Do You Gain Weight Faster Than Your Friends

Do you gain weight faster than your friends ?

Even though you eat the same foods and the same calories , there is a metabolic reason and it's one you can fix .

I explain how in this video .

Hi , I'm Doctor Becky from Doctor Becky fitness dot com .

I'm a college instructor of the science of nutrition .

You know , we live in very complex biological machines and the rate at which you gain or lose weight is dependent on many factors .

But there is one hormone that really reigns king in this area and that hormone is insulin .

How well your cells respond to insulin determines what is going to happen to the food you eat ?

Will it get burned up as energy or will it get stored as fat ?

Now , one of the things insulin does for you is that it keeps your blood sugar from going too high and it does this by moving sugar out of your blood and into your cells .

When your cells are sensitive to insulin , they take the glucose that insulin delivers and they say , you know , thank you very much .

This will come in very handy .

I can burn this for energy .

But cells can become resistant to insulin .

So essentially insulin heads over to your cells , it knocks on the door , but the cell ignores the knock .

As a result of this insulin resistance sugar builds up in your blood .

And this rise in blood sugar causes more insulin to pour into your bloodstream .

And now you have a problem .

This is an inflammatory state that needs to be corrected .

And so through a series of metabolic processes , the extra sugar is converted to fat and put into storage .

So if you gain weight very easily , more easily than your friends , it could be that you are insulin resistant when your friend is insulin sensitive .

So you go out together , order a pizza , you eat half , your friend eats half , same food , same calories , you gain weight , your friend stays slim .

Why ?

Well , that pizza went inside of both of you .

It got broken down into sugar .

Insulin rushed into your bloodstreams to get that sugar moved out to your cells , right ?

So everything is the same up to this point .

But your friend's cells are sensitive to insulin .

So they opened up , took in that sugar and used it for energy .

Your cells resisted insulin .

So they refuse the sugar .

It builds up in your blood and with nowhere else to go , it gets converted to fat .

Now , unfortunately , there's no home testing kit that you can buy to determine if you're insulin sensitive or resistant .

Um , you can get somewhat of an idea of how efficiently your body clears sugar out of your blood by purchasing a cheap home blood glucose monitor and taking a look at things like your fasting blood glucose level in the morning or how long it takes for your blood sugar to return to normal .

After eating a meal .

You can also gather some clues based on how your body responds if you put on weight very easily or you have a hard time getting it off .

Well , then insulin resistance is a likely suspect .

So there is good news , you are not doomed if this is you , there are a number of ways to improve insulin sensitivity .

There's actually quite a bit of research in this area .

And so I did a search on Google scholar for articles related to improvements in insulin sensitivity .

There , here coming up are the main dietary and lifestyle changes that you can implement today to improve insulin sensitivity .

First of all , the type of carbohydrates you eat matters .

Carbs are the foods that spike your blood sugar .

But the thing with carbs is that they run the gamut .

So we have broccoli at one end and we have double stuffed Oreos at the other .

Um , all of the foods in between of those are , are carbohydrate foods .

But the ones down here at this end at the broccoli and vegetable end help increase insulin sensitivity .

While the ones down at the cookies , cakes and candies and actually cause insulin resistance .

Insulin resistance is the result of an assault on your cells .

When you eat a whole bunch of quick digesting carbs and drink sugary sodas all day , your blood sugar never drops .

So in insulin is constantly pounding down the doors of your cells and it's , it's just like the telemarketer calls .

You know , after a while , you just stop answering the phone .

Well , your cells do the same thing .

You need to give your cells a break by eating slow digesting carbs .

Specifically , the research supports that high fiber , carbohydrates and carbs rich in resistant starch , improve insulin resistance , resistant starch is a substance that is not easily digested .

Uh , beans are some of the best resistant starch foods .

And um , a salad is one of your best meal choices for high fiber .

You know , I often talk about my 0123 strategy , which is four daily habits that give your body no choice but to lose weight .

The one stands for one large salad each day .

So if you put a half cup of black beans on that salad , you just created a great meal to start improving your insulin sensitivity .

Now , at the same time that you're boosting your intake of these slow digesting carbs , you need to eliminate sugary drinks and refined carbs .

Um These are what we often think of as our white foods , white bread , pasta , white flour that we might use to make baked goods .

These foods quickly digest which spikes your blood sugar and insulin .

And if you're insulin resistant , really , these foods are doing nothing more than feeding your fat cells .

Now , another point to keep in mind is that the amount of carbs matter when it comes to improving insulin sensitivity , we learned earlier that the constant barrage of insulin leads to insulin resistance within your cells .

So by limiting your overall carb intake , you prevent blood sugar and insulin levels from climbing .

And as a result , you give your cells a break .

Now , the next thing let's talk about is let's talk about fats because they are a nutrient that I often discuss on my channel here , high fat diets .

Um I will say that they seem to be lagging in the research , meaning that there were not a lot of conclusive studies on the impact of a high fat diet on insulin sensitivity .

I did see some recommendations to avoid saturated fats and focus your choices on polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats because these seem to have a positive influence on your insulin sensitivity .

Now , these types of fats , they would include your omega threes , your olive oils , um fats you get from whole foods like avocados , nuts and seeds .

So here again , toss those ingredients on your daily salad and you're going to do a lot to help your cells regain their sensitivity .

Now , as a side note , I want to mention intermittent fasting , I found conflicting research studies on the impact of insulin sensitivity from this type of a diet strategy .

Some studies said it was beneficial and some disagreed with that fact .

Now , I will say from a logical standpoint , um let me add my two cents here and speculate that because intermittent fasting involves periods where no food is entering your body .

It would stand to reason that this practice would keep insulin levels low and therefore improve insulin sensitivity .

But here again , this is some part of research that we will have to kind of wait for the studies to develop .

Lastly and somewhat interestingly , the act of losing weight itself and exercising seemed to create somewhat of a snowball effect on insulin sensitivity .

Meaning the more you lose weight and exercise , the better your cells get at responding to insulin .

So you get this kind of upward spiral effect as you do the right thing for your body .

So there you go .

There are some ways that you can change the course you're on with your weight .

You can regain some insulin sensitivity and you become a better fat burner when it comes right down to it .

It's really about giving yourselves a rest , eat foods that don't spike your insulin and your cells will sensitize it certainly will not happen overnight .

But if you stay strict with a high quality low carb diet , you'll find that after a while you'll be able to go out for the occasional treat without worrying about the weight gain consequences .

If you're looking for a low carb diet to follow that includes resistant starches and it has healthy fats .

You can check out my diet plan .

And if you found this video helpful , then please subscribe to my youtube channel here and I will be back next week with some more information .

Thanks .