May 13, 2025 • 24 mins
Insulin resistance diet tips that actually make sense—whether you're managing the condition yourself or supporting someone you care about. In this episode, I break down what insulin resistance really is and how the right foods can help you take control of your blood sugar. We’ll talk protein, healthy fats, low-glycaemic veggies, and smart food combos that work with your body—not against it. If you’re looking for a clear, practical way to eat for better energy, focus, and long-term health, this one’s for you.
As mentioned in this episode, I discussed cholesterol in episode 29 here: https://www.buzzsprout.com/2142323/episodes/13503298-episode-29-debunking-the-cholesterol-myth-how-it-affects-your-heart-health
Learn more about booking a nutrition consultation with Fiona: https://informedhealth.com.au/
Learn more about Fiona's speaking and media services: https://fionakane.com.au/
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Fiona Kane (00:00):
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection Podcast
with Fiona Kane.
Today I'm going to be talkingto you about insulin resistance,
some useful things in regardsto what to eat if you have
insulin resistance, and a littlebit about what it is as well.
So, essentially, insulinresistance is often referred to
also as pre-diabetes, and it's asign that your body is not
(00:25):
managing to processcarbohydrates properly, and it
could be a sign that you mightbe heading towards diabetes.
So it is something to be awareof.
Now, with insulin resistance,one of the ways that they test
for it is they test things likein your blood tests.
They test for things likeglucose and insulin to see what
(00:49):
is going on with your body'sability to process carbohydrates
.
So I'll explain a little bitmore to you.
So carbohydrates in our foods.
So carbohydrates would bethings like grains, so like
cereal, breakfast cereal orbreads or pastas, or fruit and
vegetables, beans, beans, likepulses.
(01:12):
They can be a mixture ofcarbohydrate and proteins, but
generally speaking, there's alot of carbohydrate in them,
things like rice.
So all of those foods arecarbohydrates, and obviously
anything with sugar itself.
So soft drinks or lollies orthings like that they're
carbohydrate-based foods.
And when we eat carbohydratefoods.
(01:33):
What happens is our glucosegoes up in our bloodstream and
our body always likes to keepour glucose within a certain
range.
It's very important it stayswithin a certain range, because
if it's too high it does damageand if it's too low it's a
problem as well.
If it's too high, what happensis it's a little bit like shards
(01:54):
of glass that do damage to yoursmall capillaries and to your
arteries.
So we really don't want thathappening.
And what happens with theseshards of glass that do the
damage is your body will sendcholesterol to try and heal it
and fix it.
But if it happens over and overand over and over again, you
(02:16):
keep sending more and morecholesterol and then there ends
up being a blockage and thecholesterol is blamed.
But the cholesterol is kind ofthe band-aid.
But because the underlyingissue didn't get addressed,
that's why there ended up beinga problem.
But anyway, I've got a wholeother episode on cholesterol, so
go to that one.
I'll link it in, if I remember.
I'll link it for you so thatyou've got it.
(02:36):
But otherwise, just look upcholesterol and you'll find it
in my podcast.
So back to insulin resistance.
So what happens with insulinresistance is so when we eat
these carbohydrate foods, ourbody will make insulin.
Our pancreas makes insulin, andinsulin's job is to direct any
(02:56):
glucose that's in thebloodstream, any excess glucose
that we don't need, out of thebloodstream and into cells.
And what it will do is it'lltake the glucose into your liver
cells for storage there asglycogen and also to your muscle
cells for storage as glycogen,which is kind of easy energy for
your body to access.
But then any excess it actuallywill then put into fat cells
(03:21):
and essentially a certain amountof glucose will go into various
cells to provide some energy.
But what happens is, withinsulin resistance there's kind
of two factors.
So one factor is that maybe theinsulin doesn't work anymore as
far as insulin is like the keyto open up the cell, and the
(03:42):
insulin doesn't seem to open upthe cell anymore.
So that's considered to bemaybe one of the things that
causes insulin resistance.
But the other thing is maybethe cell's just full already,
because if you're having a lotof glucose and a lot of
carbohydrate which is glucose inyour diet, then what happens is
(04:03):
these cells just get full ofglucose and if your cells are
really really full, trying toput more in, it's just not going
to happen.
So there's different theoriesabout sort of either of those or
both of those, but essentiallywhat's happening is you can't
get glucose into the cell andbecause you can't get glucose
into the cell, then you can'tmetabolize, you can't use your
(04:26):
glucose and then you end up withhigh levels of glucose in your
bloodstream, which does damage,as I was talking about before
and when I was talking aboutdamaging the vessels and things.
It damages the small vesselsfirst, which is why it damages
the renal arteries that go toyour kidneys.
But it also damages if youthink of, the areas that are
(04:47):
affected when people haveuncontrolled diabetes is that it
affects their feet, it affectstheir eyes, also affects all
extremities.
So it also will affect yoursexual function, sexual organs,
because these are all smallvessels that go to those places
and also to your kidneys.
So all of these places areoften where you'll see signs and
(05:09):
symptoms that something iswrong, because if someone starts
having issues with theireyesight, or they can't feel
their feet, or they're hurtingtheir feet and it's not healing,
or if you start havingsomething like erectile
dysfunction, all of thesedifferent things could be signs
that you've got really highglucose in your system that's
(05:30):
causing a lot of damage.
Also, high cholesterol could bea sign as well, because the
reason you've got highcholesterol is because of the
damage happening.
Your body's pumping out morecholesterol to heal this damage,
but it's not fixing the initialproblem, so more and more
damage is happening, as I wasexplaining before.
So these could all be signsthat you have high levels of
(05:52):
glucose in your system.
And if you have insulinresistance, it will also show
that you have high levels ofinsulin, because what happens is
your body makes insulin to dealwith the glucose and then, if
the glucose isn't going into thecell, your body's constantly to
deal with the glucose and then,if the glucose isn't going into
the cell, your body'sconstantly checking, checking,
checking.
Your body checks again and says, okay, the glucose is high, I'm
going to make more insulin.
(06:13):
And then, however, many minuteslater it checks again and says
the glucose is high, I'm goingto make more insulin.
And it just keeps doing it overand over and over again.
And, of course, if it's notgetting the glucose into the
cell, it just keeps making it.
So high levels of insulin.
Having high levels of insulin inyour system all the time.
It is also quite inflammatory,so a lot of inflammatory
(06:36):
processes happen in regards tohaving high insulin and then
also what happens is you willprobably gain weight.
In most cases, people in thissituation will gain weight and
often it's around the tummy, soit's that kind of waist weight
which is why that's consideredto be the dangerous kind of
weight, because this ismetabolic syndrome I'm talking
(06:58):
about and sometimes it canaffect things like your blood
pressure, it can affect otherthings and start to drive things
like heart disease andeventually what can happen is
your pancreas can be so worn outby trying to make so much
insulin all of the time that itactually might slow down how
much insulin it makes andsomeone might need to start
(07:19):
taking insulin to the pointwhere it might stop making
insulin altogether or just notmake enough.
So that gives you a bit of arundown of kind of what insulin
resistance is.
Essentially, it's when yourbody cannot get glucose into the
cells and therefore it sort ofstarts to call that you just
have high glucose, high insulin,and your body's making lots and
lots of fat cells to try andstore up all of this glucose.
(07:42):
So in regards to how to eat tomanage insulin resistance, well,
you have to consider that,because this is a problem of
metabolizing glucose, which isin carbohydrate foods, one of
the best things to do is reduceyour carbohydrates in your food,
because if you're not eating alot of carbohydrates, you don't
(08:03):
need to make a lot of insulin.
So, generally speaking, what Irecommend with my clients is you
base your diet around protein,so you have protein with every
meal, and so that would besomething like meat or eggs, and
for vegetarians it's all right,they can have eggs.
But for vegans it's morechallenging because the source
(08:26):
of protein for vegans is oftenvery high in carbohydrate as
well.
So if you're thinking of thingslike lentils or chickpeas or
that kind of thing, they'rereally high in carbohydrate,
unfortunately, so there's oftenmore carbohydrate in there more
just as much carbohydrate asthere is protein, and that can
be okay to a point, but there'sa challenge.
If you're trying to reduce yourcarbs and you're a vegan, then
(08:48):
that can be okay to a point, butthere's a challenge.
If you're trying to reduce yourcarbs and you're a vegan, then
that can be quite challenging.
But some proteins that arelower carb for vegans would be,
say, something like tofu.
So tofu, I don't think, hasmuch carbohydrate in it at all,
but obviously you'd have tocheck all the different foods
and see what's right for you.
But generally what I do is Iencourage my clients to start
(09:10):
with a protein-based meal andnot a normal serve of protein,
but it would be thatpalm-to-hand size of protein and
it's your palm-to-hand size,not mine and then what you do is
you have some good fat, somegood oils, so that could include
things like the fat that'salready in the food, so the fat
that's already in your fish, orthe fat that's already in your
chicken or beef or whateveryou're having, the fat that's
(09:33):
already in your eggs.
Or it could be things like agood quality olive oil.
Or you might be having justreal fats like butter, like real
butter, the pure butter.
It could be you're having someavocado, so there's some really
good fats in avocado, butessentially you're having fat
with your meal.
(09:53):
And also what you would do isyou'd have fibrous carbohydrates
that are relatively low incarbohydrate, though, and that
would be salad type vegetables.
So if you're having loads ofgreens, if you're having your
bok choy and your cabbage oryour broccoli or your
(10:18):
cauliflowers, those sorts offoods, lettuce, that sort of
thing, so essentially lots ofkind of low starchy vegetables,
lots of different colors, all ofthe slaws, the coleslaw type
stuff, those kinds of low carbsalads.
That's feeding your microbiome.
(10:38):
So it's good for yourmicrobiome, it's good for your
gut.
You're still getting somecarbohydrate there, and those
carbohydrates also are ones thatare really high in fiber.
So you'll get the fibrousbenefit of the diet as well, and
I'll explain that to you, notjust from a carbohydrate, not
just from a gut microbiomeperspective, but also from a
(11:00):
whole meal perspective.
So I'll explain this to you thatthere's something called the GI
and there's something calledthe GL.
And's something called the GL,and I'll explain those two
things to you.
So GI is glycemic index andglycemic index is a measure of
how quickly your blood glucosegoes up after you eat a certain
(11:20):
food.
So foods that are really highGI tend to be things like bread
or like cola, something likethat.
Rice is quite high GI.
Any kind of cake or muffin orsomething like that high GI.
So essentially, you eat thatfood, your blood glucose goes up
(11:42):
quite quickly.
A bowl of cereal is high GI.
Most of them would be, if notall of them.
So that's a high GIcarbohydrate food.
A low GI carbohydrate foodwould be something like
blueberries or something likethe salad vegetables I just
talked about before, foods thatjust don't have that much sugar
(12:05):
in them to start with andthey're also quite fibrous.
So you can check levels.
There are charts and things youcan look at.
Gi is affected by other things,so it's affected by your
digestion.
It's affected even by thingslike if you slice bread, it
changes the GI as opposed to ifit hasn't been sliced or how
(12:26):
long it's been sitting on thebench as opposed to if it hasn't
been sliced or how long it'sbeen sitting on the bench, even
the GI of different.
You know you can have wholemealbread in France and wholemeal
bread in America and havedifferent GI.
So GI is a bit unpredictable,but it's a bit of a general idea
for how quickly your bloodglucose is going to go up when
you eat a certain food.
If you wear a glucose monitor,you'll see very quickly how this
works for you.
So you'll see which foods arehigh GI.
(12:48):
And the other thing I wastalking about is GL.
Gl is glycemic load and glycemicload is how quickly your blood
sugar actually does go up.
Two things One, it can be theindividual food and what I was
saying before.
If you have a food that's quitehigh in fiber but also quite
(13:12):
high in glucose, it might go upa little bit slower.
So you might notice that somelegumes your blood glucose goes
up a bit slower because there'sfiber in there.
You might notice the same thingfor, say, like cabbage or
something like that.
It's a fibrous food Broccoliyour blood glucose goes up a bit
.
There's some glucose in therebut there's also a lot of fiber.
(13:33):
So that will slow down howquickly your blood glucose goes
up.
But then it's like glycemic loadis also looking at the whole
meal.
So, for example, if there isfiber in your meal whether it's
fiber in that carbohydrate,which is where it normally would
be, but the fiber would also bein, say, something like avocado
.
So if there's fiber in yourmeal, that does slow down the
(13:56):
gastric emptying, which is yourstomach emptying, which is
essentially the amount of timethat food spends in your stomach
.
If you slow down the amount oftime the food spends in your
stomach, you slow down howquickly the glucose spills into
your bloodstream and how quicklyyour glucose goes up.
So when you add fiber to a mealand there's fiber in there, it
(14:17):
slows it down, which is a goodthing.
The same thing will happen whenyou add protein.
Protein also slows it down, andso do fats.
So that is why therecommendation is you have this
lovely balanced meal where youstart with a protein, you make
sure there's some good fats inthere somewhere, you have lots
of low starch fibrous vegetablesand then if you do have
(14:41):
something that's a bit higher incarbohydrate, that's a bit of a
higher GI food.
If you have that with that meal,your blood sugar probably won't
go up quite as quickly andyou'll be able to tolerate it
more than maybe you would havehaving it on its own.
So if you have that piece ofbread on its own, it might push
(15:02):
your blood glucose up really,really quickly.
Potentially, if you have itwith some avocado on it and some
salmon on it or some egg, thatmight slow things down.
But it's always good to testand measure for yourself, and a
glucose monitor is a great wayto do that.
And if you have insulinresistance, that's actually a
really good idea to startwearing a glucose monitor so
(15:24):
that you can start to see howdifferent foods affect you.
So, rather than just makingassumptions, why don't you just
see what actually happens whenyou eat different foods, but in
general I find that people withinsulin resistance are better
off if they're really not eatingmuch in the way of foods like
breads.
Or if you are, there are someyou can buy that are quite low
carb.
So just look up the low carbbread varieties and when you do
(15:48):
have it, add something that'sgot fiber and fat and protein to
it.
So whether you're adding a nutbutter like a pure peanut butter
, or a pure almond butter, orwhether you're adding some
avocado and tuna or avocado andsalmon, or you're adding some
mashed up eggs or something likethat, those are really good
choices to put with your breadto help to kind of manage the
(16:11):
glucose in that bread.
Or otherwise, like I said, haveyour salads without having the
bread and you might add somehigh glucose.
But good quality foods full offiber that are full of nutrition
for you would be things likethe starchy vegetables.
So it might be things likesweet potato or beetroot or
(16:34):
carrots or pumpkin, and youdon't have huge amounts of them
but you have some of thatstarchy.
So you might have, say, like afistful of your starchy
carbohydrate with your meal, butyou have a half a plate full of
all of the other, the slaws,the low-starch carbohydrates.
You're having that palm-to-handsize of protein in there,
(16:57):
whether it be tuna or egg orwhatever it is, or steak, and
then you're having some goodfats in there that might already
be in the protein, like I said,the oils in fish, or it might
be something that you're addingin, like your olive oil, your
avocado oil, your avocado, alsonuts and seeds.
(17:17):
They have good fats in them,they have fiber in them, they
have lots of nutrition and theyalso have some protein, so they
can be a good way of adding somebalance to a meal.
So essentially, if you haveinsulin resistance, I recommend
you eat fairly low carbohydrate.
You have balanced meals, as I'vejust explained to you, also
(17:41):
making sure things like if youhave insulin resistance, you
might be low in some nutrients,so you might need things like
vitamin D, you might need thingslike magnesium, and so it might
be worth seeing someone likemyself or an expert who can
recommend the clients that youmight take and also if you've
got a blood test that can bereally useful to see whether or
(18:01):
not you need some nutrients ornot and the types that you
should take and the dosage youshould take.
Also, too.
You can get magnesium fromthings like Epsom salts.
So if you have Epsom saltsbaths and you can certainly buy
magnesium sprays and things andthey don't absorb quite as well
as something that you takeorally, but you still can absorb
some of it that can be quiteuseful to you.
(18:24):
So part of the insulinresistance picture is also
understanding there can benutrition deficiencies
associated with it.
So it is good to explore moreof that, maybe with an expert
who can help you with that sideof things, where they can look
at signs and symptoms ofnutrition deficiency and look at
the best ways to fill that andwhether that is through your
diet or whether that is throughtaking a supplement.
(18:46):
And the other thing, too, isalso looking at your digestion,
and again you might work with anexpert like myself or whoever
it is, but someone can help youmanage your digestion overall,
because if you've got digestiveissues, you're not going to be
maybe absorbing the nutrientsthat you need and that might
also lead to or contribute tothings like insulin resistance.
(19:10):
So it gives you a bit of anidea there of what insulin
resistance is and some of howyou manage it.
Obviously, different peoplerespond differently to things,
so you have to get the rightadvice for you.
And I would also say if you'retaking any medications to reduce
your blood glucose levels, thenyou really do want to monitor
this with an expert and maybe,like I said, wear a blood
(19:32):
glucose monitor if you're takinginsulin, especially because if
you are taking insulin, you canend up with your blood sugar
levels too low, which can be amedical emergency.
So if you're taking insulin,please learn about what
hypoglycemia looks like.
Please understand that youcould potentially push your
(19:56):
blood glucose too low and really, really need it's like a
medical emergency.
So, just before exploring allthese things, or when you're
exploring all these things, justtake a lot more care if you're
on medications, particularly ifyou're on insulin, and if you're
unsure, please get medicaladvice and please understand
what low blood glucose lookslike.
And it can look like an acetonesort of breath, like acetone is
(20:22):
like the nail polish remover.
It can look like nausea andvomiting and confusion and those
sorts of things.
So just be aware that thatcould be a medical emergency for
someone who's taking insulin.
So please just be really,really sure that when you're
playing around with your diet,with these things, that do it
safely and get medicalassistance if you feel that
(20:46):
you're not feeling safe toexplore this on your own,
because sometimes we can getourselves into a bit of trouble
exploring and changing thingsaround if we're not really sure
what we're doing or if we needto be monitored a bit more
because we're on a medication.
So, anyway, I hope that wasuseful for you to learn a little
bit more about insulinresistance, what it is and the
(21:07):
best way to eat to manage it.
And this will differ slightlyfor different people, but that's
a general outline of what worksquite well for people with
insulin resistance and, ofcourse, always drinking plenty
of water and things likedrinking alcohol, water and um,
and things like drinking alcoholand soft drinks and things like
that that's just alcohol andsoft drinks are laden with
(21:29):
carbohydrates, so they're reallygoing to affect your glucose
levels.
So I would not recommend oreven juices and things like that
.
Just, you know, water andherbal teas and a little bit of
tea or coffee or whatever,depending on the individual,
what works for you.
But just be aware that yourdrinks actually can be have a
bigger effect, especiallyactually some people, some
(21:51):
people they're having kind oflike the you know the coffees
that have the caramel flavorsand different things like this.
So not only that, but even ifyou're not getting the flavoring
, if you have a cappuccino,there could be 20 grams of carb
in that drink, whereas if youhave a black coffee, there's no
carb in there unless you putsugar in there.
So just have an awareness ofjust how much carbohydrate is in
(22:13):
your drinks and you may not berealizing how much you might be
having Some people I've measuredit before they're having over a
hundred grams of carbohydrate aday in drinks, which is an
awful lot.
So just be aware.
I didn't really talk aboutdrinks.
So just have a real awarenessof whether or not you're getting
your carbohydrates from yourfluids, and I don't care if it's
(22:33):
like a, if it's a homegrownorganic juice.
If that is full of fruit juice,then there is a problem.
That is just pure sugar.
So just be aware of that.
There might be lots ofnutrients in there, but sugar is
sugar, sugar and for someonewith insulin resistance that can
be a real problem.
(22:53):
So do consider your drinks aswell.
Okay, I will leave it there, butplease remember to like,
subscribe, share and rate andreview my podcast.
It really helps me other peopleto hear about and find out
about my podcast.
I really appreciate yoursupport and any feedback as well
.
Um, and make sure that you aresubscribing.
(23:13):
I looked at my stats and itlooks like 80 of people who
watch and listen to my podcastare not subscribers.
So it makes a difference to theplatforms.
They will show and promote yourpodcast more if you have more
subscribers, so please make apoint of subscribing as well.
I hope you have a great weekand I'll talk to you again next
(23:35):
week.
Thank you, bye.
Hello and welcome to the Wellness Connection Podcast
with Fiona Kane.
Today I'm going to be talkingto you about insulin resistance,
some useful things in regardsto what to eat if you have
insulin resistance, and a littlebit about what it is as well.
So, essentially, insulinresistance is often referred to
also as pre-diabetes, and it's asign that your body is not
(00:25):
managing to processcarbohydrates properly, and it
could be a sign that you mightbe heading towards diabetes.
So it is something to be awareof.
Now, with insulin resistance,one of the ways that they test
for it is they test things likein your blood tests.
They test for things likeglucose and insulin to see what
(00:49):
is going on with your body'sability to process carbohydrates
.
So I'll explain a little bitmore to you.
So carbohydrates in our foods.
So carbohydrates would bethings like grains, so like
cereal, breakfast cereal orbreads or pastas, or fruit and
vegetables, beans, beans, likepulses.
(01:12):
They can be a mixture ofcarbohydrate and proteins, but
generally speaking, there's alot of carbohydrate in them,
things like rice.
So all of those foods arecarbohydrates, and obviously
anything with sugar itself.
So soft drinks or lollies orthings like that they're
carbohydrate-based foods.
And when we eat carbohydratefoods.
(01:33):
What happens is our glucosegoes up in our bloodstream and
our body always likes to keepour glucose within a certain
range.
It's very important it stayswithin a certain range, because
if it's too high it does damageand if it's too low it's a
problem as well.
If it's too high, what happensis it's a little bit like shards
(01:54):
of glass that do damage to yoursmall capillaries and to your
arteries.
So we really don't want thathappening.
And what happens with theseshards of glass that do the
damage is your body will sendcholesterol to try and heal it
and fix it.
But if it happens over and overand over and over again, you
(02:16):
keep sending more and morecholesterol and then there ends
up being a blockage and thecholesterol is blamed.
But the cholesterol is kind ofthe band-aid.
But because the underlyingissue didn't get addressed,
that's why there ended up beinga problem.
But anyway, I've got a wholeother episode on cholesterol, so
go to that one.
I'll link it in, if I remember.
I'll link it for you so thatyou've got it.
(02:36):
But otherwise, just look upcholesterol and you'll find it
in my podcast.
So back to insulin resistance.
So what happens with insulinresistance is so when we eat
these carbohydrate foods, ourbody will make insulin.
Our pancreas makes insulin, andinsulin's job is to direct any
(02:56):
glucose that's in thebloodstream, any excess glucose
that we don't need, out of thebloodstream and into cells.
And what it will do is it'lltake the glucose into your liver
cells for storage there asglycogen and also to your muscle
cells for storage as glycogen,which is kind of easy energy for
your body to access.
But then any excess it actuallywill then put into fat cells
(03:21):
and essentially a certain amountof glucose will go into various
cells to provide some energy.
But what happens is, withinsulin resistance there's kind
of two factors.
So one factor is that maybe theinsulin doesn't work anymore as
far as insulin is like the keyto open up the cell, and the
(03:42):
insulin doesn't seem to open upthe cell anymore.
So that's considered to bemaybe one of the things that
causes insulin resistance.
But the other thing is maybethe cell's just full already,
because if you're having a lotof glucose and a lot of
carbohydrate which is glucose inyour diet, then what happens is
(04:03):
these cells just get full ofglucose and if your cells are
really really full, trying toput more in, it's just not going
to happen.
So there's different theoriesabout sort of either of those or
both of those, but essentiallywhat's happening is you can't
get glucose into the cell andbecause you can't get glucose
into the cell, then you can'tmetabolize, you can't use your
(04:26):
glucose and then you end up withhigh levels of glucose in your
bloodstream, which does damage,as I was talking about before
and when I was talking aboutdamaging the vessels and things.
It damages the small vesselsfirst, which is why it damages
the renal arteries that go toyour kidneys.
But it also damages if youthink of, the areas that are
(04:47):
affected when people haveuncontrolled diabetes is that it
affects their feet, it affectstheir eyes, also affects all
extremities.
So it also will affect yoursexual function, sexual organs,
because these are all smallvessels that go to those places
and also to your kidneys.
So all of these places areoften where you'll see signs and
(05:09):
symptoms that something iswrong, because if someone starts
having issues with theireyesight, or they can't feel
their feet, or they're hurtingtheir feet and it's not healing,
or if you start havingsomething like erectile
dysfunction, all of thesedifferent things could be signs
that you've got really highglucose in your system that's
(05:30):
causing a lot of damage.
Also, high cholesterol could bea sign as well, because the
reason you've got highcholesterol is because of the
damage happening.
Your body's pumping out morecholesterol to heal this damage,
but it's not fixing the initialproblem, so more and more
damage is happening, as I wasexplaining before.
So these could all be signsthat you have high levels of
(05:52):
glucose in your system.
And if you have insulinresistance, it will also show
that you have high levels ofinsulin, because what happens is
your body makes insulin to dealwith the glucose and then, if
the glucose isn't going into thecell, your body's constantly to
deal with the glucose and then,if the glucose isn't going into
the cell, your body'sconstantly checking, checking,
checking.
Your body checks again and says, okay, the glucose is high, I'm
going to make more insulin.
(06:13):
And then, however, many minuteslater it checks again and says
the glucose is high, I'm goingto make more insulin.
And it just keeps doing it overand over and over again.
And, of course, if it's notgetting the glucose into the
cell, it just keeps making it.
So high levels of insulin.
Having high levels of insulin inyour system all the time.
It is also quite inflammatory,so a lot of inflammatory
(06:36):
processes happen in regards tohaving high insulin and then
also what happens is you willprobably gain weight.
In most cases, people in thissituation will gain weight and
often it's around the tummy, soit's that kind of waist weight
which is why that's consideredto be the dangerous kind of
weight, because this ismetabolic syndrome I'm talking
(06:58):
about and sometimes it canaffect things like your blood
pressure, it can affect otherthings and start to drive things
like heart disease andeventually what can happen is
your pancreas can be so worn outby trying to make so much
insulin all of the time that itactually might slow down how
much insulin it makes andsomeone might need to start
(07:19):
taking insulin to the pointwhere it might stop making
insulin altogether or just notmake enough.
So that gives you a bit of arundown of kind of what insulin
resistance is.
Essentially, it's when yourbody cannot get glucose into the
cells and therefore it sort ofstarts to call that you just
have high glucose, high insulin,and your body's making lots and
lots of fat cells to try andstore up all of this glucose.
(07:42):
So in regards to how to eat tomanage insulin resistance, well,
you have to consider that,because this is a problem of
metabolizing glucose, which isin carbohydrate foods, one of
the best things to do is reduceyour carbohydrates in your food,
because if you're not eating alot of carbohydrates, you don't
(08:03):
need to make a lot of insulin.
So, generally speaking, what Irecommend with my clients is you
base your diet around protein,so you have protein with every
meal, and so that would besomething like meat or eggs, and
for vegetarians it's all right,they can have eggs.
But for vegans it's morechallenging because the source
(08:26):
of protein for vegans is oftenvery high in carbohydrate as
well.
So if you're thinking of thingslike lentils or chickpeas or
that kind of thing, they'rereally high in carbohydrate,
unfortunately, so there's oftenmore carbohydrate in there more
just as much carbohydrate asthere is protein, and that can
be okay to a point, but there'sa challenge.
If you're trying to reduce yourcarbs and you're a vegan, then
(08:48):
that can be okay to a point, butthere's a challenge.
If you're trying to reduce yourcarbs and you're a vegan, then
that can be quite challenging.
But some proteins that arelower carb for vegans would be,
say, something like tofu.
So tofu, I don't think, hasmuch carbohydrate in it at all,
but obviously you'd have tocheck all the different foods
and see what's right for you.
But generally what I do is Iencourage my clients to start
(09:10):
with a protein-based meal andnot a normal serve of protein,
but it would be thatpalm-to-hand size of protein and
it's your palm-to-hand size,not mine and then what you do is
you have some good fat, somegood oils, so that could include
things like the fat that'salready in the food, so the fat
that's already in your fish, orthe fat that's already in your
chicken or beef or whateveryou're having, the fat that's
(09:33):
already in your eggs.
Or it could be things like agood quality olive oil.
Or you might be having justreal fats like butter, like real
butter, the pure butter.
It could be you're having someavocado, so there's some really
good fats in avocado, butessentially you're having fat
with your meal.
(09:53):
And also what you would do isyou'd have fibrous carbohydrates
that are relatively low incarbohydrate, though, and that
would be salad type vegetables.
So if you're having loads ofgreens, if you're having your
bok choy and your cabbage oryour broccoli or your
(10:18):
cauliflowers, those sorts offoods, lettuce, that sort of
thing, so essentially lots ofkind of low starchy vegetables,
lots of different colors, all ofthe slaws, the coleslaw type
stuff, those kinds of low carbsalads.
That's feeding your microbiome.
(10:38):
So it's good for yourmicrobiome, it's good for your
gut.
You're still getting somecarbohydrate there, and those
carbohydrates also are ones thatare really high in fiber.
So you'll get the fibrousbenefit of the diet as well, and
I'll explain that to you, notjust from a carbohydrate, not
just from a gut microbiomeperspective, but also from a
(11:00):
whole meal perspective.
So I'll explain this to you thatthere's something called the GI
and there's something calledthe GL.
And's something called the GL,and I'll explain those two
things to you.
So GI is glycemic index andglycemic index is a measure of
how quickly your blood glucosegoes up after you eat a certain
(11:20):
food.
So foods that are really highGI tend to be things like bread
or like cola, something likethat.
Rice is quite high GI.
Any kind of cake or muffin orsomething like that high GI.
So essentially, you eat thatfood, your blood glucose goes up
(11:42):
quite quickly.
A bowl of cereal is high GI.
Most of them would be, if notall of them.
So that's a high GIcarbohydrate food.
A low GI carbohydrate foodwould be something like
blueberries or something likethe salad vegetables I just
talked about before, foods thatjust don't have that much sugar
(12:05):
in them to start with andthey're also quite fibrous.
So you can check levels.
There are charts and things youcan look at.
Gi is affected by other things,so it's affected by your
digestion.
It's affected even by thingslike if you slice bread, it
changes the GI as opposed to ifit hasn't been sliced or how
(12:26):
long it's been sitting on thebench as opposed to if it hasn't
been sliced or how long it'sbeen sitting on the bench, even
the GI of different.
You know you can have wholemealbread in France and wholemeal
bread in America and havedifferent GI.
So GI is a bit unpredictable,but it's a bit of a general idea
for how quickly your bloodglucose is going to go up when
you eat a certain food.
If you wear a glucose monitor,you'll see very quickly how this
works for you.
So you'll see which foods arehigh GI.
(12:48):
And the other thing I wastalking about is GL.
Gl is glycemic load and glycemicload is how quickly your blood
sugar actually does go up.
Two things One, it can be theindividual food and what I was
saying before.
If you have a food that's quitehigh in fiber but also quite
(13:12):
high in glucose, it might go upa little bit slower.
So you might notice that somelegumes your blood glucose goes
up a bit slower because there'sfiber in there.
You might notice the same thingfor, say, like cabbage or
something like that.
It's a fibrous food Broccoliyour blood glucose goes up a bit
.
There's some glucose in therebut there's also a lot of fiber.
(13:33):
So that will slow down howquickly your blood glucose goes
up.
But then it's like glycemic loadis also looking at the whole
meal.
So, for example, if there isfiber in your meal whether it's
fiber in that carbohydrate,which is where it normally would
be, but the fiber would also bein, say, something like avocado
.
So if there's fiber in yourmeal, that does slow down the
(13:56):
gastric emptying, which is yourstomach emptying, which is
essentially the amount of timethat food spends in your stomach
.
If you slow down the amount oftime the food spends in your
stomach, you slow down howquickly the glucose spills into
your bloodstream and how quicklyyour glucose goes up.
So when you add fiber to a mealand there's fiber in there, it
(14:17):
slows it down, which is a goodthing.
The same thing will happen whenyou add protein.
Protein also slows it down, andso do fats.
So that is why therecommendation is you have this
lovely balanced meal where youstart with a protein, you make
sure there's some good fats inthere somewhere, you have lots
of low starch fibrous vegetablesand then if you do have
(14:41):
something that's a bit higher incarbohydrate, that's a bit of a
higher GI food.
If you have that with that meal,your blood sugar probably won't
go up quite as quickly andyou'll be able to tolerate it
more than maybe you would havehaving it on its own.
So if you have that piece ofbread on its own, it might push
(15:02):
your blood glucose up really,really quickly.
Potentially, if you have itwith some avocado on it and some
salmon on it or some egg, thatmight slow things down.
But it's always good to testand measure for yourself, and a
glucose monitor is a great wayto do that.
And if you have insulinresistance, that's actually a
really good idea to startwearing a glucose monitor so
(15:24):
that you can start to see howdifferent foods affect you.
So, rather than just makingassumptions, why don't you just
see what actually happens whenyou eat different foods, but in
general I find that people withinsulin resistance are better
off if they're really not eatingmuch in the way of foods like
breads.
Or if you are, there are someyou can buy that are quite low
carb.
So just look up the low carbbread varieties and when you do
(15:48):
have it, add something that'sgot fiber and fat and protein to
it.
So whether you're adding a nutbutter like a pure peanut butter
, or a pure almond butter, orwhether you're adding some
avocado and tuna or avocado andsalmon, or you're adding some
mashed up eggs or something likethat, those are really good
choices to put with your breadto help to kind of manage the
(16:11):
glucose in that bread.
Or otherwise, like I said, haveyour salads without having the
bread and you might add somehigh glucose.
But good quality foods full offiber that are full of nutrition
for you would be things likethe starchy vegetables.
So it might be things likesweet potato or beetroot or
(16:34):
carrots or pumpkin, and youdon't have huge amounts of them
but you have some of thatstarchy.
So you might have, say, like afistful of your starchy
carbohydrate with your meal, butyou have a half a plate full of
all of the other, the slaws,the low-starch carbohydrates.
You're having that palm-to-handsize of protein in there,
(16:57):
whether it be tuna or egg orwhatever it is, or steak, and
then you're having some goodfats in there that might already
be in the protein, like I said,the oils in fish, or it might
be something that you're addingin, like your olive oil, your
avocado oil, your avocado, alsonuts and seeds.
(17:17):
They have good fats in them,they have fiber in them, they
have lots of nutrition and theyalso have some protein, so they
can be a good way of adding somebalance to a meal.
So essentially, if you haveinsulin resistance, I recommend
you eat fairly low carbohydrate.
You have balanced meals, as I'vejust explained to you, also
(17:41):
making sure things like if youhave insulin resistance, you
might be low in some nutrients,so you might need things like
vitamin D, you might need thingslike magnesium, and so it might
be worth seeing someone likemyself or an expert who can
recommend the clients that youmight take and also if you've
got a blood test that can bereally useful to see whether or
(18:01):
not you need some nutrients ornot and the types that you
should take and the dosage youshould take.
Also, too.
You can get magnesium fromthings like Epsom salts.
So if you have Epsom saltsbaths and you can certainly buy
magnesium sprays and things andthey don't absorb quite as well
as something that you takeorally, but you still can absorb
some of it that can be quiteuseful to you.
(18:24):
So part of the insulinresistance picture is also
understanding there can benutrition deficiencies
associated with it.
So it is good to explore moreof that, maybe with an expert
who can help you with that sideof things, where they can look
at signs and symptoms ofnutrition deficiency and look at
the best ways to fill that andwhether that is through your
diet or whether that is throughtaking a supplement.
(18:46):
And the other thing, too, isalso looking at your digestion,
and again you might work with anexpert like myself or whoever
it is, but someone can help youmanage your digestion overall,
because if you've got digestiveissues, you're not going to be
maybe absorbing the nutrientsthat you need and that might
also lead to or contribute tothings like insulin resistance.
(19:10):
So it gives you a bit of anidea there of what insulin
resistance is and some of howyou manage it.
Obviously, different peoplerespond differently to things,
so you have to get the rightadvice for you.
And I would also say if you'retaking any medications to reduce
your blood glucose levels, thenyou really do want to monitor
this with an expert and maybe,like I said, wear a blood
(19:32):
glucose monitor if you're takinginsulin, especially because if
you are taking insulin, you canend up with your blood sugar
levels too low, which can be amedical emergency.
So if you're taking insulin,please learn about what
hypoglycemia looks like.
Please understand that youcould potentially push your
(19:56):
blood glucose too low and really, really need it's like a
medical emergency.
So, just before exploring allthese things, or when you're
exploring all these things, justtake a lot more care if you're
on medications, particularly ifyou're on insulin, and if you're
unsure, please get medicaladvice and please understand
what low blood glucose lookslike.
And it can look like an acetonesort of breath, like acetone is
(20:22):
like the nail polish remover.
It can look like nausea andvomiting and confusion and those
sorts of things.
So just be aware that thatcould be a medical emergency for
someone who's taking insulin.
So please just be really,really sure that when you're
playing around with your diet,with these things, that do it
safely and get medicalassistance if you feel that
(20:46):
you're not feeling safe toexplore this on your own,
because sometimes we can getourselves into a bit of trouble
exploring and changing thingsaround if we're not really sure
what we're doing or if we needto be monitored a bit more
because we're on a medication.
So, anyway, I hope that wasuseful for you to learn a little
bit more about insulinresistance, what it is and the
(21:07):
best way to eat to manage it.
And this will differ slightlyfor different people, but that's
a general outline of what worksquite well for people with
insulin resistance and, ofcourse, always drinking plenty
of water and things likedrinking alcohol, water and um,
and things like drinking alcoholand soft drinks and things like
that that's just alcohol andsoft drinks are laden with
(21:29):
carbohydrates, so they're reallygoing to affect your glucose
levels.
So I would not recommend oreven juices and things like that
.
Just, you know, water andherbal teas and a little bit of
tea or coffee or whatever,depending on the individual,
what works for you.
But just be aware that yourdrinks actually can be have a
bigger effect, especiallyactually some people, some
(21:51):
people they're having kind oflike the you know the coffees
that have the caramel flavorsand different things like this.
So not only that, but even ifyou're not getting the flavoring
, if you have a cappuccino,there could be 20 grams of carb
in that drink, whereas if youhave a black coffee, there's no
carb in there unless you putsugar in there.
So just have an awareness ofjust how much carbohydrate is in
(22:13):
your drinks and you may not berealizing how much you might be
having Some people I've measuredit before they're having over a
hundred grams of carbohydrate aday in drinks, which is an
awful lot.
So just be aware.
I didn't really talk aboutdrinks.
So just have a real awarenessof whether or not you're getting
your carbohydrates from yourfluids, and I don't care if it's
(22:33):
like a, if it's a homegrownorganic juice.
If that is full of fruit juice,then there is a problem.
That is just pure sugar.
So just be aware of that.
There might be lots ofnutrients in there, but sugar is
sugar, sugar and for someonewith insulin resistance that can
be a real problem.
(22:53):
So do consider your drinks aswell.
Okay, I will leave it there, butplease remember to like,
subscribe, share and rate andreview my podcast.
It really helps me other peopleto hear about and find out
about my podcast.
I really appreciate yoursupport and any feedback as well
.
Um, and make sure that you aresubscribing.
(23:13):
I looked at my stats and itlooks like 80 of people who
watch and listen to my podcastare not subscribers.
So it makes a difference to theplatforms.
They will show and promote yourpodcast more if you have more
subscribers, so please make apoint of subscribing as well.
I hope you have a great weekand I'll talk to you again next
(23:35):
week.
Thank you, bye.
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