"Resistance is futile," declared the cybernetic alien species the Borg on "Star Trek: The Next Generation."

But it's not when it comes to insulin resistance, which is an active assault on your health. You can resist insulin resistance, to great benefit.

Insulin resistance is a term that indicates your muscle, liver, and fat cells don't respond sufficiently to the message that insulin is trying to deliver to them: "Take glucose from the blood and use it to fuel your work."

In reaction, beta cells in the pancreas crank out more and more insulin, trying to force your cells to take in sufficient glucose. Eventually, that doesn't work and excess glucose then remains in your blood, resulting in either prediabetes or full-blown diabetes.

The good news is that a low-fat vegan diet offers a powerful way to restore insulin sensitivity, according to a new study in the journal JAMA Open Network.

Over the course of 16 weeks, researchers found that overweight participants who were on a vegan diet lost 13 pounds, dramatically improved their insulin sensitivity, and decreased the amount of excess fat in their liver cells by 34.4% and excess fat stored in muscle cells by 10%.

The beneficial diet delivered 75% of calories from carbohydrates (vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and legumes), 15% from non-animal protein, and 10% from fat, as well as a daily 500 microgram vitamin B12 supplement.

What this means is that if you want to resist — and defeat — insulin resistance, switch to a low-fat, vegan diet.

To protect bone health, eat plenty of calcium-rich veggies and make sure you have healthy blood levels of vitamins D and B12.