Many people begin following the keto diet plan when they receive a diagnosis of insulin resistance. Any kind of diagnosis can be overwhelming, but insulin resistance can be a bit tricky because there can be a few reasons why your body isn’t using insulin correctly. For some people with insulin resistance, the body doesn’t process glucose properly because there isn’t enough insulin, so the glucose remains in your blood rather than going into your cells to work. When the glucose remains in your blood, you get a high blood sugar reading. For other people with insulin resistance, the body makes too much insulin. Either way, insulin resistance can make it harder for you to lose weight and may result in higher than optimal A1C levels.
Your doctor may prescribe medication for your insulin resistance. While medications will help your body produce the right amount of insulin, there are other ways that you can support your body as you work towards healing. I’ve outlined a few of those here.
Exercise
Movement is one of the best ways to minimize the effects of insulin resistance. Working out for as little as thirty minutes a day, five days a week, can help your body work more efficiently. It also helps reduce your risk of heart disease (insulin resistance puts you at higher risk). If you’re not currently doing any physical activity, you will want to work up to thirty minutes. If you’re already doing at least thirty minutes of physical activity for five days a week, you may need to add some weight training or something with a higher intensity.
Quit Smoking
The ways that smoking can impact your health are just staggering. Not only does it do the expected damage to your lungs, but it can also affect your circulation, your bones, and your brain. Smoking can make your blood thicker, putting you at a higher risk of clots. Thicker blood doesn’t work as effectively, meaning that it may not be moving the glucose or insulin in your body to where they need to go. Quitting smoking is an essential step toward healing your body from insulin resistance.
Manage Your Stress Levels
This one is difficult for many people. In today’s rush-rush society, it seems like there’s always stress. Work, family, traffic, even our television shows manage to stress us out sometimes! However, feeling stress on a regular basis isn’t good for us. If you find that your life is stressful, manage self-care to help mitigate it. Yoga, a good hard run, retail therapy, or a girls’ night out may help. If these ideas aren’t helping, it may be time to check in with a therapist to see if behavioral therapy or medication may help alleviate some of your stress.
Embrace the Keto Diet Plan
While losing weight is one of the more effective ways to help mitigate insulin resistance, studies have found that the ketogenic diet is especially helpful. Limiting carbs is one of the best ways to help keep your glucose levels healthy. Plus, keto can help you lose weight. That’s another one of the keys to manage your insulin resistance. Just remember to make sure to keep your portion sizes reasonable; keto is not a license to eat bacon and butter every day!
Stick to a Schedule
Because our lives are so busy, it’s easy to get off-kilter. Developing a schedule that works for your body is vital to managing insulin resistance. It would be best if you were planning to get enough sleep each night. You’ll need to eat at regular times, and you will be more likely to follow through with exercise if you schedule it instead of planning to go whenever you can find the time. Using an online or paper planner can help you track your activity and sleep while sticking to your schedule. Structure helps you see what’s working and what’s not!
Follow Your Treatment Plan
Your doctor will likely give you a treatment plan. Making these positive changes in your life may make you feel much better, and it might be tempting to stop following your treatment plan. However, it’s crucial that you remain on your treatment plan until you can discuss everything with your doctor.
Managing insulin resistance may feel like it’s an impossible task. You may dread using medications to help your body perform optimally. However, it’s a condition that is very manageable once you make a few lifestyle changes.
Have questions about the ketogenic diet? Stop by my Facebook group so I can help answer them for you!
You got this!
Leta ~ Intentionally Bare
DISCLAIMER: The information in this blog is for educational and informational purposes only. The content in here is not intended to be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Always seek the advice of your physician or other qualified health care provider with any questions you may have regarding a medical condition. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have read or heard here.
