The Link Between Love Handles And Insulin Resistance

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A common issue for women is the non-budging fat rim just above the hip, better known as love handles. Love handles appear at an increasingly young age. If you look around you, you will see utterly slim youngsters, aged only 12 or so, who are already developing love handles. In this blog, you will read why this is so and what you may do against it.
 
Increasingly, people are recognising the fact that hormones play a part in the localization of fat. I have also been able to establish this in practice, and many other trainers, food experts, therapists, and physicians with me. Their stories have been told at seminars and congresses.
 

INSULIN

 
Love handles appear to be the result of TOO MUCH INSULIN, better known as insulin resistance. Insulin resistance may develop as follows:

People who consume a lot of sugar and other carbohydrates have to produce much insulin to get their blood-sugar level back down again. In case of an unhealthy lifestyle and too high a fat percentage, insulin receptors may become desensitised. The key (hormone) will no longer fit the lock (the receptor). As a result, the blood glucose level will rise too steeply, followed by a blood-glucose dip.
 
To get rid of love handles, it is advisable to combat insulin resistance. The most important tips:
 

• Limit the consumption of sugar and carbohydrates - particularly the fast ones.These sources of carbohydrates will quickly be released into the bloodstream as glucose. The carbohydrates concerned have a high glycemic index. An exception is fructose. Fructose has a low glycemicindex but does lead to insulin resistance, because fructose is likely to cause fatty liver syndrome. The liver is an important storage organ for carbohydrates, in the form of glycogen.
  
  
• Exercise; become involved inadequate physical activity. Training will make the receptors on the muscle cells more sensitive to insulin.
  
  
• Perform relaxation exercises and limit stress
  
  
• Stress will also raise the blood glucose level in the body and insulin will be needed to reduce this level when blood glucose is no longer needed for the provision of energy. Many modern types of stress will raise the blood glucoselevel while no activity follows to use this glucose to provide energy.
  
  
• Try losing weight. The more fat is deposited around the body cells, the more difficult it will be for the glucose to enter the cells and the more insulin will be produced to attempt to achieve this. Note that sugars and other fast carbohydrates are to be minimised; however, do not banish all carbohydrates from your diet, because this may slow down your thyroid gland. Therefore, consume moderate amounts of carbohydrates and focus on those with a low glycemic index!

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