Article:
What if there were a simple lab test that could predict metabolic conditions 10 to 20 years before they appear? A way to clearly “see” the often symptomless precursor to type 2 diabetes, obesity, and certain cancers and degenerative brain conditions. And therefore an opportunity to create an alternate path forward to avoid these debilitating illnesses and live vitally.
The wonderful news is that there IS such a test. The maddening news is that next to no doctor orders it. Why? Well, as with many things health-related that combine medicine, pharma, insurance and more, it’s complicated and dare I say… unprofitable.
Fasting insulin should be a standard on your blood panel alongside fasting glucose, HA1c and triglycerides. Instead, it can be downright difficult to attain, involving convincing your provider to order it and then grappling with your insurance company to cover it. Further, many clinicians aren’t aware that a “normal” fasting insulin result of up to 20 mIU/mL is far from healthy. In fact, this “normal” indicates that metabolic mayhem is already present.
Why many labs indicate these obscenely generous “normal” levels is at best baffling and at worst a nefarious mélange of competing interests where the medical, insurance and pharmaceutical industries are highly disincentivized to champion the test. Thankfully, there is a way to take control and order your own bloodwork on websites such as WalkInLab.
Ideally, fasting insulin should be significantly lower than the 20 mIU/mL you see on standard panel results: between two to five mIU/mL as greater than five increases the risk of developing metabolic conditions.
Should you order this test and find that you’re significantly out of this range, you’re not alone. According to a University of North Carolina study published in 2018, nearly 90% of Americans have metabolic dysfunction.[1] (Let’s not kid ourselves into thinking this has improved in the last six years as metabolic health has not until very recently become a public health topic!)
When working with private clients, I remind them that a result over five or even greater than 10 is not reason to despair; rather it’s an opportunity to create incremental improvements over time. One of the most beautiful and hopeful aspects of our metabolic health is that it is largely in our hands. The way to lower your fasting insulin levels into truly normal, vital range is to self-treat the root cause of the dysfunction: insulin resistance. And doing so is relatively simple (just not necessarily easy).
Insulin resistance occurs when our bodies become insensitive to the effects of this master hormone. Produced by B-cells in the pancreas, insulin affects the function of every cell in your body and is perhaps best known for its role in creating energy from food. After a meal, glucose rises and insulin is secreted to bring it back to baseline by moving it into your cells for energy or storage.
When carbohydrates – think starches such as sugary desserts, refined grains, and even fruits–are regularly eaten over a person’s individual tolerance, more and more insulin is needed to deal with the ensuing overload of glucose. The body becomes insensitive to insulin’s effects akin to developing a tolerance to other substances such as a caffeine or alcohol. Therefore glucose remains elevated over baseline and metabolic dysfunction develops. This worsening pattern is often undetected with very few symptoms while cellular damage is occurring.
Once a metabolic condition is diagnosed, there is already significant damage. However, reversal is possible! Reversal is far from a mainstream message, but I’ve personally seen it happen thousands of times. More importantly, the scientific literature on therapeutic carbohydrate restriction is rich with evidence. (Just not so rich in the profitability department for competing interests so its conveniently overlooked by mainstream media which receives the vast majority of its funding from pharmaceutical companies and giant ultra-processed food companies.)
Ultimately, the goal is to increase your insulin sensitivity, which is the opposite of insulin resistance. The most powerful way to increase insulin sensitivity is to focus on prioritizing nutrient rich, real whole foods and limit or avoid starches, grains, sugar and high carb fruits. Doing so will significantly decrease the amount of glucose that enters your bloodstream, so there is less need for insulin, and this is how your metabolic health improves with time.
Once you become metabolically healthy, your carbohydrate tolerance may increase, at which point you can experiment with slowly adding back some higher carb fruits and whole grains. Investing in a continuous glucose monitor (CGM) to provide you personalized feedback on your blood glucose levels can be an excellent tool in both helping you heal and maintaining your enhanced health. There are companies like Levels and Virta Health which specialize in helping you with health coaching and through the use of this technology. As of this year, it is also possible to acquire a CGM over-the-counter from Dexcom or Abbot. However, these products do not come with personalized remote health coaching from an app, which can be an invaluable resource when learning to make the lifestyle changes necessary to reverse chronic disease.
Additionally, drastically reducing or eliminating toxic faux fats – seed (except sesame seed) and vegetable oils, and all hydrogenated oils, will improve your energy metabolism. These metabolic wrecking balls disrupt your system to the point of “hijacking your fat cells” so that your stored energy is very difficult to use, leaving you feeling constantly hungry even if obese.[2]
While nutrition is the single most important driver toward insulin sensitivity, there are other lifestyle modifications that will greatly help you. These include resistance training as muscle is very metabolically active, and increasing your protein consumption – particularly with nutrient dense animal foods. Encouraging growth and repair is also an important part of the metabolic healing process, and this is where prioritizing sleep and practicing fasting enter the equation. Cultivating simple morning and evening routines to expose yourself to morning light and avoid blue light from screens later in the day, respectively, will help with sleep. When it comes to fasting, ideally you’re taking a 12-hour break between dinner and breakfast. However, it is important to consider your personal situation including health conditions, medications, etc. so I recommend working with a healthcare professional to incorporate fasting into your lifestyle if this is a new practice for you. Last and certainly not least, investing just a few minutes daily in a calming routine, such as yoga or gentle stretching combined with meditation or prayer can go a long way to reducing your stress and enabling healing.
Remember, you have the power to both prevent and reverse metabolic disease which will drastically increase your health-span and vitality. Be nourished!
[1] https://www.unc.edu/posts/2018/11/28/only-12-percent-of-american-adults-are-metabolically-healthy-carolina-study-finds/
[2] https://drcate.com/dark-calories-book/
Images from iStock/marekuliasz (main), dragana991 (taking test with finger), Deagreez (woman rejecting food).
