Taming Insulin: A Simple Path to a Healthier Heart
This blog is a summary of specifics of what we should do to reduce insulin in our bodies, taken from the conversation between Dr. Pradip Jamnadas and Steven on the podcast Diary of a CEO. I highly recommend you watch the entire episode.
I highly recommend you watch the entire episode.
If there’s one hormone that quietly runs the show when it comes to aging, energy, and heart health — it’s insulin. Most of us think of insulin only in relation to diabetes, but the truth is, long before blood sugar becomes a problem, insulin can already be working overtime behind the scenes, silently shaping our cardiovascular future.
Let’s explore what’s really going on — and how a few simple daily habits, like fasting and meal timing, can make a huge difference for your arteries, energy, and longevity.
When Insulin Works Too Hard
Every time you eat — especially carbohydrates like bread, pasta, sugar, or even fruit juice — your blood sugar rises. To manage that sugar, your pancreas releases insulin. Its job is to push glucose into your cells so they can use it for energy. That’s good — but only in small, occasional doses.
Here’s the problem:
Most of us graze all day. A snack mid-morning, a sandwich at lunch, a little something in the afternoon, dinner, dessert… and maybe a late-night bite. That’s six or seven insulin surges a day.
When insulin is elevated too often, your cells stop listening. That’s called insulin resistance — your body’s way of saying, “Enough already.” But because the cells won’t respond, the pancreas pumps out even more insulin to compensate.
You may still have normal blood sugar levels, but your insulin is sky-high — a condition called hyperinsulinemia. And that’s where the trouble begins.
How Too Much Insulin Damages the Heart
Dr. Jamnadas, a world-renowned cardiologist, explains it this way: insulin is a growth and storage hormone — great in moderation, harmful in excess. High insulin causes your blood vessels to:
Grow smooth muscle inside the artery walls, narrowing the passageways.
Trigger inflammation, which makes arteries more fragile.
Encourage clotting, setting the stage for heart attacks.
Promote plaque buildup, by stimulating the growth of fatty deposits that harden over time.
Those plaques — made of calcium, fat, and fibrous tissue — can eventually rupture, forming clots that block blood flow to the heart or brain. It’s not just cholesterol that matters — insulin plays a starring role.
Why the Modern Lifestyle Overproduces Insulin
Several factors make this worse:
Frequent eating: Each meal or snack restarts the insulin surge before the last one has dropped.
Refined carbohydrates and sugars: These digest quickly, flooding the bloodstream with glucose.
Poor sleep: Even one night of bad rest can make you more insulin-resistant the next day.
Lack of movement: Muscles are the body’s largest glucose sink — when we move less, insulin has to work harder.
Visceral fat (belly fat): This deep internal fat is highly inflammatory and actually signals your body to produce even more insulin.
The good news? The very same system that got overworked can be restored — naturally and safely.
Fasting: Your Built-In Reset Button
The easiest way to lower insulin is… to stop triggering it so often!
When you fast, even for a short window, your pancreas gets a rest. After about 12 hours, your body switches from burning glucose to burning stored fat — especially visceral fat, the most dangerous kind.
Dr. Jamnadas often starts patients with a 12:12 fast — 12 hours of eating, 12 hours of fasting. For example:
Eat breakfast at 7am
Finish dinner by 7pmNothing but water, black coffee, or tea after that
Once that feels easy, you can move to a 16:8 window (16 hours fasting, 8 hours eating). Most people find their energy, focus, and digestion improve — not decline.
During the fast, your insulin levels fall, your cells become more sensitive again, and your liver begins to release ketones — clean-burning molecules made from fat that fuel your brain and muscles.
In short: fasting teaches your body to burn its own stored energy again.
Fewer Meals, More Healing
Eating three large meals — or even two — instead of constant snacking can have the same insulin-lowering benefits. Every time you extend the time between meals, your body gets a chance to rebalance hormones, clear out damaged cells, and reduce inflammation.
This is why traditional eating patterns — breakfast, lunch, and dinner, with no snacks — worked so well for generations. It’s not about willpower. It’s about rhythm.
If You’re Overweight, Go Slower — But Go
If you’re carrying extra weight, especially around the midsection, fasting can be transformative. But if you have diabetes, are on medications, or plan to fast longer than 16 hours, do it under medical supervision.
Some people benefit from medically guided longer fasts — 24, 48, or even multi-day fasts — but these require professional monitoring to ensure safety and proper electrolyte balance.
Even a modest start, like cutting out late-night snacks or fasting 12 hours overnight, can dramatically reduce insulin levels over time.
A Simple Action Plan
Try a 12-hour overnight fast: Stop eating after dinner and skip snacks before bed.
Cut out sugary drinks and processed foods: They spike insulin quickly.
Walk after meals: Muscles soak up glucose, reducing insulin demand.
Sleep well: A single bad night raises insulin resistance.
Eat fewer, more satisfying meals: Focus on protein, vegetables, and healthy fats.
Talk to your doctor before starting longer fasts — especially if you’re on medications.
The Bottom Line
Insulin is not your enemy — it’s your body’s way of protecting you. But when it’s switched on all day, every day, it becomes a silent saboteur of your arteries and your heart.
The fix doesn’t come in a pill — it’s in the power of your daily rhythm: when you eat, what you eat, and how often you give your body time to rest.
Fasting, fewer meals, better sleep, and movement — these are the real heart medicines, and they’re free.
