The Role of Insulin in a Healthy Metabolism

One of the areas of health that is definitely impacted in a positive way by embarking on a Healthy & Active lifestyle is in the area of metabolism. Once you have determined, through blood profiling, which are the most suitable foods for your particular physical type, you begin to convert the food that you eat into energy more efficiently. Your body does not have to produce excess amounts of insulin to process all of the sugars and carbohydrates that flood into your system and overload it when you are not consuming a healthy diet.

How Insulin Works

Insulin is a hormone that plays a key role in the regulation of blood glucose levels, which is important because every cell in your body relies on insulin to transport glucose to them from the body.   If the body has sufficient energy, then insulin signals the liver to take up glucose and store it as glycogen. The liver can store up to about 5% of its mass as glycogen. However, if there is too much glycogen floating around in your system that sugar is then deposited into the bloodstream and converted to fat.

Whenever  there is a malfunction of insulin production, the person develops what is called a metabolic disorder.  Eventually this results in either Type 1 or Type 2 Diabetes.

An Example of Healthier Foods for Diabetics

In Type 1 Diabetes the body does not produce enough insulin to regulate blood glucose and the body uses other sources of energy to keep running, including ketones that are produced by the liver to compensate for the absence of glucose.  Type 1 diabetics must inject insulin to keep skyrocketing glucose in the blood that cannot be utilized by the body, from damaging their body’s systems.

In Type 2 diabetes the body is experiencing a condition called insulin resistance, meaning that it is less able to take up glucose from the blood.  In the earlier stage of this disease the body responds by producing more insulin than it would normally need to eventually putting such a strain on the pancreas that it is no longer able to reproduce any insulin at all.  This can eventually lead to a complete dependence on insulin.

Too Much Insulin Production Causes Obesity

These conditions or a predisposition towards them also have a lot of impact on how your body will store and use fat.  When the liver has used up its capacity of glycogen, insulin signals fat cells to store the sugars as fat (as triglycerides) instead.  

This is also why it is very important for you to avoid eating foods that could wear out your pancreas by forcing it to react to high levels of sugar in the blood.  One of the miraculous things about the Healthy and Active Program is that it has been known to reverse high blood sugar in Type 2 diabetics.

For more information about the Healthy & Active Program please visit our website at www.healthy-active.com. You may also call us in Toronto at (41) 440-2217 and ask for Adrienne Wright Bulow or Dr. Michael Rahman or email us at adrienne@healthy-active.com.