Food that improves insulin sensitivity.

You can effectively improve your insulin sensitivity just by avoiding some few things.

Last week I covered how saturated fat from animal sources may decrease insulin sensitivity.

We need fat. What will happen if we instead ate mono and polyunsaturated fat? That’s the type of fat we get from nuts, seeds and avocados.

Here is an example.

When study participants ate 25 g of pistachio nuts twice a day for 12 weeks, their blood glucose levels decreased, their hemoglobin A1c (a measurement of long term glucose control) decreased and even their systolic blood pressure decreased(Parham M, et al. 2014).

Not all carbohydrates are the same and will produce the same results.

You need to stay away from the high glycemic index carbohydrates. That’s the ones that will elevate your blood glucose to a high level. They require a lot of insulin to metabolize. Insulin moves the blood glucose from the blood into the cells where you can use it for energy.

Exposing your cells to high levels of insulin and glucose regularly, will with time make them less sensitive to insulin. Drinking 2 sugar sweetened beverages per day for 6 months induced features of the metabolic syndrome and fatty liver(Bray GA, Popkin BM, 2013). The metabolic syndrome is a condition which includes insulin resistance, elevated cholesterol and elevated blood pressure.

If you drink soft drinks, fruit juice or any other form of sweet beverage, do an experiment.

Stop drinking it and watch what happens.

Next week I will explain what kind of carbohydrates you can use to improve your insulin sensitivity.