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Why do they say. 'If normal people have elevated insulin levels they will not burn fat' and how does this apply to us as diabetics??
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This is a rather complicated question, and to be truthful I do not completely understand completely the action of insulin (but then I believe there is still significantly large holes in this knowledge in the scientific community as a whole)
However insulin's main action is not to lower glucose levels - it does this as a side effect almost of it's other actions.
it's real function is to preserve fat stores, by forcing the body to use glucose when glucose supply is plentiful. So after you eat the beta cells respond to the rapidly rising glucose by secreting insulin - this has 2 main effects
1) It allows glucose uptake by the peripheral tissues, in particular muscle cells where it is converted to glycogen.
2) it forces the liver turn glucose into glycogen, and store it.
3) As maximum glycogen capacity of the liver is reached, insulin causes the liver to begin converting glucose into fat.
4) the high insulin levels prevent fat cells from mobilising fat and releasing it into the blood stream.
This is the simplified version of my understanding of what happens.
insulin makes your body use glucose instead of fat as an energy source. So high levels of insulin will prevent you from utilising fat.
The statement is really a simplification normal people do not have high levels of insulin. People with type 2 have high levels of insulin, but this occurs due to insulin resistance - and yes the high circulating insulin levels can make it very difficult for these individuals to lose weight.
what actually matters is overall energy balance. The body also appears to have several compensatory mechanisms to prevent weight loss, but these are very poorly understood.
