Are you snacking your way to insulin resistance?

For midlife women, one of the key pillars of staying in shape is to maintain normal insulin levels because insulin can control whether a calorie makes you fat. By midlife your insulin response may well have become a bit more sluggish (so called insulin resistance), and lower levels of oestrogen can impact appetite control, making the management of insulin all the more important.

Insulin is a hormone in charge of how you derive energy from the foods you eat. Your body runs on glucose, and insulin is the hidden controller. When working properly, insulin takes the glucose from the carbohydrates you consume and stores it in the cells of the liver and muscles as glycogen—a storage form of glucose that can be broken down readily when you need fuel. But, the challenge is that you can only store a small amount of glycogen at any given time. Think of it like a store cupboard stacked with fuel cans. Some of it has to be used before there’s space for more.

So, when you snack too often, or eat too many refined carbs that turn quickly into glucose, there may not be room left in your store cupboard for the new ‘cans’ of glucose.

This is when insulin has to branch out. Instead of using the glycogen store cupboard, it is forced into storing the fat in your middle, your liver and other organs. In other words, the weight is stuck there not just because of what you eat, but also because of your eating patterns - the timing, the snacking, and the not burning off before you add more.

It’s why at Honest Weight Loss we focus on resetting your insulin. However, it’s not about going on an extreme low-carb diet. A calorie of carbohydrate is only potentially more fattening than a calorie of protein or fat because of the effect on insulin. Carbs, especially refined carbs, spike insulin faster, and trigger the need for faster storage. We balance out the need for sustainable ways of eating: lowish carb with balanced protein and fats - along with well-evidenced ways that support healthier insulin levels and metabolic health, namely, targeted exercises that take only a few minutes each day alongside strategies for the timing of eating.

So, what if you really are hungry, and need to snack? It’s simple really. If you need to snack, do it when you have a change to burn it off. In one study, night time snacking increased total and LDL (bad( cholesterol and reduced fat oxidation (fat burning), suggesting that eating at night changes fat metabolism and increases the risk of weight gain and obesity. Snacking on the sofa whilst watching late night Netflix just has to go.