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Ivan's Newsletter
March 1, 2007 -- Issue 024
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This issue includes...

* What Does Exactly "Insulin Resistance" Mean?

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This is going to be a short one just to
explain in a few minutes reading time what the
term "Insulin Resistance" means.

If you read any literature on fitness, bodybuilding
and nutrition, or any health related literature
for that matter you must have encountered this
phrase not once or twice.

If you are still confused about its meaning you
shouldn't miss reading the following few paragraphs.

If you don't care to learn something that is
relevant to the sport of bodybuilding, muscle
anabolism, fat loss, and most importantly GOOD
HEALTH feel free to close this message.

So, let's begin, shall we?

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What Does Exactly "Insulin Resistance" Mean?
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I know time is an issue this days, so I'm going to
spare you the intro words. I'm going to start
with the actual info right away.

Here it goes:

You have certainly heard about Insulin Resistance,
and you might have also heard this other term -
Insulin Sensitivity.

They both actually mean the same thing. Well, almost.
Let me explain.

Insulin sensitivity and Insulin resistance both
refer to how well your body cells respond to
the hormone insulin.

I ought to give you a little of a background info
before I proceed.

Insulin is a hormone, released by the pancreas
when blood sugar levels raise.

It is one of the most anabolic hormones in the
human body. That means there is hardly any other
hormone that builds muscle mass faster than insulin.

The bad thing is it's also the hormone that activates
the chain of processes, leading to fat deposition.

That's why the only time (arguably, but that's
a whole another topic) when you might benefit
from higher insulin levels is the 2-hour period
after intense training.

End of the background info and back to what
I was saying...

So, if you are insulin resistant (or insulin
insensitive) that simply means the cells in your
muscles, liver and fat tissue don't respond
well enough to the circulating insulin.

Consequently insulin and sugar levels in
your circulation rise, which leads to the
pancreas being forced to produce even more
insulin.

Fact is insulin resistance is just one step
below diabetes type II.

The difference between insulin resistance and
diabetes is the first is a condition where the
target receptors in the cells all around the body
don't react well enough to insulin stimulation.

The second, your pancreas wears out and doesn't
produce enough insulin adequate to the blood
sugar levels, or even stops producing insulin
all together.

But, how does this apply to our sport?

Remember when I said that insulin is one of
the strongest anabolic hormones?

Now, if you are insulin sensitive (the opposite
of resistant) that means two things - you can
easily put on more muscle mass when high insulin
levels (and blood sugar levels) are present, BUT
YOU CAN ALSO GAIN FAT EVEN QICKER THAN GAINING
MUSCLE!

If you are insulin resistant, you don't put
on muscle and get fat as easily as if you
were insulin sensitive, BUT you are predisposed
to developing diabetes type II.

So, neither case is favorable for us unless
there was a way to increase insulin sensitivity
in muscle tissue, and increase insulin
resistance (decrease sensitivity) in adipose
(fat) cells.

Here is the thing...

This can be achieved to some (although minimal)
degree.

Without getting into details here, I am going to
only tell you that the neurotransmitter Norepinephrine
(Noradrenaline), which is one of the main factors
for fat loss, stimulates the release of another
peptide, which in its turn may increase insulin
sensitivity in muscles and decrease it in fat
tissue.

The obvious conclusion is if you want to be
less prone to putting on fat and more prone to
building muscle... ...START LOOSING FAT.

I know it sounds somewhat awkward and even
absurd, but this is the simple logic behind
all that.

But, any way, the idea of this article simply
was to explain what insulin resistance
(sensitivity) is.

I hope I helped you understand all that. And with
that all I have left to say is...

Until next time, when I will have a SURPRISE for
you.

Yours,

Ivan Nikolov

P.S. Iif you liked the FREE info
in this newsletter I'd really appreciate it if
you did something for me, too.

It'll be really nice if you spend a minute to
write a couple of words, which I can use as a
testimonial on my web site. Adding a photo
can provide even more value to what you have
to say.

If you care to do that simply using the "Contact Ivan"
option below with the subject line "Here is my testimonial".
I will email you back with my personal email so that you
can attach the photo that you want me to use
on my web site.

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Copyright 2007 by IvanNikolov.com.
All rights reserved.
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