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The Link Between Insulin Resistance & Chronic Inflammation

The Link Between Insulin Resistance & Chronic Inflammation

by | Oct 4, 2022 | Weight Loss

Did you know that there’s an important link between insulin resistance and chronic inflammation? These two conditions have a lot in common – they are often silent to begin with, and many people will go undiagnosed for years before discovering them. But when both occur, it can cause even greater health concerns.

What is insulin resistance?

As we’ve touched on previously, insulin resistance (IR) occurs when you have consistently high levels of insulin. You might see it referred to as pre-diabetes.

In IR, your body is producing plenty of insulin, but your cells don’t get the ‘message’. In an attempt to fix the problem, your body will produce more insulin. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the cycle by increasing the cells’ resistance to insulin.

What is chronic inflammation?

Chronic inflammation is a long-term condition that takes many months and even years to develop. As the name suggests, it is when you are in an ongoing state of inflammation. Usually this inflammation is low-grade so it might not even cause symptoms to begin with (unlike acute inflammation).

When the body is in this state of chronic inflammation, it is also in a constant state of alert, always looking for danger. This causes a considerable amount of stress and oxidative damage within the tissues, leading to impaired organ function, damaged DNA and accelerated ageing (eek!)

This is where it’s important to touch on inflammaging.

Inflammaging is one of the long-term impacts of untreated chronic inflammation. The unrelenting inflammation drastically increases the rate of ageing. And the effects of this further feed into inflammation and other body processes.

How are the two conditions linked?

There is a two-way street between these conditions – they both feed into one another. So it is often a chicken-or-egg situation, depending on your underlying factors and health history!

For example, let’s look at insulin resistance. When there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, it can cause inflammation. Then there’s also more sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream because cells aren’t ‘listening’ to insulin, which is a double-whammy for inflammation!

But inflammation can also trigger insulin resistance. This is believed to be thanks to inflammation’s effect on insulin signalling and insulin sensitivity of the muscles and liver.

So where do you start first if you’re dealing with both conditions? I like to say both – because there is plenty of overlap in how we address them anyway! Make sure you check out my top tips for addressing insulin resistance here.

CAN SUPPLEMENTS HELP REDUCE INSULIN RESISTANCE AND INFLAMMATION?

Supplements can‘t replace a balanced diet and exercise regime, but they can support pathways involved with insulin resistance and inflammation. However, not all supplements are created equal!

That’s why I’ve formulated my own innovative supplement designed to support healthy ageing! It helps to support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates – both of which play a critical role in insulin resistance.

In terms of inflammation, it can reduce free radicals formed in the body, support body tissue regeneration and healthy immune system function, as well as working as an antioxidant. Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

Is Your Blood Sugar The Reason You’re So Tired All The Time?

Is Your Blood Sugar The Reason You’re So Tired All The Time?

by | Sep 27, 2022 | Weight Loss

There are many reasons that you feel constantly fatigued. But a commonly overlooked one? How your body regulates blood sugar levels.

The food that you eat, the rate that you absorb energy and your body’s ability to move the energy into your cells via insulin can all alter your sense of energy. So let’s take a closer look at how your blood sugar level could be exhausting you.

The links between blood sugar and fatigue

EATING HIGH-CARB, LOW-FIBRE FOODS

Hands up who has eaten a carb-heavy meal like a massive bowl of pasta and needed a nap right afterwards? Welcome to the effect of your blood sugar level!

When you eat these types of food, the energy suddenly floods into the bloodstream. But too much glucose in the system can be damaging, so your body kicks into overdrive to store it away safely.

You produce a large dose of insulin, which will store it away in the cells and into fat stores. As a result, you’ll have a burst of energy, followed by a crash as your blood sugar level drops rapidly.

If that isn’t enough reason for a ‘food coma’, there’s a secondary action as well. The increased insulin level increases tryptophan uptake into the brain, causing you to feel tired.

INSULIN & BLOOD SUGAR BALANCE

Over time, consistently elevated insulin levels can lead to the development of insulin resistance (IR).

In IR, your body is producing plenty of insulin, but your cells don’t get the ‘message’. To try and fix the problem, your body will produce more insulin. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the cycle by increasing the cells’ resistance to insulin.

How does this affect your energy? The primary cause is that the cells won’t accept the glucose they need to fuel them. Without fuel, the cells can’t work efficiently, and therefore cannot produce sufficient energy for your daily needs.

There are some indirect mechanisms that cause fatigue as well. For example, when there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, it can cause inflammation. Then there’s also more sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream because cells aren’t ‘listening’ to insulin, which is a double-whammy for inflammation!

Chronic low-grade inflammation can further reduce the energy available to your cells. Plus it also reduces your insulin sensitivity, causing a vicious cycle!

IS FATIGUE CAUSED BY BLOOD SUGAR LEVELS ONLY EXPERIENCED BY DIABETICS?

Not at all! While it’s more common for those diagnosed with diabetes to experience these effects, it’s not exclusive to them.

Fatigue is a well-recognised symptom of insulin resistance, which is considered a pre-diabetic state. But anyone can experience the effects of a rapidly changing blood sugar level, including lower energy or a sudden crash in energy.

If you’ve noticed a pattern of fatigue around your meals, it’s worth investigating if insulin resistance is to blame. Here are some simple management tips if IR is an issue for you.

CAN SUPPLEMENTS HELP TO BALANCE YOUR BLOOD SUGAR?

Supplements can‘t replace a balanced diet and exercise regime, but they can support pathways involved with insulin resistance and sensitivity. However, not all supplements are created equal!

That’s why I’ve formulated my own innovative supplement designed to support healthy ageing! Plus it helps to support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates, both of which play a critical role in insulin resistance. Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

How To Tackle Insulin Resistance At The Root

How To Tackle Insulin Resistance At The Root

by | Sep 20, 2022 | Weight Loss

Looking for ways to manage your insulin resistance naturally? While there are medications available, many prefer to address the underlying causes to improve insulin sensitivity.

The good news is that there are plenty of ways to tackle insulin resistance at the root through diet and lifestyle changes.

How to manage your insulin resistance naturally

EAT 3 MEALS A DAY

Until recently, health practitioners thought that the best way to manage glucose and insulin levels is to have small frequent meals during the day. But now research has uncovered that better glucose control in (even in) diabetic patients is achieved with 3 meals a day.

Why is this the case? When we eat frequently, insulin is continually being secreted by the pancreas and doesn’t have a chance to return to a baseline level.

So ditch the frequent snacks and stick to your three square meals as it’s not just people with diabetes that this is beneficial for. We ca all benefit from this (and this is coming from a reformed snacker lol).

INCLUDE PROTEIN AND FIBRE IN EVERY MEAL

One way we can get insulin resistance under control is by minimising glucose and insulin spikes on a daily basis. And a simple way to make this happen? Having a source of protein and fibre in every single meal.

Both protein and fibre help to slow the absorption of glucose into the bloodstream. As a result, you get a steady stream of energy over a longer period of time, and less insulin is produced to manage it.

DITCH THE CALORIE RESTRICTION AND COOKIE-CUTTER DIETS

As weight gain is a common side effect of insulin resistance, people often turn to restrictive calorie counting or fad diets to kickstart weight loss. But all this is going to do is increase the stress on your body and make it hold tighter to that body fat!

The nutrition plan that you want? One that tailors to your needs and how your body processes nutrients, including glucose. To learn more about how I can help with this, check out The Glow Protocol here.

MANAGE YOUR STRESS

Stress is often a massive contributor to insulin resistance. And unfortunately, insulin resistance adds to your stress load! So looking at natural ways of managing your stress load needs to be a focus.

Of course, we can’t avoid every kind of stress forever. And small amounts of stress can actually be beneficial for us! But we do want to prevent a build-up of chronic stress. For tips around how to reduce your stress naturally, make sure you give this a read.

GET A GOOD NIGHT OF SLEEP

Did you know that even one night of sleep deprivation can induce a state of insulin resistance? If that is what one night of missed sleep can cause, you can imagine what happens when you’re skimping on sleep regularly!

Getting 7-9hrs of deep, restful sleep is one of the most important steps to support insulin sensitivity. For some simple sleep tips to get you started, give this a read.

MOVE YOUR BODY REGULARLY

Physical activity has countless benefits for your health. So it’s no surprise that research has found it can improve insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake into the cells!

Any form of movement is a good start. However, resistance training can offer even greater benefits thanks to the increase in muscle mass (which means more glucose uptake)

A word of caution – if you are under significant chronic stress or going through perimenopause, keep your high-intensity training on the low side. Otherwise, it could have the opposite effect by increasing the physical stress load on your body!

REDUCE YOUR INFLAMMATION LEVEL

Insulin resistance and inflammation feed into each other. The more insulin resistant you become, the greater your inflammation, and vice versa. So if you want to tackle one, you have to consider the other.

You can learn more about inflammation (and its partner in crime, inflammaging) and how to address it here.

USE TARGETED SUPPLEMENTATION

Supplements can‘t replace a balanced diet and exercise regime, but they can support pathways involved with insulin resistance and sensitivity. However, not all supplements are created equal!

That’s why I’ve formulated my own innovative supplement designed to support healthy ageing! Plus it helps to support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates, both of which play a critical role in insulin resistance. Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

The Vicious Cycle Of Insulin Resistance & Stress

The Vicious Cycle Of Insulin Resistance & Stress

by | Sep 13, 2022 | Weight Loss

Did you know that there’s a close link between stress and how your body responds to insulin? We know that insulin resistance is linked to weight gain, premature ageing, fatigue and more. One of the biggest underlying contributors to the development of insulin resistance is chronic stress.

How stress leads to insulin resistance

When you’re under stress, your body releases stress hormones to manage the situation.

One action that they take is to flood your bloodstream with stored sugar (glucose) so you have access to energy and can protect yourself (remember, this used to be back when stress meant a bear attack!)

Unfortunately, this leads to lower insulin sensitivity and therefore increased insulin resistance. Your cells will ignore insulin’s message to take up the sugar and utilise it.

There are also indirect ways that stress contributes to insulin resistance. For example, increased stress means that you’re more likely to experience:

  • Sweet/carb cravings

  • Increased appetite

  • Desire for comfort foods

  • Emotional eating

  • Poor sleep

  • Hormonal fluctuations

All of these can further add to a picture of insulin resistance.

How insulin resistance increases stress

Now let’s look at how the cycle continues. The big issue here is that insulin resistance causes inflammation – our biggest source of physical stress! Inflammation feeds into not only stress, but also insulin resistance itself.

Insulin resistance can also influence your sleep. Those with insulin resistance and diabetes often wake in the night when their blood sugar levels peak, leading to a broken night of sleep. Poor sleep is a form of physical stress, and the body will produce more stress hormones in response.

Then there is the psychological impact of insulin resistance and its symptoms. For example, weight gain or difficulty losing weight can be very stressful if your goal is to lose or maintain your weight. Other symptoms such as constant fatigue, brain fog and uncontrollable sweet cravings can also cause you to feel like you don’t have control of your body anymore.

So where do I start to break the cycle??

What comes first – the insulin resistance or the stress?

The truth is that it really doesn’t matter which way the cycle goes. What we want to do is make sure that we’re using methods to address both – that way, you have a better chance of stopping it.

So that means we want to:

ADDRESS YOUR STRESS

Now obviously, we can’t avoid every form of stress forever. And small, acute doses of stress can actually be good for us! But in this modern age, we’re surrounded by physical AND psychological sources of stress that can leave us depleted.

So while you can’t get rid of stress completely, you can work on including stress management techniques. Some of my favourite ways to combat stress include:

  • Moving your body

  • Mindfulness and meditation

  • Getting out into nature

  • Spending time with loved ones and furry friends

For some more science-backed ideas around how to reduce your stress naturally, make sure you give this a read.

TACKLE YOUR INSULIN RESISTANCE

To get results and relief of your symptoms sooner, it’s also important to take steps to manage your insulin resistance.

One simple step you can take starting today? Eat 3 square meals every day and minimise your snacking.

Until recently, health practitioners thought that the best way to manage glucose and insulin levels is to have small frequent meals during the day. But now research has uncovered that better glucose control in diabetic patients is achieved with 3 meals a day. The reason? When we eat frequently, insulin is continually being secreted by the pancreas and doesn’t have a chance to return to a baseline level.

Stay tuned for a full article on methods to manage insulin resistance and improve insulin sensitivity.

FIND THE BEST TWO-IN-ONE APPROACHES

Ideally, you’ll include steps that can address not only your insulin resistance, but also the underlying stress. Diet, exercise, stress management techniques and improving sleep are a few ways to do this.

You could also consider an evidence-based supplement. That’s why I created my innovative new product, Energy Glow NR.

Energy Glow NR helps to support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates, both of which play a critical role in insulin resistance. It also contains ingredients that:

  • Support a healthy stress response in the body

  • Support brain function and memory recall

  • Are traditionally used in Ayurvedic medicine to support healthy mood balance and relieve symptoms of stress

Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

How Blood Sugar Can Make Perimenopause A Nightmare

How Blood Sugar Can Make Perimenopause A Nightmare

by | Aug 30, 2022 | Perimenopause, Weight Loss

Is perimenopause taking you on a wild rollercoaster ride? There are several reasons why perimenopause is rough on some, but a big contributing factor is how your body regulates blood sugar.

Let’s look at how a common health condition, insulin resistance, can make perimenopause a nightmare for you.

What is insulin resistance (IR)?

IR occurs when you have consistently high levels of insulin. It’s a known precursor to type 2 diabetes, so you might see it referred to as pre-diabetes.

Insulin is a hormone that’s secreted by the pancreas in response to the glucose entering our blood. Its job is to allow glucose into our cells and store body fat.

In IR, your body produces plenty of insulin, but your cells don’t get the ‘message’. To try and fix the problem, your body will produce more insulin. Unfortunately, this just perpetuates the cycle by increasing the cells’ resistance to insulin.

Symptoms of insulin resistance

Some of the symptoms of insulin resistance include:

  • Weight gain or difficulty losing weight

  • Weight gain around the abdominal area

  • Sugar and carb cravings

  • Fatigue and low energy

  • Skin tags

  • Fatigue

  • Cognitive symptoms such as brain fog, memory issues and inability to focus

  • Hot flushes

  • Heavy, painful periods

  • High cholesterol or triglycerides

  • Fatty liver (NAFLD)

You might notice that there are a lot of symptoms that overlap with perimenopause. This is no coincidence – in many cases, it’s because perimenopause has led to (or at least contributed to) insulin resistance.

The effects on perimenopause

When there is too much insulin in the bloodstream, it can cause inflammation. One kind of inflammation it can cause is meta-inflammation (metabolic inflammation). This leads to the classic perimenopause symptoms of gaining weight around the belly area.

Then there’s also more sugar (glucose) in the bloodstream because cells aren’t ‘listening’ to insulin, which is a double-whammy for inflammation!

We also need to consider the relationship between insulin resistance and oestrogen. Oestrogen helps the brain to use glucose for energy and increases insulin sensitivity. So when your oestrogen levels drop off intermittently during the transition of perimenopause, you become more insulin resistant.

High stress is another common contributor to this perfect storm. During perimenopause, you’ll have a lower tolerance for stress thanks to the fluctuating hormones and drop in progesterone. Stress contributes to insulin resistance.

And if that wasn’t enough, insulin resistance can exacerbate the perimenopausal symptoms you already had! It becomes a never-ending cycle for many.

Adjusting to perimenopause

One of the biggest challenges your body and brain have during perimenopause is oestrogen fluctuations. In fact, the drop in oestrogen that occurs can lead to a drop of 25% in energy production and brain activity. As a result, you’re likely to have brain fog, forgetfulness, or just feel fatigued all the time.

It takes time to adjust to this, but if your brain re-calibrates, this is a temporary experience. The issue is that for some people, the brain doesn’t adjust and the low energy continues. It may even lead to Alzheimer’s disease, which we now know is linked to insulin resistance (it’s now known as type 3 diabetes!)

The key here is to ensure that you have metabolic flexibility – which we touched on in a previous blog. Otherwise, you might be on the path to feeling hungry, irritable, foggy and exhausted for a long time to come! Stay tuned for a future article where I’ll explore how to get insulin resistance under control.

There is no quick fix for insulin resistance!

When it comes to insulin resistance (and perimenopause) it takes time to see the results of diet and lifestyle changes. As a result, more people are looking for supplement options to help them reach their health goals quickly.

Honestly, when I looked for the type of supplement I wanted to fast-track my own well-being, my options were limited. That’s why I’ve formulated my own innovative supplement designed with healthy ageing in mind! Plus it helps to:

  • Support healthy blood glucose & metabolism of carbohydrates

  • Regulate a healthy menstrual cycle

  • Support healthy reproductive hormones

  • Support natural liver detoxification processes

Learn more about Energy Glow NR here.

Hi, I’m Susie.

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.

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Susie Garden

I help women feeling stressed, flat and older than they’d like regain their youthful energy and glow using a proven method so their natural beauty and confidence shines through.