A wise person recently repeated some words her father told her: "The most important thing is your health. If you have your health, you can work -- and if you can work, you can survive."

 

I would add that having your health also allows you to enjoy life more.

 

Often we measure our health using the tests that doctors prescribe, the most common being cholesterol.

 

Cholesterol testing is important because it can be used to predict your potential chances of getting cardiovascular disease.

 

However, cholesterol is just one measure of health. While it can be a reasonable measure of heart disease risk, cholesterol testing is not that good at predicting overall health.

 

A better predictor of overall health than cholesterol is insulin. While you've likely heard some things about insulin, here's a short course.

 

 

 

Insulin is a hormone produced by your pancreas in response to food. When you eat, insulin is released into your bloodstream to help your cells take in the sugar from your food.

 

When you eat too many calories in one meal, your insulin rises sharply and quickly. This is especially true when you eat a meal that contains too many carbohydrates.

 

When you eat small, balanced meals and eat slowly, your insulin rises more gradually and not as high.

 

Eating protein with meals and eating slow-digesting carbohydrates like fiber-rich fruits and vegetables keep insulin in check as well.

 

When insulin spikes high and fast, it's unhealthy for your whole body. It causes inflammation at the cellular level.

 

Over time, cellular inflammation can lead to heart disease, cancer, and autoimmune disseases as well as causing us to catch colds and flus more often and increasing the severity of allergy attacks and asthma.

 

When insulin is allowed to spike too much over the years, this can eventually lead to type 2 diabetes.

 

High insulin levels also make us look older, increasing the sagging of skin and giving the face a puffy look, as well as increasing wrinkles and acne.

 

When your insulin is low and balanced over time, you look and feel younger and experience less disease.

 

 

 

The best ways to keep your insulin level balanced are to eat meals that have a reduced impact on your blood sugar and to exercise.

 

The best meals for blood sugar control:

 

1. Are low in calories

 

2. Include protein (a piece about the size of your palm)

 

3. Are moderate in carbohydrates (20 g to 60 g per meal)

 

4. Favor low-glycemic index carbohydrates like fruits and vegetables

 

(Incidentally, the Caveman Diet delivers meals just like this, so that your insulin stays under control every time you eat a Caveman Meal.)

 

Another tip for reducing the insulin stimulation of any food or meal is to eat slowly. The more slowly you eat, the more gradual will be the effect on you blood sugar and insulin.

 

All kinds of exercise can help you control insulin.

 

Walking is great as is any type of aerobic or weight-bearing exercise such as jogging, biking, dancing, playing sports, exercise machines and weight-lifting.

 

Yardwork and housework help control insulin too. Basically, any time you're moving, you're helping  to keep you control insulin level healthy.

 

 

 

You can give yourself the gift of good health by keeping your insulin balanced over your lifetime.

 

While lifestyle choices cannot prevent diseases that you may be predisposed to, they can definitely reduce your risk and reduce the severity of diseases.

 

Eating right and incorporating exercise into your daily or weekly routine will keep your insulin balanced.

 

Over time will result in a better "health insurance policy" -- an increased chance of good health. And health is one of the most important things we have.