You already know “eat less, move more” doesn’t work. If it did, the 90% of you who have tried dieting, would be slim and healthy by now.

It’s depressing; demotivating and feels like a personal failure.

Let me give you a treasure map of knowledge instead.

Today we’re talking about insulin resistance.  This causes metabolic syndrome – symptoms that include high blood pressure, high blood sugar, high blood fats (triglycerides) and high cholesterol.

The root cause is sugar, and starchy foods like bread, pasta and rice.  These contain glucose molecules strung together.  When you digest them, they turn straight back into glucose.

Insulin packs that sticky stuff away quickly and safely into your muscle and fat cells.  You only need a teaspoonful of glucose in your bloodstream – a portion of rice and your blood sugar rockets up by 10 teaspoonfuls!  So up goes your insulin, even further; your blood sugar plunges down and you get hungry again.

Artificial sweeteners trick your body – it expects sugar, so it releases insulin anyway.

Fructose in fizzy drinks is even worse.  Fructose does not suppress grehlin, the hunger hormone, so you drink the sugary calories, then eat even more.

Only your liver can process fructose.  It turns it into triglyceride fat, driving belly fat and a fatty liver.  It then struggles to process glucose, leading to high blood sugars and even more insulin, to try to cope.

High insulin hides leptin from you, your hormone that says “Enough!” so you continue eating.

Insulin stops you burning your fat stores. Even on a low calorie diet, if you eat carbohydrates you will generate insulin, be hungry, cold and stop losing weight because your metabolism is driven down instead.

Chronic stress also makes your liver create more fat.  A fatty liver drives high blood pressure and cholesterol – it’s a vicious cycle.

What to do?

Fight for your life with your fork.

Eat low carbohydrate foods – a rainbow of vegetables, fish, meat, eggs, nuts, seeds, beans and fruit.

Half a plateful of greens; a quarter of protein; a quarter of whole foods such as, nuts, beans, root vegetables or whole grains, for fibre. Add olive oil dressing or butter.

Fats will not raise your insulin levels; they will leave you feeling satisfied.

Your insulin will reduce and you will let the weight go.  Result.