Let’s talk insulin.
Mention the “I word” with a low carbohydrate dieter, or perhaps a clean eater, and you can virtually discover their whereabouts turn white because the blood drains from their face in abject horror.
In their mind, insulin may be the big crook inside the nutrition world.
They talk about insulin as “the storage hormone” and think that any amount of insulin in the body will immediately make you set down new fat cells, gain pounds, and lose any a higher level leanness and definition.
Fortunately, that isn’t quite true.
In fact, while simplifying things with regards to nutrition and training can often be beneficial, it is a gross over-simplification from the role of insulin within your body, as well as the truth is entirely different.
Faraway from to be the dietary devil, insulin is absolutely not be afraid of in any way.
What Insulin Does
The first part with the insulin worrier’s claim (that insulin is a storage hormone) applies – one of insulin’s main roles is always to shuttle carbohydrate that you eat around the body, and deposit it where it’s needed.
That doesn’t mean that the carbs you eat are stored as fat though.
You store glycogen (carbohydrate) inside your liver, the muscles cells plus your fat cells, and it’ll only get shoved into those pesky adipose sites (fat tissue) when the muscles and liver are full.
Additionally, unless you have a calorie surplus, simply cannot store body fat.
Consider it this way –
Insulin is like the employees in a warehouse.
Calories would be the boxes and crates.
You might fill that warehouse fit to burst with workers (insulin) but when there isn’t any boxes (calories) to stack, those shelves won’t get filled.
And if you’re burning 3,000 calories every day, and eating 2,500 calories (or perhaps 2,999) your body can’t store fat. It doesn’t matter if those calories come from carbs or sugar, you do not store them, as the body requires them for fuel.
Granted, this couldn’t survive the earth’s healthiest diet, but because far as science is involved, it comes down to calories in versus calories out, NOT insulin.
It Isn’t JUST Carbs
People fret over carbs obtaining the biggest impact on insulin levels, and the way carbohydrate (particularly from 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 very insulogenic, which enable it to create a spike, particularly when consumed post workout.
Dairy foods too may relatively large effect as a result of natural sugars they contain, and in many cases fats can raise insulin levels.
Additionally, the insulin effect is drastically lowered when you eat a combined meal – i.e. the one that contains carbs plus protein and/ or fat.
This slows the digestion as well as the absorption in the carbs, bringing about a lot lower insulin response. Add fibre into the mix too, and the raise in insulin is minimal, so regardless of whether we were focused on it before, the perfect solution is straightforward – eat balanced, nutrient-dense meals, and you will not need to worry.
Insulin Builds Muscle
Finding comfort the idea of insulin as a storage hormone, and the notion who’s delivers “stuff” to cells:
Fancy going for a guess at what else it delivers, beside carbohydrate?
It delivers nutrients for your muscle cells.
Therefore, if you are forever attempting to keep insulin levels low for anxiety about fat gain, it’s highly unlikely you’ll build muscle optimally. It’s for this reason that I’d never put clients trying to get ripped making lean gains on the low-carb diet.
No Insulin Can Still Equal Lipid balance
As opposed to all of the low-carb diet practitioners again, it’s possible to store fat when levels of insulin are low.
Fat when consumed inside a caloric surplus is really changed into extra fat tissue much more readily than carbohydrates are, showing that after again, fat gain or fat reduction comes down to calories in versus calories out, not insulin levels.
Why low-Carb (and Low-Insulin) Diets “Work”
Many folk will point on the scientific and anecdotal evidence low-carb diets being employed as reasoning in order to keep levels of insulin low.
I can’t argue – a low-carb diet, where insulin release is kept down can certainly work, however, this has hardly any regarding the hormone itself.
Once you cut carbs, you mostly cut calories, putting you right into a deficit.
Additionally, an average joe will eat more protein and much more vegetables when going low-carb, so they really feel far fuller and eat less. Plus, protein and fibre both have a high thermic effect, meaning they actually use-up more calories in the digestion process.
Important thing: Insulin – Not Bad In fact
There’s no need to be worried about insulin if you –
Train hard and frequently
Have a balanced macronutrient split (i.e. ample protein and fat, and carbs to suit activity levels and preference.)
Are relatively lean.
Eat mostly nutrient-dense foods.
Have zero difficulty with diabetes.
You may still store fat with low insulin levels, and you will burn off fat and make muscle when insulin occurs.
Considering insulin in isolation as either “good” or “bad” is actually a prime instance of missing the forest for your tress, so take it easy, and let insulin do its thing whilst you concentrate on the big picture.
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