Outdoor Leadership & Wilderness Medicine
Insulin, Why is it important?
Our body needs constant energy to maintain its basic functioning like breathing, temperature regulation, physical exercise among others. Carbohydrate, proteins and fats are the three major food sources for our body cells, carbohydrate being the primary source among the three. Carbohydrates are complex sugar which is broken into simple sugars in our body.
Insulin – Insulin is secreted by the solid organ called pancreas. Pancreas is a solid organ that sits behind the stomach. About 6 inches long this organ is on the right side of the abdomen and connected to the first section of the small intestine called duodenum.
In reality insulin does much more for our body than merely managing blood glucose level. Insulin also helps facilitate the consumption of glucose by binding itself to the cell at a specific site which causes the other channel to open.
A protein then carries the glucose into the cell through this channel. In absence of insulin this process happens at a very slower rate. This delay causes the accumulation of glucose in the bloodstream causing an increase of sugar level. In this situation there is too much glucose in the bloodstream, however the body is missing the key (insulin) that can facilitate the usage of the glucose. Which results in serving of cells. The cells then start looking for alternate sources of energy, which is fats and proteins.
Insulin levels can be maintained by:
– Add vegetables and fruits to your diet
– Live active lifestyle
– Following low carb diet
– Exercising regularly
– Eating right protein in moderate quantities
Author – Amit Arora, Outdoor Leadership & Wilderness Medicine Educator
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