Adding carbohydrates to a post-workout supplement has no additional effect on increasing muscle mass, abdominal fat loss or total body fat loss, according to a study from the University of Jyväskylä in Finland.

Untrained men participating in a 12-week weight training program were given a supplement containing either 30 grams of whey protein, protein and carbohydrates or carbohydrates only. The drinks were consumed directly after training. Training with weights increased lean mass, muscle size and strength. The whey protein group showed the greatest reduction in abdominal fat and the greatest increase in lean body mass. None of the supplements produced significant changes in body composition, but whey protein alone had the greatest effects on abdominal fat and lean mass.

It may be that these results are not transferable to intensively training strength athletes or bodybuilders.

(Journal International Society Sports Nutrition, 12: 48, 2015)

Increase your insulin sensitivity to get lean and build muscle:

Carbohydrate restriction is bad news

Insulin can make you fat or lean and muscular. It all depends on whether you are insulin resistant or have good insulin sensitivity. Without optimal insulin sensitivity, not all the protein you eat will get to your muscles. Instead, a lot of it will end up as fat.

Because they are not aware of this physiological fact, many people tend to avoid insulin by eating a continuous low-carb diet. Avoiding insulin not only doesn't solve the problem, it also impairs your muscle growth.

The only smart option is to optimize insulin sensitivity and start using carbohydrates to build muscle. So instead of worrying about carbs and insulin, make them both work for you. Here are 5 nutritional strategies you should use:

1 - Eat protein and fat first

Whenever you sit down to eat a meal, make sure you eat some protein, vegetables and fat before you even put the first bite of ciabata bread, pasta or rice in your mouth. Eating carbohydrate-free foods first leads to lower glucose and insulin levels after eating. Instead of dreading carbohydrates, eliminate some of their fat-building potential by moving them to the end of the meal.

Studies have shown that eating protein, vegetables and fats before carbohydrates leads to significantly lower blood sugar levels - 29 percent, 37 percent and 17 percent in blood samples taken 30, 60 and 120 minutes after the meal, respectively.

As an added bonus, eating your food in the order described after lunch will also make you much less sleepy, as eating some protein at the beginning of the meal will affect the production of the sleep-inducing neurotransmitter serotonin.

Eat carbohydrates first after your workout

There is one time of the day when you should think about carbohydrates first and that is around your workout. You want an insulin surge that maximizes nutrient uptake into your muscles (carbohydrates and fast-digesting protein) during and after your workout. You need carbohydrates to build muscle efficiently. Remember.

The message: To control insulin, eat your protein, veggies, and fat before you even put the first carbs in your mouth. However, during the window of opportunity around exercise, reverse this strategy and eat your carbs first.

2 - Use cyanidin 3-glucoside

Cyanidin 3-glucoside (C3G) is a naturally occurring anthocyanin found in many types of dark berries. When isolated and taken in exponentially larger amounts in supplement form, it has powerful blood sugar lowering properties.

One of dozens of laboratory experiments conducted with C3G showed a dose-dependent reduction in blood sugar levels of 33 and 51%, leading the study authors to note how favorably it compares to blood sugar-lowering pharmaceuticals.

C3G acts slightly differently to other insulin modulating substances or protocols as it appears to be a potent AMPK modulator, leading to increased glucose and fat uptake specifically into muscle cells, which again is great news for athletes and anyone wanting a better body composition.

Aside from being a powerful blood sugar lowering agent, C3G also increases adipokinectin levels while lowering leptin levels, both of which lead to less body fat. People who take C3G can eat more calories and watch them end up in muscle cells instead of fat tissue.

The message: Take 2,400 to 3,600 mg of C3G 30 minutes before your biggest meals of the day or pre-workout meal.

3 - Pour vinegar over everything

Whenever you eat a salad, use vinegar as a dressing. Vinegar not only dampens the glucose and insulin response to carbohydrates, but also increases insulin sensitivity.

Several studies have confirmed this and one study reported that vinegar increased insulin sensitivity by an impressive 34% 60 minutes after a meal. Vinegar does this because the acetic acid suppresses disaccharidase activity.

In another study, 29 subjects were divided into three groups: one with type 2 diabetes, one with prediabetic symptoms and one group of healthy subjects. All groups were given apple cider vinegar before a meal. The results were quite impressive:

• All three groups showed better blood sugar levels after taking vinegar than after taking a placebo
• In the diabetes group, blood glucose levels improved by 25%
• The group with prediabetic symptoms even had lower blood glucose levels than the group with healthy volunteers
• The group with prediabetic symptoms benefited the most, as their blood glucose levels were almost halved

A follow-up study also showed that continued use of vinegar led to an average weight loss of 2 pounds within 4 weeks. Another study found that in people suffering from type 2 diabetes who took two teaspoons of apple cider vinegar before going to bed, fasting blood sugar levels were reduced by 4 to 6 percent the next morning.

The message: Use vinegar on your food. Or take two tablespoons of apple cider vinegar before your largest, most carbohydrate-rich meals, but not before meals around exercise.

4 - Use psyllium seeds like a grandpa

Sure, psyllium will boost your bowel movements, which I refer to as the Fed-Ex treatment that makes you "deliver" efficiently wrapped packages on time, but psyllium will also reduce your post-meal blood sugar levels.

In one study, 34 men with type 2 diabetes were divided into two groups that took either 5 grams of psyllium or a placebo twice a day for 8 weeks. The psyllium group showed after-lunch blood glucose levels that were 19.2 percent lower than the placebo group and all-day blood glucose levels that were 11 percent lower than the placebo group.

The message: Take a teaspoon of psyllium seeds twice a day with water. Although there are some benefits to taking it before a carbohydrate-rich meal, the blood sugar-lowering effects appear to be somewhat independent of meal timing. Avoid taking before meals immediately before and after exercise.

5 - Use fish oil

Google any disease known to mankind and you will find either studies or logical conclusions supporting fish oil as a treatment.

Insulin sensitivity is no different, except perhaps that there is a tremendous volume of studies supporting the use of fish oil in improving this condition. This link is so strong, in fact, that fish oil is said to have similar effects to exercise on blood sugar. New research conducted with 344 subjects also suggests that fish oil in combination with exercise has a synergistic effect on lowering blood sugar levels that goes beyond the individual effects of fish oil and exercise.

Furthermore, it was shown that fish oil not only increases the insulin sensitivity of the cells, but also reduces the secretion of insulin by the pancreas.

The message: Take a minimum of 3 grams of a combination of DHA and EPA (omega-3 fatty acids) for therapeutic purposes (reducing blood sugar levels, fighting inflammation). Also, fish oil should not be taken before meals immediately before and after exercise.

References

1. Alpana, P., et al, Food Order Has a Significant Impact on Postprandial Glucose and Insulin Levels, Diabetes Care July 2015 vol. 38 no.7 e98-e99.
2. Anderson, James, et al, Effects of psyllium on glucose and serum lipid responses in men with type 2 diabetes and hypercholesterolemia, Am J Clin Nutr October 1999 vol. 70 no. 4 466-473.
3. Johnston, Carol S., et al, Vinegar Improves Insulin Sensitivity to a High-Carbohydrate Meal in Subjects With Insulin Resistance or Type 2 Diabetes Care, January 2004 vol. 27 no. 1 281-282.
4. Grace, et al, Hypoglycemic activity of a novel Anthocyanin-rich formulation from Lowbush Blueberry, Vaccinium angustifolium Aiton, Phytomedicine, 2009, May: 16(5): 406-415.
5. Muldoon, et al, Concurrent physical activity modifies the association between n3 long-chain fatty acids and cardiometabolic risk in midlife adults, J Nutr. 2013 Sep;143(9):1414-20.
6. Sasaki, R, et al, Cyanidin 3-glucoside ameliorates hyperglycemia and insulin sensitivity due to downregulation of retinol binding protein 4 expression in diabetic mice, Biochem Pharmacol. 2007 Dec 3;74(11):1619-27. Epub 2007 Aug 10.

from TC Luoma | 09/14/15

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/5-ways-to-turn-food-into-muscle-not-fat

Here's what you need to know...

1. Eat for what you're going to do. Carbohydrates serve as a source of energy for intense activity, which is why you shouldn't load up on carbs before going to bed, because you could end up storing those carbs instead of burning them.
2. Do cardio in the morning before you've eaten any carbs. Use your fat stores without burning muscle by consuming amino acids (or protein) before cardio.
3. Not all carbohydrates work in the same way. Broken down into its smallest components, fructose is transported directly to the liver, while glucose is preferentially used by muscle cells. Control your fructose intake to prevent it from being stored as fat.

Visible abs - at last!

You're doing everything right: cutting out junk food, working out hard, doing some cardio - but none of this seems to be having any effect on the life preserver you're wearing around your waist.

It's not yet time to start saving up for liposuction. If everything in your exercise and diet program says you should have visible abs and you still don't, use these tricks to get lean.

1. optimize the last meal before going to bed

What did you eat before going to bed yesterday? What will you eat before going to bed today?

This is important because what you eat during the last two hours before going to bed has a huge impact on your body development - especially when it comes to fat loss.

Here's the rule: eat for what you're going to do.

Most of us won't go for a walk or otherwise get much exercise during the last two hours before we go to sleep. For this reason, we don't need to eat a traditional bodybuilding meal at this time. We need to eat for what we are still going to do: not very much.

More specifically, carbohydrates need to be dramatically reduced - and possibly even completely eliminated - when you are sleeping. Remember that carbohydrates provide energy for high-intensity exercise such as training with weights or sprints, and that there is no such thing as "high-intensity sleep".

Fat, on the other hand, becomes the primary source of energy when the intensity of exercise decreases. In fact, when you sleep, you burn fat almost exclusively for energy.

For this reason, consuming carbohydrates before going to bed dramatically increases the chance that these carbohydrates will be stored rather than burned. And when carbohydrates are not burned, they are either stored as glycogen or as fat.

If you have been exercising with weights (cardio doesn't count) for the last three or four hours before going to bed, then the chances of the carbohydrates you eat at that time being converted into fat are very low. This is due to the fact that carbohydrate stores are quite depleted and will literally soak up all those carbs, so there is no need to convert carbs to fat.

Those who don't exercise within the last three or four hours before bedtime should eliminate carbohydrates from their pre-bedtime meal. When I say "eliminate," I don't necessarily mean zero grams. Don't be afraid of low starch vegetables at this time.

The fat factor

As far as food intake before bed, I stand by my rule: "eat fat if you don't eat carbs." However, I recommend halving your normal portion of fat.

There is evidence that consuming a large amount of fat - "fat loading" - suppresses hormone-sensitive lipase (HSL), which is needed to break down fat.

Even though the amount of fat in one study that claimed this was higher than what a health-conscious strength athlete would normally eat during a meal (40g), I would recommend being even more conservative. Limit the amount of fat at the last meal of the day to 10 or 15 grams.

2 - Perform cardio in the morning without carbs

No, not cardio in a fasted state, but cardio without carbs. There's a huge difference.

Let's say you've just eaten a bowl of fruit loops and decide you want to do some cardio to get leaner. The problem is that the cardio will be primarily fueled by your fruit loops and not your life preservers.

This is because eating carbohydrates inhibits fat burning and encourages the body's use of carbohydrates as an energy source. Surely we don't want to burn carbohydrates when doing cardio to lose fat.

So how do we burn fat for energy?

Fasting - an extended period of time without eating food, such as during sleep - causes a shift in the body towards burning fat for energy. Why? Liver glycogen reserves and blood sugar levels are lower after fasting, forcing the body to burn fat for energy in a fasting state.

Cardio training in a fasting state leads to significantly higher levels of the powerful fat-burning hormone norepinephrine than cardio training performed in a non-fasting state. This is the reason why bodybuilders have been doing fasting cardio for a long time with great success.

The problem with fasted cardio

In addition to burning fat for energy, the body will also mobilize protein to meet energy needs. And it will get this protein, specific amino acids (leucine, isoleucine and valine) from muscle tissue. Your muscles will be broken down to release important branched-chain amino acids. Not good.

Your body will break down muscle tissue to give you energy while running on the treadmill and this will continue to increase as the intensity increases. But there is a way to break out of this "paying off debt with new debt" vicious cycle.

Consuming BCAAS before cardio reduces or prevents the protein breakdown that would normally take place. This means more muscle and a faster metabolic rate for you.

If you want to do high intensity interval training HIIT, then according to scientific research it is probably not beneficial to do this in a fasted state as the energy source used for this training will not be fat anyway. It's carbohydrates. However, consuming BCAAs before HIIT is still important. The higher the intensity of the workout, the greater the role that BCAAs play in energy production.

3 - Eat to replenish your muscles - not your liver

It's a fact: you need to eat carbohydrates to replenish muscle glycogen stores for optimal performance and muscle growth. Trying to build muscle without carbohydrates is like driving on flat tires. It's possible, but it's not fast and it's not fun!

But it's not enough to just eat carbohydrates and hope they get into your muscles. You need to know that they will get into your muscles. Ditch the strategy of hoping and implement a scientific protocol of carbohydrate consumption.

Let's take a look at some carbohydrate science. There are three types of monosaccharides that are of interest to humans: Glucose, fructose and galactose. The latter comes from the breakdown of the disaccharide lactose, which is primarily found in dairy products. I highly doubt that lactose makes up a significant amount of the carbohydrates consumed.

Regardless of this, lactose is broken down into one part glucose and one part galactose. Galactose is then quickly converted into the body's favorite monosaccharide - glucose.

Glucose is the body's preferred carbohydrate currency. Once in the body - either consumed directly or created by breaking down more complex carbohydrates - glucose is used as an energy source, stored as glycogen or converted into fat.

In previous articles, we have already discussed the importance of not eating too many carbohydrates so that excess carbohydrates cannot be converted into fat. We want to eat just enough carbohydrates to meet our current energy needs and replenish glycogen stores - especially muscle glycogen stores.

The cool thing about glucose is that it preferentially replenishes muscle glycogen stores rather than liver glycogen stores. It seems as if the skeletal muscles have negotiated a deal with the body to get the first boost of extra glucose before the liver gets a chance to get its hands on this energy source.

This is great for us because we desperately want our carbohydrates to go to our muscles and not our liver.

The fructose dilemma

When we consume fructose, it is quickly absorbed and transported to the liver. It is then stored as liver glycogen and slowly released when blood sugar levels drop.

There are two problems with fructose:

1. Storing carbohydrates in the liver doesn't do our muscles any good.
2. Once the liver glycogen stores are full, the liver will convert any more fructose into triglycerides. And the liver can only store about 100 grams of fructose.

What does this mean for us? It means that we don't need to be too liberal with our fructose intake.

It also means that your dietary intake around exercise should include glucose-containing carbohydrates and non-fructose-containing carbohydrates. This is because any carbohydrates you consume in the form of fructose will ultimately not end up in your muscles, which will benefit most from carbohydrates after exercise.

So you should keep an eye on fructose and also control your sucrose intake. Sucrose, common household sugar, is a disaccharide consisting of a fructose molecule and a glucose molecule. In other words, sucrose is half fructose.

Sugary soft drinks are definitely not a good choice for post-workout carbohydrate intake, but there is a much less obvious group of foods to keep an eye on: Fruit. Of the approximately 25 grams of carbohydrates contained in an apple, for example, 15 grams are made up of fructose.

This is not about giving up fruit completely. In fact, because of the micronutrients it contains, I typically recommend that most people should eat one or two portions of fruit a day. It's more about avoiding eating some fruit and thinking that all of the 50 grams of carbohydrate you consume will end up in your muscles - because it won't.

A better approach is to eat no more than one piece of fruit at a time - even during the post-workout window. And if you want to eat fruit after your workout, consider eating a banana, as it contains more glucose and only half as much fructose as an apple.

Basic prerequisites

These fat loss strategies won't make you lean if you add them to an otherwise crappy diet and exercise program.

However, I can tell you from experience that your abs will stay hidden a lot longer if you try to get lean without these tricks.

References:

1. Effects of an oral and intravenous fat load on adipose tissue and forearm lipid metabolism. Evans K, Clark ML, Frayn KN.
2. Effect of moderate incremental exercise, performed in fed and fasted state on cardio-respiratory variables and leptin and ghrelin concentrations in young healthy men. J.A. Zoladz, S.J. Konturek, K. Duda, J. Majerczak, Z. Sliwowski, M. Grandys, W. Bielanski.
3. Effect of branched-chain amino acid supplementation on the exercise-induced change in aromatic amino acid concentration in human muscle. Blomstrand E, Newsholme EA.

From Clay Hyght, DC | 03/16/11

Source: https://www.t-nation.com/diet-fat-loss/3-tricks-for-faster-fat-loss