Insulin and Weight Loss or Weight Gain?

The Pancreas and Insulin Weight Loss

Sugar
When we eat our bodies break food down into materials that our bodies need to function. One of those resources is sugar in a form called glucose. Our cells use glucose for energy and our brains especially jog on glucose. To get the glucose into the cells, it travels into the bloodstream and triggers the pancreas to turn out insulin. Insulin lets the sugar go beyond the blood into the cells. When sugar is changed to energy, it's either used or stored until we need it.

Blood sugar level
Blood sugar levels rise once we have eaten. In most cases it takes about two hours for it to return to normal. Blood sugar levels are measured in milliliters per deciliter of blood. So the normal range for blood sugar in the person without diabetes usually falls between approximately 70 and 110 milliliters per deciliter or ml/dl.

Diabetes
A person is diagnosed with diabetes when their pancreas either doesn't produce any insulin at all or the insulin they do produce is ineffective.
Type 1 Diabetes: Type 1 diabetes occurs when the pancreas is attacked by the immune system. The insulin producing cells, also known as beta cells, are permanently destroyed. The pancreas no longer produces insulin.
Type 2 diabetes is different than Type 1. The pancreas still makes insulin, but the body develops resistance to insulin, so the cells don't respond to it, and they are unable to take up the sugar that is in the blood.
(See article: Type 1 Diabetes Causes - Myths and Facts By Dr John Anne)

Obesity
Obesity is the number one risk factor for developing Type 2 diabetes because fat cells do not absorb insulin as well as muscle cells do. Some scientists feel that because the pancreas has to work harder to pump increased levels of insulin into the blood to compensate for resistance, that the pancreas eventually wears itself out and can no longer keep up with the demand.
(See article Warning signs Diabetes)

Insulin and Weight
Insulin has two critical roles in the body that we cannot live without, yet it can be the root of many health problems, including diabetes. Insulin carries sugar (glucose), fat and protein into your cells where they are used for energy and the repair of your cells. When you eat, a certain amount of the food will be converted into glucose and enter the bloodstream. As the sugar levels rise, the body senses it and the pancreas secretes insulin to lower the sugar.


If you eat too much of any food, especially carbohydrates (starch and sugar) the levels of glucose in the blood rise to very high levels. In turn this triggers a large release of insulin from the pancreas. Your cells will take what they need and then insulin will begin the process of converting the excess glucose, fat and protein into fat and then put it all away in your fat cells. By combining foods the right way for your body, you will maintain optimum levels of insulin throughout the day. The best way to control insulin and fight sugar cravings is to eat protein snacks when you are hungry or when you have severe "sweet" cravings. Also, try to limit yourself to three carbohydrate-containing meals per day and try to eat vegetables with most meals and snacks.

There are three basic units the body uses for energy:


1. Fats
2. Proteins
3. Carbohydrates

All three are transformed to blood glucose. However, while fats and proteins are converted slowly, carbohydrates are converted swiftly causing speedy spikes in the body's blood sugar levels. These spikes in blood sugar levels cause the pancreas in healthy individuals to create and release insulin until blood sugar level returns to normal. Meanwhile, insulin lowers our blood's glucose levels as it is released into the blood.  It is a very efficient hormone running the body's fuel storage systems. If there is excess sugar or fat in the blood, insulin will signal the body to store it in the body's fat cells. Insulin also tells these cells not to release their stored fat, making that fat unavailable for use by the body as energy.  Since this stored fat cannot be released for use as energy, insulin very successfully prevents weight loss. The higher the body's insulin levels, the more effectively it prevents fat cells from releasing their stores, and the harder it becomes to lose weight.

Insulin Deficiency

Now, consider a diabetic with a pancreas that does not or cannot keep up with the need for insulin.  The lack of insulin allows the fat cells to release their energy and the sugars have no counterbalance and thus build up in the blood, which causes a multitude of possible long term endocrine problems. When the sugar levels are more than the body can use they spill over through the kidneys and out the urine.  The body still feels hungry but is not getting the energy from the food. Therefore, many diabetics are obese but as sugar levels rise and stay, they may actually experience weight loss and cannot get enough to eat.  Then, through therapy, they start getting their sugar levels back under control and may have trouble losing weight (especially if they are on insulin therapy for their disease). Insulin levels that are too high or too low can cause weight gains and/or losses and can cause serious health problems like the ones listed above: