Dealing with Diabetes
INSULIN RESISTANCE: WHAT IS IT ?
Dr. Ellen Andrews

Insulin is made inside our pancreas. A certain amount is always circulating in our blood. When we eat, we produce extra insulin to handle sugar we've made from carbohydrates, like bread, beans, etc. Extra insulin accompanies that sugar to cells where it will be used for energy. In diabetes, insulin and sugar circulate normally, but then they encounter roadblocks trying to get into cells. The cells realize that the insulin and sugar are there, but mysteriously they won't respond. Unless sugar moves into cells, our bodies run short of energy. So, with nowhere else to go, insulin and sugar have to keep circulating. Sugar levels rise, damaging our circulation. That causes all the complications of diabetes.

What is broken? The part of the cell that knows what to do about insulin and sugar. Early in diabetes, our pancreas still makes insulin, but insulin can't do what it's meant to do. Imagine that the propane truck arrives at your house, but the cap on your propane tank is jammed shut. For that delivery to proceed, the cap will have to be opened. Hauling more propane to your house doesn't solve the problem. In diabetes, when this impass develops we make more insulin. But the problem is that the cells are resisting insulin. Making more insulin doesn't solve the problem long-term. Sadly enough, eventually our pancreas wears out from trying so hard. Insulin resistance causes the inevitable failure of the pancreas in Type 2 diabetes.

It's a mystery why cells lose the ability to use insulin. Insulin resistance, it turns out, develops over a period of years. We don't notice because there's nothing to see or feel. It doesn't show up on routine blood tests. We can make educated guesses about who has insulin resistance. Even young healthy people might have it if their parents are diabetic. Plus, all of us who are gaining weight are in danger of developing insulin resistance. Another scary fact: chubby kids already have insulin resistance and are developing high cholesterol and high blood pressure, even before their teen years.

So we don't know what causes the faulty mechanism in cells which causes insulin resistance. Some of us inherit this, but we can bring it on ourselves by getting fat and by being inactive physically. What helps? Avoiding fast food and greasy fried foods, drinking fewer soft drinks, and eating smaller portions. More fresh fruit and fresh vegetables, more whole-grain products, and less food overall helps too. And moving around a lot more, being physically fit, and staying thin. In the lucky ones, staying thin and being active might postpone and even prevent diabetes. Ask any diabetic person you know whether it's worth trying to postpone or prevent diabetes. The answer will be a wholehearted "Yes, whatever it takes. Do it now!"

Even if you're already diabetic, you can help yourself by making these same changes, too.

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