.png)
Metabolic Health & Insulin Resistance
Insulin resistance can start developing long before it shows up on routine blood sugar tests. Early signs can be subtle like afternoon energy crashes, PCOS, mood changes increased cravings for carbs or sugar, stubborn weight gain around the middle, or feeling tired despite your best efforts. The good news is that identifying it early gives us more opportunities to make meaningful changes through nutrition, movement, and lifestyle habits before it progresses further.
Insulin resistance symptoms: is your metabolism working against you?
Insulin is the hormone responsible for helping sugar move from your bloodstream into your cells, where it can be used for energy. When your cells become less responsive to insulin, your body often compensates by producing more.
This rise in insulin can happen before blood sugar becomes abnormal, which means standard glucose testing may still look reassuring while your metabolism is already showing early signs of imbalance. Higher insulin levels can contribute to increased hunger, carbohydrate cravings, energy crashes, difficulty with weight management, and changes in how your body stores and uses energy.
Insulin resistance is especially relevant for women because it can influence hormones, menstrual cycles, fertility, and metabolism. It is commonly seen alongside PCOS/PMOS, where insulin resistance may contribute to irregular cycles, increased androgen activity, and difficulty with ovulation. Insulin sensitivity can also shift through life stages, including pregnancy and perimenopause, as changing hormones affect metabolic health and sits upstream of conditions worth preventing.
Identifying insulin resistance early creates an opportunity to support the factors that are within your control, before it progresses to more significant metabolic concerns.
You may benefit from an assessment if you experience:
- Energy crashes an hour or two after meals
- Strong cravings for carbohydrates or sugar
- Weight gain concentrated around your middle
- Difficulty losing weight despite genuine effort
- Feeling shaky, irritable or foggy when meals are delayed
- Skin tags or darkened skin at the neck or underarms
- PCOS/PMOS, irregular cycles or infertility
- A history of gestational diabetes
- Family history of type 2 diabetes
1 in 3
Years
What causes insulin resistance?
Dietary Pattern
Frequent refined carbohydrates and a grazing pattern keep insulin persistently elevated, gradually training cells to stop listening. Meal structure often matters as much as food choice.
Muscle Mass
Muscle is where most blood sugar gets disposed. Low muscle mass, common after years of dieting without strength training, shrinks your capacity to clear glucose, and it declines further through midlife unless deliberately maintained.
Sleep and Stress
Even a few nights of short sleep measurably worsens insulin sensitivity, and cortisol raises blood sugar by design. Metabolic health is hard to separate from how you sleep and recover.
Hormonal Transitions
Estrogen supports insulin sensitivity, so perimenopause commonly unmasks or accelerates metabolic changes. In PCOS/PMOS, the relationship runs the other way, with insulin driving the hormonal picture.
How is insulin resistance tested?
The key is testing insulin, not just glucose. Fasting insulin alongside fasting glucose and HbA1c reveals the compensation stage that glucose-only screening misses entirely. We add lipids, liver markers and, where relevant, thyroid and hormone testing to complete the metabolic picture, then interpret trends rather than single values.
Your history, cycle health, nutrition and family risk shape the assessment as much as the labs.
How is insulin resistance treated?
Insulin resistance can often be improved by focusing on a few key areas: balanced meals with protein and fibre to support blood sugar regulation, strength training to improve glucose use, and optimizing sleep, stress and hormonal health . When appropriate, evidence-informed supplements like inositol or berberine may be included.
We track progress through both labs and real-life changes, including energy, cravings, metabolism, and body composition over time.
How Somewhere Health helps
Care starts with the bigger picture rather than a single test. If you've already been diagnosed, we build on what you know. If you suspect something deeper but have never had a full workup, we can order the testing that gets you clear answers.
Your first visit is 75 minutes with a licensed naturopathic doctor who has reviewed your full intake. Together you'll create a plan that may include nutrition and lifestyle changes, targeted supplementation, and functional testing where appropriate. Bloodwork happens at any LifeLabs or Dynacare, and specialty panels like the DUTCH test ship to your door.
Appointments are completely virtual, so you can access care from anywhere in Ontario, and visits are covered by most extended health benefits plans.
Our Approach
- Nutrition and dietary guidance
- Lifestyle recommendations
- Stress and sleep support
- Targeted supplementation
- Functional or laboratory testing when appropriate
- Ongoing monitoring and treatment adjustments
- Collaborative care with your broader healthcare team when needed
How it Works
Dr. Courtney Ranieri is a licensed naturopathic doctor with Therapeutic Prescribing authorization, in practice since 2018. She holds a Doctor of Naturopathic Medicine from the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine and an Honours BSc from Western University, and her clinical focus is women's health: hormones, fertility, digestion, pelvic floor and metabolic care. She sees patients across Ontario virtually.
