If you’re striving to get a leaner body, one thing that you will want to be focusing on is doing whatever you can to boost your insulin sensitivity. This is going to refer to how well your body handles the carbohydrates that you consume on a day to day basis.
If you have good insulin sensitivity, you are more likely to utilize those carbohydrates for energy or shuttle them off into the muscle cells.
If you have poor insulin sensitivity, you can say hello to fat gain.
Clearly it’s not what you want, so taking steps to increase this factor of your health is vital to your success.
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How can you do that?
Try one of the following strategies.
Take Fish Oil
Fish oil is like the wonder drug you must make sure you aren’t missing out on. Not only will this nutrient help ward off diseases such as cancer, heart disease, and stroke, but it will also help to reduce your chances of diabetes while helping boost insulin sensitivity in the process.
While you can focus on just eating more omega fats in your diet plan alone, most people are not consuming enough to really see positive benefits therefore supplementation is wise.
2-5 grams (capsules) of fish oil daily will get you covered. Of all the supplements you should be using, this one would be it.
Resistance Train
Resistance training is the next best method to boost your insulin sensitivity. Continually depleting and then replenishing your muscle glycogen through intense weight lifting activity will make your body extra sensitive to incoming carbohydrates in the time period afterward.
Resistance training is also going to be ideal for boosting your overall lean muscle mass, which then also protects against fat gain in the future, which would have negative implications on your insulin sensitivity level.
You’ll only need to do 2-3 sessions of resistance training per week to see benefits, so it’s not a huge time-commitment activity.
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Drink Green Tea
Green tea offers a double whammy of benefits as far as fat loss and getting leaner is concerned. First, it’s going to boost your metabolic rate, allowing you to burn more calories every minute of the day. This then creates a higher total calorie deficit during the day, allowing fat loss to progress along more quickly.
That’s not all though. In addition to that, one journal published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition illustrated that those who consumed green tea regularly showed both a decrease in fasting glucose levels as well as an increase in insulin sensitivity.
Plus the hot liquid can help calm your hunger pains, allowing you to more easily stick to your fat loss diet plan. Just be sure you aren’t going and adding sugar to your green tea or you will offset the health benefits.
Start Adding Cinnamon To Your Dishes
One spice that you should be seriously considering using, especially if weight loss is the goal is cinnamon. Not only is this a sweeter tasting spice, so you may be able to reduce how much sugar you take in, but it can also boost insulin sensitivity rates and help your body better manage any carbohydrates that you are consuming.
It’s a perfect spice to add to your morning bowl of oatmeal, into your protein pancakes, or even added into your coffee if you prefer to take it in that way.
As it’s completely calorie-free, there’s no reason not to be adding it to your diet plan.
So there you have a few of the top ways to boost your insulin sensitivity levels. Taking steps now, even if you don’t have a body weight problem or are at risk for diabetes will pay off in the long run. If nothing else, having good insulin sensitivity can help you stay leaner over the long-term, so as you go about your training, you can feel better about how you look and avoid having to do long drawn-out periods of fat loss after focusing on muscle gain.
