Insulin resistance is a chronic illness in which your body responds poorly to insulin, a hormone produced by the pancreas necessary for blood sugar regulation
While it may seem impossible to overcome insulin resistance entirely, there are ways to make the body’s cells more receptive to insulin. Here are the things you can do to treat insulin resistance.
How to Treat Insulin Resistance?
Since not all factors, like genetics and age, that contribute to insulin resistance have a specific treatment, changing your lifestyle is the primary step to address insulin resistance. These lifestyle adjustments include:
Eating a nutritious diet. Your healthcare professional or nutritionist may advise you to limit your carbohydrate intake (which stimulates extra insulin production) , and cut down on unhealthy fat, sugar, red meat, and processed starches. Instead, they will most likely recommend eating more vegetables, fruits, whole grains, fish, and lean chicken.
Physical exercise. Moderate-intensity physical activity helps boost glucose utilization and enhance muscle insulin sensitivity. A single moderate-intensity workout can improve glucose uptake by at least 40%. Additionally, vigorous aerobic exercise lowers insulin resistance in cells. Start any new workout routine gradually, with 30-45 minutes daily.
Losing excess weight. Your doctor may advise you to try losing extra weight to minimize insulin resistance. According to a study, losing 7% of your excess fat can reduce the onset of Type 2 diabetes by 58%.
These lifestyle changes can have the following long-term effects:
- Boost insulin sensitivity (reduce insulin resistance).
- Reduce the amount of glucose in your blood.
- Reduce your blood pressure.
- Reduce LDL “bad” cholesterol and triglyceride levels.
- Increase your HDL “good” cholesterol levels.
You may consult additional healthcare specialists, such as a nutritionist and endocrinologist, to develop a treatment plan that works best for you.
No medications are specifically approved to treat insulin resistance. While there are presently no drugs that explicitly address it, your healthcare practitioner may prescribe medications to treat other diseases associated with insulin resistance. Examples of such treatments are the following:
- Blood pressure medication.
- Metformin for diabetes.
- Statins to lower LDL cholesterol.