Let’s talk insulin.
Mention the “I word” to some reduced carb dieter, or maybe a clean eater, and you can virtually discover their whereabouts turn white as the blood drains using their face in abject horror.
For many years, insulin could be the big theif from the nutrition world.
They refer to insulin as “the storage hormone” and feel that anywhere of insulin in your body will immediately cause you to set down new fat cells, put on pounds, and lose any amount of leanness and definition.
Fortunately, that’s not quite the truth.
The truth is, while simplifying things regarding nutrition and training can often be beneficial, it is a gross over-simplification of the role of insulin within you, and the facts are entirely different.
Definately not to be the dietary devil, insulin is absolutely nothing to forget of in any way.
What Insulin Does
Part one of the insulin worrier’s claim (that insulin is a storage hormone) holds true Body of insulin’s main roles would be to shuttle carbohydrate which you eat across the body, and deposit it where it’s needed.
That does not mean that all the carbs you take in are turned into fat though.
You store glycogen (carbohydrate) within your liver, your muscle cells as well as your fat cells, and will also only get shoved into those pesky adipose sites (fat tissue) in the event the muscles and liver are full.
Additionally, unless you have a calorie surplus, you simply cannot store extra fat.
See it this way –
Insulin is a lot like the workers in a warehouse.
Calories will be the boxes and crates.
You can fill that warehouse fit to burst with workers (insulin) but when there are no boxes (calories) to stack, those shelves won’t get filled.
So if you feel burning 3,000 calories every day, and eating 2,500 calories (as well as 2,999) the body can’t store fat. No matter whether all of the calories originate from carbs or sugar, you simply won’t store them, as your body demands them for fuel.
Granted, this may not be earth’s healthiest diet, but because far as science can be involved, it comes to calories in versus calories out, NOT insulin.
It’s not just Carbs
People fret over carbs having the biggest impact on insulin levels, and just how carbohydrate (particularly of the simple/ high-sugar/ high-GI variety) spikes insulin levels, but a good amount of other foods raise insulin too.
Whey protein isolate, for example, is especially insulogenic, which enable it to spark a spike, especially when consumed post workout.
Dairy products too may relatively large effect because of the natural sugars they contain, and also fats can raise levels of insulin.
Additionally, the insulin effect is drastically lowered during the day a combined meal – i.e. the one which contains carbs plus protein and/ or fat.
This slows the digestion as well as the absorption in the carbs, leading to a much lower insulin response. Add fibre in to the mix too, along with the raise in insulin is minimal, so regardless of whether we had arrived worried about it before, the answer is simple – eat balanced, nutrient-dense meals, and you also need not worry.
Insulin Builds Muscle
Returning to the thought of insulin as a storage hormone, and the notion that it delivers “stuff” to cells:
Fancy taking a guess at what else it delivers, beside carbohydrate?
It delivers nutrients to your muscle tissues.
Therefore, should you be forever continuing to keep insulin levels low for concern with excess weight, it’s highly unlikely you’ll get ripped optimally. It’s because of this that I’d never put clients looking to bulk up and make lean gains on the low-carb diet.
No Insulin Could Equal Lipid balance
As opposed to all those low-carb diet practitioners again, it’s possible to store fat when insulin levels are low.
Fat when consumed inside a caloric surplus is really transformed into unwanted fat tissue far more readily than carbohydrates are, showing that when again, fat gain or fat loss is dependant on calories in versus calories out, not insulin levels.
Why low-Carb (and Low-Insulin) Diets “Work”
Many folk will point towards scientific and anecdotal evidence of low-carb diets doing its job reasoning for keeping levels of insulin low.
I won’t argue – a low-carb diet, where insulin release is kept as small as possible can simply work, but this has little or no about the hormone itself.
If you cut carbs, you generally cut calories, putting you in to a deficit.
Additionally, the average joe will eat more protein and more vegetables when going low-carb, so they feel far fuller and consume less food. Plus, protein and fibre both have a higher thermic effect, meaning they will really burn more calories throughout the digestion process.
Bottom Line: Insulin – Not too Bad All things considered
You don’t need to be worried about insulin in the event you –
Train hard and frequently
Eat a balanced macronutrient split (i.e. ample protein and fat, and carbs to match activity levels as well as preference.)
Are relatively lean.
Eat mostly nutrient-dense foods.
Don’t have any issues with diabetes.
You can still store fat with low levels of insulin, and you can get rid of fat and create muscle when insulin is found.
Investigating insulin in isolation as either “good” or “bad” is indeed a prime demonstration of missing the forest for your tress, so take it easy, and let insulin do its thing whilst you target the big picture.
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