insulin

If you don't take care of workout supplementation, you might as well not train. Here's how to get it right. There have been big advances in muscle-building nutrition and supplementation over the years, but the one thing that supersedes all others in terms of effectiveness is our knowledge of the...

San Diego Padres pitcher Michael King, and his wife Sheila recently launched the King of the Hill Foundation, dedicated to delaying or preventing the onset of Type 1 Diabetes and other autoimmune diseases by promoting access to screening, innovative research, and cutting-edge therapies. M&F sat...

Without optimal insulin sensitivity, much of that protein (and everything else) you eat gets delivered to fat storage rather than muscle, and much of the time that fat happily resides around your waist. While your instinct might be to adopt a low-carb diet, it doesn't fix the problem. What's...

Insulin is best known for its effects on carbohydrate and fat metabolism. Simply put, it acts as a storage hormone, increasing the body’s energy stores in the form of triglyceride, or fat, stored in fat cells, and glucose stored in liver and muscles. Insulin is a polypeptide hormone composed of...

It may not come as a surprise that 12.9 million Americans follow the keto diet each year. As of 2024, keto lovers across the globe contributed to a whopping 27 million keto hashtags on Instagram, making this high-fat, low-carb diet a household name. If you or anyone you know has tried living...

Insulin sensitivity – you’ve heard of it, but you’re not sure if it belongs in bodybuilders’ literature or the LGBTQI ranks… Insulin resistance is simply a term used to describe how your body will react to insulin, and carbohydrates, and can even influence other factors such as muscle protein...

What Is CLA? CLA stands for conjugated linoleic acid and refers to a group of naturally occurring fatty acids. CLA is found primarily in the meat and dairy of ruminants such as cows, goats, sheep, and buffalo, though the amount can vary depending on the animal’s diet, altitude, breed, and...

The myths of nutrition…they just don’t seem to want to disappear. We’ve all heard them—saturated fat is bad, no carbs at night, go gluten-free or meal timing. They are all completely false and are the reason that this industry suffers from the spread of misinformation. I can’t even begin to tell...

Insulin sensitivity – you’ve heard of it, but you’re not sure if it belongs in bodybuilders’ literature or the LGBTQI ranks… Insulin resistance is simply a term used to describe how your body will react to insulin, and carbohydrates, and can even influence other factors such as muscle protein...

A low-carb diet is a good approach for severely overweight, insulin resistant, sedentary people. But that doesn't mean it's the best diet for lifters and athletes. If you're active and relatively lean already, your carb intake can be higher because leaner people have better nutrient partitioning...

DAILY MANIPULATION Forget the idea of the seasonal "bulking" and "cutting" phases that the newbies love to talk about. Instead, bulk and cut throughout the day, maximizing muscle gains while controlling body fat. How? By manipulating insulin. Depending on your background, you probably...

NO SUCCULENT DUCKS Most gym rats think of blood sugar only in one-dimensional terms. They realize that if it gets too high, you invoke a big surge of insulin that can preferentially store energy as body fat. Raise it too high, too often, and you turn into a pudgeball. But high blood sugar does...

Hold onto your nachos with cheesy beef, but it appears that beer is fast approaching "health food" status. (And is it my imagination, or did I just hear a chorus of football-jersey wearing frat boys and former frat boys erupt in a damnable chorus of "Dilly-dilly"?) Wine gets all the accolades...

Cyclical Ketogenic Diet vs. Targeted Ketogenic Diet: Everything You Need to Know The cyclical ketogenic diet, or "CKD," is a modified ketogenic diet that rotates between a strict high-fat, low-carb ketogenic meal plan and lower-fat, higher carb intake (on respective days throughout the week)...

It's perhaps the biggest challenge facing the non-drugged-up bodybuilder: gaining muscle without gaining a lot of fat in the process. No, wait, I take that back. The biggest challenge is probably losing body fat while retaining all that iron-earned muscle. Hmm, actually, both of those tasks...

"CALORIES DON'T MATTER ON KETO!" Wrong. Caloric intake above maintenance will still cause fat gain. One of the most misleading statements about keto diets is that calories don't matter as long as you're not consuming carbs. This stems from the insulin-to-obesity theory. It goes something like...

HERE'S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW... The nutrition you consume around your workout can greatly increase your rate of progress. Pre-workout and intra-workout nutrition is more important that post-workout nutrition. By ingesting protein before and during a workout, you spare muscle protein, negate...

NOT EATING IS THE NEW EATING Several popular diets promote either fasting or intermittent fasting – eating only during a specific "window" of time during the day. Promoters of these diets often make a lot of health claims, but the main benefit is supposedly, "Ripped abs, bro!" But what about...

Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), also known as Somatomedin-C, is a polypeptide growth factor that is a member of the insulin family of peptides. IGF-1 includes 70 amino acids with a molecular weight of 7649 Daltons. Similar to insulin, which has 51 amino acids, IGF-1 has an A and B chain...

What is IGF-1? Insulin-like Growth Factor-1 (IGF-1), also known as Somatomedin-C, is a polypeptide growth factor that is a member of the insulin family of peptides. IGF-1 includes 70 amino acids with a molecular weight of 7649 Daltons. Similar to insulin, which has 51 amino acids, IGF-1 has an A...