It’s 2 PM. Even though you just finished lunch an hour ago, you already feel drowsy. You thought that your hearty bowl of pasta would have revived your energy but all you want to do is go get something sweet from your pantry. You also tend to snap at anyone who tries to ask you the most harmless questions. Sounds familiar? You may be on the path to insulin resistance.
Insulin resistance has recently become more of a hot topic. It can be linked to diabetes and blood sugar, but insulin resistance can brew over time long before you see issues in your blood sugar. Read on to learn more about why insulin matters in your body.
What is insulin resistance?
How exactly does energy get from your food to your body? Let’s say you just ate a banana. Your digestive system breaks down that banana into its simplest form: glucose. Glucose can now move through your body in hopes of getting into your cells. When your pancreas senses the glucose in your bloodstream, it releases insulin, which acts as the key to unlock your cell’s protective doors and let glucose into them. Once glucose enters the cell, it gets used as energy to help your body function.
The amount of insulin that is released by the pancreas depends on how much glucose is in your blood. If your blood sugar is constantly high, your body will increase the amount of insulin it produces to try to let as much of it into the cells as possible. Over time, your cells will get used to the higher amount of insulin and start ignoring any lower level. This is insulin resistance: your body becoming desensitized to a lower level of insulin. The glucose will be left in your bloodstream. Your body decides to convert it into long term storage as fat.
What causes insulin resistance?
If you struggle with insulin resistance, you might be wondering, “How did I get here?” There are many factors that play a part in insulin resistance. Some were predetermined before you were born by your genetics, and some are under your control based on the choices you make.
Certain populations are more likely to become insulin resistant based on their ancestral heritage. Studies have shown higher rates of insulin resistance in South Asians and Aboriginals (1), which could be related to South Asians having higher amounts of fat around their abdomen and less amounts of muscle mass (2).
Your stage of life can also affect your likelihood of developing insulin resistance, especially for women. This is because of estrogen. Before menopause, your estrogen levels are higher and serve as protection to your body. Estrogen distributes fat more evenly, which increases insulin sensitivity. It also makes your cells more active when they sense insulin so that they can let in more of the glucose from your meal. When you go through menopause, your estrogen levels drop and some of these protective effects diminish, making you more susceptible to insulin resistance (1). Menopause is a normal part of aging, which means that it is common to be insulin resistant in menopausal years. Trying to prevent insulin resistance with hormone replacement therapy (HRT) is not always the most sustainable solution. Although HRT can be helpful for certain conditions, it does not have the strongest evidence for diabetes prevention (3). Instead, you need to be more mindful of your body as it ages and nourish yourself to support healthy aging and longevity. For example, incorporating resistance training into your exercise regimen will help you build more muscle. That muscle uses glucose as energy, which can reduce the amount of glucose in your blood.
Insulin resistance is not just based on your background. The diet and lifestyle choices you make on a day-to-day basis highly affects your likelihood of becoming insulin resistant.
Insulin resistance is not just based on your background. The diet and lifestyle choices you make on a day-to-day basis highly affects your likelihood of becoming insulin resistant.
One of the most important causes of insulin resistance is inflammation. Inflammation is your body’s natural response to danger. In short bursts, like when you get a paper cut, it can be protective. Inflammation becomes harmful when it is slowly simmering in your body over a longer period of time. When your body is inflamed, it stores fat cells as future energy reserves. These fat cells release less of the protective chemicals and more of the inflammatory chemicals. Stress, poor sleep, and poor quality food (ex: ultra-processed junk food) are the most common culprits of inflammation (1).
How to tell if you have insulin resistance
What are the symptoms of insulin resistance in females? Here are some telltale ones:
- Hirsituism: abnormal hair growth on woman’s hair or body
- Irregular periods
- Fatigue, irritability: from blood sugar crashes and your cells not receiving enough energy
- Feel like eating soon after a meal
- Constant thirst: your blood is now more sugary and needs water to dilute it back to its normal concentration
- Acanthosis nigricans: dark, velvety skin patches on the neck, armpits, inner elbows, knuckles, and knees (4)
If you notice any of these, it is a good idea to journal when you feel the symptoms, what foods you ate that may have caused them, and if they get any better or worse over time. The solution however is NOT to cut those foods out! You can still enjoy those foods by learning how to balance them and create a more nourishing meal.
To get a more scientific perspective, our team can order fasting insulin, HbA1C, and blood glucose tests for you to do at a clinic. No one test is enough to diagnose any condition. The tests are like pieces in a puzzle: only once they are all put together can you see the full picture of what is happening in your body. Adding together your results from fasting blood sugar, HbA1C, fasting insulin, and oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) and tracking their changes over time is key to monitoring your metabolic health and any changes you wish to make. We can order all of these tests and discuss with you what the results mean to formulate a customized treatment plan.
How to combat insulin resistance
Insulin resistance is connected to many long-term diseases like cancer, diabetes, metabolic syndrome, liver disease, heart disease, and PCOS if not managed correctly (1). Insulin resistance can also cause weight gain as your fat cells continue to multiply and spread. Balancing your blood sugar levels is one of the most impactful ways to prevent the progression of insulin resistance. You want to make sure your body does not feel like it needs to work overtime and release a copious amount of insulin after every meal. Read our blog PCOS and Blood Sugar Balance (rename title), to learn about why blood sugar balance is important. PCOS and blood sugar levels are closely connected, however, the information in the blog pertains to many other conditions as well. For more practical tips on meal planning and lifestyle for blood sugar balance, check out our free eBook.
References
- Li, M., Chi, X., Wang, Y., Setrerrahmane, S., Xie, W., Xu, H. (2022). Trends in insulin resistance: insights into mechanisms and therapeutic strategy. Sig Transduct Target Ther 7, 216. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41392-022-01073-0
- Narayan, K. M. V., & Kanaya, A. M. (2020). Why are South Asians prone to type 2 diabetes? A hypothesis based on underexplored pathways. Diabetologia, 63(6), 1103–1109. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00125-020-05132-5
- Risni, H. W., Khan, A., Insani, W. N., Wei, L., & Brauer, R. (2024). Cardiovascular risk of hormone replacement therapy in menopausal women with diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of clinical trials and observational studies. Expert Opinion on Pharmacotherapy, 25(15), 2089–2105. https://doi.org/10.1080/14656566.2024.2411442
- Bitterman, D., Y Wang, J., Zafar, K., Patel, P., McGovern, J., Austin, E., & Jagdeo, J. (2025). Visual Assessment Tools and Therapeutic Implications for Acanthosis Nigricans. Journal of drugs in dermatology : JDD, 24(2), 156–161. https://doi.org/10.36849/JDD.8168
