Your health practitioner can use several methods to determine if you’re insulin resistant.

For example, high fasting insulin levels are strong indicators of this condition.

A fairly accurate test called HOMA-IR estimates insulin resistance from your blood sugar and insulin levels.

There are also ways to measure blood sugar control more directly, such as an oral glucose-tolerance test but this takes several hours.

Your risk of insulin resistance increases greatly if you have excess weight or obesity, especially if you have large amounts of belly fat.

A skin condition called acanthosis nigricans, which involves dark spots on your skin, can likewise indicate insulin resistance.

Having low HDL (good) cholesterol levels and high blood triglycerides are two other markers strongly associated with this condition.

High insulin and blood sugar levels are key symptoms of insulin resistance. Other symptoms include excess belly fat, high blood triglycerides, and low HDL (good) cholesterol levels.

Insulin resistance may be one of the key drivers of many if not most of today’s chronic diseases.

Yet, you can improve this condition with simple lifestyle measures, such as losing fat, eating healthy food, and exercising.

Preventing insulin resistance may be among the most powerful ways to live a longer, healthier life.