Nope, dammit. Aging is a natural occurrence where our system of cellular rebuilding slows down and our bodies break down more material than they rebuild. Over the course of a life time everyone develops insulin resistance you would expect a 95 year old person might would be insulin resistant or diabetic. However, so many younger people are struggling with insulin resistance and diabetes because of “Accelerated Metabolic Aging” as described in Dr. Diana Schwarzbein's book “The Schwarzbein Principle”. Accelerated Metabolic aging can be stopped or prevented and is caused by lifestyle factors we already know are not good; poor diet, alcohol, caffeine, lack of exercise, stress, tobacco, drug use.
Below is a look at why we struggle with this epidemic.
The brain is is like a dictator and needs constant nourishment but just the right amount. So Insulin is a hormone produced in the pancreas that does two things. First it alerts the liver to high amounts of sugar coming into the blood stream from the small intestine. This way the liver doesn't allow it to pass to the brain and experience the dictator's wrath. Second, insulin stows away sugar into cells thereby decreasing blood sugar. After years of high carbohydrate (carbohydrate being, fruit, grains, starches, sodas, sweets, alcohol) meals it translates into excess sugar in the body. Cells then are so filled with sugar they can not hold anymore so they start to close their receptor doors. Since the blood sugar is still too high the pancreas secretes even more insulin and the cells react by closing even more receptor doors. This is known as insulin resistance. When too many cell doors are closed to sugar storage extra sugar is in the bloodstream is diverted to fat. When the fat cells and muscle cells are closed the sugar remains in the bloodstream and you have diabetes.
Important to note here that Insulin is secreted only when alerted because of carbohydrates entering the blood not fat and protein.
Insulin is one of many hormones in the body and when it is out of sync other hormones will follow like a domino train. Increased Insulin can lead to increased adrenaline and cortisol levels which aggravate the problem even further by wasting away muscle which has more insulin receptors than fat.
Luckily the body is very resilient and the problem can be corrected. To correct the problem one would need to go very low carbohydrate, eat plenty of protein and fat in order to build muscle, and exercise to build muscle
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