Insulin and carbs...

[Gear]

I know its better to eat proper food while Insulin is active but I was wondering if it is it ok to consume carb shakes all throughout the Insulin active period as your carbs source instead of eating proper cooked food?

[Mallet]

I know its better to eat proper food while Insulin is active but I was wondering if it is it ok to consume carb shakes all throughout the Insulin active period as your carbs source instead of eating proper cooked food?

carbs should be in the simple form during slins activity, most carb drinks will do fine, it's important to consume protein during this time as well, even creatine and extra glutamine..take full advantage of the disposal properties associated with slin, just avoid any fats!

[Jacked As Hell]

I agree carbs are you friend while on insulin and if you ever feel hypo consume some simple sugars fast(coke, etc)

[Gear]

Thanx guys, appriciate your help

[spound]

I agree carbs are you friend while on insulin and if you ever feel hypo consume some simple sugars fast(coke, etc)

If coke and simple sugars like that will bring you out of hypo quickly then why cant these items be used as your carb source while using insulin instead of dextrose?

[flexshack]

If coke and simple sugars like that will bring you out of hypo quickly then why cant these items be used as your carb source while using insulin instead of dextrose?

dextrose is the fastest acting sugar, well actually i believe maltodextrin is higher (105 on the GI), but still both are superior to soft drinks and such.

[einstein1905]

Fructose doesn't require insulin for uptake and is a couple steps down in the metabolic breakdown process of glucose metabolism (glucose eventually becomes glucose 6 phosphate and the fructose 6 phosphate....etc), so fructose "budges in line" and gets to a usable form "***faster****" than glucose. I put an asterisk there because fructose is slightly slower to be absorbed by most cells of the body, but once absorbed, can be used quicker. The brain can absorb fructose roughly as well as glucose (I don't know exact rates here, but even if it's close one way or the other, fructose is more readilly usable). When we use insulin, glut4 is greatly upregulated in muscle and adipose. Glut4 transports glucose. This is why we use glucose as our simple sugar source.....increased glut4 expression allows us to rapidly replenish muscle glucose (and this leads to replenished glycogen stores). If we were to use strictly fructose upon injecting insulin, the rate of uptake would be no faster than if we were not to have used insulin at all, and it would not preferentially be taken up by muscle.


Maltodextrin is simply a polymer of glucose (many glucose molecules branched "a chain of glucose"). Maltodextrin is higher GI than glucose alone, but we want glucose immediately available for uptake by the recently upregulated glut4. If we utilize just maltodextrin, we are limited by the rate of hydrolysis of maltodextrin into glucose monomers...this is no good. We want rapid uptake.


I'm really rambling here.....if anyone cares to hear about this further, say so, Otherwise I'll shut up.

[Aguro]

So if i understand well both fructose and maltodextrose are needed for quickest absorbtion?

[spound]

thanks einstein that is very useful info (now i get it)....so the only reason to have coke and such on hand is just to prevent hypo and not for restoring glycogen to muscle faster w/ insulin .

[einstein1905]

So if i understand well both fructose and maltodextrose are needed for quickest absorbtion?

Fructose is good to recover quickly from going hypo. Using proper quantities of glucose (dextrose) in the first place prevents the need for the former. maltodetrin is a "slower" source of glucose....not what you want when using insulin .

Take home message:
Use the appropriate amounts of glucose in the first place and there won't be a need to fuss with fructose....maltodextrin is more beneficial to those not using insulin.

[Gear]

Some very interensting information there, thank you

[GATOR_98]

a STUPID QUESTION HERE.....but what wood be a good source(glucose) of carbs to take after a shot of insulin post workout....to replenish glycogen? Should you consume 2-3 bannanas(75 grams of simple carbs).

[einstein1905]

a STUPID QUESTION HERE.....but what wood be a good source(glucose) of carbs to take after a shot of insulin post workout....to replenish glycogen? Should you consume 2-3 bannanas(75 grams of simple carbs).

dextrose is pure glucose......just buy dextrose

[Gear]

I believe its best to take simple carbohydrates throughout the whole Insulin active period. Just stay way from the fats

[Aguro]

been 2 day at 2ui and 3ui and dextrose made the job.. i am taking 80 g in the morning with 1/4 cup of ananas juice and 15 min later a protein shake 75 g. 1 hour after i take another 50 g of dextrose and 75 g of protein again.. everything is fine right now i feel different from usual.. but it bearable.. and this is only 3 ui.. I already feel fuller and my appetite is better too..

[Gear]

Only 3 IU? I wonder the feeling when taking the "crazy amounts" like 20 IU per day. But then again I would say that everybody reacts differently or at a different level to different kind of chemicals. Thanx man