The Knowledge posts I have been writing about nutrition are building upon one another. To answer the question posed in the title, you need to start with a very basic question: “Are there certain times when an insulin spike could be useful to a bodybuilder?”
After a hard workout, your muscles are tired and depleted of energy, be it from glycogen, carbs, or fat. At this point, your body is in a catabolic state. What this means is that you body is breaking down muscle and fat.
The second question you have to ask yourself is “how do do you start to build up those muscles and energy?” From a previous post, I talked about how sugar causes an increase in blood sugar levels. Increasing these levels will pump excess sugar into your muscles. Since your muscles need all the energy and nutrition they get get, the sugar won’t turn to fat.
So, increasing your blood sugar level will cause a spike in insulin post workout, so your muscles will be pumped full of energy and nutrients which you depleted during your workout. Eating a mixture of high glycemic index sugar (see the previous post to this one), along with protein has been shown in studies to be better than just eating sugar alone. Protein is vital post-workout for rebuilding muscles, but so is the spike in insulin associated with sugar.
Eating a couple of bananas or adding honey to your post workout shake will do your body a favor! But be aware of the source of the sugar. Stay away from refined sugars such as those found in chocolate bars, Spree, hot tamales or other candies. Stay with natural sugars, such as those found in fruit or honey.
Another time when an insulin spike is beneficial to a weight lifter is immediately after waking up. Your body has been without food for 8 hours while you were sleeping, unless you had a protein laden meal before bedtime, and, therefore, you body has been burning muscle. This is a great time to get an insulin spike to pump energy into your muscles and revive your system. At this point of time, your body is in a similar state to the one it was in post workout. Again, eating a lot of protein, some sugar, and some slow digesting carbohydrates would be great in the morning. Just a slight increase in insulin would be effective in the morning. This is because, although your body has been fasting for 8 hours, it wasn’t exercising or using muscle, so it needs significantly less energy.
So now after your workout, enjoy a fruit and protein smoothie, and add some honey!
