Phill, Joe, you raise good points.
I’m no expert on insulin resistance, but I’m going to blather on about it anyway – bear with me.
To start, I’ll question whether insulin resistance is much of an issue for someone that is in fact controlling their carbohydrate intake, exercising regularly and is not obese.
Also, if we are on something like the Velocity Diet or the T-Dawg Diet, our bodies are not regularly infused with large loads of insulin. Isn’t it really the huge loads of carbohydrates consumed in a single setting that overload the insulin system and cause insensitivity?
I guess a pet theory of mine is that insulin resistance in healthy individuals, in large part, can be explained by the fact that a largely sedentary population has nowhere to push the carbohydrates. So, huge amounts of insulin are required to force the body to make space. Those of us that drain the storage areas, as nature intended, by getting actual exercise should be much more able to handle reasonable carbohydrate ingestion.
Also, based on the models proposed, wouldn’t the regular consumption of any meal with carbohydrates cause insulin resistance?
I may be totally wrong, but lets go with the idea that insulin resistance isn’t an issue to us because we are healthy, active and in control of our consumption and see where it may take us:
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We can generally control whether or not we have any space to store carbs by getting intense exercise or simply restricting carbs for a suitable period of time.
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We can control the size and duration of an insulin spike to ensure that it occurs at a time when there isn’t all that much dietary fat or other energy entering the bloodstream to cause new fat storage.
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Through cardio, if we wish, we can ensure that an influx of carbs is at least presented in large part to the muscles for uptake, as opposed to consuming this type of meal while in a rested state.
Point 1 above is managed by our diets. If we are on the T-Dawg or perhaps the V-Diet we know where we are at any point in time. Point 2 is controlled by the Surge serving size. We can pinpoint the carb ingestion and have a fair idea how much energy is entering our system from it and any previous meals. Point 3 is also obviously under our direct control though our jobs may somewhat get in the way.
So, if I fasted for a whole three or four hours after my previous small meal (big whoop), then went for a 15 minute walk and then chugged some Surge, what would be the effect? Would I present insulin and an appropriate nutrient profile to the muscles and cause an increase in anabolic activity? Would eating a regular small protein containing meal after this help continue the anabolic process?
Is this repeatable simply by waiting three or four hours so that the previous small meal is no longer entering the bloodstream?
Okay, that is a ton of questions based on a supposition. I realize that. To be honest though, if a strategy such as this could be worked into recovery periods between workouts, it would be worth considering.
Is there any research out there showing the effects of consumption for various types of exercise or for various states of or strategies for carbohydrate depletion?