From Detox to Dysregulation: The Liver's Double-Edged Role in Insulin Resistance

Here’s the situation:

You’ve been following me for a while and slowly making changes in your health. You have been watching your blood sugars and have made a little progress, but you aren’t seeing the results you would expect on the work you are putting in. 

It is very likely that your liver is playing a role in your underwhelming results. 

First, we are going to do a very quick dive into what the liver does and how. And then I’ll show you how the liver might be holding you back. 

The liver is a phenomenal organ that I love deeply. 

It is the main event when it comes to ensuring that junk that doesn't belong in the body is able to exit safely. 

Toxins enter the body through lungs, skin, gut/small intestine and are processed through 2 stages of liver detoxification.  Two things fundamentally can screw this up: being exposed to way too many toxins or the liver being undernourished and so it can’t complete its job correctly. 

Excess, unprocessed toxins get stored in joints, blood, tissues, muscles, fat cells, bone marrow, liver, and CNS/brain so it’s imperative that the toxins move through the liver and out through our stool. 

But the liver has MANY more important roles. 

Today we are going to go into how the liver is critical for blood sugar regulation. If you noticed you are doing all the right things and you aren’t losing weight and your blood glucose readings aren’t improving (if you are tracking them), then today’s article is for you! 

The Liver's Role in Blood Sugar Regulation

The liver stores glucose (blood sugar aka carbohydrate in your blood) in the form of glycogen. When your blood sugar levels drop, such as between meals or during physical activity, the liver breaks down glycogen back into glucose and sends it back into the bloodstream in order to maintain a steady supply of energy. This is what happens in a normal, healthy state and it’s a good thing (the body never makes mistakes). 

When the body is insulin resistant, the liver almost “panics.” It starts releasing glucose when it shouldn’t. For example, one of the hallmark indicators of poor insulin regulation that I see is something called the Dawn Effect. 

When you wake up in the morning, your glucose levels may rise slightly, but generally should remain below 90. In people who are insulin resistant, their glucose level shoots up really high. Because of the insulin dysregulation, it’s almost like the body is so used to a high level of glucose that if it dips even to normal levels, the body freaks out and releases more glucose to get back it’s “normal”. 

Additionally when the body is insulin resistant, the liver will continue to produce more and more glucose (releasing it from storage), even if blood levels are high. 

Even more cruelly, when the body is in a state of insulin resistance, insulin will stimulate the liver to convert glucose into fat, which leads to fatty liver disease as well as increasing the production of very-low density lipoprotein, which contributes to high triglyceride levels in the blood. 

It becomes cyclical at this point. The more glucose the body takes in and can't handle, the more dysregulated the system becomes, leading to more glucose being shuttled out of the liver and into the bloodstream, increasing insulin production, leading to more fat storage. And then it repeats. 

The liver is crucial for proper glucose metabolism. And it also seemingly can make matters worse. 

A double-edged sword. 

While this may seem like an “error” on the part of our body, remember, it makes no actual mistakes. Everything the body does is to protect and prolong life. 

If I am to take a minute and look at this from a root cause lens, the body is  prioritizing the liver over all else, because it’s THAT important. The liver can only hold onto so much glucose, and when it’s maxed out, as in insulin resistance, it has to release some of that storage and convert it into something else. 

I’m not sure if there are studies out there to support this, but it sure seems like a good theory! 

Fixing Your Liver Health in 4 Steps

Anything you do to support your overall health will also support your liver, but there are a few specific things that you can do if you think that the state of your liver is part of why you can’t get your blood sugar to regulate. 

1. An obvious factor is to cut back or completely eliminate alcohol. This in and of itself is KEY for liver health. Alcohol is a toxin and can only be processed by the liver. An occasional cocktail isn’t going to ruin your health, but drinking every night or having a few drinks a week might.

2. Eliminating toxins will also benefit your liver. There is a whole tribe of functional docs that believe Type 2 Diabetes is actually a toxicity issue, which does make sense when you think of the role the liver plays in blood sugar management. Binding a ridding the body of toxins is important, but also limiting exposure in the first play is going to be HUGE. If you haven’t yet taken my free email course on this subject, you can go here to start looking at your toxic load. 

3. Fasting is also key for the liver when it is in this state. Fasting is one of the fastest ways to clear glucose from the blood stream. 

I do not recommend going rogue however, because there is a strategy to this and just throwing the body into a state of fasting without preparing for it or knowing what you are looking for can end in frustration. My group coaching program, Reclaim Your Metabolism, utilizes fasting as one of the strategies to support healing the body. It is HIGHLY effective when done correctly. 

4. Eliminating processed fructose consumption will also unburden your liver. You will find this in candy, juices, and processed foods. This does include high fructose corn syrup but can also be labeled as "fructose syrup". This does NOT apply to fruit (unless you are diabetic), because fruit is also packaged with tons of fiber, which slows down the absorption into the blood stream. 

Moral of the story: 

If you have been trying to support healthy blood glucose levels, doing all the hacks, eating all the right foods, and you still don’t see improvement in your numbers, it may be time to look at your liver. How you address this is going to look different for everyone, so seek out a practitioner who understands the liver, blood sugar, and the different ways to address insulin dysregulation.

Do not wait until Monday, next week, or next month. Start NOW.