Glucose is your body's main dietary source of energy. The hormone insulin helps your body utilize it efficiently. If you have insulin resistance, also called metabolic syndrome, your body doesn't react to or use insulin properly. In response, your body produces more glucose, increasing your risk for diabetes and related complications. Aggressively altering your lifestyle, according to MayoClinic.com, can help manage insulin resistance and improve your overall health. For best results, seek specified guidance from your doctor or dietitian.
Function
An appropriate diet for managing insulin resistance serves multiple functions. Your diet should lower your risk for heart disease and type 2 diabetes and bring your LDL, or "bad," cholesterol, blood pressure and glucose down to healthy levels, according to the American Heart Association. By reducing your overall caloric intake, your diet should also help you reach or maintain a healthy body weight and body mass index (BMI). An optimum diet also promotes your overall nutritional wellness and energy levels.
Guidelines
Eating a well-balanced diet can help ensure positive nutrient intake and energy levels. To accomplish this, incorporate healthy foods from each necessary food group, including complex carbohydrates, lean protein and healthy fats, into your meals and snacks. Emphasizing vegetables, fruits, fish and whole grains while limiting unhealthy fats can enhance weight loss and wellness, according to MayoClinic.com. Eat meals and snacks at regular time intervals to prevent low energy, irritability and excessive hunger. Stay properly hydrated by drinking water throughout each day.
Optimum Foods
While a broad range of foods suit an insulin resistance-friendly diet, particular foods may provide exceptional benefits. Steel-cut oats and long-grain brown rice, for example, often provide more fiber, protein and nutrients than bread containing whole wheat flour. As an undigestible carbohydrate, fiber promotes healthy digestion and appetite control. Fruits and vegetables also provide fiber. Since they contain fewer calories and more nutrients than processed snack foods, such as candy and pretzels, choose colorful produce more often. Particular fiber-rich varieties include berries, citrus fruits, leafy greens, broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage and winter squash. Cold-water fish, such as salmon, tuna and herring, are high in protein (which also promotes fullness) and in omega-3 fatty acids, healthy fats linked with positive cholesterol levels and overall heart-health. The American Heart Association recommends eating 3.5 ounces of fish, preferably cold-water varieties, at least twice weekly. Additional lean protein sources include skinless white-meat poultry, legumes and low-fat dairy products. Other suppliers of healthy fat include nuts, seeds, avocados and olive oil.
Foods to Avoid
Enriched flour products and high-sugar foods and beverages may disrupt your glucose levels, particularly if you consume them in large quantities or without other slower-digesting foods. These foods can further increase your risk for type 2 diabetes, cardiovascular disease and obesity, according to the Linus Pauling Institute at Oregon State University. Foods rich in saturated fat, such as red and processed meats, deep-fried foods and whole milk products, may also contribute to weight gain and heart problems. Though modest amounts of "treat" foods, such as sugary desserts, won't likely damage your health, try to avoid them if you have difficulty controlling your portion sizes.
