What is insulin resistance? Insulin Resistance is when the body has trouble getting sugar inside the cells for energy. This results in more insulin being produced which creates a vicious cycle.

What is insulin? Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in response to a rise in blood sugar. It causes the sugar in the blood to enter the cells so that energy can be produced for the cell. In addition to regulating blood sugar levels, insulin also has a growth promoting effect in the body, and encourages the storage of energy as fat. It also reduces the ability of cells to burn fat for energy.

With insulin resistance, the cells become less responsive to insulin, meaning that more sugar stays in the blood, and more insulin is secreted. These high insulin levels act like a switch, turning off fat burning, making weight loss difficult. And because the cells are not getting the energy they need from sugar because it is having trouble getting in, people can experience fatigue, mood swings, and excess hunger and cravings for sweets, or bread, pasta, and rice. However, this only makes the problem worse, as the body can’t process the carbohydrates (sugars) in these foods.

So insulin resistance and high insulin levels cause both storage of fat, and difficulty burning fat, resulting in little or no weight loss despite diet and exercise which dramatically affects our fertility and health. *

No one thing will reduce insulin resistance, it requires a combination of strategies, including a healthy low GI diet with reduced dairy (dairy stimulates insulin), adequate sleep, regular exercise, stress management, and nutritional supplementation. Natural medicines are also effective, several have been shown to be as effective, if not MORE effective than medication. There are many natural supplements that control insulin resistance, however the most effective/most common are:

Sx fraction
Inositol
Acai Berry
Reservatrol
Gymnema
Cinnamon

Insulin resistance is one of the most difficult symptoms to deal with. Its also the one that causes the most damage. Not controlling IR effectively can lead to heart disease, strokes, and a high chance of getting Type 2 Diabetes. Controlling IR is possible and should be one of your top priorities. It will reduce the health risks noted above, and also help restore your fertility.

*Information provided by Power of PCOS