Insulin Friendly Healthy Lifestyle Logo“If insulin could speak, it would tell you how everything you eat, drink, think, and do affects it … how every activity changes its level in the body and for how long. Insulin would say that keeping levels relatively low, most of the time, is the key to health and how long you’ll live because insulin is the driver, directly or indirectly, of just about every metabolic function in your body. It would thank you for going easy on it and treating it like your closest friend. But, insulin would yell and scream if pushed too hard, or worse, pressed into overtime … keeping levels high for long periods of time. It would warn, “Be careful, more considerate!” It would describe the risks of ignoring it and keeping it at chronically high levels … explaining such a constant “high level” condition will cause a lot of misery and disease. Unfortunately, most of us are completely oblivious to insulin or even what or from where it is made and therefore, pay no attention. We hear nothing and just keep pushing insulin, and taxing the little pancreas where it’s produced, to exhaustion. That is, until at some point with barely a whimper, insulin starts failing to keep up or worse, just stops working and the pancreas shrivels up along with the rest of the body. It’s a pity. Insulin was probably calling you for years, maybe even decades, but you weren’t listening. For the lucky few who start listening and follow an “insulin friendly” healthy lifestyle (“IFL”), they can restore optimal insulin function and live a long, vibrant, and healthy life.”  Charles Harris, J.D.

The world has really cooked its goose. If we had chosen to ruin our health, we could not have decided upon a better way. Fancy a poor lifestyle, pepper with medications, waste valuable resources on useless remedies for conditions which were completely avoidable, and you have the perfect recipe for disaster.

How can we stop the insanity and absurdity of the world’s health crisis? Supposedly, the first step in any solution is defining the problem. And, as we see it, the problem is failing to understand the importance of insulin. Therefore, this website, and the information it hopes to share, is dedicated to highlighting the need to consider the impact on insulin in response to everything in our life and how insulin levels affect our health. We hope people can learn how to take care of themselves by following a simple concept – choose a lifestyle “friendly” to insulin.

An “insulin friendly” healthy lifestyle (“IFL”) is the ticket to health and longevity. Take care of insulin and it will take care of you. But, adopt lifestyle habits which are “unfriendly” and insensitive to insulin and it will shorten your life and bring you years of pain and misery.

Studies show that people who live long and active healthy lives have normal insulin levels. Controlling insulin levels stabilizes metabolism (often called the “basal metabolic rate” or BMR), reduces oxidation and inflammation, and improves liver function and lipid levels. Keeping insulin levels low mediates the production of glucagon – insulin’s sister metabolic hormone … both of which are produced in the pancreas. Glucagon is often referred to as the “survival” hormone. The pancreas releases glucagon (“GG” for short) into the blood stream when insulin levels fall to normal (“baseline”). GG, in combination with low levels of insulin, other hormones and enzymes, helps to maintain normal energy levels and BMR, release energy from stored fat, and stimulate a host of survival signaling pathways and longevity metabolites which are important for DNA and cell repair. GG also helps boost performance and assists cells to maintain sensitivity to leptin, the co-called satiety hormone.

Insulin Is The Cause of All Chronic Diseases

Insulin Is The Leading Cause of All Chronic Diseases

By contrast, studies show that chronic elevated levels of insulin cause insulin resistance and cause many to suffer increased oxidation and inflammation … the primary cause of premature aging, obesity, metabolic syndrome, heart disease, cancer, Alzheimer’s, diabetes, arthritis, hypertension, and a host of other chronic diseases. Even less obvious conditions such as macular degeneration and erectile dysfunction are diseases caused by elevated insulin levels and insulin resistance. Simply put, insulin “disease” is the single greatest cause of all chronic diseases.

Everything We Eat, Drink, Think, & Do

     Everything In Your Life Affects Insulin

Insulin is a hormone secreted by the pancreas in response to multiple stimuli which affect our metabolic health. In fact everything we eat, drink, think, and do has an impact on insulin levels and how long such levels are elevated. Most people believe insulin has something to do with controlling blood sugar (“glucose”). This is true, but insulin does much more. It controls directly or indirectly, growth, reproduction, energy usage, fat deposit and storage, mineral balance, lipid metabolism, thyroid function, other hormones, and epigenetic factors – to mention a few. This is why it is so important to understand that every daily activity, everything we eat and drink, including the intervals in between meals and exercise times, influences the production of insulin. Stress, sleep patterns, exercise .., everything has an impact on insulin levels.

In the last few years, the research into the field of insulin sensitivity and insulin resistance has been exploding as physicians, researchers, and scholars (and even engineers) realize its role in health and well-being.  Whether one follows the Plant-Based Diet, the Paleo Diet, the Traditional Diet, Low Carb High Fat (LCHF … which some experts in the group are calling Low Carb “Healthy” Fat instead), Ketogenic Diet, or some of the specialty diets aimed at detoxing and restoring metabolic function, all of these approaches have much to offer if viewed through the prism of emphasizing an “insulin friendly” healthy lifestyle and focusing on what behavior most favors healthy insulin levels for each individual, given each person’s genetic, ancestral, and epigenetic background, and resources available.

An “insulin friendly” healthy lifestyle looks at everything we eat, drink, think, and do in terms of its impact on insulin. Being “friendly” to insulin means to maintain a healthy lifestyle which can be summarized below:

  • Eat whole real natural foods, minimally processed, from the sea, garden, orchard, or farm – free of chemicals, pesticides, GMO products, etc. and enjoy the rainbow of healthy fats, fruits, vegetables, grains, legumes, nuts, and seeds, but limit the amount of animal protein to a small percent of total food intake (lest your drive mTOR);
  • Drink clean pure mineral water, herbal teas, and naturally fermented beverages. Avoid anything with added sugar, corn syrup, artificial sweeteners, stimulants, etc.;
  • Exercise or move everyday to improve muscle tone, elasticity, and conditioning, with periodic cardiovascular and high intensity training;
  • Manage stress and develop good relaxation and sleeping habits;
  • Schedule meals and exercise routines in order to modulate insulin & glucagon (“GG”) levels; and, of course,
  • Limit or better eliminate all processed foods like added sugars, flours, and oils … which Charles collectively calls “RCOs” (refined carbs and oils).

One could spend a lifetime researching and understanding each topic above, but just getting a basic idea of how daily activities impact insulin and implementing an “insulin friendly” healthy lifestyle can produce amazing results. Weight and energy levels will stabilize in the normal range. Cravings will be history. Bodily function and youthful stamina will be the norm.

Implementing an “insulin friendly” healthy lifestyle requires people to join together on a family and community level so that every one can support the basics of healthy food, water, exercise, and stress management. As an example, Charles established a healthy lifestyle center with interested participants who help operate the organic farm, sourdough bakery and deli, ozone water treatment factory, and pools and spas for exercise and relaxation … using ozonated water and, concerning the small pools, are perfect for treading water in clean chemical-free water.

Adopting an insulin friendly healthy lifestyle would reap benefits for all nations and every human on the planet. Some of these benefits are summarized in two companion articles: Benefits for All Nations and Benefits for Individuals.

In 2014, Charles also made a series of seven videos for his younger sister Courtney as a birthday present upon reaching her 60th year. The video series spans more than 12 hours and describes each topic listed above in great detail. An overview, description,and copy of each video can be found here: Charlie’s 2014 Healthy Lifestyle Video Series 1-7

While the list of health professionals grows by the day, Charles wishes to thank the following people, along with over 80 other doctors, professors, and researchers featured in the video series above, whose dedication to highlighting the importance of insulin and healthy lifestyles deserve honorable mention. Charles adds that other bio-markers such as mTOR, hsCRP, HbA1c, liver enzymes, etc., are also very important, but he believes that keeping an eye on insulin serves the greatest good for the general population and sends a single, clear, inclusive, and positive message, even though it does take some study to understand the principles involved.

  1. Dr. Jason Fung, MD, Intensive Dietary Management, Analysis & Graph, “The Cruel Hoax of the Low Fat Diet;” Women’s Health Initiative Dietary Modification Trial, JAMA. 2006 Jan 4;295(1):39-49;
  2. “Relationship of Insulin Resistance and Related Metabolic Variables to Coronary Artery Disease: A Mathematical Analysis” Diabetes Care 2009 Feb 18;32(2):361-6., Dr. David E. Eddy, MD, PhD (the “Archimedes” study);
    “Alzheimer’s Disease Is Type 3 Diabetes–Evidence Reviewed” J Diabetes Sci Technol. 2008 Nov;2(6):1101-13;
  3. “Dysfunctionally phosphorylated type 1 insulin receptor substrate in neural-derived blood exosomes of preclinical Alzheimer’s disease.” FASEB J 2015 Feb 23;29(2):589-96;
  4. Pathophysiology Cardiovascular Risk Factors – Itskind Alike (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XPzYkTjN4t4); and,
  5. The late Dr. Joseph R. Kraft, M.D., Dr. Jeffry Gerber, M.D., Dr. Tim Noakes, M.D., Dr. Benjamin Bikman, PhD, & Ivor Cummins, Ch.E. … For their research related to insulin, healthy fats and carbohydrates, glucose, ketones, and the risks of Hyperinsulinemia.
  6. Dr. Cate Shanahan, M.D. (who has called for a definition of a healthy lifestyle which easier to understand, more inclusive, and directed at the needs of the individual), Dr. Mark Houston, M.D. (for his work on heart disease prevention), Dr. Ken Sikaris, Ph.D. (for his work on bio-markers and testing protocols), Dr. Dale Bredesen, M.D. (for his work on Alzheimer’s prevention and treatments), Dr. Jack Kruse, M.D. (who coined the phrase, as far as Charles knows, that everything we “eat, drink, think, and do” affects metabolism, insulin, etc.), and Dr. Ron Rosedale, M.D. (who has focused on mTOR as his bio-marker of choice and even though he dates himself as one of the original Paleo proponents, finds himself, in Charles’ opinion, in concert, if not in spirit, with Plant-Based advocates who stress greatly reducing animal protein) for their pioneering research on healthy lifestyles and chronic disease prevention.

For further information, please see a study (n=1) presented in 2016 at the National Nutrition conference in Thailand:  Poster Presentation 2016

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