# Insulin spike/cortisol post workout



## Revenant (Jan 27, 2003)

I've seen people here talk about getting an insulin spike after a workout. I wasn't sure why so I decided to research it and I found this. Please tell me what you think.


_"when blood sugar levels become depressed as a result of an insulin surge, muscle-eating catabolic hormones like cortisol are released. Therefore, the 'muscle-breakdown zone' for blood sugar is the opposite side of the coin of the 'fat-storage zone' for insulin." 

Although a high-carb post-workout meal will stimulate more anabolic/FAT-STORING insulin than a low-carb meal, it will also suppress anabolic/FAT-BURNING growth hormone - this is a net negative. Even assuming that a high-carb post-workout meal is more anabolic than a low-carb post-workout meal immediately after it is ingested, what happens a few hours later to the person who ate the high-carb meal? Read NHE to learn about the hypoglycemia-induced release of counterregulatory catabolic hormones (alluded to in the footnote above, and discussed in Chapters 10 and 11). This offsets any anabolic benefits of a high-carb post-workout meal. Of course, you can avoid hypoglycemia-induced release of counterregulatory catabolic hormones by carbing-up again before blood sugar drops, and again, and again, and again. Eventually you become a full-blown, fat, bloated, sugar-burner. Not only is the sugar-burning state inferior in terms of your muscle/bodyfat ratio but also in terms of energy and mood; and it is dramatically worse in terms of health. "_

-from http://www.extique.com/askrob5-2.htm


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## Dr. Pain (Jan 28, 2003)

I like it! 


DP


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## Dr. Pain (Jan 28, 2003)

> . . . you can't consider the post-workout meal in a vacuum. One of the premises of NHE is that the physiological ramifications of a meal persist for hours after it is consumed and trigger a chain of metabolic events. Along this line of reasoning, your question whether a protein/fat meal "will halt catabolism as quickly" as a high-carb meal is misconceived because it fails to appreciate that halting catabolism more abruptly may induce greater catabolism later.



Whoa....did I write that....lol

(Fucking Aliens Abducted me again and made me write w/o knowing it!)


DP


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## Robboe (Jan 28, 2003)

Insulin is more anablic than hGH alone will ever be.

And insulin promotes IGF-1.

NHE is a brilliant read, but Rob Faigan is a heavily anti-carb person for the most part, so the book is written very one sidedly. If that is a word.

After a workout, insulin independant glucose uptake means that the GLUT4 transporters have already transolcated to the cell membrane and are ready to suck up the stuff you feed them. It's an ideal time to kick start anabolism and reduce the amount of cortisol in the blood.

It's not a requirement by any means, but it can definately be beneficial.


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## gopro (Jan 29, 2003)

Have carbs post workout...no doubt. While bulking, while cutting...have carbs post workout. If on a low carb diet, eat your daily carbs post workout. The muscles are starving for it after training with weights...eat those carbs! Ading carbs to a post workout meal has broken more of my clients' plateau than almost anything else!


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## cornfed (Jan 29, 2003)

Hmmm... no wonder "enhanced" athletes take insulin post WO... to get smaller    ... 

Ditto on TCD's commentary


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## Dr. Pain (Jan 29, 2003)

Fagin would have been a good reference...when I was trying to explain insulin being a 'stepped fuction' in our meal frequency thread a while back........



> My answer is that you should allow at least 2 hours between meals to avoid an insulin-compounding effect or in your words, the "combined content of the two meals raising the insulin level too high."





DP


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## cornfed (Jan 29, 2003)

I agree, but there are more reasons not to eat more than once in 2 hours


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