If you’d have asked me six months ago what insulin did, I would have answered, “it stuffs energy into cells”. I think most people would say something similar. My answer isn’t wrong, but facilitating the uptake of energy into cells is not the most first or most important thing that insulin does. Last week I completed the first few modules of an introductory physiology course from Duke University, and I found this in one of the lectures: The type two diabetic is a situation where we have receptor desensitization and the individual does not respond correctly to insulin. Insulin is present in the system, but the receptor is desensitized. And so, you don't get the movement of glucose from the blood into the skeletal muscle cells correctly. These statements don’t directly answer my question “what does insulin do?”, but they imply that insulin is required to move glucose (energy) into a cell. This is wrong, and they’re not the first to make the mistake. This quote from “Insulin: understanding its action in health and disease”, explains: The effects of this ‘black age’ are still with us because these incorrect hypotheses have, with the passage of time, been turned into dogma and become cast into ‘tablets of stone’ in undergraduate textbooks. They are also carried forward into postgraduate teaching. For example, even in well respected texts it is still common to find statements such as ‘The basic action of insulin is to facilitate glucose entry into cells, primarily skeletal muscle and hepatocytes.’ So what does insulin do? The basic action of insulin is anti-catabolic, that is, it halts breaking down. Insulin works in this order: Hits alpha cells in the pancreas to suppress glucagon. Then goes to the liver to suppress gluconeogenesis (and stimulate lipogenesis). Then goes to the peripheral body to do other stuff. So if you're using insulin to stimulate glucose uptake, you're already WAY above the concentrations needed to affect the pancreas and liver, which is going to make those cells insulin resistant first. You've also already shoved a lot of fat into those cells first, which is going to interfere with glucose metabolism. So what should you do? Don’t worry about insulin facilitating the uptake of glucose into cells, and instead focus on creating the demand for glucose through movement. Lift weights. I want you to have the same teaching experience that I have enjoyed. One of my most frequently asked questions is “How did you learn so much in so little time? How did you build a successful functional medicine practice in less than two years?”. The answer is I had two great teachers: necessity and Dr. Tommy Wood. If it weren’t for Tommy, I’d still be dependant on protocols rather than understanding the principles by which our programmes work.   Concierge Clinical Coaching is my way of sharing my expertise and education with you, the health and performance enthusiast. You already have necessity, let me give you the other part. As a member of our programme, you’ll have the ability to ask both Tommy and me your diet, lifestyle, training and supplementation questions. You will have ongoing access to us for input on everything from your latest blood test results to advice on diet and training optimisation. As the science and questions evolve, we will be there to help guide you through your personalized route to long-term health and performance. In short, we will be your functional medicine practitioner, coach and nutritionist all rolled into one. Here’s the outline of this interview with Dr. Tommy Wood: 0:00:13    What Tommy ate over Christmas. 0:01:02    Tommy is OK with vegetable oils and gluten, so long as it's Christmas! 0:02:20    We love buying our meat from a local farmer. 0:03:01    What is insulin? 0:03:13    Optimising Insulin Facebook group. 0:03:40    Tommy's presentation on insulin resistance. 0:04:01    Most people have been taught that the primary role of insulin is to put glucose into cells. 0:04:26    Insulin isn't very