Dr. Boz [Annette Bosworth, MD] - Spot Insulin Resistance. No Labs Required

Short Summary

Main recommendation: Check for insulin resistance at home using the "Dr. B's ratio," calculated from a fasting morning blood glucose reading divided by a blood ketone reading taken right afterward. The speaker says the signs in the video (body shape, skin changes, ankle swelling, shin thumbprint, and speech after carbs) can hint at insulin resistance, but the ratio is the most reliable at-home test she describes.

Key Points

• Insulin resistance means the body no longer responds well to insulin's signal, and the speaker says prolonged high insulin promotes inappropriate growth linked to strokes, heart attacks, kidney failure, dementia, arthritis, and cancer.
• Visual clues she uses include fat storage around the belly button, a body mass index above 25, darkened skin in body creases, and yeast infections in moist skin folds.
• Ankle changes she links to poor health include swelling that hides the ankle bones, and a lack of hair on the toes is described as a sign of insulin resistance.
• Her "thumb shin print" check and speech changes about 30 to 40 minutes after eating carbohydrates are presented as additional, less definitive clues.
• The speaker says she diagnoses from observation after 20 years of practice, but the Dr. B's ratio is the at-home test she presents as the sure-fire way to know.

Details Worth Noting

• Concrete instructions:
  • Measure your fasting morning blood sugar first thing in the morning, before any activity, food, or drinks: prick your finger to check glucose.
  • Immediately afterward, check your blood ketones.
  • Divide the glucose number (the big number) by the ketones number (the little number) to get your Dr. B's ratio.
  • Interpret the result: less than 40 with at least 12 hours since the last bite of food means no insulin resistance; 40 to 80 is a concern for possible insulin resistance; greater than 100 indicates insulin resistance.
  • Thumb shin print check: find your shin bone, locate a spot about 3 inches above the ankle, press firmly with your thumb for 30 seconds, then release. Healthy people show no impression; early insulin resistance shows a thumbprint remaining.
  • Watch for speech changes 30 to 40 minutes after eating many carbs: slower cadence and slurred words.
• The speaker says the Dr. B's ratio matches the glucose-ketone index (GKI) used in scientific articles, but she presents the units differently, skipping the algebra that cancels them out.
• She acknowledges the hairy toes clue is not the best indicator of insulin resistance.
• She directs viewers to another video on how to fix insulin resistance, but no fix methods are described in this transcript.

Bottom Line

The speaker presents visual and at-home clues for insulin resistance, with the Dr. B's ratio as the test she considers most definitive; these are her claims and are not professional medical advice.