My efforts at improving my insulin resistance - the root cause of almost all evil - through my food habits. There is massive amounts of scientific and medical literature that shows how insulin resistance leads to obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, PCOS, and is now implicated even in Alzheimer’s and many other diseases.
Insulin resistance is a complex phenomenon which a short post like this will not do justice to. Instead, I will use this post to discuss practical ways to avoid becoming insulin resistant by specifically focusing on diet. Within that, I will focus on protein intake and leave carbohydrate and fat intake for subsequent posts. Protein seems like an odd choice to begin with, given that excessive carb consumption is the primary culprit of insulin resistance. However, while there is more awareness in general about carbs, better protein management can help with insulin resistance.
Protein consumption has a minimal impact on blood glucose levels compared to carbohydrates, thereby stabilizing blood sugar. It promotes muscle growth, increased calorie expenditure and potentially improved insulin sensitivity. Protein consumption stimulates the release of glucagon, a hormone that opposes insulin's effects. Finally, foods rich in protein promote feelings of fullness and satiety, which can prevent overeating and help control body weight, and therefore insulin resistance.
The most difficult thing for most Indians and almost all vegetarians is that we almost never consume as much protein as our bodies need. The rule of thumb is that the number of grams of protein you need is between 0.8 to 2 times your weight in kg (depending on our level of daily activity); at 1.5 times your weight, most people need 100 grams of protein. To put this in perspective, eating 2 eggs gives you 13 grams of protein, 40 grams of cheese is worth 8 grams of protein, a single serving of any of the Indian dals (lentils) contains about 7 - 10 grams of protein, while a serving of chicken curry contains about 30 grams.
Being a vegetarian primarily but who also eats chicken, here is how I have gotten better at meeting my protein requirements:
1) I start with a breakfast consisting of a bowl of salad, a slice of toast with avocado, two eggs, a small bowl of mixed nuts, cheese, a bowl of mixed berries and a small bowl of yogurt or corn salsa (~35 grams of protein).
2) After my strength training, I have a protein shake using a low-sugar, whey protein powder (30 grams).
3) My dinner could be a Chipotle chicken burrito bowl (54 grams), a chicken crepe with veggies (35 grams), Counter Mediterranean bowl (35 grams) or a homemade rice / roti, dal, veggies (20 - 25 grams).
I use my trusted GeneClinicX app to track my protein consumption for me. Don’t worry if you aren’t tracking it perfectly; at least get a sense for how close you get to your goal (anything within 10%-15% of the goal is good enough). Hope this helps.
14 comments
Srini Vadhri: Very insightful Nickhil Jakatdar – we get too busy and not taking our body (our biggest asset) seriously. GeneClinicX is an awesome app, and guides on nutrition very well. Looking forward for more such posts.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Thanks Srini. Hope you have been well
Deepa Padhye: Nickhil your diet plan looks great, healthy menu and meals for lifestyle. Intake of protein especially for vegetarian can be done through ways you added. Great going for you 👍
Nickhil Jakatdar: Thank you Deepa!
Tejas Deshpande: This is a great post Nickhil! Greens/salad before dinner also helps tremendously to curb blood glucose spikes, followed by protein dinner in my experience.
Nickhil Jakatdar: Thanks Tejas. Greens (fiber) followed by protein and fat and then carbs is a winning formula for improved insulin sensitivity.
Murali Gandluru: Thank you for all these insightful posts, Nickhil!
Nickhil Jakatdar: Thanks Murali. Glad you are finding them useful.
Hemant Joshi: Thanks for sharing!