I must be one of the insulin resistant people that John M Berardi talked about in Massive Eating II because high glycemic carbs do make me sleepy and I do best on a low carb diet (not ketogenic but low). I have been lifting for 6 months and am 41, 6’, 200 lbs and 24% body fat by calibers. I normally make up a protein drink for post-workout including 40 gms whey isolates, 1 tbsp flax oil, 2gm glutamine and mixed berries for carbs. (I realize that I am sacrificing the benefits of an insulin surge but don’t like the drowsy feeling after high glycemic carbs). Does anyone have any suggestions for post-workout MRPs with low glycemic index carbs (preferably not aspartame)that I can use when I travel? I already take multiple supplements including 400 mg lipoic acid, 200 mcg chromium, 2 tbsp flax/day and eat lots of fish (sardines) daily. Also does anyone have any experience with the two substances that John M. Berardi mentioned in this weeks Appetite for Construction column as helping to increase one’s insulin sensitivity: glucosol (colosolic acid) and inzitol (d-pintol)? I am not familiar with them. Thanks for your time.
I don’t think Grow! has aspartame. It’s a good low glycemic post workout shake, is it not?
Somewhere at T-mag TC writes about testing his blood sugar levels with a glucometer after drinking Grow. There was just a small and expected rise. So Grow is good to go in that area and it doesn’t contain aspartame either.
For post workout, you may want to add more carbs to Grow! to get the 2:1 carbs to protein to carb ratio that John B. recommends. Or you could just add carbs to a protein powder to get the same ratio. You might try using regular table sugar. Its GI is lower than white bread, but that is due to the fructose content not great for replenishing muscle glycogen–the glucose portion will still be absorbed pretty quickly defeating the purpose of going low GI. Another thing you might try is adding some psyllium husks to the shake. The soluble fiber should slow down the carb absorption. Clinical studies have shown that addition of a couple of tablespoons of psyllium to diabetics’ diet helped lowered their blood sugar. Good luck.
I just want to make one comment on your current post-workout drink. You should seriously reconsider taking the Flax oil with the drink. Simply put, the fat will really hinder protien and carb absorbtion. You probably already know this, but it’s really an important factor to consider when making your post-workout shake. In fact, if you haven’t read the articles based on the post-workout nutrition and massive eating you should. They both basically come to the conclusion that if your meal has an amount of carbs greater than 10 - 15, you should not be eating fat with that same meal. Conversely, if you are eating a meal with more than 5 grams of fat, you should not be eating any carbs with that same meal. These rules apply two-fold for post-workout meals.