Hello, I'm Monica Reinagel, and you're listening to The Nutrition Diva Podcast Welcome.

Amy asks, has anyone ever considered the correlation between undiagnosed insulin resistance

and binge eating or emotional overeating?

You know what?

To be honest, I had never considered this connection before Amy asked me about it, but

in fact, researchers have detected an association between decreased insulin sensitivity or insulin

resistance and binge eating disorder.

These two conditions frequently occur together, but we're still not sure exactly how they

are linked.

So first, just a quick review, what is insulin resistance?

Insulin is a hormone that's secreted by the pancreas when your blood sugar goes up,

typically after you eat.

And its job is to clear that glucose out of the blood and into your cells so it can

be either used or stored for future use.

But when our cells become less sensitive to the effects of insulin, the glucose just keeps

circulating in the blood, leading to high blood sugar, and decreased insulin sensitivity

is often a precursor to type 2 diabetes.

Things that increase your risk for insulin resistance include genetic predisposition, sedentary

lifestyle as a big factor, and excess body weight, especially if you tend to carry your

weight around the middle, around your waist.

However, it is possible to develop insulin resistance even if you are normal weight, and

it's also possible to have excess weight without being insulin resistant.

...