Antony Haynes - The Insulin Factor - Can’t Lose Weight? Can’t Concentrate? Can’t Resist Sugar? Could Syndrome X Be Your Problem?

You are insulin sensitive, and insulin levels fluctuate depending on food and drink intake, but you have normal fasting insulin and glucose levels. This does not mean you are free of symptoms, since you can put on weight if you eat too much, but this is not a dramatic or rapid process. You can also get symptoms of low blood sugar after eating a sugary meal like a big baked potato, because your insulin works well and is stimulated in large amounts by the high-sugar potato and consequently stores glucose into liver, muscle and fat cells rapidly, resulting in ‘post-prandial hypoglycaemia’. At this stage your blood test results would all be normal.

Action:Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan One

Your fasting insulin is still normal, as is your glucose. However, you can gain body fat more easily in this stage, and your fasting triglycerides (blood fats) would be elevated and the good cholesterol (HDL) low.

Action:Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan Two

Your fasting insulin is elevated, as it is after eating, the triglycerides (blood fats) are high too and the HDL is low, and, generally, you are overweight, especially around your middle.

Action:Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan Three

Your scenario is the same as for stage 3 above, except that your fasting blood glucose is a little too high.

Action:Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan Three

At this stage you would technically be diabetic because your blood glucose would be too high.

Action:Follow the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and follow doctor’s drug prescription. Supplements may be appropriate but should be recommended by a qualified nutritionist working with your doctor.

So, now you know your risk of Insulin Resistance. However, before you get going with the Insulin Factor Plan you need to take a closer look at the diet and lifestyle influences that will really make a difference to the speed at which you reverse Insulin Resistance. These are the two main areas of change that you will form part of your Insulin Factor Plan and getting to grips with them will make it much easier for you to succeed.

A high Body Mass Index (BMI) is a significant, independent risk factor for Insulin Resistance.

The six major causes of Insulin Resistance are: 1 Eating too many refined carbohydrates and over-processed foods 2 Sedentary lifestyle 3 Being overweight 4 Stress 5 Lack of nutrients 6 Genetic influence.

Age is not a specific risk factor, but an associated one for Insulin Resistance.

Insulin Resistance in younger people indicates an accelerated biological age.

There are degrees of Insulin Resistance and these help to distinguish appropriate dietary and exercise recommendations.

Digestive problems are a hidden cause of Insulin Resistance. This is mainly because as much as 70 per cent of the body’s immune system is located within the gut, and if your gut immunity is taxed the gut is flooded with cytokines – if you remember these are immune messengers – and in large quantities these blunt receptors for insulin in your body. This means insulin becomes less effective at storing glucose away so the body produces more insulin to compensate. For example, this is why, if you have a food intolerance, you can have difficulty in losing weight: your immune system is battling with a perceived threat and, in producing cytokines to fight it, interrupts the usual efficient function of insulin.

It’s not just food intolerances that cause an immune reaction in the gut: yeasts such as candida albicans, unfriendly bacteria, parasites and maldigestion trigger cytokine activity as well. Poor diet is a major culprit since not only does it not provide adequate nutrients for optimal immune function but it creates an environment within the gut that favours and feeds unwanted bugs.

The other thing that causes or exacerbates the likelihood of both gut problems is stress. Stress directly weakens immunity within the gut, thereby leading to an inability to distinguish friend from foe (i.e. overreacting to an everyday food) and prevent the colonization of unwanted bugs.

Digestive problems are extremely common as the typical Western diet is high in refined foods and we lead high-stress lifestyles.

Answer ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to the following questions. Each ‘yes’ answer is awarded a single point. Your total score will help you determine the likelihood of your digestive system contributing to Insulin Resistance.

Do you regularly (every few days) have:

1 Indigestion or heartburn?

2 Bloating after meals?

3 Nausea?

4 Excess flatulence?

5 Abdominal pain?

6 Cramps?

7 Irregular bowels?

8 Diarrhoea?

9 Constipation (less than one motion per day)?

10 Haemorrhoids (piles)?

11 Known or suspected food intolerances?

12 Antibiotics?

13 Anti-pain medications (e.g. aspirin or ibuprofen)?

14 Yeast or candida overgrowth?

15 Parasite or gut bacterial infections?

16 Food poisoning?

17 More than 14 units of alcohol per week?

Score out of 17 =

If you have any one of these regularlythen your digestive health needs attention. If you’ve scored more than 5 then it almost certainly means it is compromising your Insulin Resistance, and warrants immediate action. If you have a pattern of any of these symptoms after eating specific foods then this suggests you have a food intolerance and this could be affecting your insulin sensitivity. It would be worth your while eliminating the suspected culprit food for a trial period of four weeks to see if your symptoms improve.

To address any digestive problems start the Insulin Factor Diet Plan and the Gut Supplement Plan rather than the Insulin Resistance Supplement Plan. It may take a number of weeks to reduce your questionnaire score, and only when you have reduced the score to 4 or less, and the symptoms are less regular, should you start following any of the Insulin Resistance Supplement Plans.

70 per cent of your immune system is located in the gut.

Gut problems almost always involve the immune system.

Immune system reactivity produces cytokines.

Gut cytokines travel to the bloodstream and blunts the action of insulin.

Food intolerances play an important role in the production of cytokines in the gut.