► Introduction
● It's all about insulin!
● Keep in mind that you are not alone!
► Chapter 1: Insulin and Diabetes
► Chapter 2: Weight Loss
► Chapter 3: Learn the Impact of Foods and Choose Wisely

Introduction
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It’s all about insulin!
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Some of the names you may have heard about are insulin resistance, hyperinsulinemia, pre-diabetes, syndrome X, metabolic syndrome, glucose intolerance, p.c.o.s. (Polycystic ovarian syndrome), and impaired fasting glucose. All of these disorders have one thing in
common: trouble with insulin. There’s too much and your body isn’t responding to it well.

Insulin resistance usually begins silently with few or no noticeable symptoms. It usually progresses slowly until you become “pre-diabetic”. At that point, most sufferers will progress to type 2 diabetes unless they have drastic intervention (dramatic weight loss and consistent, challenging levels of exercise). Your doctor can order tests such as a “fasting blood glucose level” or “glucose
tolerance test” to assess your level of insulin resistance. The lab results may be considered “within normal limits” but a closer look at the values may show that you’re inching toward pre-diabetes. This is when you have a chance to turn back the clock and reverse the disease.

Finding the right diet and exercise program during the insulin resistance stage can ensure that you never progress to diabetes. If you have advanced beyond “simple” insulin resistance and are pre-diabetic, you still have the odds in your favor if you take action now.

Even if you’ve progressed to type 2 diabetes, the information in this book will help you manage your disease better. You’ll decrease the likelihood of having complications like heart failure, stroke, kidney disease, or amputations.

Keep in mind that you are not alone!
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The CDC/NCHS/NHIS* estimates that more than 25% of all people suffer from some degree of insulin resistance or impaired glucose tolerance. That is 1 out of every 4 adults. Think about you and 3 of your closest friends. At least one of you is already on the way to becoming diabetic. Is it you? Most people don’t even know they have a problem! As stated already, the symptoms are easy to overlook. A lot of damage can occur silently. One of the scariest facts has to do with our children. The CDC (Center for Disease Control) predicts that 1 out of every 3 babies born in the year 2000 will become diabetic. Not pre-diabetic, or insulin resistant, but diabetic. The odds are even worse for black and Hispanic babies: nearly half of them will develop the disease. This does not have to happen. We can protect ourselves as well as our children with knowledge and action. Read on to learn how to avoid becoming a statistic.

Chapter 1: Insulin and Diabetes  
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Insulin 101:

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to rising blood sugar (glucose) after meals. Insulin’s main job is to act as a “key” that “unlocks doors” for sugar to enter cells for use as energy. Without insulin, the cells in your body would literally starve to death. Another
of insulin’s “jobs” is to prevent fat from being burned as fuel. High blood sugar is very damaging to the body. Insulin must make sure that fat is not used for fuel if there is blood sugar to use. Having constant high levels of insulin is one of the reasons people with insulin resistance have trouble losing weight. When insulin levels are lowered, people have a much easier time losing and maintaining weight.

Diabetes:

The two most common types of diabetes go by simple, easy to remember names: Types 1 and 2. An insulin deficiency, resistance to insulin, or both cause diabetes.

Type 1 diabetes used to be called juvenile diabetes or insulin dependent diabetes. It is an “autoimmune” disease in which a person’s own immune system attacks and destroys the insulin producing cells of the pancreas leaving them unable to produce enough insulin to survive. There is currently no cure for type 1 diabetes and no accurate way to predict who will get it. Researchers have performed experimental pancreatic cell transplants with limited success. Hopefully someday a cure can be found. Until then, this disease requires lifelong treatment and close management of blood sugar levels to prevent multiple serious complications. Only 5-10% of all cases of diabetes are Type 1.

Type 2 diabetes is a disease of “insulin resistance” rather than a deficiency. In the first years of the disease, there may still be plenty of insulin. The cells just don’t respond to it well. The pancreas keeps churning it out so there are higher and higher levels in the blood. All that insulin just makes the cells more immune to it. Eventually, the insulin is not ever able to lower the blood sugar to safe levels. At this point, medication is usually needed.

High levels of insulin can cause many health problems including obesity, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL (good) cholesterol, heart disease, and possibly some cancers.

Eventually the insulin levels will drop because high blood sugar is toxic to the pancreatic cells that produce it. These cells stop functioning. People at this stage need close medical management. Although lifestyle changes can manage and prevent further complications, most of the damage done at this stage is irreversible. This scenario usually occurs after someone has lived with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes for years. 

Early in the progress of insulin resistance, the pancreatic cells are still completely functional. This is the time that lifestyle changes can stop and even reverse the progress of the disease.

Chapter 2: Weight Loss
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The right diet, regular exercise, and weight loss can work miracles. Depending on where you are in the progress of this disease, you can essentially be “cured” by following the recommendations in this book. The danger of it coming back will always exist, but hopefully you can develop lifelong habits that will prevent that from happening.

Lose Weight

The majority of people suffering from insulin resistance or prediabetes are overweight. As much as we may hear and want to believe that you should accept yourself at whatever weight you are, this simply is not healthy advice. You should love yourself regardless of size, but love yourself enough to strive for a healthier weight. Otherwise, you are consenting to the risk of developing diabetes and side effects like kidney failure, heart disease, blindness, and amputations. That is not how to love yourself.

It doesn’t take much weight loss for a significant reduction in risk.

A 5-7% decrease in weight can lower the risk of developing full-blown diabetes by 58%. In people over age 60, this amount of weight loss sustained for 3 years reduces diabetes risk by 71%. Achieving and maintaining your ideal weight almost guarantees that you will avoid becoming diabetic. Most overweight people have tried more than once to lose extra pounds without lasting success. If you suffer from insulin resistance, it is unlikely that you’ll lose significant amounts of weight without extreme calorie restriction. With regular exercise and a diet that helps to lower insulin levels, you can lose weight and still consume a healthy, well-balanced, satisfying diet.

Chapter 3: Learn the Impact of Foods and Choose Wisely
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For someone who has problems with insulin, the dietary goal is to reduce the impact food has on blood sugar. In other words, you want to eat foods that have the lowest effect on blood sugar. This will still be your goal even after any excess weight is lost. How do you tell which foods will raise your blood sugar the most? You have to look at what the food is made of. The primary nutrients that foods are composed of are proteins, fats, carbohydrates or a combination.

Proteins in the diet provide amino acids that are used to build and repair tissues and important structures in the body. Protein has a minimal effect on blood sugar.

Dietary fats are a concentrated source of energy. A single gram of fat supplies nine calories compared to the four calories supplied by one gram of protein or one gram of carbohydrate. Fat is needed for the absorption of fatsoluble vitamins (A, D, E, K) as well as for the synthesis of hormones and cell membranes. Fat has a minimal effect on blood sugar.

Carbohydrates or “carbs” convert to sugar in the body more quickly than fats or proteins. The type of carb makes a difference. Carbs are classified as “simple” or “complex” based on their chemical structure. The main difference between the types is how quickly they are digested.

Simple carbs are quickly and easily absorbed and are often lacking in vitamins and minerals. They cause spikes in blood sugar, especially when eaten alone. Typical examples include any kind of sugar, sodas, fruit juices, and candy. Avoid these carbs whenever possible.

Complex carbs are broken down more slowly and do not cause a rapid rise in the blood sugar. They contain fiber, which slows digestion, and nutrients that your body needs. Include these carbs in a healthy diet.

Examples of foods made up of complex carbs are whole fruits, vegetables and whole, minimally processed grains such as old-fashioned oatmeal (not quick cooking or instant), brown rice, quinoa, and 100% whole grain bread.

**You may have noticed that fruit juice is considered a simple carb and whole fruit is considered a complex carb. The more broken down fruit is, the less “complex” the carbohydrate in it becomes. Apple juice is a simple carb, the whole apple is a complex carb, while applesauce is somewhere in the middle. This applies to a lot of foods. The more processed they are, the quicker they are digested and the more impact they’ll have on blood sugar.