What does it mean, insulin resistance, and why it is very important to rid of it to keep your weight healthy and stable?
Insulin resistance is a condition commonly seen in overweight persons. This is a condition when insulin is not able to help carbohydrates get into the body cells (mostly muscle cells), and as a result, carbs cannot be used for energy. The muscle cells send a signal to have more insulin, and the body has more and more insulin (it calls hyperinsulinemia). Interestingly, that person with insulin resistance may not have type 2 diabetes, but all persons with type 2 diabetes have insulin resistance. Researchers estimated that at least 25% of the United States population may be insulin resistant, which is in addition to those who are diagnosed as Type 2 diabetics.
But what comes first obesity or insulin resistance?
That’s the question. Probably, it is some kind of vicious circle: if a person is overweight, she/he more likely may have insulin resistance, and as a result, this person has a lot of difficulties losing weight. There is also some genetic predisposition to insulin resistance, which makes those persons be more susceptible to storing fat.
What are the consequences of insulin resistance? Why it is so important not to have it even the person doesn’t have diabetes and obesity?
Insulin resistance may cause a bunch of problems such a Metabolic syndrome: high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol (the good one), glucose intolerance (pre-diabetes), etc. People with insulin resistance are always hungry and have a long history of frustration with failure at attempts at weight loss.
Why Optifast program may help people with insulin resistance?
The Optifast program has been proven effective in more than 80 clinical studies and for more than 1 million people who have participated in the program since 1974. It is successful because it treats the whole of you, not just your weight. It is a meal replacement program, which gives people the feeling of control over their appetite, the feeling of freedom from food dependence. It combines support, counselling, and comprehensive lifestyle education by the staff of our clinic. It helps people to lose weight and significantly reduce weight-related health risks. In terms of insulin resistance, it helps a lot to decrease it: after two weeks of the program, people usually are not hungry and have a lot of energy. They don’t have weakness after food and willing to sleep during the day as they had before. Positive changes can occur quickly: in addition to losing weight, our patients improve their health, learn new, healthy eating, and obtain new skills. They return to normal life better equipped not to have insulin resistance; and as a result, manage their weight successfully in a long term.
If you are interested to see if our OPTIFAST® program is a good fit for you, please book a consultation with us.
We are looking forward to working with you!