One of the things I really wished that I had known years ago when I was really fat was the link between skin tags and insulin resistance. We don’t know exactly what the link is but it’s clear that there is one. One study showed you were over 11 times more likely to develop metabolic syndrome or diabetes if you had skin tags.
Skin tags are the little growths of skin that usually occur where skin touches other skin on your neck, groin, inner thighs, and under arms. Before I started losing weight I had them everywhere! Every time I got a haircut, they were always getting nicked with the clippers on the back of my neck.
The most common theory as to why they appear is insulin is a growth hormone and when you are insulin resistant, you have higher levels of insulin and that causes weird growths on your skin. This is also why people who are insulin resistant have a higher risk of cancer, the insulin is also a growth signal to the cancer cells in your body.
The great news is, once you get your insulin levels under control by not eating foods that raise blood sugar like sugar and carbs, the skin tags will often go away. It will take YEARS for it to happen so don’t think it will be an overnight thing but one day you wake up and realize the barber didn’t nick a tag and your skin is smooth where once it felt like a page of Braille.
Has this happened to you? Let me know in the comments below!
