Insulin Resistance

[Nic]

Hi, my youngest son, not my Celiac, has had a life time (5 years to be exact) of developmental delays. He was born big at 10 pounds 8 ounces and I was borderline gestational diabetes during pregnancy. He gains weight at a crazy speed even though he does not eat too much. As a matter of fact he eats less than the other kids in the family. His thyroid has been tested as well as for diabetes, all negative. He has now gained 10 pounds between Sept. and now which is alarming as it puts him at 70 pounds at 5 years old. All of the weight is localized in the belly area. From behind he appears thin until he turns around and you see his front. We saw a nutritionist yesterday who said that based on his history, the belly weight, and the dark patch on his arm she believes he is insulin resistant. Has anyone ever had a problem with this? And can you test negative for diabetes but be insulin resistant?

Nicole

[Ursa Major]

There is a definite possibility of him being gluten intolerant as well. He may have the same problem I used to have, the less I ate, the more I gained. Most doctors don't understand that unexplained weight gain can also be a sign of malnourishment!

Also, gluten intolerance and eating gluteny carbs can CAUSE insulin resistance I believe. The best thing you can do for him is to put him on a low carb, gluten-free diet. And I mean, no carbs other than what he gets from vegetables (which are all the carbs anybody needs, anyway). No sugar, no flour of any kind, no starches, no cereals. Just meat, vegetables, limited fruits (too high in sugar for the most part, except for apples), nuts, no juice at all. Just water and teas (fruit tea, mint and chamomile) to drink.

But please don't make the mistake of limiting his saturated fat intake! Of course, you don't want to give him anything hydrogenated. The healthiest fat is cold pressed, non-hydrogenated coconut oil. And cod liver oil (to get those essential fatty acids, without which no cell in our body will function). People who use a good amount of those fats LOSE weight. It is the carbs and sugar that are the enemy, not fat.

[Morrisun]

Although my bloodwork always comes back "normal" I have issues with insulin resistance due to PCOS. At one point I was barely eating 1000 calories a day, plus exercising and I couldn't even lose a single pound. It was so ridiculous! I started taking metformin and went from 196 to 163 in about 4 months.

You might want to look into some glycemic index diet books.

[MyMississippi]

There are blood tests that will test insulin levels. You may want to have your son tested for this. Though he seems young to have this problem.

It's possible to have normal blood sugar levels, but the insulin levels are ABOVE normal. Most people are never tested for insulin levels------------------

The thinking is that some people for whatever reason ( usually a life time of high carb diet) secrete so much insulin to take care of the sugar in the blood stream, that the cells eventually become resistant to insulin. And they could later become diabetics also.

[Nic]

There are blood tests that will test insulin levels. You may want to have your son tested for this. Though he seems young to have this problem.

It's possible to have normal blood sugar levels, but the insulin levels are ABOVE normal. Most people are never tested for insulin levels------------------

The thinking is that some people for whatever reason ( usually a life time of high carb diet) secrete so much insulin to take care of the sugar in the blood stream, that the cells eventually become resistant to insulin. And they could later become diabetics also.

Since he has hypotonia (poor muscle tone) his mouth muscles are very week. He cannot chew well and since pasta is easy to swallow, he pretty much only ate pasta for the paste 5 years (with the exception of fruits and vegetables but it was pasta everyday). It was a bad habit but it was a way to get him to eat. Meanwhile since he doesn't chew well he swallows his food either whole or after a couple of bites. The nutritionist thinks this is contributing to the problem because the digestion that should begin in the mouth is not. I don't know, this is new to me. So we are now limiting the sugar, adding (trying anyway) more protein into his diet as well as fiber (I don't know why but she said to do that too) and getting him more excersize. We are going to an endocrinologist in a few weeks. I will try what ever they tell me to stop this from happening to him.

Nicole

[HouseKat]

Although my bloodwork always comes back "normal" I have issues with insulin resistance due to PCOS. At one point I was barely eating 1000 calories a day, plus exercising and I couldn't even lose a single pound. It was so ridiculous! I started taking metformin and went from 196 to 163 in about 4 months.

You might want to look into some glycemic index diet books.

Jennifer,

Did your doctor put you on metformin strictly for weight control? I also have PCOS and have heard that metformin would help, but my doc said that he would only put me on it if I were wanting to conceive. Not sure what the metformin/pregnancy connection is...

Kate