Is Your Waist Circumference a True Measure of Your Health?
Are you insulin resistant? Are the cells in your body resisting the blood glucose they need for energy, forcing your pancreas to make more and more insulin? If so, how will you find out? There are a lot of tests you can take, with a visit to your doctor's office.
But one of the simplest is to pull out a tape measure and measure your waist circumference.
If your waist is over 35 inches, male or female, short or tall, you may well be insulin resistant.
Why? Because people who are insulin resistant tend to gain weight in their middles.
This is for two reasons: one is visceral belly fat, the fat that collects around the internal organs.
This is the most dangerous kind of body fat we can have, and is connected with heart attack and stroke.
It is also connected with insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is implicated in heart attack and stroke.
People who are insulin resistant also tend to have bloating due to candida albicans (yeast) overgrowth, which causes bloating and belly pain.
This also contributes to the larger waist circumference.
Picking up a tape measure sounds a little simplistic.
And it seems impossible that one measurement could fit all.
(There are a few exceptions to the 35 inch rule, but those would be extremely tall or muscular individuals.
If you fit in that category, you know who you are!) Generally speaking, that measurement covers all of us.
So what can you do if you realize that your measurement puts you over the line? Review the symptoms of insulin resistance, and see how many apply to you:
And take charge of your diet and exercise program to make yourself the fitter, more insulin-sensitive person you know you need to be.
After all, if you continue to eat more calories than you can burn off, your pancreas will probably eventually not be able to put out enough insulin to force the blood glucose into your cells.
At that point, when the pancreas can no longer keep up, and you have too much blood glucose, you will be diabetic.
Even if you manage to maintain your current state of insulin resistance, you may be in line for heart attack or stroke.
Learn the symptoms, take charge of your health, and make positive lifestyle changes now.
But one of the simplest is to pull out a tape measure and measure your waist circumference.
If your waist is over 35 inches, male or female, short or tall, you may well be insulin resistant.
Why? Because people who are insulin resistant tend to gain weight in their middles.
This is for two reasons: one is visceral belly fat, the fat that collects around the internal organs.
This is the most dangerous kind of body fat we can have, and is connected with heart attack and stroke.
It is also connected with insulin resistance, and insulin resistance is implicated in heart attack and stroke.
People who are insulin resistant also tend to have bloating due to candida albicans (yeast) overgrowth, which causes bloating and belly pain.
This also contributes to the larger waist circumference.
Picking up a tape measure sounds a little simplistic.
And it seems impossible that one measurement could fit all.
(There are a few exceptions to the 35 inch rule, but those would be extremely tall or muscular individuals.
If you fit in that category, you know who you are!) Generally speaking, that measurement covers all of us.
So what can you do if you realize that your measurement puts you over the line? Review the symptoms of insulin resistance, and see how many apply to you:
- High triglycerides (this requires a blood test)
- Impaired glucose tolerance (This requires drinking a doctor-supplied glucose beverage, then measuring your blood glucose over a period of time)
- Low HDL ("good" cholesterol)
- High LDL ("bad" cholesterol)
- Increase clotting, and difficulty breaking up clots
- Elevated blood pressure
- Obesity
- Sedentary lifestyle
- Cigarette smoking
- High insulin levels (hyperinsulinemia)
- Exaggerated postprandial lipemia (too much fat in your blood after eating a meal)
And take charge of your diet and exercise program to make yourself the fitter, more insulin-sensitive person you know you need to be.
After all, if you continue to eat more calories than you can burn off, your pancreas will probably eventually not be able to put out enough insulin to force the blood glucose into your cells.
At that point, when the pancreas can no longer keep up, and you have too much blood glucose, you will be diabetic.
Even if you manage to maintain your current state of insulin resistance, you may be in line for heart attack or stroke.
Learn the symptoms, take charge of your health, and make positive lifestyle changes now.
