Chestnuts
Chestnuts are quite different from other nuts, both nutritionally and culinarily. Nutritionally, they are closer to whole grains. And taste-wise,…
Nuts help with insulin resistance by reducing the rise in blood glucose, reducing inflammation and helping to maintain a healthy weight.
Insulin is a hormone produced by the pancreas in response to eating carbohydrate foods. Once carbohydrate rich foods are digested and absorbed into the blood stream as glucose – the simplest carbohydrate – insulin is responsible for moving the glucose into the cells where the energy factories make energy for the body.
Insulin resistance is where the body’s cells resist the action of insulin and the pancreas needs to produce even greater levels of insulin to see that same result. Insulin has a sneaky side effect – it can also slow the breakdown of body fat so belly fat accumulates. This can worsen insulin resistance and the cycle starts again. Inflammation plays a role in insulin resistance too.
If left untreated, insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes, polycystic ovarian syndrome and obesity.
Nuts can help insulin resistance in several ways:
Published July 18, 2019
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