As the body ages and uses insulin with less speed and finesse, the body can weaken. This impaired use of insulin by the body is known as insulin resistance. It’s widely regarded as a gateway condition. When it persists without lifestyle adaptations to assist the body in dealing with its slower uptake of insulin, it is a condition that makes it all too easy for the host to develop type two diabetes. This slowed uptake, also referred to as metabolic inflexibility, can further lead to morbid obesity and even cardiovascular disease. Fortunately, though it isn’t so much needed in modern times, human bodies have a capacity to go for short to more prolonged periods of abstinence from food. Our ancestral DNA developed this ability. Because of this ability, our cells can switch between burning glucose and burning stored fat in times of scarcity. The body’s ability to switch with ease from sugar as a primary nutrient source over to stored fat is what makes metabolic systems flexible, besides promoting strength and longevity. An inflexible metabolic system that has been inundated with glucose and has not had many if any periods of switching over to stored fat for its nutritive needs is not a health asset. Fasting induces the switch from high insulin use to burning stored fat instead. The forced switch aids the body in developing, or gradually restoring metabolic flexibility. Going for smaller calorie and carbohydrate intakes and allying this strategy wiht more regular exercise alao constitutes a proven strategy for creating greater metabolic flexibility.
Key Takeaways:
- Mitochondria’s ability to adapt to different food sources defines metabolic flexibility.
- Fasting slows down insulin secretion and causes the body to reduce mobilize fat as fuel.
- Regular exercise and eating less (even fasting) will improve metabolic flexibility.
“the loss of metabolic flexibility is a hallmark of many chronic metabolic diseases”
