Insulin resistance is one of the biggest pieces of the diabetes puzzle. It is the cause of pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes but it can affect people with all types of diabetes including type 1. In fact, anyone and everyone can become insulin resistant whether they have diabetes or not. It doesn’t discriminate. So the real question is: How can we secrete (or administer) the least amount of insulin possible to get the job done? Here’s how…

1. Lift Weights (or Your Bodyweight)

Resistance training has a few benefits that you should know about. It improves insulin sensitivity for hours after your workout. It depletes local muscle glycogen stores to make space for incoming glucose. A glycogen-depleted muscle is like a dry sponge ready to soak up sugar. On the other hand, glycogen-replenished muscle is like a wet sponge with very little room to soak up any sugar. 
Resistance training also causes non-insulin-mediated glucose uptake (NIMGU) which is a fancy way of saying that it opens the glucose gateways to the muscle cells. This basically means that glucose can enter the muscle cells without any insulin. The combination of these mechanisms is a formula for healthy insulin and blood sugar management.

2. Gain Some Muscle and Lose Some Body Fat

Muscle tissue is the body’s largest glucose sink. In other words, it is the ideal location to store glucose as glycogen. Therefore a bigger muscle means a bigger glycogen storage capacity. It also means greater insulin receptor availability for insulin to bind to. Muscle is metabolically expensive, so gaining muscle can also help to increase your basal metabolic rate which can help you to lose body fat.

Weight loss has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity. When people with insulin resistance or type 2 diabetes lose 15% of their body weight, their insulin sensitivity and blood glucose management improve significantly. If you are overweight or normal BMI but are storing excess visceral fat (fat in and around your organs) you will benefit tremendously from a fat loss protocol (of which many interventions are in this article).

3. Sprint

High-intensity sprinting is an excellent way to chip into stored glycogen reserves. It has similar effects to lifting weights without the loading on the muscles and joints. Run up a hill or flight of stairs, get on an indoor rowing machine or hop on a spin bike – just move really fast!

Try a 30-second all-out effort followed by a minute or two rest. Repeat 5-6 times.

4. Train Full Body Circuits

Muscle glycogen is essentially locked inside a muscle cell until it is released by contracting that specific muscle. Bicep curls deplete bicep glycogen stores. Shoulder pressing depletes deltoid glycogen. By training full body circuits you can burn stored glycogen from all of the muscles of the body hence creating a larger area of ‘dry sponge’ to soak up excess sugar. It also increases insulin sensitivity at many sites across the body and opens more glucose ‘gateways’.

5. Walk

Walking is one of the most primal movements that humans can do. It’s little wonder that the body responds well to this activity. Walking after (and/or before) meals can help you control your post-meal sugar spike.

10-15 minutes should do the job.

6. Manage Stress

Stress stimulates the action of a group of hormones called glucocorticoids. Cortisol gets most of the mainstream attention as the stress hormone, but in reality, there are many. Their role is to release sugar from liver stores into the bloodstream whilst simultaneously inhibiting the uptake of sugar elsewhere. The mechanism is called: cortisol-induced insulin resistance. Stress, whether it’s physical, emotional, psychological or metabolic, causes the liver to turn on its ‘glucose tap’. It basically releases glucose into the bloodstream whilst simultaneously causing liver, muscle and fat tissue to become insulin resistant. Managing your stress levels is a simple way to counter the state of insulin resistance.

Walk in nature, listen to music, play an instrument, meditate, practice mindfulness or go for a massage – choose your remedy.

7. Fast Intermittently

Fasting has been shown to resensitize the cells of the body to insulin. In one particular study, subjects fasted for 20 hours a day for 15 days, limiting their eating window to just 4 hours a day. The results showed a significant increase in whole-body insulin sensitivity. If we analyse this study under a primal microscope, this way of eating mimics the feast-famine train of thought. I’m certainly not recommending that you limit your eating window to 4 hours a day for the rest of your life, but by fasting for a few hours between meals or overnight, or even limiting your eating window to an 8-hour period every few days or weeks, you will likely benefit from the increased insulin sensitivity in the way of fat loss and glycemic control.

8. Drink Less Coffee

If you haven’t already read my article about the relationship between coffee and insulin, then it may come as a surprise to you that your daily coffee is making you temporarily insulin resistant. I discovered this relationship through my own personal experience as a coffee-lover and type 1 diabetic, and the research is on my side. The evidence is compelling that caffeine can cause insulin resistance even in active individuals. If you’re drinking 6 or 7 coffees a day then you’re probably not doing yourself any favours in the way of blood glucose levels. If you’re drinking a coffee as you read this, you can swallow.

I’m not recommending that you go cold turkey and give it up, but rather make sure the timing of your coffee intake is optimal. Exercise blunts some of the resultant insulin resistance caused by consuming caffeine, so perhaps consume your coffee before or after exercise.

9. Add Vinegar to Your Food

Vinegar has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity when combined with a carb-containing meal. Drink apple cider vinegar in water a couple of minutes before you eat your carbs, use olive oil and vinegar as a dressing on your salad, or even splash some white vinegar on your potato. This is not a silver bullet but it is a cheap, affordable and easy way to make a small difference.

10. Use Tumeric

Tumeric has been shown to upregulate the glucose transporters that are responsible for allowing glucose to pass from the bloodstream into the cells of the body. This basically means that it opens the same gateways that exercise does! It also tells the liver to turn off the glucose tap which prevents glucose from spilling over into the bloodstream. Its anti-inflammatory properties assist in the reduction of insulin resistance. Tumeric even promotes the stimulation of insulin secretion from pancreatic tissues as well as improvement in pancreatic cell function. I cook with it in curries, I put it in my smoothies, and I drink it in the form of a latte with ginger and coconut milk. Get creative! Again, this is not a silver bullet but it is an affordable and easy way to make a small difference.

11. Eat a Whole Food Plant-Based Diet

A whole food plant-based diet has been shown over and over again to reverse insulin resistance. Diets high in saturated fat (like a ketogenic diet) cause a build-up of ectopic lipids (fat deposits inside cells) which causes insulin to become dysfunctional, ultimately leading to insulin resistance and glucose intolerance. This can lead to hyperinsulinemia i.e chronically elevated insulin levels outside of the normal physiological range, and a build-up of glucose in the bloodstream which can become toxic at high levels. Reducing the amount of saturated fat in your diet by cutting down on animal-based products (or removing them altogether) and swapping them for unsaturated fats like avocado, olive oil, nut and seeds, can help to improve your insulin sensitivity and glucose tolerance. Studies have shown that this simple swap of saturated fat for unsaturated fat improves insulin sensitivity independent of weight loss!

12. Eat Cinnamon

The naturally-occurring compounds chromium and polyphenols which are found in cinnamon have been shown to improve many of the biomarkers associated with metabolic syndrome and diabetes. They enhance insulin sensitivity as well as open the glucose gateway, ultimately leading to better glycemic control. The effects of cinnamon on blood glucose control and insulin sensitivity are acute and easily reversed when feeding is ceased, so don’t be shy with your intake. Eat it daily.

I sprinkle cinnamon on my baked pumpkin, I add it to my chai lattes and throw it in my smoothies. Don’t hold back on the cinnamon – shoot for 1-6 grams a day! Again, this is not a silver bullet but it is an affordable and easy way to make a small difference.

13. Supplement with Omega-3 Fatty Acids

Omega-3′s have been shown to have potent anti-inflammatory properties which can prevent the cascade of inflammation from causing insulin resistance. When most people think of Omega-3 fatty acids they think of fish or fish oil supplementation but what they don’t realise is that fish oil is a sub-optimal source of omega-3 fatty acids namely EPA and DHA. Not only do fish (and their oils) contain large amounts of heavy metals which can wreak havoc on your health, but the fish oil industry is unsustainable and environmentally unfriendly. There’s a better option. You see, fish do not synthesise Omega 3 fatty acids but rather they get it from the marine microalgae that they eat, so why not go straight to the source? By doing so you can obtain all of the benefits of fish oil in a sustainable way without the risk of heavy metal toxicity. I like to take a daily algae oil supplement to get my daily dose of omega-3 fatty acids.

14. Eat Fermented Food or Take a Probiotic Supplement

The human body is made up of only 10% human cells. The other 90% is bacteria. Put simply, we are literally just a host for ‘bugs’. The right balance of bacteria is absolutely critical to our health. With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that certain strains of bacteria can actually preserve or even improve insulin sensitivity.

Eat sauerkraut, Kim chi, or supplement with a probiotic.

15. Get Some Sun

The sun isn’t merely a cancer-causing ball of fire, in fact, we can’t survive without it. One study showed that subjects with low vitamin D levels below the normal range are at a higher risk of insulin resistance and metabolic syndrome. It was even shown that Vitamin D was positively correlated with beta cell function, the site at which insulin is produced, indicating that vitamin D may have beneficial effects on insulin production in Type 1 diabetes. Vitamin D deficiency inhibits pancreatic secretion of insulin, therefore this hormone plays an important role in the endocrine functioning of the pancreas. Another study showed that by correcting low vitamin D levels through dietary supplementation, subjects were able to improve their insulin sensitivity.

Make sure to get your daily dose of direct sunlight between 10am and 2pm. Five to fifteen minutes is all it takes. Consider taking Vitamin-D supplementation if sunlight is unavailable for you, or in the winter months when sunlight is less effective in stimulating endogenous Vitamin-D production by the body.

16. Sleep

Studies have shown that a sleepless night can result in temporary insulin resistance the following day. Another study showed that restricting sleep to just 5 hours a night for 1 week significantly reduced insulin sensitivity. Chronic sleep deprivation leads to a cascade of metabolic dysfunctions which all ultimately lead to insulin resistance and potentially diabetes. Prioritise sleep quality and quantity.

Aim for 8 hours of uninterrupted sleep per night, preferably in darkness.

That’s it for today’s Daily Dose. Thanks for reading. I hope these simple lifestyle tips help you to achieve optimal insulin sensitivity, better body composition and most importantly – health and happiness!