Northerner
Admin (Retired)
- Relationship to Diabetes
- Type 1
This is an interesting read which centres on Insulin Resistance, its effects on the body, and how diet, exercise and nutritional supplements can help reduce it and restore normal levels of blood sugar control. It’s aimed at people with diabetes (Type 2), and also at those people who may have a genetic predisposition towards developing it or some of the associated symptoms of elevated blood sugar – mood swings, weight gain, lethargy etc.
The book has a series of questionnaires which aim to help you determine your level of insulin resistance and then discusses methods of lowering this resistance. One thing that did occur to me when doing the questionnaires was that you only needed very low scores for it to be concluded that you had a problem. Since I am Type 1 on relatively low doses of injected insulin, it is fairly safe to say that I do not suffer from any real degree of insulin resistance – however the scores I got on most of the questionnaires would have put me above the ‘normal’ range. It might be concluded therefore that only the healthiest of individuals would be insulin-sensitive, and they probably wouldn’t be reading the book!
The book has some good explanations of body chemistry and nutritional requirements – fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals – and how these should be combined in your diet to reduce your insulin resistance, with the helpful side-effect of losing excess weight. I’m a little sceptical about the way the book pushes supplements, providing a website address where these can be purchased – I suspect they would be cheaper on the High Street.
Worth reading if you are looking to improve your blood sugar control via diet and exercise, plus I learned quite a lot about how insulin works in the body.
The Insulin Factor (amazon link)
The book has a series of questionnaires which aim to help you determine your level of insulin resistance and then discusses methods of lowering this resistance. One thing that did occur to me when doing the questionnaires was that you only needed very low scores for it to be concluded that you had a problem. Since I am Type 1 on relatively low doses of injected insulin, it is fairly safe to say that I do not suffer from any real degree of insulin resistance – however the scores I got on most of the questionnaires would have put me above the ‘normal’ range. It might be concluded therefore that only the healthiest of individuals would be insulin-sensitive, and they probably wouldn’t be reading the book!
The book has some good explanations of body chemistry and nutritional requirements – fats, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals – and how these should be combined in your diet to reduce your insulin resistance, with the helpful side-effect of losing excess weight. I’m a little sceptical about the way the book pushes supplements, providing a website address where these can be purchased – I suspect they would be cheaper on the High Street.
Worth reading if you are looking to improve your blood sugar control via diet and exercise, plus I learned quite a lot about how insulin works in the body.
The Insulin Factor (amazon link)
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