The InsulinResistance Diet

If you are struggling with weight loss, you are not alone. Two out of three Americans are now considered overweight even though so many of us are forever counting calories and fat grams. But as Cheryle R. Hart and Mary Kay Grossman explain, a medical condition called insulin resistance may be the cause of your weight-loss woes.

A complex relationship exists between food, blood sugar, insulin, and fat. Insulin helps the body transform food into energy and regulate blood sugar levels. When we eat carbohydrates, the body breaks them down into sugar (glucose) to be used as energy. If you have more glucose than your body needs, your body will respond by producing more insulin: the insulin will stabilize your blood sugar level by storing the excess glucose as fat, and this means weight gain. This process is accelerated in people with insulin resistance because they have higher baseline levels of insulin.

So, is the solution to insulin resistance omitting carbohydrates from our diet? Such a diet is neither healthy nor satisfying. Carbohydrates are our bodies' main source of energy and are an excellent source of both antioxidants, which help prevent disease, and fiber, which is essential for proper digestion. Our natural desire for carbohydrates would be difficult to deny. The Insulin-Resistance Diet offers an alternative.

The Insulin-Resistance Diet is really not a diet book at all--it's an eating guide. It allows you to eat all the foods you like in the proper amounts and still control insulin resistance and lose weight. Inside you will find the following features:

• Link-and-Balance Eating Method--links and balances carbohydrates with the right amount of protein at the right time for maximum weight loss
• Self-tests--to determine if you have insulin resistance and to check your progress with linking and balancing
• Food lists--include most foods and serving sizes
• Real-world strategies--provide complete meal plans and snack ideas, lists of name-brand convenience foods, and linked-and-balanced restaurant items
• Recipes--more than forty-five delicious, healthful, and easy-to-make recipes

These features together with in-depth sections on fitness and on understanding our relationship with food comprise a total weight-loss and weight-management program--one that is simple to follow and guarantees success.

Cheryle R. Hart, M.D., is the founder of the Women's Workshop, a medical weight-loss clinic in Spokane, Washington. Mary Kay Grossman, R.D., is the nutritional advisor and director of the Women's Workshop.