Human body is a beautiful work of nature, it is a work in progress. The first human being (homo erectus) has been identified some 2.5 million years ago (Australopithecus). We have evolved for millions of years to achieve a state of dynamic equilibria that we see it as of today.
Food has always been in scarcity since ages, but only post Industrial Revolution, the trend has taken a drastic turn. Agriculture was the first deviation from the trend, wherein Food was grown in an organized manner, making it more predictable.
As far as evolution is concerned, Food has always been unpredictable. This was so for millions of years, precisely how human body started evolving. The body started evolving in such a manner so as to store fat, generate and burn energy slowly. This is where the body got better adapted to Fat and Protein as primary dietary sources. Carbohydrates, which when broken down into glucose molecules provides an Instant shot of energy. The ingested food which has carbohydrates gets broken down to glucose.
Carbohydrates are actually classified as non-essential nutrient, meaning in the absence of carbohydrates, body can not only survive, but thrive by making its own source of glucose through a process known as “Gluconeogenesis”. However, it is recommended to get our share of carbohydrates from diet.
Glucose -The Boon and the Bane
Glucose acts like a double edged sword, literally every cell in the body needs it to produce energy in the mitochondria through a cellular respiration process that generates ATP. Glucose needs to move into Cells from the Blood. Too much of glucose in the blood can be toxic. A healthy human being cannot generally handle more than one teaspoonful of Sugar in the Blood. This is precisely the reason, Insulin is secreted in the Pancreatic beta cells. This hormone acts like a delivery agent with the right set of keys that could open the doors inside the cells. Every cell has an insulin receptor which when unlocked with the Insulin hormone, opens up and receives the glucose. Effectively, excess glucose is now pushed out from the Blood to within the cells, thereby maintaining homeostasis of glucose levels in the blood.
What happens when we overdo the process. I generally like to see it the way of Lock and Key mechanism. When we use the key excessively, it gets deformed and over time may not work so efficiently with the lock. A similar thing happens in our bodies.
The concept of Resistance
This is the quality inherent in nature. For instance, when we hear a particular sound, noise of moving cars near our home, we do this long enough and bodies inherently become resistant to that sound, we no longer are disturbed it. We tend to focus on what is needed. This is exactly what happens with Insulin.
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When we eat foods with a higher Glycemic Index(GI), there is a spike in the Insulin levels and the idea as explained before is to push the excess glucose in the blood to the cells. Repeated spikes in the Insulin levels and the cells over a period of time become resistant to Insulin and start refusing to accept glucose in them. This means, the cells become glucose deficient and the energy generation process in the mitochondria of the cells through a process known as ATP suffers and there is a build up of excess glucose in the blood, a condition now very well known as Type-2 Diabetes.
As seen in the chart, we see different types of food have different impact on the Insulin levels in the body. Foods rich in Carbohydrates have the maximum impact in terms of the Insulin Spikes. Protein provides a more sustained source of energy with moderate to little spike in Insulin, Fat seems by far the best. A diet high in carbohydrates will also be naturally high GI.
The first thing to hit our bodies in the morning should ideally then be Protein and Fat. Most of the problems we see in the society today and most of the metabolic issues have their roots in Insulin Resistance.
Does it not merit then to understand this process and make our bodies move from the state of Insulin Resistance to Insulin Sensitivity. How Insulin Resistance impacts our Oxygen transportation mechanism and other such effects makes up the material for Part 2 of the series.
I would like to extend my gratitude to our Coach and Mentor Smt. Rajeshwari Seeba and our community which first inspired me to know and bring a write up.