What is Insulin Sensitivity? How to Improve it?

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Insulin is a hormone that regulates blood sugar levels. It is produced in your pancreas and aids in the transport of sugar from your blood into the cells for storage. Insulin resistance occurs when cells are unable to utilise insulin properly, resulting in elevated blood sugar levels.

When your pancreas detects high blood sugar levels, it produces more insulin to lower your blood sugar. When this happens for a prolonged time, it puts a lot of stress on the pancreas and can deplete insulin-producing cells over time, which is frequent in type 2 diabetes. In addition, sustained high blood sugar levels might harm neurons and organs.

If you have been diagnosed with prediabetes, have a family history of type 2 diabetes, or are overweight, you are more likely to develop insulin resistance. In such cases, it is important to regularly monitor blood sugar.

What is Insulin Sensitivity?

Insulin sensitivity is the degree to which your cells respond to insulin. Improving it can reduce insulin resistance and the risk of a variety of disorders, including diabetes.

Those with or at risk of type 2 diabetes may benefit from improving insulin sensitivity and decreasing insulin resistance.

Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons
Courtesy: Wikimedia Commons

How to Improve Insulin Sensitivity?

  1. Exercise More

Daily exercise is one of the most effective strategies to improve insulin sensitivity. It aids in the transport of sugar into the muscles for storing and produces an immediate rise in insulin sensitivity that lasts 2–48 hours, depending on the workout. Although both cardio and resistance training might assist raise insulin sensitivity, combining the two in your exercises appears to be the most beneficial.

  1. Get Enough Sleep

A good night’s sleep is essential for health.

A lack of sleep, on the other hand, can be hazardous and raise your risk of infections, cardiovascular disease, and type 2 diabetes.

Sleep deprivation can be harmful to your health and may promote insulin resistance. Making up for missing sleep may assist in reversing its consequences.

  1. Eat More Fibre

Fibre is classified into two types: soluble fibre and insoluble fibre. Insoluble fibre primarily functions as a bulking agent to aid in the passage of faeces through the colon.

Meanwhile, soluble fibre is accountable for many of fibre’s linked advantages, such as cholesterol reduction and hunger suppression. Soluble fibre also feeds the beneficial bacteria in your stomach, which have been associated with better insulin sensitivity.

Soluble fibre-rich foods include beans, oats, flaxseeds, vegetables like Brussels sprouts, and fruits like oranges.

  1. Cut Down Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are the primary trigger that raises insulin blood levels.

When the body turns carbohydrates into sugar and distributes it into the bloodstream, the pancreas produces insulin to move the sugar from the bloodstream into the cells.

Reducing your carbohydrate consumption may aid in increasing insulin sensitivity. This is because high carb diets promote blood sugar rises, putting more strain on the pancreas to eliminate sugar from the blood.

Another strategy to improve insulin sensitivity is to spread your carbohydrate consumption equally throughout the day.

  1. Use More Herbs and Spices

Herbs and spices such as methi, turmeric, ginger, and garlic have been demonstrated to improve insulin sensitivity.

  • Seeds of fenugreek: contain a lot of soluble fibre, which helps insulin work better. Consuming them whole, as an extract, or baked into bread may help improve blood sugar monitor and insulin sensitivity.
  • Turmeric: This spice contains curcumin, an active component with high anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. It appears to improve insulin sensitivity by lowering blood levels of free fatty acids and sugar.
  • Garlic: Has been shown to promote insulin secretion and to have antioxidant effects that boost insulin sensitivity.
  1. Drink Green Tea

Improve your insulin sensitivity and general health by drinking more green tea. The antioxidants in green tea may be responsible for the high insulin sensitivity related to green tea. It was discovered that consuming green tea lowered fasting blood sugar and enhanced insulin sensitivity.

Green tea’s health benefits could be attributed to its potent antioxidant epigallocatechin gallate (EGCG), which has been shown in numerous studies to promote insulin sensitivity.

  1. Avoid Trans Fats

Artificial trans fats are something that should be avoided at all costs. They have no medical benefits and raise the risk of numerous diseases, unlike other fats.

Cakes, doughnuts, and fried fast foods are common sources of artificial trans fats. Artificial trans fats are more commonly found in processed meals.

Research shows a stronger association between manufactured trans fats and insulin sensitivity than human studies. Nonetheless, they should be avoided because they increase the risk of many other disorders.

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