shivering through summer
hey read this got it off off a lc'er site Shivering Through the Summer...
by liz pavek
...is a symptom, and is very common in hyperinsulinism/ insulin resistance. It is caused by insufficient glycogen being accepted into the cells to maintain body heat. When you are insulin resistant, your cells either lose or mutate their insulin receptors (probably both), which causes them to refuse the insulin/glycogen loads that arrive from the liver. This condition is known as insulin resistance. The body creates more and more insulin (hyperinsulinism) in answer to the cells' cries for glycogen, and the vicious cycle repeats and repeats: More insulin, fewer receptors, starved cells, cries for glycogen, carbohydrate consumption, more insulin, and on and on. A diet high in carbohydrate and low in protein and fat will yield this phenomenon.
You will know when you are getting sufficient calories, protein, and fat when your fingers warm up, since the body "shuts down" the extremities in order to shunt all possible heat and energy to the brain, heart, lungs, and other internal organs. The thyroid gland is frequently underactive, and a good course of supplementation and therapy can restore function here.
The longer the high-carbohydrate diet continues, the worse the body's resistance to insulin becomes. It becomes hyper-efficient at conserving and storing energy, since the perverted diet deprives it of the proper nutrients. The body interprets this situation as starvation, and goes into "CONSERVE AT ALL COSTS!!" mode, a situation that means that "unimportant" areas of the body, like fingers, toes, nose, and skin, are given very low priority, while every possible calorie of energy is stored as fat to be meted out carefully to maintain brain function, heart/lung action, and core temperature. This produces the unhappy condition of gaining fat while literally slowly starving to death. (Stored body fat does NOT mean that a person is not dying of malnutrition and starvation, if all possible caloric energy is being diverted to produce nothing but more fat.)
As soon as you correct your diet, your body will respond by restoring insulin receptors on the cells. The more receptor sites, the more insulin/glycogen can be admitted, and the more body heat there will be available for skin, fingers, and toes.
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