If you store more fat on your abdomen than on your hips, your cells are likely resistant to insulin, putting you at high risk for high blood pressure, diabetes, heart attacks, strokes, and premature death. In a recent study, researchers measured insulin resistance and compared it to several risk factors for diabetes in men and women: 1) cardiopulmonary fitness; 2) full body fat and 3) abdominal obesity (Diabetes care, March 2006). They showed that lack of fitness and being overweight are very important predictors of diabetes in men and women, and that the most important measure of insulin resistance is storing fat in the abdomen rather than the hips.
Storing fat in the abdomen causes it to store excess fat in the liver, which interferes with its function of removing insulin from the bloodstream after it has done its job of driving sugar into the cells. When your blood sugar rises after meals, your pancreas is supposed to release enough insulin to keep it from getting too high. If your cells cannot respond properly to insulin, it is called insulin resistant, your blood sugar rises too high, and your pancreas releases large amounts of insulin. When your blood sugar level gets too high, the sugar sticks to your cells. Once there, the sugar cannot get out of the cells and eventually turns into a poison called sorbitol that destroys cells and damages nerves, arteries, and other tissues throughout the body. Too much insulin works on your brain to make you eat more and on your arteries to cause heart attacks.
To understand more about insulin resistance and the diet you should follow for the rest of your life, visit my website and read the free Good Food Book (see link below)
