to go in and start with maybe some dumbells,
(06:34):
maybe you start with a twenty pound bar instead of
a forty five pound bar. So it's all within your
own individual capabilities, with the eye of being able to
add load as your mobility gets better, as your ligaments
and your muscles and tendons all get stronger, it's not
the eye of going in I got to do this
right now, get injured and the stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, okay, And this question always gets brought up too.
I feel like answered again for someone that is doing
maybe pladus, which has multiple benefits, and what we should
be focusing on when we're doing plateus is all of
those major benefits. But say, like the cardio classes where
(07:16):
they're using a jump board, is that considered like could
that be considered plometrics or heavy lifting or is there
a difference.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
When we look at the jump board or in plates.
It's not typical plymetrics because of what we're after with
true primetrics is the rebound effect from the grounds. You're
getting that fast explosiveness as well as that absorption through
the bone and the muscle, so that you're getting more
than just the power part of the plyometrics. We're looking
(07:45):
for bone mineral density increases. We're looking for the tendon
and the ligaments to respond to it. In kind. If
someone has really bad joints and they're or afraid of
some of those power moves, then maybe starting the jump
board because it's already in their PLATES class, is one
way to start to feel what it's like to jump
(08:05):
off something. But I'd rather people go with the eye
of doing a very low depth jump so they're understanding
what it feels like to step off something, do a
proper landing with soft knees. Absorbing through the muscles and
not necessarily the joints and then building up because there's
so many more benefits to doing true pliometric work rather
(08:28):
than something that is a jump board. And I don't
want people who do.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Plotis to hate me.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I'm not a hater on it. I'm just saying, like,
when we're talking about plyometric and the explosiveness, it's better
to get really comfortable doing real plyometric like the depth
jumps or the box jumpster jumping lunges or even things
like jumping rope. You want that explosive kind of movement
for bone mineral density as well as the power.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Okay, so really to some things up when we talk
about this phase of life that we're entering into our
late thirties, our early forties, whatever we want to Whether
we're in perimenopause, we're not there yet. We're getting into menopause.
The lifestyle, everything that you just touched on is a
lifestyle approach. It's not just for this time period while
(09:18):
you're transitioning into menopause or right when you hit menopause.
This is what we need to look forward to with
the nutrition with a carbohydrate intake as well as the
fitness of heavy lifting and going that route for the
rest of our life. This doesn't change, right.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I get a lot of questions of when do I
know I should start veering towards the peri and postmenopausal
type of training, or I'm postmenopausal, how does this apply
to me? So when I'm talking about the sprint interval
training and the resistance training and taking care of our
gut and the right kind of carbohydrate, I really want
people who or women who are in their early forties
(09:58):
to kind of start transitioning that way. And then definitely
in your late forties, you are definitely a perimenopausal, so
you want to incorporate more of that external stress to
cause those adaptations. If your postmental puzzle, it's not too
late to start, Like we want you to say, Oh, okay,
these are the things that are applicable for my body.
(10:19):
Now I don't have estrogen progesterone. I need to find
an external stress that's going to cause these adaptations the
way that my body used to respond to when I
had estrogen progesterone. I'm really concerned about the quality of
my muscle. I'm concerned about my bow mineral density. So
one hundred and fifty minutes of modern intensity activity is
not right for my body when I'm postmenopausele If I'm
(10:41):
already moving, great, but I need to look at doing
some spread andr wal work. I need to look at
doing resistance training into heavy lifting, but it takes time.
I want to look at my ability because I don't
want to get injured. So all of this is with
the eye to how I'm going to be ninety plus
and still be independently living. We see that as you
get older, you need smaller volume, so small doses of
(11:06):
intensity and resistance training in a regular time period. So
we're looking at, you know, five to six days a
week of ten to twenty minutes every day rather than
three times a week of a big session. You need
smaller doses just because the body needs that reminder of
what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yes, and I love how you said that it's never
too late. So there's a lot of women on here
that have been endurance athletes and they just might need
to add in more of that heavy strength training and
shift from a lot of that low intensity work. But
there's also women that I think we're both very passionate about.
It is never too late to start even if you
(11:45):
have walked your whole life and that's it. There is
a place for everyone with strength training, with cliometrics, with mobility,
and with this nutrition changes absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
My husband sent me a link from the National News
Radio News, the equivalent of MPR. They're interviewing this guy
that started resistance training when he was seventy six. Now
he's ninety six, and he's way stronger independently living. And
then we look at someone like train with Joan On.
She started lifting and taking care of herself with high
(12:17):
intensity work when she's in her mid sixties, and now
she's seventy something. It's stronger and more robust now than
she was earlier. So it's never too late to start.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I love that well. Thank you so much, Dacy. This
has been such a fascinating quick little podcast to answer
some episodes, so we look forward to having one again.
Thanks for listening everyone.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a
five star rating and sharing the body Pod Wait your
friends until next time.
Today on the Body Pod, we are re running one
of our most popular episodes from last season with doctor
Stacy Simms. Stacy is not only my business partner, but
a dear friend, and in this short episode we cover
insulin resistance and how it really creeps up in perimenopause.
So enjoy this short session with doctor Stacy Simms. Hi everyone,
(00:25):
my name is Haley and this is Lara and welcome
to the Body Pod. Hi everyone, welcome back. We are
so excited. I'm so excited I have doctor Stacy Simms.
I'm actually sitting in New Zealand with her right now,
(00:45):
and we decided to answer some questions that have come
up since we did our Instagram life a couple of
weeks ago. So Stacy, are you ready?
Speaker 2 (00:53):
Yes, let's go.
Speaker 1 (00:55):
All right. So, a question that a few of you
asked had to do with insulin resistance and if this
is a piry post menopause symptom.
Speaker 2 (01:05):
We do see insulin resistance coming up in perimenopause, so
this can contribute to some of that abdominal adipacity, some
of the serial fat gain. So what we need to
be very mindful of is making sure that we are
doing our high intensity work because that does help with
metabolic control as well as a type of carbohydrate we're eating.
(01:26):
So if we're talking about changing and having more fruit
and veg, make sure they're very fibrous for our gut,
but also to help moderate and modulate that insulin resistance.
Speaker 1 (01:35):
Okay, So it really comes down to dyeing an exercise. Yeah,
like everything else exactly.
Speaker 2 (01:41):
And the other thing is I know that I always
harp about strength training and the more metabolically active tissue
we have by building that lean mass, the better it
helps with our insulin and our glucose control. Because as
we are training and we are teaching our skeletal muscle
to be active by theft and doing high intensity work,
(02:02):
it's also telling the muscle that we don't need insulin
to pull that blood sugar in, so then we are
able to rely less on insulin to have better blood
glucose control. So this is another reason why we're always
harping on that high intensity spread interval for metabolic control
as well as that strength training to get more metabolically
active tissue to help with blood glucose control.
Speaker 1 (02:24):
Okay, So anyone that is aging, say entering that perimenopause
phase somewhere in the late thirties forties. Whenever they're hitting
that do you recommend and when you're recommending that carbohydrate,
we know that plays a role. You're not saying to
eliminate carbohydrate or go very low carb but not because
(02:46):
of the insulin.
Speaker 2 (02:47):
Resist not at all. I'm saying, instead of eating more
refined simple carbohydrates, which we tend to gravitate towards, especially
in the States, we don't want to go with ultra
pross foods. These process the better. So we're looking at bananas, pairs, peaches, carrots, apples, potatoes,
(03:09):
rice spilt, any ancient grains, anything that has fiber with
carbohydrate screen. Women need carbohydrate. You need it to fuel
your brain, you need to fuel your muscles. Help avoid
getting into a low energy situation because when we have
low carbohydrate intake, it can be perceived as low energy availability.
So it's not the elimination of carbohydrate, it's not dropping
(03:31):
it to a low point. It's being very mindful of
the kinds of carbohydrates you're eating. And you do have
the opportunity, if you are someone who loves more simple carbohydrates,
to have that before and after training because before training,
your blood glucose comes up, you use that during training,
then after you have an acute window of recovery where
(03:51):
glucose is up taken into the muscle without the use
of insulin. Okay, so we're still fueling for the demands
of training. We're just being art with our carbohydrates. And
is this something that people that women will figure out
or find out if they're insulin sensitive by a blood
test or can it be they just don't feel great?
(04:12):
Does it have to be diagnosed with a blood test?
It doesn't. But you'll find that you might be putting
on a little bit of extra body fat if you're
eating more carb than you know. You're eating pasta meal
or something, and you've always been doing that, and then
all of a sudden you're like, why am I putting
more weight on? I don't understand that. Then it's like,
(04:32):
let's change to pulse pasta instead of wheat pasta. So
you're just putting more protein fiber in with that carbohydrate.
And then you'll notice that, oh, Okay, I'm feeling better,
I'm not as bloated, I'm not holding on to as
much weight is coming off a little bit easier. So
you'll start seeing signs and symptoms. If you're really worried
and you have a family history of diabetes, or you
(04:55):
have preclamcy or anything like that, any complications during pregnancy,
and yeah, you might want to get a fascinating lucas.
Speaker 1 (05:03):
Okay, and if women, So we talked a little bit
about strength training. We both talk about this a lot
for women that are postmenopausal and they're hearing the message
about strength training, but there's still a little bit timid
fearing injury. There's still a way that they can work
(05:23):
around that strength training without this fear. There's more than
one method to the heavy lifting.
Speaker 2 (05:30):
Yeah, so I want people to realize that we're not
talking about a training block. We're talking about a lifestale change.
We're looking for the eye of resistance training the rest
of our lives. So we want to encompass a lot
of mobility work, some functional movement work. So we're looking
at how do I squat, what are my sticking points,
how are my knees, my hips, my ankle is flexibility there,
(05:52):
you're working on mobility through that range of motion before
you add load. If you're someone who is compromised in
their squat position instead of trying to do a deep squat,
you're squatting to a box or you're squatting to a
box with the plateon it. So you're within your own
range of motion. You're developing strength, but as you're getting
stronger in that range of motion, you also are able
(06:13):
to increase your range of motion. So we want to
make sure that you move well before you add load.
And when we say lifting heavy, it's all relative. So
if you don't have a history and strength training, you know,
not even go in and start trying to squat sixty
kilos or you know one hundred and fifty pounds. You
are going to go in and start with maybe some dumbells,
(06:34):
maybe you start with a twenty pound bar instead of
a forty five pound bar. So it's all within your
own individual capabilities, with the eye of being able to
add load as your mobility gets better, as your ligaments
and your muscles and tendons all get stronger, it's not
the eye of going in I got to do this
right now, get injured and the stuff.
Speaker 1 (06:56):
Yeah, okay, And this question always gets brought up too.
I feel like answered again for someone that is doing
maybe pladus, which has multiple benefits, and what we should
be focusing on when we're doing plateus is all of
those major benefits. But say, like the cardio classes where
(07:16):
they're using a jump board, is that considered like could
that be considered plometrics or heavy lifting or is there
a difference.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
When we look at the jump board or in plates.
It's not typical plymetrics because of what we're after with
true primetrics is the rebound effect from the grounds. You're
getting that fast explosiveness as well as that absorption through
the bone and the muscle, so that you're getting more
than just the power part of the plyometrics. We're looking
(07:45):
for bone mineral density increases. We're looking for the tendon
and the ligaments to respond to it. In kind. If
someone has really bad joints and they're or afraid of
some of those power moves, then maybe starting the jump
board because it's already in their PLATES class, is one
way to start to feel what it's like to jump
(08:05):
off something. But I'd rather people go with the eye
of doing a very low depth jump so they're understanding
what it feels like to step off something, do a
proper landing with soft knees. Absorbing through the muscles and
not necessarily the joints and then building up because there's
so many more benefits to doing true pliometric work rather
(08:28):
than something that is a jump board. And I don't
want people who do.
Speaker 1 (08:31):
Plotis to hate me.
Speaker 2 (08:32):
I'm not a hater on it. I'm just saying, like,
when we're talking about plyometric and the explosiveness, it's better
to get really comfortable doing real plyometric like the depth
jumps or the box jumpster jumping lunges or even things
like jumping rope. You want that explosive kind of movement
for bone mineral density as well as the power.
Speaker 1 (08:54):
Okay, so really to some things up when we talk
about this phase of life that we're entering into our
late thirties, our early forties, whatever we want to Whether
we're in perimenopause, we're not there yet. We're getting into menopause.
The lifestyle, everything that you just touched on is a
lifestyle approach. It's not just for this time period while
(09:18):
you're transitioning into menopause or right when you hit menopause.
This is what we need to look forward to with
the nutrition with a carbohydrate intake as well as the
fitness of heavy lifting and going that route for the
rest of our life. This doesn't change, right.
Speaker 2 (09:34):
I get a lot of questions of when do I
know I should start veering towards the peri and postmenopausal
type of training, or I'm postmenopausal, how does this apply
to me? So when I'm talking about the sprint interval
training and the resistance training and taking care of our
gut and the right kind of carbohydrate, I really want
people who or women who are in their early forties
(09:58):
to kind of start transitioning that way. And then definitely
in your late forties, you are definitely a perimenopausal, so
you want to incorporate more of that external stress to
cause those adaptations. If your postmental puzzle, it's not too
late to start, Like we want you to say, Oh, okay,
these are the things that are applicable for my body.
(10:19):
Now I don't have estrogen progesterone. I need to find
an external stress that's going to cause these adaptations the
way that my body used to respond to when I
had estrogen progesterone. I'm really concerned about the quality of
my muscle. I'm concerned about my bow mineral density. So
one hundred and fifty minutes of modern intensity activity is
not right for my body when I'm postmenopausele If I'm
(10:41):
already moving, great, but I need to look at doing
some spread andr wal work. I need to look at
doing resistance training into heavy lifting, but it takes time.
I want to look at my ability because I don't
want to get injured. So all of this is with
the eye to how I'm going to be ninety plus
and still be independently living. We see that as you
get older, you need smaller volume, so small doses of
(11:06):
intensity and resistance training in a regular time period. So
we're looking at, you know, five to six days a
week of ten to twenty minutes every day rather than
three times a week of a big session. You need
smaller doses just because the body needs that reminder of
what we're doing.
Speaker 1 (11:23):
Yes, and I love how you said that it's never
too late. So there's a lot of women on here
that have been endurance athletes and they just might need
to add in more of that heavy strength training and
shift from a lot of that low intensity work. But
there's also women that I think we're both very passionate about.
It is never too late to start even if you
(11:45):
have walked your whole life and that's it. There is
a place for everyone with strength training, with cliometrics, with mobility,
and with this nutrition changes absolutely.
Speaker 2 (11:56):
My husband sent me a link from the National News
Radio News, the equivalent of MPR. They're interviewing this guy
that started resistance training when he was seventy six. Now
he's ninety six, and he's way stronger independently living. And
then we look at someone like train with Joan On.
She started lifting and taking care of herself with high
(12:17):
intensity work when she's in her mid sixties, and now
she's seventy something. It's stronger and more robust now than
she was earlier. So it's never too late to start.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
I love that well. Thank you so much, Dacy. This
has been such a fascinating quick little podcast to answer
some episodes, so we look forward to having one again.
Thanks for listening everyone.
Speaker 2 (12:39):
If you enjoyed this episode, please consider giving us a
five star rating and sharing the body Pod Wait your
friends until next time.
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