How “Dirty Fasting” Led Me to Insulin Resistance

Realizing your belly and love handles are rolling over your favorite jeans can send you to a dark place, especially when you’ve been working hard to clean up your diet and exercise more than ever. It’s easy to get down on yourself, perhaps even have a temper tantrum with big tears. But what if there is a process that happens with aging that is working against you?

Insulin isn’t just for diabetics; you’re producing it daily to counter elevated blood sugar. But what if you’re not eating a lot of sugar or have reduced your carb intake? How can you be insulin resistant? It makes no sense—I completely agree. Your liver, gut, and nervous system are also involved in carb metabolism, even though your pancreas makes the insulin.

It’s common for insulin resistance to show up in peri-menopause and beyond due to stress, hormone shifts, dietary factors, and the environment. Signs of insulin resistance include belly fat, brain fog, and drops in energy after eating, especially when consuming carbs. Stress causes cortisol and blood sugar to rise, regardless of whether you’re eating sugar or not.

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Your muscles and liver store glycogen that can be triggered to release and dump glucose, or sugar, into the bloodstream. The conversion of hormone production from the ovaries to the adrenals often causes testosterone to rise, which, in turn, can lead to a natural rise in blood sugar. Pair that with increased stress, and you have double the sugar tendencies, with spikes and drops in sugar triggering random cravings for chips, candy, chocolate, and urges to drink more adult beverages.

With such an intelligent body, why would it drive us to worsen this situation? Who knows. What I do know is that there are ways to counter insulin resistance. The research on fasting is abundant when it comes to eating windows, but what’s also key is the concept of a “clean fast.” I laugh at this term because a “dirty fast” sounds funny to me—what about you?

Did you know that taking supplements, drinking flavored coffee, or flavored waters halts your body’s fasting mechanisms? I used to drink bubbly Waterloo instead of eating all day and wondered why I gained weight. I’ve found that ditching all flavored bubblies from my world has actually helped. Honestly, I thought the flavored water was innocent.

As for supplements—these are micronutrients, so that counts as food, making sense that they would also end a fast and send messages to your brain that food is coming. When the body thinks food is coming, it triggers the release of insulin from the pancreas to prepare for it. Insulin’s job is to grab simple breakdown products of carbohydrates (glucose) and take them to your cells. Insulin resistance occurs when insulin brings glucose to the cells, but the cells turn away the carbs, saying they’ve had enough.

Glucose floating in the bloodstream is eventually stored as fat. I’m convinced this is what happened to me. I started to fast longer and drink flavored waters during the day, along with electrolyte drinks and supplements on an empty stomach. Then I’d eat a double dinner at night, thinking I was “fasting all day.” It’s likely I wasn’t fasting at all and completely confused my body.

Who knew “dirty fasting” was such a self-sabotage factor? I thought my Lumen’s high carbon dioxide scores, despite not eating for over 14-16 hours, were telling me I was fasting too long, and that’s why I stopped. Could it be I misunderstood the Lumen? It measures carbon dioxide in the breath. High levels indicate carb burn, while low levels indicate fat burn. I often sipped on flavored water first thing in the morning and took supplements! Yikes.

I pass this on in the event you’re wondering if this is your situation. I’ve seen quite a few healthy eaters and exercisers end up with insulin resistance, and I can’t help but wonder if it’s due to flavored drinks and supplements during the non-eating window. The good news is you can test for insulin resistance with a fasting insulin test. You can make interventions and retest.

Blood sugar elevations are connected to accelerated aging and inflammaging, so it’s crucial to know where you stand in this situation. You can even order these tests on your own. In part 2 of my podcast with Laurie Lewis, I talk all about my experience fasting for the second round and what I experienced. (Listen to Ep 511 HERE.)

I hope my experience helps shed some light on this phenomenon that occurs as you get older, and I hope I can help you avoid making the same mistakes as me or at least help you head them off sooner!

Here’s to your health,
Dr. Jannine Krause

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