The Insulin and Energy Connection… for both exercise output and general fatigue.
Here is the short of it… When your cells have chronic overexposure to insulin (not hard to do), energy efficiency and output go down.
Inside each cell, 4,500 mitochondria, on average, make our energy units of ATP that run out body and every function in it.
When insulin spends too much time in the cell, it turns off fat burning, allowing triglycerides to back up and rise in the blood, and promotes sugar burning which stresses the system more than fat burning. It decreases your mitochondria and cell’s ability to make and use energy.
Inside the cell, insulin stops the formation of new mitochondria, a process called mitochondrial biogenesis, and lowers the amount of energy the mitochondria you have can make.
So, when insulin overstays, it’s welcome you lose the ability to make more energy (your engine doesn’t grow), and it lowers the amount you can make with the “engines” you have, fewer “miles to the gallon.”
What’s the result over time for athletes or people working out?
Lower athletic output ability, less overall power, and decreased ability to grow stronger, faster, or build stamina.
For everyone, regardless of their fitness level, it means cellular energy can drop and promote fatigue, mental fog, irritability, and a decreased ability to heal, detoxify, and be healthy.
Short, quick bursts of insulin are the key.
What can I do?
- 3 meals a day, NO SNACKING
- No pre and post-workout meals or shakes
- Low-processed foods and especially carbs
- Proper sleep
- Increase healthy fat content in the diet
This is just a piece of the metabolic puzzle.
This is particularly important in the muscles and brain. All part of what I call “metabolic flexibility” and crucial to overall health and well-being.
More to come my friends, we can do better!
Dr. Don
