Insulin Resistance And Women’s Health

There’s a quiet epidemic plaguing the women of the western world. This epidemic is, at least in part, responsible for contributing to drastically damaging women’s health, especially throughout the menopause and beyond. This is the epidemic of insulin resistance.

Insulin resistance probably isn’t something you’ve thought about before, but in this article, I’m going to lay out the case that this particular phenomenon is the most important health issue for women over 40 to address as we move into 2026, if you’re interested in improving your health, fitness and body image. Then, we’re going to talk about what to do about it. Let’s dive in.

Before we go into the intricacies of changing your lifestyle, we need to first discuss what insulin is and why you should care about it in the first place. In plain English, insulin acts as part of a “lock and key” mechanism in our body. When we eat, glucose (sugar) molecules are extracted from our food and circulated through our bloodstream. In order for these molecules to be used as energy, we need to absorb them into cells. But here’s the thing – the cell doors are locked, and glucose can’t enter on its own.

Enter insulin. Insulin is released in response to a rise in blood glucose, and acts as the “key” that unlocks the door of each cell to absorb the glucose molecules for use as energy. Without insulin, your cells can’t use energy. It’s a little like a car that has access to a petrol station, but the fuel cap is locked. More and more petrol won’t solve the problem; we need a key to unlock the cap so it can actually be used as fuel. Insulin is essential for this reason. It allows our body to use the food we take in as fuel for life. Without fuel, our cells begin to wither and die, and eventually, so do we.

Now we’ve gone over what insulin is, it’s time to cover what insulin resistance means and what it means for you. Insulin resistance is where the metaphorical key (insulin) stops working as well in the lock (the cell). This means the cell door remains locked and the cell is effectively unable to take on energy. To be clear – an insulin resistant body is still responsive to insulin, it’s just that the body takes longer to respond. If left unchecked, however, insulin resistance can lead to type 2 diabetes, which is where the body stops responding to insulin altogether.

Insulin resistance is caused by an excess of insulin hitting cell receptors too frequently. The cells are effectively bombarded by insulin and eventually, kind of just, go on strike. This is particularly true of diets that are rich in sugary carbohydrates, as insulin rises the most in response to this type of food.

It’s not just food that can cause an insulin response, however. Chronic stress can cause spikes in insulin. This is due to the liver releasing stored glucose in response to stress hormones. Evolutionarily speaking, this response makes perfect sense. As our distant ancestors would likely have had to move quickly in response to stress (usually a threat to life), meaning more energy was required at short notice. This release of stored glucose from the liver causes a rise in blood glucose, which in turn, causes a rise in insulin. More frequent and higher spikes in insulin levels mean a faster path to insulin resistance.

When women begin to transition into the menopause, one of the main consequences is a quite sudden drop in oestrogen levels. Oestrogen is protective against insulin resistance, as it makes cells more sensitive and responsive to insulin. So, when oestrogen is lowered in the body, insulin resistance begins to rise as a result.

We’ve covered what insulin is, and what happens to cause insulin resistance. Now let’s dive a little deeper on why we should care about insulin resistance – let’s cover the consequences.

As we’ve discussed, insulin resistance deprives your cells of their main source of energy – glucose. A cell deprived of energy at best doesn’t function properly, and at worst starves and dies. With this in mind, it’s perhaps no surprise that insulin resistance is not only linked to type 2 diabetes, but also to heart disease, strokes, metabolic syndrome, PCOS and even certain types of cancer. Your body is built on cells, so starving these cells of energy has real consequences.

The diseases of the body outlined above are concerning enough, but the brain isn’t immune from insulin resistance. Many researchers refer to Alzheimer’s disease as “type 3 diabetes”. This is due to the growing theory that insulin resistance is responsible for the neurological disease. Following the logic that cells starved of energy (glucose) will eventually die, this could explain the severe neurodegeneration seen in diseases such as Alzheimer’s. More research is certainly needed in this area, but it’s a fascinating and alarming link that shouldn’t be ignored.

How do you know if you’re insulin resistant? Well, there’s not really one specific test that’s accessible for insulin resistance. There are, however, a number of different signs that are very highly correlated with the presence of insulin resistance. These include:

• Weight gain (particularly around the mid-section – this signifies visceral fat around your organs)
• Skin tags
• Dark skin patches (known as “acanthosis nigricans”)
• Sugar cravings
• Brain fog & difficulty concentrating (especially after eating)
• Memory issues
• High blood pressure & cholesterol
• PCOS symptoms
• Extreme thirst
• Frequent urination

If any of this sounds familiar, don’t panic. We’re now going to turn our attention to what you can do about it. Let’s discuss reversing insulin resistance.

Hopefully by now you’ve begun to understand the gravity of the situation we’re dealing with when it comes to insulin resistance. This isn’t simply a case of me trying to be the fun police and stop you eating all those sugary treats, it is quite literally in some cases, a matter of life and death.

So, what do we do about it? Well, there’s quite a lot we can do. Fortunately, no matter how far along the insulin resistant path you’ve walked, we can go some way to walking it back. Even type 2 diabetics can put their disease into remission with careful and consistent lifestyle changes. It’s not easy, but nothing worth having in life is.

The easiest and most effective place to start reversing your insulin resistance is through your diet. As mentioned earlier, diets particularly high in carbohydrates are the worst possible way to eat when you are insulin resistant. This is due to carbohydrates producing the biggest spike in insulin, compared to the other food groups.

A better approach would be to focus on a diet rich in animal protein and fats. These foods will give you all of the nutrients you need as a woman over 40, while keeping your insulin spikes to a minimum. You will start to receive a steady flow of energy and potentially even leverage an alternative energy source known as ketones that don’t rely on insulin at all. Slowly, and with consistency, your brain fog, memory issues, stubborn belly fat and sugar cravings will start to subside. You’ll feel better, move better, and look better.

Another helpful change you can make when dealing with insulin resistance is to set a definite window of each day where you eat, and a definite window where you fast. As a minimum, it’s a great idea to spend 12 hours of every 24-hour period fasting. This shouldn’t be too difficult, as most of this time you’ll be asleep. For example, an easy starting point is taking in zero calories between the hours of 7pm and 7am the following day.

This not only keeps your insulin to a minimum, but it allows your digestive system to begin repair work on itself and lets your body and brain work on fixing any health issues, unimpeded by an influx of food.

As we alluded to earlier, stress can play a major role in contributing to insulin resistance. Chronic stress releases glucose from the liver, pushing insulin ever higher and making your body even more insulin resistant.

Implementing some science-backed stress management and mental health techniques could be a real game changer here. In our ladies only over-40s foundations programme, we help our ladies implement techniques like journaling, meditation or even encourage them to look into counselling to help work through the stresses of life.

Exercise is almost a cheat code when it comes to reversing insulin resistance. Exercise, particularly weight training, creates such a hunger in your cells for more energy that an incredible phenomenon occurs. Glucose molecules are allowed entry to your cells without the need for insulin. This is an event that is rarely, if ever, seen in the body in any other situation. Energy is taken up and used by cells without the key needing to be used in the cell door. This means you can use the energy without contributing to insulin resistance.

If you aren’t weight training as a woman over 40, you’re possibly missing out on the most important health intervention available to you right now.

Insulin resistance is a real issue, and we should all be aware of it. It’s something that, if left unchecked, can run rampant and cause the most dreadful health consequences imaginable.

But we aren’t powerless in our fight against this epidemic. We can take back control any time we like, all it takes is one choice and some direction. But the longer you leave it, the more of an uphill struggle you’ll have. Don’t keep putting off making your health a priority.

If you need help, we run a ladies only over 40s health and fitness group. You can apply to join our 6-Week Foundations Programme by clicking below:

Thanks for reading.

Andy Clements

Head Coach & Owner

DC Personal Training