It's February, which means it's heart health month.
So, this post is all about cardiovascular health, and more specifically about blood sugar regulation.
When people think of heart health, they usually think of hypertension, heart attacks, maybe diabetes, and cholesterol issues. Basically, they're thinking of overt manifestations of underlying metabolic dysfunction. And this is true. But cardiovascular disease develops over time.
One of the metabolic dysfunctions that I see most often in my practice is insulin resistance, which is a huge contributing factor in PCOS (PolyCystic Ovarian Syndrome).
Insulin is the hormone that helps regulate your blood sugar and allows glucose (sugar) from your bloodstream to enter your cells. Glucose can then be utilized in your cells to make ATP (cellular energy currency... think back to your grade school science!).
Think of insulin like a key that unlocks your cellular door so glucose can enter the cell.
What happens in those of you who have blood sugar regulation issues (PCOS, pre-diabetes and pre-pre-diabetes, etc.) is that your cells become resistant to insulin i.e. you need a lot of insulin kicking and screaming at the door of your cell to allow glucose to enter. What this means is that your body now starts to dump more insulin even at the slightest provocation.
And the thing is, insulin is pro-clotting – it promotes clotting in your blood vessels. And high blood sugar is also inflammatory and pro-clotting. And inflammation in general increases insulin resistance. So, basically, we're laying the groundwork for developing cardiovascular disease.
There are different reasons why someone can have insulin resistance and it's usually not just one thing that causes it, but a multitude of contributing factors: food & nutrition, genetics, medical history, medication use, stress and sleep, movement and activity levels, hormonal changes, general inflammation levels, other social determinants of health, and more.
Medical doctors don't typically run insulin levels along with your glucose but you can ask! It's an important one to run (and one of the most common tests I run alongside vitamin D and a full thyroid panel). It's a simple blood test. Here are some situations where it would be important to run:
Regardless of whether you've formally tested insulin or not, there are ways you can support your insulin and blood sugar levels:
