First of all, let me tell you a few things about over eating. Simply put, after eating, your blood sugar level starts to increase and in response to it, the pancreas produces insulin to bring the sugar level to normal But over a period of time, with those who over eat, the muscle cells become insulin insensitive. Insulin prevents your blood sugar from rising too high, particularly after you eat. So when your cells do not respond adequately to insulin, your pancreas produces very large amounts of insulin, which constricts coronary arteries to increase your chances of suffering a heart attack, stimulates your brain to make you hungry and causes fat to be deposited in your belly.
The only places that you can store extra sugar in your body are in your liver and muscles. When you eat, sugar passes from your intestines, into your bloodstream, and then into your muscles and liver. When your muscles are full of sugar, sugar can only enter your liver, and your blood levels rise too high. This causes sugar to stick to cells. Once stuck on a cell, sugar is converted to sorbitol which damages the cells to cause blindness, heart attacks, strokes, kidney damage and all the other side effects of diabetes. In a person with normal metabolism, insulin is released from the beta (â) cells after eating, and it signals insulin-sensitive tissues in the body (like muscles and adipose) to absorb glucose to lower blood glucose to a normal level. In an insulin resistant person, normal levels of insulin do not trigger the signal for glucose absorption by muscle and adipose cells. To compensate for this, the pancreas in an insulin resistant individual releases much more insulin such that the cells are adequately triggered to absorb glucose. Occasionally, this can lead to a steep drop in blood sugar and a hypoglycemic reaction several hours after the meal.The most common type of insulin resistance is associated with a disease state known as metabolic syndrome. Insulin resistance can progress to full type 2 diabetes. This is often seen when hyperglycemia develops after a meal, when pancreatic â-cells are unable to produce adequate insulin to maintain normal blood sugar levels (euglycemia). The inability of the â-cells to produce more insulin in a condition of hyperglycemia is what characterizes the transition from insulin resistance to type 2 diabetes.
And do you know the worst thing that can happen to someone who is insulin resistant. Sometimes even small amounts of sweets or anything that can trigger insulin panic can cause to become fat, which is why even small quantities of food can sometimes make you fat.Now, what do we do to make sure that whatever we eat is not contributing to the already swollen fat cells in the body? The only way out is to make sure that we shun all foods that causes insulin spike. And they are sweets, sweetened drinks, sugar, chips, chocolates, biscuits, dried fruits [sugar from fruits are okay as they do not panic the pancreas into producing more insulin, but dried fruits are a big no no], all bakery food, aerated drinks like pepsi, thumsup etc, alcohol, beer etc. This is not to tell you that all fried foods and fats are okay to eat. They are bad too and have to be avoided.Now we come to the diet and as I have mentioned earlier, make sure you avoid all foods that causes insulin panic.
· Drink three glasses of water as soon as you wake up. This is very difficult the first time and so it is good idea to start with just half a glass of water the first week, increasing the quantity by half a glass every week.
· Eat some fruits half an hour later. You may eat any fruit and any amount you like. Contrary to popular belief, fruits do not add up to your waist line, whether it is banana or mangoes or any fruit in its natural state, that is, if you do not cook and alter its chemical composition.
· Two hours later, you may have your breakfast, which can be anything you usually make at home like dosa or chappathi or iddli, only you do not eat more than two of them and if it is “puttu”, eat just an equivalent quantity. Rice, wheat and food like baked potatoes, tapioca are sources of complex carbohydrates which give out energy in a slow sustained manner and so it is very important that you choose one of these food sources to eat at this time of the day.
.· Every office or college has about five to ten minutes break around 10.30am and that is when your next meal comes. Eat a handful of ground nuts [not fried]. Ground nuts also contain a little bit of fat, but they are what you call the safe fats. You see, fats are not always bad, we need fat to maintain body temperature, the sheath over the nerves is a type of fat coating, are just a few reasons why we need fat in the body.
· Now for lunch, at around 1 pm. You may have about one and a half cup of rice or two chappathi and along with it, eat some fish which is not fried. You may also eat any curry with it and make sure to include a vegetable salad too.
· Around 4 pm, eat some fruits. As I mentioned earlier, sugar from fruits are safe and so eat as much fruits as you like.
· The next meal is at around 6.30pm which is just one omlette with a vegetable salad.
· At about 8.30 – 9 pm, you may eat two chappathi with any curry you like.
· Before going to bed, have some fruits· Drink one glass of water with every meal and more if you like.
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