From the East German Olympians of the 1970s to cyclists and baseball players in the 2000s, doping scandals have exposed just how far elite athletes will go to take advantage of the power of anabolic steroids. But the most potent anabolic compound isn’t manufactured in a lab, nor will you get banned from competition for having it in your system.
Meet insulin: your body’s growth‑directing hormone. Insulin is a major player in turning your food into the energy that keeps you going. How your cells respond to insulin is key not just to your athletic performance but to your overall health as well.
When your body struggles to let insulin do its job, that’s known as insulin resistance — a condition that impacts nearly a billion people. It’s one of the major driving forces in the development of type 2 diabetes, and it’s also associated with a number of other serious health conditions.
What’s not widely known, even in scientific circles, is that insulin resistance can be reversed.
In this article, we’ll unpack what insulin resistance is, why it matters, and how small, sustainable shifts — especially in your diet — can make a meaningful difference to your long-term health.
What Is Insulin Resistance?
First, let’s talk about insulin itself. It’s a hormone that regulates your blood glucose (sugar) levels. Think of insulin as a key that opens your cells to receive glucose from your bloodstream. That’s important for both sides of the transaction, keeping your blood sugar from getting dangerously high and supplying your cells with the energy they need.
Insulin resistance is a metabolic condition in which your body is less able to respond to insulin. Imagine something blocking up the keyholes so insulin can’t open your cells to receive glucose. Two bad things happen: your cells are deprived of energy, and your blood glucose levels become elevated.
There are a bunch of factors that can contribute to insulin resistance: genetic predisposition, obesity (particularly the accumulation of fat around your internal organs), chronic inflammation, a sedentary lifestyle, and diet.
Signs and Symptoms of Insulin Resistance
Common signs of insulin resistance include fatigue, increased hunger (especially for carbs), belly fat, frequent urination, skin tags, darkened patches of skin (especially around the neck or armpits), and brain fog. High blood pressure and abnormal cholesterol levels may also appear in blood work before other symptoms appear.
But insulin resistance usually starts symptomless. The first time many people find out they have this condition is when they’re diagnosed with type 2 diabetes or prediabetes. That’s one reason regular health check-ups and routine blood tests can be important, especially if you have risk factors like leading a sedentary lifestyle, being overweight, or having an existing chronic health condition.
How Is Insulin Resistance Diagnosed?
Several blood tests can detect early warning signs and can help you take action to prevent later complications. Some of the most common and useful include:
- Fasting blood glucose: This test measures blood sugar levels after an overnight fast. If your levels are high, that may indicate a problem with glucose regulation.
- HbA1c (hemoglobin A1c): This test shows your average blood sugar level over the past two to three months. If fasting blood glucose is a snapshot, HbA1c is more of a time-lapse movie.
- Fasting insulin: This test assesses how much insulin your body is producing. If it’s higher than normal, that could indicate that your pancreas is overproducing it to compensate for insulin resistance.
- HOMA-IR (homeostatic model assessment of insulin resistance): This calculation uses fasting glucose and insulin levels to estimate insulin resistance.
- Lipid panel and liver function: These tests offer additional insights, since insulin resistance often coexists with abnormal cholesterol levels and fatty liver disease.
Health Implications of Insulin Resistance
While insulin resistance is commonly associated with type 2 diabetes, it’s also involved in several other disease processes.
- Type 2 Diabetes
The most well-known outcome of insulin resistance is type 2 diabetes, which is defined as having an A1c of 6.5% or more (while prediabetes is diagnosed at 5.7–6.5%). However, elevated blood sugar is a symptom, not the cause. It’s actually insulin resistance that raises blood sugar levels, because if sugar can’t get into the cells, where it’s needed, it tends to build up in the blood.
When blood sugar is high, the pancreas gets the message that there isn’t enough insulin, so it ramps up production. But it also tells your body, “Hey, stash this extra fuel as fat” — leading, over time, to obesity and, eventually, diabetes and cardiovascular disease. That fat makes your cells even less responsive to insulin, creating a negative feedback loop.
When your cells ignore insulin’s friendly knock on the door, your pancreas raises the volume, sending more insulin to do the same job.
Keep the cycle spinning long enough, and your overworked pancreas may sputter out, losing its ability to produce insulin at all, and leaving you dependent on injected insulin. This process can essentially compound type 2 diabetes (insulin resistance) by also giving you a form of type 1 diabetes (lack of endogenous insulin).
-
Cardiovascular Disease
Insulin resistance can accelerate plaque buildup in arteries (that is, atherosclerosis), which fuels the development of heart disease and stroke. Too much insulin and high blood sugar also cause oxidative stress and chronic inflammation, damaging blood vessels and the heart.
This all contributes to high blood pressure, elevated triglycerides, low HDL (“good”) cholesterol, and increased LDL (“bad”) cholesterol.
-
Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease (NAFLD)
Insulin resistance is a central driver of nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, a condition in which fat builds up in the liver. While alcohol consumption is a well-known cause of liver disease, NAFLD is named to distinguish this condition from liver damage caused by drinking. In NAFLD, poor insulin sensitivity, not alcohol, is the main culprit behind fat accumulation in the liver.
Over time, NAFLD can progress to NASH (nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, if you’d like to cultivate a collection of liver-based acronyms), fibrosis, and even cirrhosis.
NAFLD is closely tied to obesity and metabolic syndrome, both of which often stem from poor insulin sensitivity.
For more on NAFLD and other liver conditions, and how to protect yourself, check out our full article here.
-
Obesity and Metabolic Syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of conditions including abdominal obesity, high blood pressure, high triglycerides, low HDL cholesterol, and high blood sugar.
Insulin resistance can contribute to obesity (especially visceral fat) and metabolic syndrome. And they can, in turn, worsen inflammation and promote insulin resistance. Together, these factors greatly increase the risk of both type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease.
-
Other Disorders
Insulin resistance can also lead to polycystic ovary syndrome (PCOS), cognitive decline, and sleep disorders.
Can Insulin Resistance Be Reversed?
In many cases, especially when caught early, lifestyle changes can significantly improve or even fully reverse insulin resistance. Your body has an incredible ability to heal and adapt when given the proper support.
There are several lifestyle strategies that you can use here, including diet, exercise, weight management, sleep hygiene, and stress management.
Improving Insulin Resistance Through Diet
For many decades, the mainstream dietary advice to diabetics has been to avoid carbohydrates of all kinds. The thinking goes like this: Diabetes is a disease of high blood sugar. Carbohydrates are made up of simple sugars. Therefore, it makes sense to reduce carbohydrate intake significantly to keep blood sugar low.
And sure enough, many people who check their blood sugar with a finger prick see a spike after eating carbs. It’s an understandable argument. But here’s the catch: As we’ve seen, high blood sugar isn’t the root cause — it’s a symptom. The real issue is that your body isn’t processing those carbohydrates properly. Due to insulin resistance, the glucose from your food gets stuck in your bloodstream instead of making its way into your muscle cells.
Cutting all carbohydrates is like “solving” a blocked toilet by not using it. Wouldn’t it be more effective to plunge the toilet to remove the blockage?
Proponents of a low-carb diet aren’t entirely off-base, however. They’re right that some carbohydrates can fuel insulin resistance; specifically, added sugars and refined carbohydrates that are not accompanied by fiber.
But some carbohydrates can be profoundly beneficial. Eating whole plant-based foods, which tend to be high in fiber, resistant starch, and other healthy carbs, is one way to unblock the insulin receptors in your muscle cells. A diet rich in whole, plant-based carbohydrate-rich foods (like beans, oats, fruits, and veggies) offers fiber-rich, anti-inflammatory benefits that help your body become more insulin sensitive.
A 2018 study explored whether adopting a low-fat, plant-based diet high in carbohydrates and fiber for 16 weeks would help overweight people lose weight and improve how their bodies handled insulin. Those on the plant-based diet lost weight, reduced body fat, and had better insulin sensitivity than those who kept their usual diet.
Although saturated fats and trans fats are linked to increased risk of insulin resistance, healthy fats can reduce inflammation and improve insulin resistance. These good fats, especially the omega-3 fatty acids, can calm inflammation in important areas like the brain (hypothalamus) and fat tissue, helping the body control hunger better and store fat safely, reducing problems linked to insulin resistance.
Monounsaturated fats, such as those found in avocados, almonds, and olive oil, can also fight insulin resistance.
Engage in Regular Physical Activity
When you exercise, you flip a metabolic switch that invites sugar out of the bloodstream and into working muscle. Each contraction summons GLUT‑4 transporters to the surface of your muscle cells, allowing glucose to flow in even when insulin levels are low or baseline insulin signaling is sluggish. And when insulin is present, the two pathways work together for an even bigger payoff.
The magic doesn’t stop when you cool down. Once the contraction‑driven glucose rush subsides, your muscles stay extra receptive to insulin for hours — and in many people, for a full day or longer — after a single workout.
String together these sessions, about 30 minutes of moderate‑intensity movement, three to five times a week, and that post‑exercise “afterglow” can deliver a lasting upgrade in insulin sensitivity and glycemic control.
Prioritize Quality Sleep
Sleep is another huge piece in the insulin sensitivity puzzle. We know that chronic sleep deficiency increases insulin resistance in women, especially postmenopausal women. Biomarkers of inflammation, such as C-reactive protein and serum amyloid A, are associated with poor sleep and glucose intolerance.
Another metabolic marker related to insulin resistance affected by sleep is GLP-1. This compound is having its moment in the sun, thanks to the popularity of weight loss and anti-diabetes drugs like Ozempic and Mounjaro that increase the activity of GLP-1 receptors.
Study after study shows us that adequate sleep is necessary for maintaining proper metabolic health. For more on the importance of sleep and the foods, tools, and practices proven to support good sleep, see our article here.
Manage Stress Effectively
Stress can also mess with your insulin sensitivity. When your body goes into fight-or-flight mode, stress hormones flood your bloodstream and tell your liver to dump glucose, making muscle and fat less responsive to insulin. All this is designed to help you run away from a tiger, but it wreaks havoc on your body in the long run.
Chronic exposure to stress ignites inflammation, derails lipid metabolism, injures pancreatic beta cells, and drives insulin resistance through several mechanisms.
When you manage your stress effectively, you’re also improving your insulin sensitivity. Breathwork, yoga, laughter, or a nature walk dial down cortisol and let insulin signaling rebound.
Maintain a Healthy Weight
Weight gain is generally associated with deterioration in metabolic health. And among people who are overweight, weight loss improves insulin sensitivity.
A 2019 study found that overweight people who are insulin resistant can improve their health by losing even a small amount of weight. The researchers discovered that shrinking belly fat and fat cell size were key to better insulin use and heart health, more than overall weight loss. So, focusing on losing belly fat with a healthy diet can significantly improve insulin sensitivity.
Recipes to Combat Insulin Resistance
Ready for delicious meals that work with your metabolism? Dive into a creamy Green Dream Avocado Smoothie, a crunch‑packed Farmer’s Market Salad with Miso Peanut Dressing, and a cozy Quinoa, Bean, and Vegetable Soup — each crafted to tame post‑meal glucose swings with fiber‑rich greens, plant protein, and anti‑inflammatory flavor. Your taste buds stay happy while your blood sugar remains steady.
1. Green Dream Avocado Smoothie
Think of this glass as a mini spa treatment for your metabolism. Velvety avocado delivers healthy fats that slow digestion, while spinach packs magnesium, a mineral many people with insulin resistance are low on. Hemp seeds add plant protein and omega‑3s to keep cravings in check, and soy milk provides an extra protein boost (shown in studies to improve post‑meal glucose response). The sweetness? It comes mainly from applesauce and a hint of maple (optional), cushioned by all that fiber and fat so you won’t see a glucose roller‑coaster. Blend, sip, and enjoy steady energy that lasts well past breakfast.
2. Farmer’s Market Salad with Miso Peanut Dressing
Picture every color of the produce aisle tossed into one bowl: kale, purple cabbage, sunset‑orange carrots, and juicy bell peppers. That fiber rainbow feeds your gut microbes, producing compounds that enhance insulin sensitivity. Then there’s the dressing — fermented miso plus creamy peanut butter. Fermentation brings probiotic power; peanuts supply arginine, an amino acid linked to better vascular and metabolic health. Chili, lime, and fresh ginger wake up your palate while calming inflammation behind insulin resistance. Top it off with crispy miso‑chickpea‑tofu croutons, and you’ll have crunch, protein, and satisfaction in every bite.
3. Quinoa, Bean, and Vegetable Soup
This isn’t just soup; it’s a one‑pot powerhouse for taming insulin resistance. Quinoa and two kinds of beans join forces to deliver 21 grams of plant protein and a blockbuster dose of soluble fiber — the duo proven to flatten glucose curves. Slow‑simmered veggies release antioxidants that counter oxidative stress, while oregano, garlic, and red‑pepper flakes add anti‑inflammatory flair. Bonus: The resistant starch formed as the soup cools down (even briefly) further improves insulin response when you reheat it. Cozy, filling, and wallet‑friendly, this bowl keeps you warm today and helps your cells listen to insulin tomorrow.
Conclusion
Insulin resistance may begin quietly, but its ripple effects can be far-reaching and devastating. The good news is that insulin resistance is detectable and often reversible. With consistent and positive changes to diet and lifestyle, you can support your body’s natural ability to restore balance.
