6 Unsuspecting Ways Insulin Is Negatively Impacting Your Health

February 2, 2018

Insulin is a major hormone whose job is to carry sugar from the foods we eat, to our cells, where it’s used for energy.

The management of insulin within the body is critical for maintaining a healthy metabolism, preventing disease and more.

When insulin goes unchecked, there are very common symptoms that arise.

Here are 6 you probably aren’t attributing to insulin:

1. WEIGHT GAIN. Insulin is a fat-storage hormone. When your cells no longer need sugar, insulin is responsible for sending the extra sugar to your fat cells to be stored, resulting in weight gain and making it more difficult to lose weight.

2. INFLAMMATION. Insulin promotes inflammation which actually drives the process known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance is your body’s inability to use insulin. Inflammation drives joint pain, high risks for cardiovascular disease, swelling and of course, weight gain.

3. EXCESS TESTOSTERONE. In women, high levels of insulin drive the body to make more testosterone. Many women experience this as polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), hair loss, facial hair and belly fat.

4. POOR DETOXIFICATION. Too much insulin prevents the liver from properly detoxifying while you sleep. The body’s trash is recirculated in the blood and gets stored in fat cells.

5. HIGH CHOLESTEROL. Insulin tells your body to make more cholesterol, driving up the amount of cholesterol circulating in the blood. When your cholesterol levels are high, your doctor is likely to put you on medication.

When you look at this scenario from a functional nutrition perspective, we know the treatment lies in managing insulin, not cholesterol.

6. HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE. Insulin leads to retaining sodium in the body, causing your blood pressure to become elevated. Here again, elevated blood pressure will likely have you put on medication.

And here again, it’s not about addressing blood pressure, it’s about managing insulin.

Fortunately we can control the way insulin functions in our body through diet and lifestyle. Once you learn how to manage insulin properly, you are able to reverse or prevent diabetes and other chronic disease.

I appreciate the way operating *functionally* allows me to see the body as a whole and focus my clients time, money and energy on addressing the root cause. We’re able to end the cycle of trial and error and achieve real, lasting results.

I encourage you to work with a trained Functional Nutritionist who understands your unique needs and can help you develop an action plan to restore your health and vitality!