One day I was talking with a private coaching client about willpower. She was trying to balance her insulin and blood sugar in order to release some weight and balance many of her PCOS symptoms. Together we had decided on a diet plan and lifestyle changes about a month before this call. When we chatted on this particular date, she was complaining to me that she just couldn’t stay away from something sweet after her meals, and just didn’t feel at all like exercising.

 

She said she wished she had more willpower, and that if she did, her results would be better.

 

The truth of the matter is willpower doesn’t work. 

 

 

It’s that inner reserve of motivation that we believe will get us where we want to go. For instance maybe we want to clear up acne, improve our health to improve our relationships, or reduce the pain of endometriosis so work isn’t a dreaded activity. So in our minds it seems easy to ‘just say no’ to the extra helping of dinner or to sitting on the couch day in and day out.

 

I bet you’ve been there too- wanting to make some kind (any kind!) of change and hoping to rely entirely on willpower. 

 

My client was there, and I’ve been there too.

 

The fact is that when you balance your body properly (more on this in a minute), willpower doesn’t need to be your Ruler in this context. That’s right- no willpower necessary. No biting your fingernails because the anxiety of an upcoming work function (complete with unhealthy finger foods and desserts) is happening tonight. No more staying up at night thinking about all the good stuff you “can’t” eat, how you “don’t have time” to do all this “health stuff”.

 

 

 

I am always rambling on about balancing insulin and blood sugar because it’s so damn important for your health and creating happy hormones. 

 

Insulin as your blood sugar regulating hormone is responsible in part for getting sugar (aka glucose) into your cells to make energy. Poor diet and life choices eventually make the body resistant to insulin’s signals, creating high insulin and high blood sugar. This turns insulin into a fat storage and sex hormone-disruptive shit disturber. 

 

There are tons of symptoms (and diseases) associated with insulin problems, or insulin resistance as it’s sometimes known. 

 

 

Let me break it down for you with some truths about balanced insulin instead of willpower.

 

Truth #1: Balanced insulin reduces (maybe even eliminates) cravings

When your blood sugar is balanced, you feel full and satisfied. Your body is able to thrive on the whole, real foods you eat during meals. Sugar, dairy and salt cravings are often the first to go when insulin is balanced, as I’ve seen clinically and personally. Your body isn’t craving other foods for a quick boost because it doesn’t need those foods. 

 

Truth #2: Balanced insulin means effortless weight release 

Maybe you’re trying to get rid of a few pounds. Maybe it’s a lot of pounds. Either way, extremely restrictive diets like calorie counting and eating very low-fat may initially result in some pounds lost, but over time the weight comes back and then some, as these types of diets wreak havoc on insulin and blood sugar balance. When you balance insulin through a proper diet, self-care and movement, weight is released without extra effort. No counting, no “willpower” to put the fork down. It just isn’t needed.

 

Truth #3: Balanced insulin increases energy

Remember how I said that insulin helps sugar get into cells to make energy? Yeah, this is where that comes in. Many women, like the client I mentioned previously, have very little energy and feel low and unmotivated to prepare their own nourishing meals, or to move their bodies in a productive way. When your insulin sensitivity is right on (instead of being resistant) the cells actually get their food (the glucose) and can make energy with it. Movement, meal prep and self-care aren’t chores you think you “should” be doing (but still don’t do) when your insulin is balanced. Rather they are fun activities you enjoy that increase feelings of well-being and reduce symptoms. 

 

Truth #4: Balanced insulin could regulate mood-disrupting hormones 

Estrogen dominance, low progesterone and high testosterone and other sex hormone imbalances can funk up your mood. Like, getting weepy at TV commercials or flipping out on your spouse for something really insignificant (because come on– unwashed dishes are insignificant in the grand scheme of things). The truth is that your sex hormone-producing ovaries and insulin have a very important and fragile relationship. Even a little mishap in insulin regulation can prevent ovulation, increase high testosterone symptoms like acne and hair loss, plus contribute to extra PMS-y issues like mood swings, irritability, anger, anxiety and depression.

 

Truth #5: Balanced insulin improves memory and cognitive function

According to two ongoing studies, insulin resistance reduces the ability of insulin to get into the brain, leaving the brain without enough insulin for normal functioning. The researcher Dr. Craft has hypothesized from her study results that insulin resistance (with high levels of insulin in the body) paradoxically leads to lower-than-normal levels of insulin in the brain, which results in memory problems. Poor memory and cognitive function isn’t helping anyone’s willpower!

 

Remember that client I talked about at the beginning? When she was educated on these truths and worked slowly at developing a sustainable healthy insulin and happy hormones diet for her own unique lifestyle, she never mentioned willpower again! 

 

 

 

Maybe this story sounds familiar to you. Growing up, I wasn’t necessarily overweight but more on the borderline, gaining and losing the same 10-20 pounds over and over. I grew up on a diet of McDonald’s, fruit juice and sugary snacks. I had constant mood swings and tons of fatigue, right up into adulthood. I would experience extreme mood swings, anxiety and irritability between meals- even if I had just eaten an hour or two prior!

 

When I did reach that snack or meal time, I would end up feeling super foggy, bloated and exhausted after a meal. Often I was overeating because I was ALWAYS hungry- not peckish or just plain bored- HUNGRY. Like, if I didn’t get something in my belly right this second, I would be shaky, jittery and flipping out on someone.

 

Of course, I later learned that these symptoms were part of insulin resistance- a big time factor in the Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome (PCOS) that I experienced. Not only did it play into how I felt like what I’ve described above, but it also caused irregular, painful menstrual cycles in addition to excess hair growth (moustache, anyone?), head hair loss and cystic acne (I thought puberty ended in my teens!). 

 

Insulin resistance may not be familiar to you, but I’m willing to bet it’s a large part of the symptoms and hormonal imbalances you’re experiencing, and here’s why.

 

 

To understand insulin resistance and it’s impact on our hormonal and general health, we first need to understand insulin and blood sugar control in our bodies- this isn’t just for people with diabetes!

 

Firstly, insulin is the major hormone in balancing our blood sugar. When we eat a food that has carbs, our body breaks it down into simple sugars or glucose through digestion. All of our cells need glucose for energy, and food is where we get the majority of the glucose. Once glucose has been released into the blood, the pancreas will produce insulin. Insulin then comes to the rescue and helps the glucose get into the body cells by “unlocking” the cell door. Once the majority of glucose has been brought into the cells, blood glucose levels will decline, and this is a good thing.

 

Now, here’s what goes on in insulin resistance. For various reasons (like a diet high in carbs, long-term stress, and others) many women experience high blood glucose levels. So, the pancreas will create more and more insulin to get all that excess glucose into the cells. The problem starts when the “key” that insulin has to the cells stops working- like your body hired a locksmith behind insulin’s back. 

 

This causes levels of blood glucose to stay high, and insulin stays high as well. 

 

Additionally, your pancreas may become tired after producing SO MUCH insulin for so long, and may drastically reduce or stop producing insulin altogether. Any one of these issues is bad news for your health and hormones.

 

 

So why would this be happening to you? Well, there is no ‘one’ cause, or right answer. Research is still trying to figure it out. 

 

Here are a few idea of what comes into play when insulin resistance occurs:

 

If your food mostly comes from a restaurant, bag, box or carton, you can bet diet is playing a role in symptoms. All of these types of foods are generally very high in carbohydrates- especially the refined types like sugars, flours and their products. This puts a lot of glucose in the blood, causing your body to create more and more insulin, potentially leading to insulin resistance eventually. Clinically, every woman I’ve ever consulted with who ate this way had insulin resistance problems. 

 

Additionally, doctored fats like trans fats found in fried foods and the majority of those bagged and boxed foods impairs glucose sensitivity, adding to the problem. 

 

Lastly, poor diets are often low in nutrients. Not eating enough fresh produce, healthy fats and clean proteins leaves the body devoid of many insulin-sensitizing nutrients like omega3s, vitamin D, B vitamins and Magnesium.

 

As much as we hate to believe it, exercise has a profound impact on our health and on insulin sensitivity. Regular movement and exercise helps our bodies to use up excess blood glucose (for energy), reducing the amount of insulin required in the body. Second, the right exercise in general helps the body to be sensitized to the effects of our insulin hormone.

 

Some research has pointed to genetics or heredity playing a part in insulin resistance. If you have a family history of diabetes, obesity, high triglycerides, cancer and heart disease- it is possible these factors may happen to you later in life. Genetics is funny business though, because not everyone with a family history gets whatever the disease is. Our environment has a large impact on what genes turn “active” and which don’t, which is why most things are still in our control. 

 

 

There’s a host of symptoms involved in insulin resistance, but I’ve only listed a few major ones here. 

 

  

 

 

Who gives a hoot about insulin resistance when dealing with reproductive hormone imbalances? We all should!

 

Firstly because insulin itself is a hormone- and how well or unwell insulin functions will determine the health of your other hormones- like cortisol and estrogen.

 

Cortisol is our main stress hormone. When we experience a stressful situation or live in long-term stress, our body releases cortisol to help us. It does this as part of the ‘fight or flight’ response. This response was initially for real, life-threatening events, like a large animal predator coming after us, in the early human days. Currently, the fight or flight response is chronically activated as we experience non-life threatening stresses like fights with spouses and long commutes, which our bodies read as emergencies. During this response, cortisol tells places of glucose storage (like the liver) to release glucose into the blood for energy. This extra glucose causes insulin to be released. The longer this cycle goes on the more vicious it gets, and the more likely insulin resistance will occur.

 

 

Insulin is one of the “major” hormones,  and insulin resistance makes it almost impossible for your body to balance its “minor” hormones (estrogen, progesterone and testosterone to name a few) until your insulin metabolism is balanced first. To put it simply, if you have hot flashes, weight gain or painful periods and you are insulin resistant, it’s going to be nearly impossible to heal them without first healing the insulin resistance. 

 

Insulin resistance impairs the body’s ability to ovulate, so making some women struggle with irregular or absent periods, and infertility. It does this by creating excess LH, a hormone normally involved in ovulation, that when chronically high actually prevents ovulation from occurring. No ovulation = no period.

 

Insulin resistance also impairs the ovaries’ ability to create reproductive hormones like estrogen and progesterone- both important for health cycles and hormonal balance throughout the lifespan. 

 

This ovarian and insulin imbalance could contribute to the creation of more testosterone, causing symptoms like cystic acne, excess facial hair (hirsutism) and head hair loss (androgenic alopecia). This is the main reason that women with PCOS experience these symptoms, plus irregular or absent periods.

 

In regards to other conditions like Endometriosis and Fibroids- the insulin resistance could contribute to to estrogen dominance, in part because progesterone ends up so low. This could contribute to the pain women with endo experience, as well as the weight gain that often accompanies it. 

 

 

 

The first thing I do with any private client is work on balancing their blood sugar and insulin. Often this in and of itself will effect profound changes in their symptoms and overall hormonal health. I highly recommend any women do the same, for happy hormones and optimal health.