Think I might be on the unwanted path of developing diabetes at 50.

[hijoshiki]

Low glycemic index. Dump your body fat.

Low fat diets have been shown to increase insulin sensitivity. I know popular belief is that you should up your fat intake....nope. Stick with low fat.

A healthy diet with lots of greens, dump all the sugars. Don't eat too much and do plenty of fasting to allow you body to rest and heal.

A 50 year old is old, I'm almost there and you simply can't pound the calories and remain healthy. You gotta back off if you care about your health.

Your A1C results are fine, that's not significant change if you had your labs ran at the same place as the analyzer will drift in calibration that much over time and if they changed reagent lots or calibrators.

Your liver and kidney labs aren't what I would consider the best they could be.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

Forgot to reply to OP, but figured I’d also summarize a bit here. There are 3 blood markers I’d be worried about for characterizing glucose issues:
-A1C
-fasted glucose
-insulin

In addition, if you’re serious about this, I’d be doing my own fasted glucose once every 1-2 weeks and if you’re interested run a post prandial check yourself; it isn’t as accurate as a prescribed glucose response test, but it’s easy.
-take BG prior to meal
-eat
-take BG every 30m out to 2hrs

A healthy response should keep the peak you see pretty low (this will vary but a normal meal shouldn’t peak much over 140 and have you back to about “baseline” (ideally down near 100) within 2hrs.

In regards to bodybuilding endeavors, there’s really two flavors of issue here
1. Insulin sensitivity, everyone is familiar with this
2. Pancreatic/Beta cell health

Seeing high serum insulin can be an early
Indicator of a sensitivity issue; your body’s still releasing plenty of insulin but far more is needed to handle your glucose than normal. Seeing normal insulin but elevated A1C (more appropriate than fasted glucose IMO, one reading is irrelevant) might mean you’re just wearing your pancreas out/beta cell dysfunction setting in (pancreas isn’t secreting more insulin for higher glucose). Most of these effects happen in increments back and forth; IE diabetes development.

This is a big reason I consider Lantus a health supp much more than a performance/growth one like most people talk about insulin. But I also understand why most people don’t want to use it.

At a minimum I think anyone doing this semi-seriously should be Metformin, and in general, probably telmisartan as well.

Most people will see insensitivity that leads to beta cell issues, not the other way around. But I also speak from a competitive standpoint, so my view may be less applicable.

As far as what you’re eating, the argument of low vs high GI carbs is largely irrelevant, proven in many studies, when eaten in mixed meals like we should all be eating (protein, fat, and carbs). The more important factor here is balanced macro intake per meal. Lots of guys have success with IF as fasted time can restore sensitivity, but then a lot of people eat like assholes fro their 6hr window.

 

[RoidmeDangerfield]

Thanks, Ortho. And don't apologize for the long post. You provided a lot of useful information. I'm very appreciative.

Getting back to the refrigeration of rice point you made. I watched some videos Stan Efferding's videos per FH93 recommendation. He talked about this very phenomenon that happens with rice after you refrigerate it. He seemed to be discouraging the refrigeration of rice because it's not very usable by the body once you do this. So wouldn't it seem counterproductive to consume it if that's the case?

I'm still doing my keto diet but I'm starting to get hankerings for starches again. But only because I miss the pumps I would get in the gym while eating higher carbs. I am thinking of giving the vertical diet a try. I also take apple cider vinegar either in water or I make my own homemade salad dressing mixed with olive oil and some lemon juice.

 

[RoidmeDangerfield]

A healthy response should keep the peak you see pretty low (this will vary but a normal meal shouldn’t peak much over 140 and have you back to about “baseline” (ideally down near 100) within 2hrs

I don't seem to peak over 130 after even eating a big hefty meal at a restaurant. And this was before I started keto so I had plenty of carbs.

This is a big reason I consider Lantus a health supp much more than a performance/growth one like most people talk about insulin. But I also understand why most people don’t want to use it.

So, I won't ask you personally. But are you saying that bodybuilders are taking exogenous insulin to help keep their blood glucose levels at a healthier level? I took insulin decades ago to help with muscle buildin but that was back in my twenties.

At a minimum I think anyone doing this semi-seriously should be Metformin, and in general, probably telmisartan as well.

I'm unclear about the telmisartan. That's a medication to lower blood pressure, right? I'm not sure how that applies here.

 

[Mac11wildcat]

I don't seem to peak over 130 after even eating a big hefty meal at a restaurant. And this was before I started keto so I had plenty of carbs.

So, I won't ask you personally. But are you saying that bodybuilders are taking exogenous insulin to help keep their blood glucose levels at a healthier level? I took insulin decades ago to help with muscle buildin but that was back in my twenties.



I'm unclear about the telmisartan. That's a medication to lower blood pressure, right? I'm not sure how that applies here.

Sounds like your post prandial response is great.

Yes, exactly. That’s leaf the equation of using gH and slin.

Telmisartan does way more than blood pressure.

 

[ortho]

Thanks, Ortho. And don't apologize for the long post. You provided a lot of useful information. I'm very appreciative.

Getting back to the refrigeration of rice point you made. I watched some videos Stan Efferding's videos per FH93 recommendation. He talked about this very phenomenon that happens with rice after you refrigerate it. He seemed to be discouraging the refrigeration of rice because it's not very usable by the body once you do this. So wouldn't it seem counterproductive to consume it if that's the case?

I'm still doing my keto diet but I'm starting to get hankerings for starches again. But only because I miss the pumps I would get in the gym while eating higher carbs. I am thinking of giving the vertical diet a try. I also take apple cider vinegar either in water or I make my own homemade salad dressing mixed with olive oil and some lemon juice.

If you are talking about food and it’s affect on blood glucose levels, then rice is a high GI food, that raises BG quickly. Your liver and muscles Are a bank of glucose via glycogen. Glycogen increased water in an organ when stored as glucose, and it is because of this that there is rapid weight
Loss while prolonged fasting or doing strict keto.
You are xorrect in the body can’t use rice as well once refrigerated, with some of the starch in the rice becoming resistant. Think of resistant starch as being digested more slowly, so the body uses it but the vlood
Glucose rises slower.

Your body has enough glycogen in the muscles and liver to sustain you for a very long workout. It will release glucose from the stored glycogen.

If you want a small taste of IF and keto eductatiin in very easy to understand terms, watch Thomas Delauer on YouTube. He not perfect, but has some good videos on the science behind IF.

If you are really interested in watching the effect of food on BG, get a continuous glucose Monitor.

 

[RoidmeDangerfield]

Thanks, Ortho, for all that info. Much appreciated.

Things have been kinda crazy for me regarding all of this. When I first went on keto I was happy to test my blood sugar in a fasted state in the morning to learn that it was 85-87. I checked it for a few days shortly after starting this diet. I thought I was good to go and didn't check it for about a month or so. Well, I had a feeling to check it in about another six weeks and my glucose readings were 112-114! Basically it was looking pretty similar to what got me worried in the first place and the reason why I started to ketogenic diet.

I learned that this can happen after watching some videos on youtube for a few reasons which I don't care to get into here. But that prompted me to try another route which was FH9's suggestion in an earlier contribution to this thread regarding the Vertical Diet by Stan Efferding. I'm now eating red meat again daily which I haven't done in nearly twenty years (I'd only have it once or twice a year). And I'm back to eating rice as per the Vertical Diet guidelines. But instead of eating white rice I'm eating parboiled rice. I don't know if it makes much of a difference. But I will say for the past week my glucose has not gone above 95. Even nearly two hours after eating a huge bowl of rice with some lean ground beef my glucose was still 95. Once it was 110 after eating which is a very good number but it usually is around 93-95.

I hope these good glucose readings are correct and that my glucose levels don't curiously spike up again like they did on the ketogenic diet. I really like following the Vertical Diet and eating low FODMAP foods. Other benefits I'm noticing is that I also have nearly zero gas or bloating and the post nasal drip that irritated my throat has dramatically improved.