Dr Rangan Chatterjee

Fat Cell Scientist: 99% People Lose Weight & Stop Disease Faster With This Insulin Trick

This episode is brought to you by: VIVOBAREFOOT: Get 20% off your first order https://links.drchatterjee.com/4gOV1OD TIMELINE: Get 25% off your order of Mitopure https://timeline.com/livemore BON CHARGE: Save 20% off with code LIVEMORE https://boncharge.com/livemore KETONE IQ: Save 30% OFF your subscription order PLUS get a free gift with your second shipment https://ketone.com/livemore Most of us will never have our insulin levels tested, yet this single hormone is the body’s master regulator of energy. When it stops working properly, almost every system in the body is affected, from how we store fat, to how we age. Today’s guest is Dr Ben Bikman, a scientist and world-leading expert on insulin and metabolism. He’s a Professor in the Department of Physiology and and Developmental Biology at Brigham Young University (BYU) and has spent years researching how changes inside our cells lead to common metabolic disorders, such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, and dementia. He frequently publishes his research in peer-reviewed journals, speaks at scientific conferences all over the world and is the author of 2 books, Why We Get Sick and How Not to Get Sick. In this conversation, we discuss: ● Why insulin is the body’s “master hormone”, guiding how we store and use energy and how resistance to it can cause a wide range of chronic health problems. ● The fact that almost 9 in 10 adults show signs of poor metabolic health, and why this is a global issue that affects countries far beyond the United States. ● How ethnicity and genetics shape the way we store fat, explaining why two people of the same weight and size can face very different risks of conditions like type 2 diabetes or heart disease. ● Why focusing only on blood glucose misses the early warning signs of poor metabolic health, and why measuring insulin levels offers a clearer and earlier picture of risk. ● The visible clues your body may already be giving you – such as skin tags or darker, velvety patches of skin around the neck or armpits – that can indicate chronically elevated insulin. ● Practical strategies to bring insulin down, from reducing refined sugars and starches to spacing out meals and experimenting with fasting in ways that work for both men and women. So often, we’re told that chronic illnesses are inevitable or a natural part of ageing. But as Ben explains, many of these conditions have a common origin – and by focusing on insulin resistance, we can take powerful steps towards prevention and even reversal. This conversation is not about fear, but empowerment. It’s a reminder that our everyday choices – how and what we eat, how we move, and how often we give our bodies a rest from food – can profoundly influence our future health. #feelbetterlivemore ---- Connect with Ben: https://www.benbikman.com/ Ben’s Books: Why We Get Sick: The Hidden Epidemic at the Root of Most Chronic Disease and How to Fight It UK https://amzn.to/46F0HGf US https://amzn.to/3IMP8VA How Not to Get Sick: A Cookbook and Guide to Prevent and Reverse Insulin Resistance, Lose Weight, and Fight Chronic Disease UK https://amzn.to/486kEYZ US https://amzn.to/48EVZLj #feelbetterlivemore #feelbetterlivemorepodcast ------- Order MAKE CHANGE THAT LASTS. US & Canada version https://amzn.to/3RyO3SL, UK version https://amzn.to/3Kt5rUK ----- Follow Dr Chatterjee at: Website: https://drchatterjee.com/ Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/drchatterjee Twitter: https://twitter.com/drchatterjeeuk Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/drchatterjee/ Newsletter: https://drchatterjee.com/subscription DISCLAIMER: The content in the podcast and on this webpage is not intended to constitute or be a substitute for professional medical advice, diagnosis, or treatment. Never disregard professional medical advice or delay in seeking it because of something you have heard on the podcast or on my website.

Dr. Rangan ChatterjeehostDr Ben Bikmanguest

Sep 30, 20252h 11mWatch on YouTube ↗

WHAT IT’S REALLY ABOUT

Insulin resistance explained, why it spreads disease, and reversal strategies

Insulin resistance is defined as both reduced cellular response to insulin and chronically elevated insulin levels (hyperinsulinemia), which together disrupt metabolism across many organs.
Population data suggest metabolic dysfunction is widespread globally, with ethnic differences in diabetes risk partly explained by fat-cell size and personal fat-storage capacity rather than body weight alone.
Fasting glucose often stays normal for years while insulin rises, so a glucose-centric medical model can miss early disease and sometimes worsens outcomes by treating high glucose with therapies that increase insulin further.
A “low-insulin lifestyle” emphasizes reducing refined sugars and starches, improving meal timing and fasting tolerance, and shrinking fat cells—often producing relatively rapid improvements in insulin sensitivity.
Tools like CGMs (for glucose dynamics) and metabolic/ketone tracking can drive behavior change, while ketones—endogenous or supplemental—may have performance, brain, and metabolic benefits beyond simple fat loss.

IDEAS WORTH REMEMBERING

5 ideas

Insulin resistance is not just “cells ignore insulin”—it also means insulin is chronically high.

Bikman frames insulin resistance as a paired state: impaired insulin signaling plus hyperinsulinemia, and this combination helps explain why one problem can manifest as obesity, fatty liver, PCOS, cardiovascular disease, and cognitive decline.

Metabolic health is best viewed through insulin, not just glucose.

Many people can have normal fasting glucose while insulin is elevated for years, so relying on glucose alone delays detection and misses the earlier, more actionable stage of dysfunction.

Body fat ‘amount’ is less predictive than fat-cell size and storage capacity.

He argues metabolic harm is driven more by hypertrophic (overstuffed) fat cells that become insulin resistant and inflammatory, versus having more numerous, smaller, insulin-sensitive fat cells.

Ethnicity can shift diabetes risk at the same BMI via a lower ‘personal fat threshold.’

South/East Asian (and some Hispanic) populations may reach harmful fat-cell hypertrophy sooner because they are less prone to create new fat cells, raising risk of fatty liver and insulin resistance at lower body weights.

A CGM is useful even if insulin is the main target—because glucose dynamics reveal insulin dysregulation.

A single fasting glucose test can look “fine,” while CGM patterns (high peaks, slow return to baseline, rebound lows) can indicate excessive insulin responses and impaired metabolic flexibility.

WORDS WORTH SAVING

5 quotes

Insulin resistance is a two-part problem... The first part... is the idea that the hormone insulin isn't working as well as it used to... But the second part... is that blood insulin levels are elevated. So that's a condition called hyperinsulinemia.

— Dr Ben Bikman

Metabolic health is best defined as looking at the degree of insulin resistance, and insulin is the master metabolic hormone. It is the one hormone to rule all others.

— Dr Ben Bikman

Someone listening may be thinking, "Yeah, but Ben, you were asked about insulin resistance." What we call the metabolic syndrome used to be called the insulin resistance syndrome... this suggests that eighty-eight percent of US adults have some problem arising from insulin resistance.

— Dr Ben Bikman

Our failure to have a paradigm that at least encompasses insulin not only leads us to detect the problems too late, but to treat them not only poorly, but even in a way that can result in greater harm to the patient. Our strategy should be measure insulin and do what we can to bring the insulin down.

— Dr Ben Bikman

If insulin is elevated, the body is sugar burning. If insulin is low, the body is fat burning.

— Dr Ben Bikman

Two-part definition of insulin resistance (resistance + hyperinsulinemia)Metabolic syndrome prevalence and global diabetes patternsFat-cell hypertrophy vs hyperplasia; personal fat threshold; ethnic risk differencesWhy fasting insulin matters; limits of fasting glucose and glucose-only careLow-insulin lifestyle: smart carbs, protein/fat, fasting patterns, meal timingMetabolic flexibility vs inflexibility; hunger and fuel switchingKetones: endogenous ketosis, brain fuel, exogenous ketone use cases

High quality AI-generated summary created from speaker-labeled transcript.

Get more out of YouTube videos.

High quality summaries for YouTube videos. Accurate transcripts to search & find moments. Powered by ChatGPT & Claude AI.