Lower Your Insulin Level: Lifestyle
Over the last several posts, we have helped you understand that high blood insulin levels make you age and develop chronic disease faster. We have explained the factors that raise insulin levels and how it is a vicious cycle. We have also pointed to the molecular biology that explains how high insulin levels make us age and become ill more rapidly. The master genetic metabolic switches mTOR and AMPK are central to this process. Eating and high insulin switch on mTOR and switch off AMPK.
The science here is worked out in considerable detail. You can understand what you must do and why you need to do it. The pattern and amount of your eating and drinking make a difference. Reducing carbs and sugar in your food reduces your need for insulin and the insulin level in your blood. Reducing caloric intake makes you healthier and prolongs your life by inhibiting mTOR and activating AMPK. Intermittent fasting does the same thing.
The type of food you eat also matters. Food that combines fat, salt, sugar, and processed carbs is so pleasurable that some of use can never get enough. We will eat it when we are not hungry and the more we eat, the more we want. That fast and processed food makes your waist bigger and your insulin level higher. Eat real, whole food. Lean meat, eggs, dairy products, fruits, vegetables, beans, peas, and nuts.
When you do eat carbs, get the highest fiber product you can. There are pasta products with 7 grams of fiber per serving. There is a tortilla with 15 grams of fiber. When you eat this way, insulin levels remain low and limiting your calorie intake to a 6-hour window is easy. You will eat plenty of good food and you won’t be hungry all the time. Most people lose a couple of pounds a month.
When it comes to exercise, the story is much the same. Exercise lowers your insulin level by reducing insulin resistance. Exercise switches off mTOR and switches on AMPK. Every step you take and every move that you make makes a difference. I do some exercise daily. I alternate walking and a routine using hand weights and squats.
Best practice diet and exercise measures reduce insulin levels while switching off mTOR and activating AMPK. That helps you age more slowly and develop chronic illness later. The more you do it, the more it becomes part of you. It becomes easier, and you don’t have to be perfect. You can enjoy the wedding, eat what everyone else is eating, and relax with your family. Just get back with the program on the following day. Your health is everything. Take care of it!