Insulin – the double edged hormone

Insulin is an anabolic hormone produced by the beta cells in your pancreas. It’s one of the hormones associated with digestion and is often vilified in discussions regarding weight management and fat loss. Is insulin a hormone bad-boy or merely misunderstood? In this short article we hope to clarify what insulin is, what it does and how it can be a friend or an enemy depending on how you manipulate it.

The role of Insulin

Insulin’s primary job is transporting nutrients into your cells. Whenever you eat carbohydrate, the carbs are converted to glucose and enter your blood stream. The rise in blood glucose levels triggers the release of insulin from your pancreas which lowers your blood glucose levels by allowing the glucose to leave your blood enter your body’s cells. Glucose is either a) shunted into your muscle cells, b) driven into your liver, c) burnt for fuel or d) converted to body fat. D only really happens if there is a significant and prolonged glucose excess – as is common in many overweight people’s diet and the Western diet in general.

In addition to driving glucose into cells, insulin also encourages the uptake of protein-derived amino acids into your muscles. This is an essential part of recovery from exercise.

As well as encouraging the uptake of nutrients into cells, insulin also interferes with the oxidation or burning of fat. This is why insulin gets a bad rap for dieter’s and low carbohydrate diets are effective for weight loss. Less dietary carbs mean lower insulin levels and therefore a better environment for fat loss is created. This doesn’t mean you have to go down the no-carb Atkins diet route of fat loss but it certainly pays to be more carb aware if fat loss is your goal.

Insulin Sensitivity

Insulin sensitivity describes just how well your cells respond to insulin and therefore how well your body can deal with carbohydrate. An increased level of body fat tends to decrease insulin sensitivity and is often termed insulin resistance. Exercise, on the other hand, increases insulin sensitivity and your cells are very receptive to the action of insulin immediately after exercise. This increased insulin sensitivity lasts for hours after your workout but most experts agree that the window of insulin sensitivity closes after around 120 to 180 minutes. Interestingly, type 2 diabetics exhibit a high degree of insulin resistance and, despite the fact that their pancreases are working fine, have a real problem metabolizing glucose. This results in hyperglycemia or dangerously elevated blood glucose levels. Insulin resistance can, at least in part, be managed by adopting a regular exercise routine. Combined with a carb-smart diet, many type 2 diabetics can effectively manage their condition by timing carb intake around exercise induced periods of increased carbohydrate sensitivity but this should be done with a doctors advice and supervision.

Taming Insulin

Rather than label insulin as a good or bad hormone, it’s better to try and use it to your best advantage. This means that carbohydrate consumption should be controlled and timed around periods of activity. This essentially means that you should eat according to what you have just done and what you are about to do. Insulin IS a highly anabolic hormone that can enhance your recovery from exercise and help you build muscle but if fat loss is your goal it can also unhinge your best weight management efforts so it makes sense to try and manipulate your insulin levels for best results. To do this, try following these guidelines…

• For breakfast, consume slow acting carbs like oatmeal or focus on protein foods such as eggs. Definitely stay away from sugary cereals and juices and their subsequent blood glucose spike.
• If you are relatively sedentary, keep your blood glucose levels stable by eating slow releasing complex carbs. This sets your body up for fat loss.
• For speedy, easy fat loss, swap carbs for protein. Even if you don’t actually alter the quantity of food you eat, keeping insulin levels low will promote fat oxidation.
• Just before exercise, consider consuming a fast acting carbohydrate to raise your blood glucose levels. This ensures that your muscles have all the fuel they need for your workout. A sports drink 15 to 30 minutes prior to exercise is ideal but a banana or similar will suffice.
• Immediately after exercise, consume fast acting carbs and protein. The carbs and protein, in combination with your increased insulin sensitivity, means that almost all nutrients consumed at this time will be shunted into your muscles which will enhance recovery.

In summary – make insulin your friend by timing its release around periods of activity which maximize your insulin sensitivity. Constantly high blood glucose levels, as seen with people who eat a steady diet of processed sugars and refined grains and combined with inactivity, lead to sustained elevated insulin levels, fat gain and an inability to oxidize fat for energy.

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