What are the four fixes, and does the order matter?

Yes, the order matters. They are listed in the sequence that produces the least friction: the first one is usually the constraint everything else is waiting on, and starting at number three while number one is still broken is why previous attempts stalled. Run them in order, give each one long enough to actually take hold, and resist the urge to add a fifth. The shortest list you will still be following in three months beats the complete one you abandon in two weeks.

How long before I see anything change?

Different markers move on different clocks, and knowing the order in advance is most of what stops people quitting in week three. Subjective things — sleep, energy, appetite stability — usually shift first. Strength follows. Waist and bloodwork are slower and considerably more informative. We do not publish weight-loss figures or timelines, because honest ones do not exist for an individual. What the research does show consistently is that adherence predicts the outcome better than which framework you picked.

Do I need blood work before I start?

You can start the structural parts — sleep window, protein floor, resistance training, reducing ultra-processed food — without any test at all. None of them require a diagnosis to be sensible. Bloodwork earns its place when it changes what you should do, or when a marker needs watching while you change your diet. If any of the items on the right apply to you, get the labs first and involve a clinician.

Can I run this while I am on medication?

Usually, but not unsupervised. Dietary change alters how much medication some conditions need — glucose-lowering drugs in particular — and that adjustment belongs with the person who prescribed them. Tell your prescriber what you are changing and when. It is a two-minute conversation that prevents the one genuinely risky failure mode in an otherwise low-risk protocol.

What happens if I miss days?

Nothing structural. This is a protocol, not a streak — the physiology responds to what you do most weeks, not to an unbroken chain of perfect ones. Missing a training session or a bedtime does not reset anything. The pattern to watch is not the missed day but the missed fortnight. If one of the four fixes keeps sliding, that usually means it was too big a change to start with, so shrink it until it is boringly achievable and rebuild from there.

How is this different from the paid programme?

The research is identical and none of it is held back. What the free protocol cannot do is sequence twelve weeks for you, read your bloodwork, or notice that your logs stopped matching your plan three weeks ago. Most people should run the free protocol first. If it holds and you want structure and human review on top of it, the programme is there — and if the free version is working on its own, we would rather you kept your money.

Starter protocol · free

The Insulin Resistant Protocol

Reversible — but only with sustained intervention, not symptom management.

Is this my profile?All 12 protocols

Fixes first

Week-one actions

Citations

01The mechanism

What is actually happening

Insulin resistance is the upstream metabolic lesion behind prediabetes, type-2 diabetes, fatty liver, and a substantial component of cardiovascular risk. Petersen and Shulman's mechanism reviews trace the lesion to ectopic lipid accumulation in liver and skeletal muscle — fat deposited where it doesn't belong, disrupting insulin-receptor signalling via diacylglycerol-PKCε. The Newcastle/DiRECT line of work (Lim/Taylor 2011, Lean 2018) demonstrated the lesion is reversible: an 8-week very-low-calorie diet normalised fasting glucose and beta-cell function, and the 5-year DiRECT extension showed durable T2D remission when weight loss is maintained. The lever is reducing intramyocellular and hepatic lipid — which means: a sustained energy deficit, attention to UPF and processed-carb intake, resistance training to increase muscle's glucose-disposal capacity, and adequate sleep (since circadian disruption itself worsens insulin resistance — Buxton 2012).¹²³⁴⁵⁶

Who this fits

Insulin resistance is reversible. The Newcastle and DiRECT trials showed T2D remission in 46% with structured weight loss. The protocol is mechanistic, not symptomatic.

Evidence base

This protocol rests on 6 peer-reviewed sources, listed in full further down the page. Where the evidence is mechanistic rather than outcome-based, the text says so.

02Highest leverage first

The four things to fix first

In this order. The first one is usually the constraint everything else is waiting on — starting at number three while number one is still broken is how previous attempts stalled.

01
Sustained moderate deficit
DiRECT used aggressive VLCD; you can produce similar (slower) results with a 15–20% deficit sustained for 6–12 months. Goal is 10–15 kg total weight loss to deplete liver and pancreatic lipid.
02
Drop refined carbs and UPF
Refined carbs spike insulin repeatedly through the day; UPF compounds with hyperpalatability and overeating. Cut both aggressively. Whole-food eating with deliberate carb sources (legumes, whole grains in moderation, vegetables).
03
Resistance training 3x/week
Strasser 2013: RT improves insulin sensitivity ~30% via increased GLUT4 translocation. More muscle = more glucose-disposal capacity = less reliance on insulin to clear meals.
04
Track HbA1c quarterly
HbA1c reflects 3-month average blood glucose. Quarterly testing shows whether the protocol is working. Target: drop into normal range (<5.7%) and hold there.

03Start on Monday

Week one to two

Not a diet plan — a short daily list. Tick them off as you go; the point is to see how much of the protocol you are actually running before you judge whether it works.

Tick as you go

0 of 6 done today

Nothing here is saved or sent anywhere — it resets when you leave the page.

What to track

Evidence about your own body

01HbA1c quarterly
02Fasting glucose monthly (home meter or labs)
03Weight weekly
04Waist circumference monthly

Eight weeks of this gives you data about you, rather than an average from a study population.

04Where to go next

When to consider the full programme

This gets you from zero to functional

The starter protocol is designed to be self-run for two to four weeks. If you want the structured twelve-week curriculum — daily sequencing, meal guidance, lab interpretation by a clinician and a mentor who reads your logs — that is what the Ancestral Reset is.

See the programme Pricing

Related on this site

Other archetypes

All 12

05The receipts

Every claim, sourced

These are the papers this protocol rests on. Follow any of them — we would rather you checked than took our word for it.

References

1.Petersen MC, Shulman GI (2018). Mechanisms of Insulin Action and Insulin Resistance. Physiological Reviews. PubMed 30067154
2.Samuel VT, Shulman GI (2016). The pathogenesis of insulin resistance: integrating signaling pathways and substrate flux. Journal of Clinical Investigation. PubMed 26727229
3.Lim EL, Hollingsworth KG, Aribisala BS, Chen MJ, Mathers JC, Taylor R (2011). Reversal of type 2 diabetes: normalisation of beta cell function in association with decreased pancreas and liver triacylglycerol. Diabetologia. PubMed 21656330
4.Lean MEJ et al. (2018). Primary care-led weight management for remission of type 2 diabetes (DiRECT): an open-label, cluster-randomised trial. The Lancet. PubMed 29221645
5.Taylor R et al. (2024). Beta-cell function and remission of type 2 diabetes (5-year DiRECT extension). The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology. PubMed 38301678
6.Strasser B, Pesta D (2013). Resistance training for diabetes prevention and therapy: experimental findings and molecular mechanisms. BioMed Research International. PubMed 24455726

06Before you start

Running this protocol

Questions people ask first

Reversible — but only with sustained intervention, not symptom management. If that sentence describes the last year or two of your life more accurately than it describes anyone else's, you are in the right protocol.

Archetypes overlap on purpose — most people recognise themselves in two or three. The assessment resolves that by weighing the whole combination of your answers rather than one keyword, and tells you which pattern to work on first.

Check with the free assessment

Insulin resistance is reversible. The Newcastle and DiRECT trials showed T2D remission in 46% with structured weight loss. The protocol is mechanistic, not symptomatic.

Timelines shown are the typical order in which markers move, not promises. Individual response varies with starting point, adherence, medication, age and sex.

Free · 2 minutes

Not sure this is your profile?

The Metabolic Assessment maps your specific answers to the right protocol — including the cases where two patterns overlap.

Take the assessment Browse all 12 protocols

Educational only, not medical advice. This protocol does not diagnose, treat or cure any condition. Consult your physician before major dietary changes or altering prescribed medication. These statements have not been evaluated by the Food and Drug Administration. Individual results vary; no outcome is guaranteed.