Three numbers that catch insulin resistance years before an A1C moves.
Fasting insulin, fasting glucose and the triglyceride to HDL ratio, what each one is really telling you, and the seven levers that move them.
01 of 04
The three numbers
Insulin climbs for years. Glucose breaks last. Standard panels watch the one that breaks last.
insulin rising for years while glucose still reads normal
Marker
Functional optimal
What the lab calls normal
Fasting insulin
2 to 6 uIU/mL
Up to 25
Fasting glucose
75 to 85 mg/dL
Up to 99
Triglyceride to HDL ratio
Under 1.0
Rarely even reported
Fasting insulin is the first marker to rise and the one almost nobody runs. Your target window is a thin slice of what the lab calls normal.
Fasting glucose reads normal long after insulin has been working overtime. On its own it tells you almost nothing about where you are heading.
The triglyceride to HDL ratio is a free stand-in for insulin resistance. Divide your triglycerides by your HDL off any basic lipid panel you have already had.
How to order it yourself
Ask for fasting insulin, fasting glucose and a standard lipid panel, or order them direct to consumer. Fast 10 to 12 hours, water only, and draw in the morning for clean numbers.
02 of 04
What each number actually is
Fasting insulin
Insulin moves sugar out of your blood and into your cells. Fasting insulin is how hard your body has to work to keep things steady before you have eaten. Low and steady means your cells still listen. High means your body is straining to do the same job, and that strain is the earliest sign of insulin resistance you can measure.
Fasting glucose
The sugar left in your blood after an overnight fast, and the number most labs already check. Your body will burn through more and more insulin for years to keep it looking normal, so on its own it tells you where you are today rather than where you are heading.
Triglyceride to HDL ratio
Triglycerides are fat travelling in your blood. HDL is your protective cholesterol. When insulin runs high, triglycerides rise and HDL falls, so the gap between them quietly tracks insulin resistance. It is free, because it comes off a lipid panel you have probably already had.
triglycerides divided by HDL, off a panel you already have
If your lab reports in mmol/L
UK labs often do. Multiply your triglycerides by 88.5 and your HDL by 38.7 first, then divide.
03 of 04
Seven levers that bring A1C down
A1C is your average blood sugar over the last three months. Standard labs call anything under 5.7 normal. Functional optimal sits closer to 5.0 to 5.3. The same levers that lower insulin lower A1C, because both come down to how much glucose your body handles and how well it clears it.
Walk ten minutes after meals. The biggest single lever on post-meal glucose. Moving muscle pulls sugar out of the blood before it can sit.
Protein and fibre before starch. Lead with protein and vegetables, finish with carbohydrate. Same plate, far flatter curve.
Lift heavy three times a week. Muscle is your largest glucose sink. Training it keeps sugar leaving the blood for days afterward.
Cut the liquid sugar first. Juice, soda and sweet coffees spike hardest, with no fibre to slow them down.
Stop grazing all day. Every bite lifts insulin. Real gaps between meals give it hours to come back down.
Protect seven to eight hours of sleep. One short night raises next-day glucose and blunts insulin sensitivity.
Shed visceral fat. Fat around the organs drives resistance directly. Even five to ten pounds off the midsection moves these numbers.
same meal, two ways to eat it
The A1C trap nobody mentions
A1C rides on your red blood cells, so your blood itself can skew it. Low iron and anemia push A1C falsely high. Recent blood loss or fast cell turnover push it falsely low. That is why a single A1C can read off in either direction. Always pair it with fasting insulin and fasting glucose and read the three together.
04 of 04
When the basics are not enough
Most people who run these three numbers and work the steps will see them move. That is the point of this sheet and you can run with it on your own.
Where it gets individual is the order and the dose, and what to look at underneath when something keeps the resistance locked in no matter how clean you eat.
What I look at underneath
Thyroid not converting
A slow thyroid drags metabolism and blunts glucose clearance even when fat loss is on point.
Gut inflammation
An inflamed gut keeps the whole system inflamed, and inflammation drives insulin resistance directly.
Stress and sleep
High cortisol and short sleep raise blood sugar on their own, no matter what is on your plate.
Sex hormones
Low testosterone, estrogen swings and thyroid all move how your body stores fat and handles sugar.
When to recheck
Give any change eight to twelve weeks before you retest. That is long enough for fasting insulin and A1C to actually move, so you are reading real progress rather than daily noise.
Educational only
Not medical advice. These are the functional ranges I use to read real panels. Work with a qualified provider for diagnosis and treatment.
Want yours read and built for you?
Bring me your data. If we are a fit, I will map what your numbers are actually telling you and the exact plan to move them.
Busy professionals who have done the basics, brought real bloodwork, and want a plan built around their biology instead of guesswork. No stock protocols, ever.