http://www.beyondmass.com/aboveandbeyond/jmo.html
wHAT DO YOU MAKE OF THIS DUDES OPINION? Damn caps lock.
My Philosophy
It’s really simple- protein and fat are good, protein and carbs are good, anything with carbs and fat together are considered a cheat meal. Why? Good question! It has to do with insulin.
A Carb is A Carb
While doing research into using insulin many, many moons ago there were a lot of warnings about becoming fat. For those of you who don’t know, insulin is a doubled-edged sword when it comes to packing on pounds. Insulin’s main function is to lower blood sugar. It does this by shuttling nutrients into muscle and fat cells. There are many studies out there that show that if you eat fat as a macro-nutrient it has a greater chance at becoming fat (on you) than protein or carbs. That is why high-carb, anti-fat diets became a popular method of eating. So if you eat a meal high in fat and use insulin it is a sure recipe for packing on fat.
Now this got me thinking like a natural for a second (please don’t faint). If using insulin can make you fat if you consume fat, what’s to stop you from your own insulin making you fat if you consume fat? Thus a theory was born! If you are going to spike your insulin, make sure fats aren’t around when you do it!
Now on to the obvious- protein. We need protein all day everyday and at each meal. We eat protein like this to supply our muscles a steady stream of amino acids in some hope of trying to make them grow. A problem occurs when we eat protein without carbs or fat. Our body’s like to run on carbs. What happens to some extent when you eat protein without carbs or fat is the protein gets converted to carbs. This process is called gluconeogenesis- the making of glucose from protein. This isn’t what we are after. We need protein to build muscle- not to be used as fuel, thus when we consume protein we need carbs or fat with it.
Why do we need carbs? Well technically we don’t. There are essential proteins and essential fats- but no essential carbs. Well many carbs do contain value vitamins and minerals. Also carbs are our primary fuel source when doing anaerobic activity (fancy word for lifting weights). They are also our primary fuel source when doing aerobic activity although we don’t want them to be. So the question we need to ask ourselves is not “do I need carbs” but “when do I need carbs”. The carbs that we are concerned about are those that are stored in the muscle and ready to be used as fuel. When do we need this fuel? We need it when we desire an insulin spike. If you are cutting, this might be only post workout. If you are in a mass building phase it might be as soon as you rise in the morning. Insulin is a great tool in building muscle but as we all know it also builds fat. Even if you don’t consume fat with your insulin, you still can get fat- calories in vs. calories out. If we are building muscle we need a surplus of calories, for cutting we need a deficiency. We can use macro nutrient combing to bolster the effects of insulin to be more muscle building or negate the fat building effects for cutting.
Not All Carbs Are Created Equal
Most of us have heard of something called the GI index. It measures how a specific carb effect’s insulin response. Carbs are typically thought of as being either complex or simple. For our purposes here we will keep with the 2 varieties. A complex carb takes time to break down and be absorbed by the body. A simple carb- not so long. It’s generally thought of in non-bodybuilding circles that complex carbs are good, simple carbs bad. Now let’s throw the GI index into the mix. Again we’ll use 2 classifications. Carbs that have a high GI rating vs. carbs that have a low GI rating. The interesting part comes into play because not all complex carbs are low GI and not all simple carbs are high GI. This is where a lot of non-bodybuilding diets fall on there face. But how can we use this information? Let’s make a chart. Across the top of a piece of paper make 2 columns and label them- High GI and Low GI. Now add 2 rows. Label them Complex Carbs and Simple Carbs. That’s your chart. Now we can fill in foods to best fill the effects we want. Take a white potato for example. A white potato is a complex carb. It is also a starch and starches have a profound spike on insulin. So if we want a quick rise in insulin that will last for quite a time a white potato would be a good choice. Write white potato in the row for complex carbs under the column high GI. Now let’s think of 3 more examples for the rest of the columns. For complex carbs, low GI we can enter carrots. For simple carbs, high GI let’s enter dextrose (corn sugar) and for simple carbs, low GI how about an apple. This should give you an idea of why different carbs provoke different insulin responses.
Putting It Together
There are typically two modes body builders find themselves in- bulking and cutting. Let’s look at bulking first. Bulking is the over consumption of calories in an attempt to pack on slabs of muscle. The trouble with bulking always has been that the over consumption of calories also tends to pack on slabs of fat. Experienced body builders view this as a “necessary evil” while those new to the sport constantly try to go on a “lean bulker”. Eventually, everyone figures out that packing on fat is just part of the game.
Well, nothing written here is going to change that. However, we can alter the muscle/fat ratio somewhat. By using macro-nutrient combing we can negate insulin spikes when fat is present in our food. This should allow for less fat accumulation during a bulker. It’s very hard to consume all the calories necessary to pack on a significant amount of muscle in a short period. There is no way we want to take fat out of equation for this reason and for the reason that fat is necessary in a healthy diet. But if we only consume fat without causing an insulin spike we stand a chance of not adding fat to our waistline unnecessarily.
Let’s create an example. Let’s say Joe Widelats decides to go on a bulking diet. Joe is an endomorph. He doesn’t have much problem adding muscle; his problem is not also adding almost an equal amount of fat in the process. Let’s also say for our example Joe lifts at night. Joe’s going to wakeup and does cardio with only a scoop of whey protein or pops some BCAA tabs in his belly. Cardio done first thing in the morning when insulin levels are low allows for maximum fat burning. After the cardio, Joe wants to keep the fat burning process going. Remember Joe is an endomorph. If Joe was an ectomorph he wouldn’t be doing the cardio in the first place.
Joe’s first 2 meals of the day don’t spike insulin. Now at lunch, Joe finally eats some carbs that are designed to move insulin levels up (but not threw the roof). Joe continues to eat this way until he works out. Now its post workout and time for our meal. Post workout is the time we really want to spike insulin- more so than any other time of the day. What we desire here is protein (of course) and carbs that will give us a fast and long lasting insulin response. We can use a whey protein shake and a white potato. The problem is that is usually takes a while to chew a whole potato. So how about whey and dextrose instead (since this meal usually happens at the gym, dextrose is also much more convenient than carrying a potato in your gym bag)? Then when we get home 45-60 minutes later, a lean steak, potato and carrots are in order.
Joe cuts off carbs before bed and his last meal basically consists of protein and a veggie. If you don’t cut off carbs here, you’ll suppress your own spike of natural GH. Natural GH spike occurs after entering REM sleep a short time after falling asleep if insulin levels aren’t high. So this would be good practice no matter what body type you are.
Bulking for a mesomorph or an ectomorph might see insulin levels much sooner. Also some ectomorphs are the exception to the rule. They can’t add body fat no matter what they eat. So they can go ahead and break the macro-combo rule.
Now for a look at cutting. Despite having added less fat than any other bulker that Joe did, he did add some and now it’s time to start on the dreaded cutter. Again Joe will follow the morning cardio practice but this time instead of raising insulin levels mid-day, Joe won’t raise them at all until it’s time to lift. You see, stored body fat will not be used as long as long as insulin levels are elevated. So it is our desire to keep insulin levels low all day with the exception of post workout to allow stored body fat to be burned. We will be consuming protein/fat meals for this effect. A steak and very low GI, slow releasing foods like carrots can comprise a meal or a chicken breast salad with Olive Oil (yum-yum) dressing.
Now after lifting, we have burned threw are stored glucose and this is the one time of day an insulin spike is desired. Insulin is the only hormone that stands a chance of combating cortisol- released from our workout. It still looses but it knocks cortisol levels down a notch or two before surrendering in defeat. Also exercise itself has sensitized our muscle cell insulin receptors and desensitized our fat cell insulin receptors (isn’t lifting weights great). So this is the time for some carbs, spiking insulin, fighting cortisol and replenishing those drained muscles. Oh yeah, let’s throw some protein in there too to prevent them from wasting away.
So our post workout meal of whey/dextrose is in order. Insulin will be raised high but not for long period. Afterwards we resume our non-insulin spiking meals. This is making insulin work for you in preventing muscle loss while maximizing stored fat burning. This again is going to be the best cutter Joe has ever had.
In Conclusion
By following a macro combining game plan, you can effectively make insulin work for you (instead of against) more times than not- speeding up your body building goals no matter what they may be. Just remember that Insulin is a double-edged sword and it’s very important that you don’t end up cutting your progress from gripping it wrong!
Till next time- LA out and it’s “Just My Opinion”!