Insulin Resistance, Immunity and Coronavirus

Does Insulin Resistance affect how our immune system responds? This is a question I have been asking myself over and over again everyday. You see, my Insulin Resistance can get very bad at times if I do not control what I put into my body. With the

I say MY Insulin Resistance because it is part of who I am. I will never be able to reverse it and so I have to learn to live with it. In the past month I have definitely been eating my emotions away. Baking brownies and cakes to help calm me down does not help either as it adds to the waist line, pushes up inflammation and just makes me feel worse than I did before. Sugar's role in making me feel better is so fleeting. The Coronavirus pandemic has me feeling a lot more worried, anxious and angry with world in general so the added stress to my system has not been helping.

We all know how stress can impact our immune systems. You hear it all the time: Stress decreases the immune response. So that got me thinking. What about Insulin resistance, Metabolic syndrome and Inflammation? Surely they must also contribute to a reduced immune response?

Now, the purpose of this blog piece is not to scare you or get you even more stressed, even though as I write it I am extremely worried about my health and how I would cope if I caught the dreaded Coronavirus (God forbid). I have recurring thoughts and nightmares that I will catch the virus and won't be able to fight it off, leaving behind my family and my little boy who now brings me so much joy. I worry that I was selfish and brought him into a world that is so flawed and at the verge of destruction, but I digress.

I have been doing a little research lately and came across a couple of articles that touch on Insulin Resistance and how that would affect the immune responses in the body. A particular study has shown that when they removed the Insulin Receptor from T cells in mice, in order to simulate Insulin Resistance of T cells, they found that the T cells were unable to receive a boost from Insulin and therefore were unable to fight off infections.

Basically, the T cells are cells in the immune system that kill off cells in the body that are infected with Bacteria, Cancer or Viruses like Bird flu or in our case now, Covid-19 (Coronavirus)

Now I want to put it into simple terms: Insulin Resistance, as I have explained before means that cells in the body can not receive supplies of glucose or energy into the cell as they are resistant to the signals received from Insulin, right?

T cells and any other cells that are used for an Immune response are still cells at the end of the day. If studies show that the Insulin pathway is used in order to give these important immune cells a boost of energy when needed to fight off infected cells, then being Insulin resistant would mean that these important infection fighting cells would not have enough glucose/energy in order to function. Make sense?

Now I know that not enough human studies have been done to make these findings more concrete as the main study that I am quoting is one that was done on mice. However, it makes perfect sense to me. If all the cells in the body are Insulin Resistant and do not receive enough glucose to function correctly then it would obviously mean that cells that are involved in our immune system would be affected also, thus lowering the immune response in people with Insulin Resistance, Metabolic Syndrome and Type 2 Diabetes. I know I sound repetitive, but I need this to hit home.

Basically what I am trying to say is that in unprecedented times like these, we have a chance to take control of what we put in our bodies and be more mindful of what we are eating. While at home, take some time to maybe think about what you're eating and how it will harm your body on an Immunity level rather than thinking you need to lose weight and set yourself up for failure. Change your mindset.

So, my advice to you (and to myself) of what NOT to eat in order to lower Insulin Resistance:

• Get rid of Sugar in all forms as well as artificial sweeteners.

• Do not use refined oils for cooking.

• Stay away from Gluten.

• Stick to low GI carbohydrates if you must, but I generally think all Carbohydrates must go.

• No fast food or highly processed foods.

I hope I didn't scare any of you with this blog, but I feel like I needed to keep you all informed that there MAY be a higher risk for people like me who live with Insulin Resistance or have other chronic conditions such as Type 2 Diabetes and Hypertension. We all need to be living healthier lifestyles now, even if we are stuck at home losing our minds.

So, my PCOS Warriors, let's all be mindful of what we're putting in our bodies so that we can fight off any infections that come our way.

I hope you and your families are all safe and healthy. Take care of yourself and each other,