- Struggling with a secret that you hope nobody is noticing?
- Has your brain slowed down?
- Swiss cheese memory?
- Unable to do what used to come easy?
You depend on your brain function
Your business success may depend on your brain. Especially if you are creative.
Your ability to nurture a relationship depends on the functioning of your brain.
I dare say, your fulfillment in life may depend on how your brain functions.
What causes brain fog?
High blood sugar, even relatively high blood sugar as most Americans have, creates brain fog.
When sugar swamps the brain, it attracts water which bogs everything down, stretching cells to their breaking points. On top of that, the immune system is activated and creates inflammation, destroying cells and impairing the function of the remaining cells.
Along with high blood sugar comes high insulin, the hormone that escorts sugar into your cells.
That is, unless you are an insulin-dependent diabetic, the end product of years of high blood sugar and high insulin! Or it could be from other causes of destruction of the insulin-producing cells in the body. In this case, your body can no longer make insulin, and you need to have an outside source injected or from a pump.
The damage of excess insulin
Excess insulin damages mitochondria, the energy producing parts of a cell, and can make them up to 25% smaller. It decreases the number of these energy-producing miracles, deleting up to 33% of them.
No wonder you cannot function! It’s because your energy production is reduced, as evident in fatigue, low mood and declining memory.
On top of that, high insulin signals the body to put on visceral fat, the dangerous kind, start inflammation, grow cancer cells, and create brain and artery plaque.
To get a picture of the damage high insulin can wreck on the body, Dr. Joseph Kraft studied insulin levels in patients and did autopsies on them. He discovered that 75% of patients with NORMAL blood sugar levels had excess insulin levels.
What a reality check! Your blood sugar may be “fine”, but trouble could be brewing.
Patients had no symptoms, but on autopsy he found damage to their eyes, kidneys, brain and heart due to blood vessel damage from high insulin. Part of this is because insulin prevents saturated fat from being burned for fuel and ends up getting oxidized causing inflammation which damages blood vessels. Indeed, this is linked to heart disease, strokes, and cancer.
How can I tell if I have excess insulin?
Measuring insulin might sound like a good idea, but blood levels fluctuate wildly. Insulin responds to getting scared and other emotions, a bowel movement, and even having hiccups.
The most accurate blood test is a 5-hour assay costing over $2500. Another test pairs blood insulin levels with blood sugar levels after a specific amount of glucose is given to drink with a blood draw at certain time increments for 5 hours. This is also expensive and hard on the patient.
Can you tell if you have high insulin without a blood test?
Outside of these blood tests, a few physical measurements are strong indicators of high insulin.
The first is your waist circumference. For starters, your waist measurement should be less than half your height. But even if it is, you may not be home free.
The second is your neck circumference. For anyone, a neck greater than 17 inches spells trouble.
The third is what is professionally called pre-tibial edema which laypeople know as “ring around the socks.” In worst cases, high insulin produces “kankles” or swelling around the ankles. This last physical test detects the swelling between cells which is due to the inflammation of high insulin.
Start testing by locating your shin bone and a spot 3 to 5 inches above the ankle. Being sure you are on bone and not muscle, press your thumb there hard enough so that the tip of the thumb turns white. Hold it here for 30 seconds. This will push water from swelling out of the area if it is there.
Then lift your thumb and observe if an impression is left in your skin. If there is a slight indentation, you have mild inflammation. If it is deeper, then the inflammation is severe. If there is no dip, then inflammation is zero and you can stop reading this now because it doesn’t apply to you.
Take a picture for the before comparison because you will want to do something about testing positive for inflammation due to high insulin.
How do I reduce insulin?
The good news is that the body has another system of producing energy that uses very little to no insulin. It is the fat burning system.
All the years of eating excess carbs stored them as fat. When you break down that fat to burn for fuel, the body produces ketones instead of using sugar for fuel.
This metabolic state allows you to burn your body fat, reduce inflammation, and repair cells. In reducing inflammation, the fat burning system drains excess water from your tissues, reducing swelling. In addition, you need less oxygen, less antioxidants, and fewer vitamins.
The advantage to the fat burning system is that it does not need insulin, so your circulating insulin levels come down. Your blood sugar comes down. This reverses and prevents inflammation and mitochondrial destruction and even gives the body a chance to rebuild.
Shifting to the fat-burning system, known as ketosis, is not a diet. It is a state of the biochemistry of your body which can be measured.
If you have been in the sugar burning system constantly, you can tell because you get hungry often and even lightheaded or “hangry” when your blood sugar drops.
For your body to shift to the fat burning system it takes practice with what you eat and understanding what your symptoms mean and what to do about it.
Don’t just start eating lots of fat or fasting without knowing the ins and outs of how your body is reacting or you may be very uncomfortable and get in metabolic trouble.
How do I start?
Dr. Cheryl can help assess where you are and guide you on your path to a sharp brain and doing more of what you love even if you are older. In fact, the fat burning metabolism is idea for post-menopausal women for many reasons, one of which our brains shift to preferring ketones for fuel.
Call me at 928-649-9234 if you would like to chat about how I can guide you to a permanently high-functioning brain for a wonderful fulfilling life.
