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Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas that determines whether blood sugar gets used for immediate energy or stored as fat. The body monitors blood sugar levels and cell demands, and releases insulin according to need. Insulin helps cells absorb glucose from the bloodstream by binding with receptors on cells the way a key would fit into a lock. Once the key - insulin - has unlocked the door, the glucose can pass from the blood into the cell. Inside the cell, glucose is either used for energy or stored in the form of glycogen in liver or muscle cells. This process is why a healthy body is described as insulin-sensitive.

Regularly getting too little sleep alters eating behavior and metabolism, says Esra Tasali, MD, a sleep specialist at the Univ-ersity of Chicago. Sleep deprivation has a detrimental impact on insulin sensitivity and carbohydrate metabolism, leaving us at risk of fat gain, especially around the waistline. And when we sleep too little, we produce more cortisol, which in turn causes the release of more insulin. High insulin levels prevent cells from breaking down fat, making it harder to lose weight when dieting. And with a loss of sleep, the body may not be able to metabolize carbohydrates well, which leads to increased storage of fats and higher levels of blood sugar. Excess blood sugar can lead to insulin resistance.

When you eat a lot of refined carbohydrates year after year, a dangerous cascade occurs. Insulin levels remain chronically high, and cells become less responsive and more resistant to insulin. As a consequence, relatively little glucose gets burned, and blood sugar levels remain high. With chronically elevated glucose levels, insulin resistance develops.

Insulin resistance means that the body has trouble disposing of glucose. People who are insulin-resistant have receptor sites that no longer recognize insulin; thus, glucose can't get into the cells. In other words, the key no longer unlocks the door, and the cells are literally starving. As the cells continue to resist insulin, blood sugar levels rise. As a result, the pancreas produces more insulin to help move glucose into the cells, and blood insulin levels go up even higher. Eventually, the pancreas can no longer produce enough insulin to compensate for the insulin resistance, causing blood glucose levels to rise more and more and diabetes to develop. (People with insulin resistance - with or without the presence of diabetes - are pre-disposed to heart disease and abnormal accumulation and elevation of triglycerides and cholesterol. There is also some evidence that it may contribute to endometrial cancer and Alzheimer's disease.)

Sleep plays a key role in insulin resistance. From sleep-restriction experiments, it's clear that after just a week of sleep loss, insulin levels are higher and the ability to use blood sugar is dramatically altered. A study published in the Lancet in October 1999 clearly demonstrated the relationships among sleep, overeating, impaired glucose metabolism, and insulin resistance. Eve Van Cauter, PhD, and her associates studied eleven healthy, normal-weight young men for two weeks in a sleep lab. In just one week, the researchers observed that sleep deficits of several hours a night actually impaired the body's processing of glucose, and the young men showed signs of insulin resistance. In a follow-up study, short sleepers showed 50 percent more insulin resistance than did the controls. Dr. Van Cauter said that reduced sleep could accelerate the onset of diabetes, which can be due to the imbalance in blood sugar and resistance to insulin.

You Can Reverse Leptin And Insulin Resistance to halt the cycle of insulin and leptin resistance, you'll need to retrain your brain and your cells. Lifestyle changes as outlined below can correct this resistance and restore balance to your body. As you follow our plan, you should be on your way to correcting insulin and leptin resistance quickly and losing weight as a result. The Sleep Away the Pounds Program incorporates adequate sleep, exercise, weight management, and dietary changes. This helps your body respond more effectively to insulin and leptin. By getting the sleep you need, avoiding various foods and eating plenty of the recommended foods, losing weight, and being more physically active, you can improve insulin and leptin sensitivity. This may help you avoid type 2 diabetes and other serious illnesses in the future. In fact, a major study has verified the benefits of healthy lifestyle changes, blood glucose management, and weight loss. In 2001, the National Institutes of Health completed the Diabetes Prevention Program (DPP), a clinical trial designed to find the most effective ways of preventing type 2 diabetes in overweight people with pre-diabetes. The researchers found that lifestyle changes reduced the risk of diabetes by 58 percent.

And many people with pre-diabetes returned to normal blood glucose levels. Here are some specific things you can do right away to reach your goal of becoming insulin- and leptin-sensitive and managing your blood glucose levels. Start by regularly getting seven to nine hours of sleep or the number of hours of sleep your body needs. And make sure your sleep is refreshing and restorative. You'll know this is occurring when you wake up refreshed and energized every day. Incorporate regular physical activity into your schedule. Exercise helps your muscle cells use blood glucose for energy. It enhances your body's ability to utilize glucose more effectively, and it increases the number of insulin receptor sites on each cell's surface. It also normalizes leptin levels. Studies investigating long-duration exercise (an hour or more) indicate that serum leptin concentrations are reduced with such exercise. (A reduction in serum leptin levels can indicate that cells are utilizing leptin more efficiently, providing that you are meeting your sleep needs as well. Otherwise, lower leptin levels could be the result of sleep deprivation.) Weight loss is also a key. Plasma leptin and insulin concentrations are tightly coupled with fat mass, so decreases in fat cells due to weight loss coincide with decreased concentrations of circulating leptin and insulin. Several studies suggest that a weight loss as modest as ten pounds can decrease blood glucose levels, which makes the cells more receptive to insulin and leptin, thereby decreasing insulin and leptin resistance.

Dietary changes focus on avoiding the foods that cause surges in leptin and insulin production. Insulin and leptin resistance is caused in large part by the overconsumption of refined carbohydrates, such as breads, pastas, alcohol, and sugary foods, and by eating too much fat, which includes saturated fat as found in animal products, trans fats as found in margarine, fried foods, and snack foods, and the omega-6 fatty acids found in vegetable oils. Make special effort to avoid sweets, sodas, and alcohol; refined carbohydrates such as breads, pasta, white rice, and pizza; and polyunsaturated oils like corn, soy, sunflower, and safflower. Also, limit animal products high in saturated fat. Note, too, that eating too little essential fatty acid contributes to the resistance problem. It is important to increase foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids such as fish (especially salmon, mackerel, and trout), fish oils such as cod-liver oil, and leafy green vegetables, along with nuts, especially walnuts, and seeds - flax seeds in particular. Increase brightly colored vegetables, low-sugar fruit, and beans. Avoid all sugar substitutes, fake fats, and artificial flavors. You may choose foods containing these substitutes to reduce caloric intake, but these foods can cause pronounced food cravings and an uncontrollable appetite, causing you to eat much more than normal while leaving your body nutrient-depleted. Such substitutes have been associated in studies with weight gain rather than weight loss.

Copyright © 2007 by Cherie Calbom and John Calbom

Tags: Diets and Weight Loss

About the Author

Cherie Calbom is known to millions of fans as "The Juice Lady," and her infomercials are world-renowned. A registered nutritionist, Cherie Calbom has become one of America's foremost celebrity experts on "drinking your vitamins." Her previous books, Juicing for High Level Wellness and Vibrant Good Looks (Crown, 1999), and Juice Lady's Guide to Juicing for Life (Avery, 1992).

About the Author

John Calbom, MA, is director of Trinity Retreat House and vice president of Trinity Wellness Institute. He is a behavioral medicine specialist, organizational development consultant, Eastern Orthodox priest, and coauthor of The Complete Cancer Cleanse.