Most people trying to lose weight focus on calories, carbs, or willpower. But there’s a much more powerful factor that determines how easily your body can burn fat: insulin (or what I call the forgotten hormone).
Insulin is your body’s “storage hormone.” When it’s high, your body is locked into fat-storage mode and can’t easily shift into fat-burning mode. We use it to assess your “carbohydrate metabolism“. Many people — especially those struggling to lose weight — walk around with chronically high insulin, a condition called hyperinsulinemia.
Here’s the surprising part: 👉 Most medical doctors only test glucose, never insulin. And glucose can look perfectly normal even when insulin is sky-high.
That means thousands of people are told their blood sugar is “fine” while their insulin is quietly working against their metabolism every day.
Hyperinsulinemia = Weight Loss Resistance
When insulin is elevated:
- Your body stores more fat (especially belly fat)
- Fat burning slows down
- Appetite and cravings increase
- Energy crashes become more common
- Weight loss becomes extremely difficult — even with a “perfect” diet
You can’t burn fat efficiently when insulin is holding the brakes.
Hyperinsulinemia vs. Insulin Resistance — What’s the Difference?
These two terms are often used interchangeably, but they aren’t the same. Hyperinsulinemia means your insulin is too high. Insulin resistance means your cells don’t respond well to insulin, so your body pumps out even more of it to compensate. Many people actually have both at the same time — high insulin because their cells aren’t responding properly, and worsening insulin resistance because insulin stays elevated for too long. This combination is one of the biggest drivers of stubborn weight gain, belly fat, cravings, and energy crashes.
The Insulin-Glucose Challenge: A $28 Test That Changes Everything
A simple, inexpensive blood test — fasting insulin — reveals the truth about your metabolism. Paired with fasting glucose, it helps calculate your HOMA-IR score, which shows how insulin-resistant your body is.
This one test can explain:
- Why weight loss has stalled
- Why you feel hungry all the time
- Why you gain weight easily
- Why your energy fluctuates
Once we know your pattern, we can set up your diet and lifestyle to match what your body is currently telling us. Questions this test can help answer are ones like:
- How many carbs should I eat?
- Would intermittent fasting be good for me?
- Should I consider weight loss medications or supplement support?
- How severe is my hyperinsulemia and insulin resistance?
Why You Should Test Insulin in Both the Fasting and Fed State
Many people look normal while fasting but have huge insulin spikes after eating, especially after carbohydrates. Testing both fasting and fed-state insulin (usually 1–2 hours after a meal) shows how your body actually handles food in real life. This matters because some people have:
- Normal fasting insulin but sky-high post-meal insulin
- Or high fasting insulin but a normal glucose level (often missed)
Both patterns tell you a lot about your metabolic flexibility — and whether your body is stuck in fat-storage mode. With this test, we can easily find out if this is you and the EXACT changes you should be making to help your body.
And the best part: this test is affordable, quick, and available to all my patients via Lifelabs.
xo, Dr. Tanya
Trusted Naturopathic Doctor since 2017
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