Book review: The Insulin-Resistance Diet

I recently borrowed a copy of “The Insulin-Resistance Diet” from my local library, after reading the great reviews on Amazon. I highly recommend this book if you have trouble losing weight, even when you do “all of the right things.” Of course, that means actually doing the right things like exercising regularly and eating a healthy number of calories each day. I don’t have trouble losing weight if I do those things (the problem is actually doing them!) but many people do have trouble.

The basic premise of the book is that insulin spikes (the body’s natural reaction when we dump a lot of blood-sugar-producing carbs into it) cause weight gain or discourage weight loss. Keep the insulin regulated, they say, and you’ll be much more likely to lose weight.

How do you keep the insulin spikes to a minimum? Stop eating loads of carbs by themselves. Don’t get me wrong: this is not a low-carb book. The specific solution the book recommends is pairing your carbs with proteins. Eating protein at the same time as (or right before) carbs regulates your blood sugar, which in turn, regulates your insulin.

In practical terms, this means that if I’m about to eat popcorn (I love those Pop Secret 100-calorie packs), I have a string cheese right beforehand. It means having chicken with your pasta, instead of just pasta. The book has lots of great suggestions for specific foods to eat, as well as recipes for balanced meals.

As I mentioned before, I don’t show any of the symptoms of being “Insulin Resistant”, but I believe this is a good concept for anyone seeking to eat more healthfully. I have a hard time finding an appealing protein, sometimes, so I can’t say I’m a perfect follower of the plan, but I do try to “link” my carbs with some proteins more regularly now. I figure that doing it 50% or 75% of the time is still a whole lot better than 0%!

If you don’t have any reason to believe you’re insulin resistant, I’d say that this is something to keep in mind: try to eat 7 grams of protein for every 15 grams of carbohydrates. If you think you might be insulin resistant (particularly if the weight just won’t go down despite good exercise and eating habits), you should probably get this book.

ShareThis