10 Prediabetes Signs You MUST Know Before It Is Too Late: Understanding Insulin Resistance and Early Detection

This podcast episode highlights pre-diabetes, also known as insulin resistance, as the single greatest hidden health threat globally, affecting an estimated 88 million people in the U.S. alone, with 90% unaware of their condition. The speaker emphasizes that insulin resistance is a gradient, not a binary state, and that conventional blood sugar tests (like fasting glucose) are often insufficient for early diagnosis because the body works hard to keep glucose levels stable until the system is severely compromised. Instead, measuring fasting insulin levels is presented as a far more accurate and early indicator of the body's struggle to maintain glucose homeostasis.

The episode details ten critical signs and symptoms of pre-diabetes and insulin resistance. These include elevated fasting insulin (which should be the primary diagnostic marker), post-meal fatigue, poor wound healing, numbness and tingling due to peripheral neuropathy, kidney damage from micro vessel disease, blurred vision caused by retinopathy, joint pain and arthritis stemming from inflammation, unexplained weight gain, and persistent hunger despite increased energy reserves. Each symptom is explained in terms of its underlying physiological mechanism linked to chronic high glucose and insulin levels.

The speaker also debunks common misconceptions, clarifying that frequent urination and extreme thirst are signs of full-blown, uncontrolled type 2 diabetes, not pre-diabetes. Similarly, while digestive issues may be associated, they are more likely due to dysbiosis from poor diet rather than being directly caused by insulin resistance. A crucial distinction is made regarding joint pain, explaining that it's primarily an inflammatory response to insulin resistance, not solely a consequence of excess weight. The episode strongly links the rise of insulin resistance to the Standard American Diet, characterized by processed foods, high sugar, and white flour.

Ultimately, the podcast serves as an urgent call to action, stressing the importance of early detection and intervention to prevent progression to type 2 diabetes and its severe complications, including amputations, kidney failure, and blindness. It advocates for a paradigm shift in health monitoring, moving beyond just glucose to actively measure insulin levels. The speaker concludes by noting that while insulin resistance is a major contributor to health problems for most people, it's not the sole factor, and even individuals with normal body weight can be pre-diabetic or type 2 diabetic, underscoring the pervasive nature of this metabolic challenge.

Pre-diabetes also known as insulin resistance affect about 88 million people in the us today and even though the us is sort of the worst in the world so far, the rest of the world is catching up rather quickly.

And the thing we have to understand about insulin resistance is that it's not a condition that you either have it or you don't it's a gradient it's a question of where are you on the scale...

But the way the body keeps it down is with insulin so if we measured insulin we would see how hard is the body working at keeping it down that's a true measure of insulin resistance.

So now instead of the food providing energy you have to use energy to dispose of the carbs because they can't stay in the bloodstream that's dangerous for the brain we have to control this blood sugar so the body has to use energy to convert the glucose into triglycerides and this is why triglycerides or blood fats will get high when you eat glucose.

Type 2 diabetes is the number one cause of amputations and you're not going to get amputations in pre-diabetes but that's why it's so important to understand the process and change it early.

Instead insulin resistance causes inflammation and this inflammation causes the joint pain and the arthritis because whether it's osteoarthritis or rheumatoid arthritis it's an inflammatory condition.

We know this because that's the purpose of insulin insulin lowers blood glucose it guides that glucose into the cell where a tiny bit can be stored as carbohydrate and most of it gets stored as fat that's the purpose...

This is the real problem this is why we can't control our behavior that's why it's not about calories it's about insulin and insulin resistance.

You can become pre-diabetic and type 2 diabetic with a normal body weight.

It is 80 or so of the problem for most people but it's not the only problem.