Written by Dr Sandra Miranda, ND

Insulin resistance is no longer just a Western World problem but rather it is a global epidemic.  Insulin resistance is a condition when people don’t metabolize carbohydrates or sugars very well. During this phase, cells of your body start resisting or ignoring the signal that the hormone insulin is trying to send out.  This leads you to gain weight easily, crave more carbohydrates/sugars, feel more inflamed, and possibly even shaky, headachy and moody.

Medical doctors are really good at checking for diabetes.  Diabetes is diagnosed when your blood sugar levels are elevated.  However, most of the time, insulin will increase even before blood sugars are elevated.  Unfortunately, insulin levels are never checked in regular physical exams. Many patients have an insulin resistance problem and have never been diagnosed with it.  The risk increases in patients who have a family history of diabetes or who crave a lot of carbohydrates and sugar. To find out if you have insulin resistance, it is important to check for fasting glucose as well as for fasting insulin levels.

An interesting supplement that can help insulin resistance is a good quality, multi-strain probiotic.  Studies have shown that a multi-strain probiotic can significantly reduce insulin levels (by 38%), sugar levels (by 38%), cholesterol levels (by 19%), inflammatory markers (for example CRP by 53%) over a period of 6 months.

The idea is that the improvement is due to the fact that it helps to lower gut toxicity and it helps to heal a possible “leaky gut syndrome” that can usually be associated with insulin resistance.  Probiotics impact gut integrity and inflammation. Remember if you have a healthy gut then you have better chances of a healthy body and metabolism.

The probiotic that we recommend at the clinic is Wise XS Probiotic – it is multi-strain and each capsule gives you up to 100 billion bacteria (which is considered a good therapeutic dose).  It is also enteric coated which means that the bacteria is not lost in the acids of the stomach but goes straight to the gut (large intestine) where we need it to go.

If you think you may have insulin resistance and would like to get tested for it, call us.  We offer a 10 minute free “Meet & Greet” where we can explain how we can help you.