A short while back,

    we looked at the wonder twins of continual hunger, insulin and leptin. With increasing resistance to the normal effects of insulin, the normal effects of leptin are equally resisted. Leptin, we recall, is the hormone that tells you, "I'm full. No reason to eat a third helping of Chili Mac & Cheese!" But the cycle of resistance begins with insulin.

Insulin resistance is all around you. Most people who have become insulin resistant have a very easily recognizable indicator of the condition. There are laboratory tests for insulin resistance, but there is a low-tech, free, and pretty reliable test, to wit:

1. Stand up straight, 3 feet from a wall.
2. Slowly walk toward the wall.
3. If your belly is the first part of your body that touches the wall, the chances are very good that you are insulin resistant.

By "insulin resistant" I mean that your body's normal response to insulin has become dulled. Normally when we eat, our blood sugar level increases. The pancreas detects this and releases the appropriate amount of insulin, and the sugar gets quickly channeled to the muscles to be used for fuel. When your muscles do not need the energy, the sugar instead goes to your fat cells which welcome it in. Well, for a while anyway.

Fueled by a high sugar, high processed carb diet, and a sedentary lifestyle, eventually even the fat cells no longer will let the sugar in no matter how much insulin the pancreas produces. Welcome to insulin resistance, and the threshold to diabetes. Among the many problems with this resistance is the fact that insulin is a very powerful hormone. As your body produces more and more of it to try to cope with the sugar in the Caramel Chocolate Frappuccino w/ Caramelized Honey Whipped Cream you just drank, insulin goes from hero to Horseman.

As Dr. Sinatra says in 'The Great Cholesterol Myth.' "So insulin is anti-inflammatory in people with normal insulin sensitivity, but it is highly inflammatory in those with insulin resistance. Having insulin resistance is a double whammy when it comes to developing heart disease. Insulin resistance makes it more likely you’ll have hypertension and puts you at significantly greater risk for diabetes and obesity— all major risk factors for cardiovascular disease."

And now, let's return to our low tech insulin resistance test above, and this new study from the Intermountain Medical Center Heart Institute, and John Hopkins Hospital. As it turns out, that simple test also may be a good indicator for your chances of heart disease. The study shows specifically that larger waistlines (abdominal fat) rather than absurd BMI measures, are more closely associated with heart disease, high blood pressure, and diabetes.

http://www.medicaldaily.com/waist-circumference-heart-disease-body-mass-index-380456

Fat above the waist is far more harmful than fat below the waist.