If you read last week's post, Let's Start at the Very Beginning, you already know that it ends like this -- "Next week: Why it's important to use less insulin."  If you haven't read it yet, you'll want to read it before you read this week's post. So read it now.

Okay then, here's why it's important to use less insulin.  The fact is, insulin is not your friend.

You need it to live, but you want to use as little as possible.  You want the levels of insulin in your bloodstream to stay as low as possible.  Like sugar.  The lower the better.  When it comes to insulin, just like blood sugar, you want your levels to remain as low as possible.  Why?

For a number of reasons.  First of all, insulin is the fat-storage hormone.  Control your insulin levels, and you control the amount of fat you deposit.

Secondly, insulin prefers to store fat in your belly.  The worst place possible.  Belly fat is called "visceral" fat.  Visceral fat is the bad stuff.  You've heard of people who are shaped like apples vs. people who are shaped like pears?  And how apples are the ones who are more at risk for developing diabetes and heart disease?  Those are the folks with high insulin levels.  

Thirdly, insulin stiffens your blood vessels and raises your blood pressure.

Fourth, insulin raises triglycerides, one of the cholesterol measurements that gets checked when your doctor sends you to the lab to check your cholesterol.  Believe me, you do not want your triglycerides to rise!  Why not?  It's a risk factor for diabetes and heart disease.  Do you see the pattern?

Fifth, insulin interferes with fertility.  Have you ever heard of "polycystic ovarian syndrome," or PCOS?  It makes it hard for women to conceive.  Doctors treat PCOS with diabetes medicine.  Does that strike you as kind of odd?  It should.
 
Lastly, insulin coats the satiety centers in your brain, so you can't tell you're full.  If you've ever had the experience of cruising the cabinets after dinner, even though you know your stomach is full, maybe it's because your insulin levels are high.  When your insulin levels are high, it's hard for your brain to tell that you're full.  So it thinks you still need food.  But you don't.  Your belly is full.  Your brain just doesn't know it.

How can you get your insulin levels down?  By eating real food, food rich in fiber, protein and healthy fats, food that you absorb more slowly.  And by avoiding manufactured calories, refined carbohydrates, and other edible inventions that we absorb very quickly.

What can you expect as your insulin levels begin to drop?  It takes about three days for your body to notice that you don't need as much insulin as you used to.  When that happens, you notice that you aren't quite as hungry as you were before.  In no more than two weeks you'll notice that your pants are starting to fit better.

Just one more thing:  It turns out that insulin works worst when you wake up in the morning.  Not just yours.  Everybody's.  But what's the typical American breakfast?  Toast, bagels, waffles, muffins, cereal, biscuits, bread, pancakes, and so on.  All refined carbohydrates.  

So if you're looking for just one thing to change, one thing that will give you the biggest bang for your buck, one thing that will make the biggest difference, then change your breakfast.  Skip the white flour, and eat a spoonful of peanut butter, or finish the leftover tuna fish in the refrigerator.  Maybe scrambled eggs, or hard boiled.  You could try a cup of refried beans, and melt some cheese on top if you want.  You could just eat a slice of cheese, with or without an apple.  Jarlsberg (a kind of Swiss) is a favorite in my house.  There are lots of great cheeses at the supermarket.  Just don't buy one that's called "processed American cheese food."  If someone has to tell you that something is food, it probably isn't.
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