The function and introduction of insulin
Insulin is secreted by the B cells of the islets of Langerhans in our pancreas, After a meal, insulin is secreted to help glucose enter the body's cells from the blood. This is also one of the most important functions of insulin. If, for any reason, we lose this function, high blood sugar can easily damage our eyes, blood vessels, nerves, immune system, etc., so insulin is very important. The second main function of insulin is to help synthesis, so some people call insulin a synthetic hormone. It can help you synthesize muscle and synthesize fat. So, the synthesis of fat is a given because insulin helps transport nutrients into muscles or fat and store them. But in fact, the synthesis of muscle has been very controversial in recent years. More and more studies have found that insulin does not help much with muscle synthesis.
Research source: https://academic.oup.com/jn/article/136/1/212S/4664119
Research source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9240936
We can say that the help of insulin in muscle building does not lie in increasing muscle synthesis but in preventing muscle breakdown and increasing the speed of nutrient transport. However, as long as you eat enough protein, there will also be enough insulin secreted to help you transport nutrients. Therefore, the old saying that “eating protein with carbohydrates is effective when building muscle” has been disproved by some studies.
Research source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/21131864
That being said, I have not tried not eating carbohydrates to build muscle. To put it simply, in recent years, we have come to call insulin an anti-catabolic hormone, which prevents muscle breakdown while also preventing fat breakdown.
The association between insulin resistance and obesity
From this perspective, everyone should understand why insulin is closely related to obesity because it not only helps fat synthesis but also prevents our fat from breaking down. Therefore, metabolic syndromes such as obesity, the three highs (high blood pressure, high blood sugar, and high blood lipids), and diabetes are all closely related to Insulin resistance is closely related to metabolic syndrome, high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood lipids, and diabetes, and it also indirectly affects the secretion of growth hormone. If the growth hormone is low, the effect of muscle building will be affected, and fat will be more likely to accumulate in the abdominal area.
For example:
Suppose two people are in the same condition, except for the difference in insulin secretion, and they both lose fat in the same way. The person with insulin resistance will lose more muscle than fat than the normal person. This is the effect of our insulin resistance on the body. But we shouldn't hate the hormone insulin because it helps your body function normally. What we should hate is the problem of insulin resistance.
A simple explanation of insulin resistance
The cell's poor response to normal concentrations of insulin is what you often hear referred to as a decrease in insulin sensitivity
There are many causes, including
- chronic high insulin secretion
- sedentary lifestyle
- chronic stress
- excessive obesity, especially excessive fat storage in the liver
- chronic inflammation
How to use diet to solve insulin resistance
To solve insulin resistance, we must first understand what can increase and decrease insulin secretion. This includes blood glucose, volatile fatty acids, the nervous system, and gastrointestinal hormones, which can also affect insulin secretion.
What can increase insulin secretion include:
• Blood glucose after a meal
• Free fatty acids
• Amino acid elevation
• Gastrointestinal hormones, including gastrin
• Cholecystokinin
• Secretin
Other hormones include growth hormones, as well as stress hormones. Parasympathetic nerves are stimulated, and those who already have insulin resistance and obesity are prone to insulin resistance. The above are the more important things to know. As long as you eat, you will secrete some insulin; it's just a matter of how much.
Fasting and insulin resistance
I would recommend that everyone try intermittent fasting, which involves eating for a shorter period and fasting for a longer period
so that insulin is not secreted so frequently. If you want to try it, there have been many films and articles introducing it before, so I won't go into the details of how to use it. Intermittent fasting is very effective for improving insulin sensitivity, and more and more research continues to be conducted in this area because they have found that intermittent fasting is a great way to improve insulin sensitivity。
Research Source: https://www.physiology.org/doi/full/10.1152/japplphysiol.00683.2005
Choose the right types of food.
The types of food you eat are also very important. Everyone should have heard of the glycemic index (GI) value, but fewer people know about the incretin index.
The glycemic index is an index of insulin secretion. It can be found on the internet, so I won't go into detail here. The most insulin-raising are carbohydrates, followed by moderate proteins, and fats are the least insulin-raising. This is why diets that reduce carbohydrate intake, such as low-carb diets and ketogenic diets, can effectively help most people improve their insulin sensitivity.
The US Dietary Guidelines have also begun to recognize the advantages of these dietary approaches.
In short, to secrete less insulin, you should eat less carbohydrates, moderate protein, and a little more fat. You can also eat more vegetables to get enough fiber because fiber also helps improve blood sugar and insulin. It should be added that dairy products can also stimulate insulin secretion, which is a key point that many people overlook.
So, if you have problems with insulin secretion or are not losing fat, don't consume milk, yogurt, or whey protein concentrate, and see if your fat loss improves.
It was also mentioned earlier that chronic inflammation in the body can also cause insulin resistance. Many things can cause chronic inflammation in the body, but diet is still the part that requires the most attention. Eat less trans fatty acids, fried foods, pastries, processed foods, and refined carbohydrates. Also, avoid foods that you are intolerant to.
Research source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/20371664
This study had participants sleep well one night and then sleep poorly the next (4 hours) and found that after just one day, the liver showed significant insulin resistance, and the muscle and fat cells also had a decrease in insulin sensitivity. To put it in numbers, the amount of time glucose stays in the bloodstream increases by 25%. This means that Long-term poor sleep will affect insulin, and long-term high stress will also reduce insulin sensitivity. So remember to relieve stress promptly and use exercise to improve insulin resistance. Aerobic exercise and resistance training can improve insulin resistance. If your weight decreases due to training, your insulin sensitivity will also increase a lot.
But what I recommend is that everyone do more resistance training.
There are two reasons:
• Resistance training can increase muscle mass, and increased muscle mass can better control blood sugar
• After heavy training, due to the increase in PKB and liver glycogen synthesis, as well as the type IV glucose transporter (GLUT4), we can transport glucose into the muscles more quickly.
Strength Training Increases Insulin-Mediated Glucose Uptake, GLUT4 Content, and Insulin Signaling in Skeletal Muscle in Patients With Type 2 Diabetes
In short, it's a bit like the muscles competing with the fat for nutrients. This effect will probably last for about two days, so it is recommended that you exercise at least three days a week. However, if you are very busy, studies have also found that exercising two days a week can somewhat effectively improve insulin problems.
Source: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16826016
What can you do after understanding insulin?
After understanding insulin, I would highly recommend controlling diet and exercise. If you are prone to weight gain and not doing weight training, or if you know you have blood sugar and insulin problems and are not trying to do weight training, then don't eat too many carbohydrates to stimulate your insulin secretion. Don't stimulate it too often or too much at once. You can try intermittent fasting, a low-carb diet, or a ketogenic diet. However, if you already have a disease, please consult a doctor first. For people who are training heavily, it is okay to eat more carbohydrates. You can burn these things off, and you have enough muscle mass to keep your blood sugar stable for the rest of your life. If you want to build muscle, you can also use the carb cycling method, where you eat carbohydrates during training. This way, you can theoretically form less fat.