Friday, June 27, 2008

For people who suffer from insulin resistance

For those who don't know, a la Wikipedia: "Insulin resistance is the condition in which normal amounts of insulin are inadequate to produce a normal insulin response from fat, muscle and liver cells." So basically the body over compensates and produces WAY too much insulin and since insulin is a hormone, too much of it affects the production of other hormones.

The most common way of treating insulin resistance, per information given me by my nurse practicioner, is threefold: diet (eat foods high in protein and fiber/low in fat and sugar), exercise (who doesn't need more exercise?) and a medication called Metformin or Glucophage. The medication makes the insulin receptors more sensitive, thus reducing the need for an excess amount of insulin in the bloodstream. Unfortunately the drug has some uncomfortable side effects including nausea and abdominal cramping. I have thus been looking for some natural cures and stumbled across this interesting coffee alternative: Teecino herbal coffee.

According to the FAQ on the website: "Another factor that may explain why people experience an energy lift from Teeccino is the pinitol that is naturally present in carob pods. Pinitol has been shown to act like insulin by making cells receptive to taking in glycogen, the energy component in the blood. The natural pinitol in carob may help people who are insulin resistant by increasing the ability of their muscles to use glycogen." Interesting, no?

Now for the experiment: I will try this "herbal coffee" and see how I feel over a period of weeks and/or months. This isn't a very scientific way of doing things, but the worst that could come out of it is that I get to drink a great coffee alternative every day. I will update again as soon as the "experiment" begins.

1 comment:

tebazele said...

Carrie, this is awesome! Good luck with the experiment. :)