3 Things Every Diabetic Worries About! (& how to fix it)

In this video I talk about the 3 main things every diabetic is scared of. I talk about how they used to scare me and how I beat self-doubt, took action and got rid of the fear. I hope this inspires you to think differently and take ownership of your diabetes.

It doesn’t matter what the circumstance is, whether you’re at a social event, work, making love or, exercising – when blood glucose is outside of normal range, you can be a difficult person to be around.

Just bumping into and spending time with yourself when you’re going through a high or low….

Would you like that person?

I definitely wouldn’t like me!

I often laugh and tell people that diabetes has given me three personalities. One called healthily, one called high and the other called low.

In order to protect yourself from the complications of diabetes, you need to be proactive in managing your condition. Just like I say in my book, The Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Guide,

‘Any area of life you don’t control – someone else will.’

This is so true, especially in relation to diabetes. If you don’t look after your health – you’ll require a team of people to look after it for you.

Knowledge is Power

If you want to get the most out of life, you need to master diabetes and all the aspects that control it: diet, exercise, lifestyle and medication. That’s exactly why I set up the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Training Lab.

You need to be selfish.

I know this sounds negative, but please hear me out.

When your blood glucose levels aren’t in range, it’s hard to be your true self. Those anxious, short-tempered personalities of diabetes take control and usually end up giving us a bad name. It’s surprising, just how many people are afraid to stand up and manage their diabetes in the public eye.

Do you worry about what other people think?

Ask yourself the following questions…

Are you afraid to inject insulin in public?

Are paranoid about having your CGM device or Insulin Pump on show?

Are you self-conscious to eat or drink something in certain circumstances to treat a hypo?

Would you be embarrassed to ask for money to buy food to treat a hypo if you’d forgotten your wallet?

Do you feel humiliated nipping to the toilet during a family meal to dose your insulin?

Are you mortified checking your blood glucose level before or, during sex?

There is an endless number of scenarios you will have to deal. The worst thing you can do is suffer in silence.

On Saturday past, I was invited out to dinner with a group of old friends. Our table was booked for 7:00 pm at one of my favourite steak restaurants in Belfast City Northern Ireland.

I arrived at the restaurant and realised that I’d forgotten my insulin pen.

DRAMA!?

Not really. The first thing I do in this kind of situation is ask myself two questions,

Q. What can I control?

• Can I ring anyone to bring my insulin? No
• Is there a chemist open nearby? No
• Do they keep insulin in the restaurant? LOL No
• Should I fast and eat nothing? No chance
• Should I just go home and meet them later? No, I want to enjoy myself

Q. What can I cope with?

• Can I eat what I want and cope with being high for a few hours? No
• Should I just stick with meat, veg and water – even though it may make me go high? No

Luckily, I lived only 15-minutes away (30-minute round trip) from the restaurant. Having also arrived 10-mins early I figured I had a window of opportunity to nip home and grab my insulin as most restaurants take around 20-45mins to serve their food. So, I stood up and told everyone I was nipping home to grab my pen, and of course, there were a few sarcastic comments and sighs about being me unorganized…

I understood where the guys were coming from. At the end of the day, they were hungry and worried I was going to hold the meal up. I left my order with one of the party members before I left, advising them to order my meal just after 7:00 pm. This would buy me enough time.

I drove home, grabbed my insulin and was back in the restaurant for 7:23 pm. I promise I kept within the speed limit. (maybe telling a white lie…)

By the time I got back – the food still wasn’t out yet. It’s funny how we all tend to play the worst case scenario in our heads. Everyone was chatting and getting the drinks in. My absence went unnoticed.

Here’s the moral of the story and why you need to be selfish with your diabetes.

I wanted to enjoy myself, and the people at the table deserved me at my best. If I was to sit through the meal, not eat or, eat and cope with the annoying symptoms of hyperglycemia I know for a fact I wouldn’t be a nice guy to be around.

So, for the good of myself and the table. I decided to be selfish and put diabetes first. I’m so glad I did. I was able to relax, enjoy a great meal and empower myself with the confidence that I was in good health.

I urge you to think the same, no matter what your situation…

• If you need to nip home and keep others waiting, do it.
• If you need to inject and correct a high blood sugar with onlookers, do it.
• If you need to leave the table and check your blood glucose, do it.
• If you need to open a tin of drink or, open a noisy packet of sweets in the cinema to treat your hypo, do it.
• If someone gives you a sarcastic remark, go and fix yourself up first, then come back and give them hell! Ha-ha

If you’re not proactive with managing your diabetes – don’t complain about developing complications. You can’t help anyone, or be your best self if you’re stressed out and not feeling good.

There’s nothing that takes up more time and space in your head than a volatile blood high or low blood glucose level.

I hope this article has inspired you to think differently and put yourself first. Protect your health.

Simple, you need to activate your LEAN GENES.

You must have come across similar claims;

“DNA testing is the future.”

“We tailor nutrition to your genes.”

Or maybe,

“We program perfect workout plans for your genome!”

Skeptical?

You should be.

Those claims are talking about genetic determinism. This basically means. You are born with a genetic code that perfectly predicts your future health and physical potential. Also, you can do very little to change your outlook.

You either got it, or you don’t, right?

Wrong. Current science shows the exact opposite. Your genetic code only predicts 20% of your future health (1).  It’s how your genes are activated that makes all the difference, 80% of the difference. This is the field of science called Epigenetics.

Epigenetics is the science looking at the environmental, nutritional and physical factors that influence your genetic expression.

Let me break this down for you.

Imagine your genetic code is a large fridge freezer.

The top part is the fridge, which is full of fresh fruit and vegetables, lean cuts of quality meats, and a host of quality fresh produce. You can consider these your “good” or “LEAN GENES”.

The bottom part is the freezer, containing pizza, chicken nuggets, ready meals, ice cream and a shed load of processed food. You can consider these your “bad” or “fat” genes.

Now it’s true that some people are born with bigger fridges that others (genetic determinism). But that is not the most important thing. The important thing is how you make your daily selections from the fridge or freezer (epigenetics). This is what predicts health, body shape, and insulin sensitivity.

Research shows clearly that if you regularly fire-up your LEAN GENES, you can expect:

• Reduced inflammation (2)
• Reduce Fat storage (3)
• Improve blood glucose control & reduce insulin resistance (4)
• Increase insulin secretion (5)
• DNA repair and protection (6)
• Inhibition of protein degradation (7)
• Increased protein synthesis (8)
• In type 2 muscle fibers, the growth of satellite cells (9)

So basically, looking good, feeling good, on your way to Hollywood!

What happens if people with diabetes turn on their LEAN GENES?

You can expect lower glucose levels, improved pancreatic function and to increase your fat burning potential. As shown in this diagram below taken from a leading research review article (10)!

So, you are probably thinking;

“What daily habits can I employ to make sure I am selecting from the fridge and not the freezer?”

Or in technical speak,

“What nutritional, environmental and physical practices can I adapt to activate the expression of my lean genes?”

It’s great you’re asking that, it means you are in the right place.

As you read this article, you will discover the BIG THREE lifestyle practices you can employ to get all the benefits of activating your Lean Genes.

Let’s begin.

Before we start making changes. It’s essential we understand how the selection process works. What decides if the LEAN GENES (fridge) or fat genes (freezer) are expressed?

There is a wide range of factors, but science is showing clearly that there are a set of MASTER REGULATORS within our cells that control the gene expression process.

What are these MASTER Regulators?

A group of enzymes called the Sirtuin Enzymes. There are seven of them, but Sirtuin 1 and 3 are the most important when it comes to the expression of your LEAN GENES.

The cartoon below shows how the Sirtuin Enzymes (the conductor) create the lean gene activation (beautiful harmonious music from the orchestra).

How do the MASTER REGULATORS alter gene expression?

Simple explanation. The Master Regulators direct the hand into the fridge, so healthy selections are made.

Technical explanation. The Sirtuin enzymes remove acetyl group (deacetylation) from proteins in the cells, which alters the activity of the proteins in favour of expressing your LEAN GENES.

This deacetylation process requires NAD+, so the higher the NAD+, the more effective this process is. See this cartoon showing how the Sirtuin Enzyme removes an Acetyl group of a Histone, allowing the Histone to fire-up LEAN GENE expression.

Make a mental note here.

Anything that increases the NAD+ or Sirtuin enzymes in the cells, enhances Lean Gene activation.

This will help you understand how lifestyle changes activate LEAN Genes.

So, if you are with me so far, you are probably thinking;

“If I increase the number of Master Regulators (Sirtuin Enzymes) in my cells, and make them work more effectively (increase NAD+), I will really fire up may Lean Genes!”

If you are, you are 100% correct. The aim of the game is twofold:

1. Increase the number of Sirtuin Enzymes in your cells.

2. Create conditions (increase NAD+) in the cells that enable the Sirtuin enzymes to work as quickly and effectively as possible.

Now you are clear on the process of activating your LEAN GENES. It’s time to discover how to increase the number Master Regulators, and create a cellular environment that makes them sing!

You are going to do this by employing the principle of Hormesis.

Hormesis is the principle of applying a small stress to the body, the body fights that stress, then adapts the metabolic machinery to be stronger, healthier and more robust.

So next time you can handle a higher stress load and you evolve into a machine that can handle anything!

Just think of Hormesis as;

“What does not kill you makes you stronger!”

There are endless ways to stress the body to get this effect. But I am sure you want the ones that give you the best bang for your buck, right?

Good, because the rest of this article outlines THREE of the most effective Hormesis strategies for activating your LEAN Genes. Three strategies that increase the number of Master Regulators and create the optimal cellular environment to fire up your LEAN GENES.

What are the BIG three?

1. Polyphenols (including Resveratrol)
2. Cold Stress (Energy stress)
3. Fasting (Caloric Restriction)

This diagram presents an overview of how the BIG THREE work and consolidates your knowledge so far!

You can see how the big three increase the Sirtuin Enzymes (Sirt1) directly and/or increase NAD+. There are several metabolic pathways involved, including the AMPK and LKB1 pathways, but you do not need a deep understanding of the pathways.

You just need to know once the Sirtuin Enzymes are activated with NAD+, there is a positive cascade leading to LEAN GENE expression and good health.

Let’s break the big three down.

What are Polyphenols and how do they work by Hormesis?

Polyphenols are the plant’s defense mechanisms, they protect from UV light, insects, microbial infections, and they attract pollinators.

They are compounds that contain at least one aromatic ring and are classified into different groups according to the number of aromatic rings and the structural elements that bind these rings together. Therefore, polyphenols are classified as flavonoids, phenolic acids, lignans, and stilbenes.

When we consume polyphenols, they act by applying a stress to our cells and increase the Sirtuin Enzymes. Because this stress comes from plants, it’s technically known as Xenohormesis.

Polyphenols also have an anti-oxidant effect and help lower blood pressure by dilating blood vessels.

This all sounds great, but what is the evidence to say consuming Polyphenols is beneficial for health?

A review of all the key evidence in 2016 reported (11):

“A multitude of proven benefits for consuming a diet that has a high and diverse intake of polyphenols”

The benefits include;

• Proven long-term benefits

–    Reduced relative risk of cancer by 40%

–    Reduced relative risk of cardiovascular disease by 30%

• Proven short-term benefits:

–    Anticarcinogenic

–    Antiatherogenic

–    Antiulcer

–    Antithrombotic

–    Anti-inflammatory

–    Antiallergenic

–    Anticoagulant

–    Antimicrobial

–    Vasodilatory

The most important thing to understand from the above research is the statement;

“High and diverse intake of polyphenols”

This graphic shows each category of polyphenols has sub-categories, and lots of individual polyphenols. There are literally thousands!

Fortunately, a European Team has identified the 500 most important polyphenols and created a database, the Polyphenol-Explorer. The Polyphenol database allows you to see which foods are bursting with the key polyphenols. I spent hours trawling the database to develop this table that summarizes things nicely.

You should now be starting to realize why you need a high and diverse intake of different foods groups to get your Polyphenols!

The Polyphenol-Explorer database has been independently validated by a huge pan-European study (12). The study also reported usual intakes by the different nations. Do you think consume more than your nations average?

At Diabetic Muscle and Fitness, we have spent months creating a tool that allows you to enter how frequently you eat the Top 100 polyphenol-rich foods. In return for your efforts, you get a report that details;

1. Your overall daily intake in mg.
2. Your intake is broken down into the key food categories.
3. Notification if your intake is low, medium, optimal, or too high in the different food categories.
4. Considerations of how to improve your intake.
5. Top food lists to help you achieve optimal intakes.

Interested?

See the below report from one of our Training Lab members.

You can see his overall intake is medium and there are several food groups with a low intake. Interestingly, he thought he had a “healthy diet”, but this made him realize there was a lot of room for progress.

After chewing over his report, he decided to take on the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Four-Week Polyphenol Challenge with other community members in the Training Lab.

He used the top foods list we created to improve his polyphenol intake. Below are two of the eight Top Food lists.

Using the 100mg and above list for Teas and Cocoa products,  he decided to introduce Green Matcha Tea and add in a couple of cups of peppermint tea per day.

Using the 150mg and above list for Fruits, he decided to introduce Figs, prunes and plumbs.

He completed the tool again after the four-week challenge and was rewarded with the below report

What an amazing turnaround!

He now has optimal intake overall and most in categories. He has a “high and diverse intake of polyphenols”, so he can expect all the health benefits, as he is regularly firing up his LEAN GENES.

Still some room for improvement in the herbs, spices, and condiments – But nobody is perfect, right?

How do you think you would score?

If you want to find out, access the Training Lab to use the unique tool.

Two final things to consider with polyphenols from the leading research review (11):

1. A healthy gut increases the absorption of polyphenols, and foods high in polyphenols feed a healthy gut. So, look after your gut and you will get the most out of your polyphenol intake. Some simple advice:
2. Eat fermented foods such as sauerkraut and kimchi.
3. Eat at least one fruit and veg from each colour of the rainbow every day.
4. Eat foods high in pre-biotic fibre such as onions, garlic, and leeks.
5. See the Guide in the Training Lab for more detail.

2. Increase the bio-availability of polyphenols with these simple tips:
3. Add lemon juice to tea.
4. Consume fat with vegetables e.g. light frying of onions.
5. Eat high-quality protein (high in Leucine).
6. See the Guide in the Training Lab for more and a more detailed explanation.

Ok, Polyphenols are done, let’s get into cold stress.

Cold Stress

Cold Stress was popularized by Tim Ferris in his book The Four Hour Body, and more recently by Wim Hoff -The Ice Man.

Stories of ice baths, cold packs, Cryotherapy, and cold showers being the fountain of youth.

Promises of rapid fat loss, increased metabolic rate, improved mental health, and building resilience.

Sounds too good to be true, right?

Let’s find out, but first, what does Cold Stress look like?

The Cold Stress Options:

1. Cold shower: Turn the shower to full cold and stand under for 5-15 minutes. Not as easy it sounds. Start with 5 minutes and increase by a minute each time.

2. Cold bath or bin: Submerge up to the neck for 5-15mins. This is actually easier than a shower as you do not get the constant sprinkle of cold on you. Build duration up over time.

3. Cryotherapy: Enter a cold capsule and be blasted by liquid nitrogen for a short time period, usually 2-3 minutes. Much more expensive but very time efficient. Usually 2-3 minutes.

Which is best?

Studies comparing all methods show they elicit the same response, as long as the core temperature drops (13). So, the best for you depends on finance, availability, and your mental strength to withstand the cold for longer durations.

What do the research papers say?

1. Cold stress causes a BIG surge in stress hormones: Noradrenaline increases by 300 -500% and Dopamine by 150-250% (14).

How does this benefit?

• Good for mood: noradrenaline and dopamine electrify the regions of the brain to make you feel good, the same effect induced by caffeine. Interestingly the cold stress response does not go away with daily practice, unlike the quick graduation from a single, to a double, to a triple espresso. Sound familiar?

• Good for the immune system: noradrenaline reduces inflammation by decreasing key inflammatory factors, and increasing beneficial natural killer cells (15). This has been linked with reducing brain inflammation, by better use of Serotonin (happy chemical).

• Good evidence shows cold stress improves arthritis symptoms (16) and lowers incidence of nasty chest infections (17). Interestingly, studies of centenarians (people over 100 years) show INFLAMMATION (low levels that is) is the strongest predictor of living a long and healthy life (18).

This is a big leap I know, but could occasional exposure to cold stress help you live longer and stronger?

2. Cold Stress stimulates heat production and increases metabolic rate by up to 350% (19). This is mediated by two processes.

• Shivering (believe me, this happens!). The muscles twitch rapidly using glucose to produce heat. This creates a serious energy stress and is very much Hormesis.

• Stimulation of brown fat to produce heat by burning fat. Brown fat found in your sternum and collarbone region is special. Why? because it is the only type of tissue that can burn fat purely to produce heat. Consistent exposure to cold stress increases brown fat accumulation over time via the Sirtuin 3 metabolic pathway (20).

This sounds great, as it increases fat burning potential!

However, there is a strange irony with brown fat. The accumulation only happens for LEAN INDIVIDUALS. Unfortunately, brown fat accumulation is virtually non-existent for obese people (21). This is a cruel paradox, and is shown in the graphic below!

3. Cold Stress has been shown to improve our internal anti-oxidant defense systems by 40%, to help fight the damage from everyday inflammation (22). Could cold stress become one of your five a day?

4. Cold stress can improve recovery from training and injury. Amazing, let’s get in the cold bath, right? Not so quick, the devil is in the detail. It all depends on timing and type of training!

• For strength and muscle building training: DO NOT APPLY COLD STRESS IN THE 1 HOUR AFTER TRAINING (the anabolic window). You need the inflammatory response after training to drive muscle growth and strength! Research has shown cold exposure in the hour after strength training slows any gains (23).

• For endurance events and sports specific activities, it’s a different story. Applying cold stress soon after the activity is important. Why? Stopping inflammation is key, so repeated bouts of training can be completed. It is the enzymatic changes and increased number of mitochondria that drive performance improvement for endurance training, not hypertrophy (mostly). Cold stress has also been shown to increase the number of mitochondria (energy-producing cells) in muscles (24). Cold stress has been shown to improve performance markers in elite runners by 20% (25) and increase sprint power of elite cyclists by 5% (26).

This all sounds great, but what about people with Diabetes, any evidence?

As usual NO, but there are no reasons why this would not work for people with Diabetes.

Just a few things to consider:

• The massive increase in noradrenaline may:
• Increase blood glucose during and after.
• If you have a heart condition it can be very dangerous (27), DO NOT DO IT.

• The increased glucose utilization from shivering may make your glucose drop.
• The cold feeling will mask any signs of going hypo.

• You will need to be aware of the last time you gave a bolus of insulin. If in the last 3 hours your response will be much more unpredictable.

My safety advice would be:

1. Make sure glucose is 7mmol/l (125mg/dl) before starting.
2. Measure before and after and 30 minutes after to see the effect.
3. Start with 5 minutes and build up minute by minute.
4. Have someone with you for the first few times.
5. Make sure your last bolus insulin was at least three hours ago.
6. Keep it to three times a week for practicality, and to reduce to risk of too much stress.
7. If you are dieting hard and in a big energy deficit, do not use cold stress. It may be one stress too far and lead to overtraining and illness.

SAFETY WARNING

ALWAYS CHECK WITH YOUR MEDICAL TEAM BEFORE TRYING ANYTHING, ESPECIALLY COLD STRESS

Check with your Doctor before trying anything, especially if you have a heart condition. If you are thinking of doing contrast therapy, from hot to cold and back, this puts the body under increased stress. This has been shown to be an issue for people with poor heart health (28).

So, there you have it. Cold Stress has quite a few potential benefits, but you have to be prepared for a bit of mental torture three times a week to get them!

Diabetes does present a few extra challenges, but you now have the tools to overcome them.

Do you want to join an elite group of people with Diabetes who have taken on the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Four-week Cold Stress Challenge?

Is so, head over to the Training Lab where the Activate Your LEAN GENES Guide will walk you through it step by step.

Ok, two down, fasting to go!

Why does fasting fire up your LEAN GENES?

There are multiple metabolic pathways that lead to the activation of LEAN GENES whilst fasting. We will keep our focus on the main two. Firstly, fasting directly increases the level of Sirtuin 1 enzymes. Secondly, the caloric restriction leads to the cells using a lot of nutrients, which causes a very high NAD+ level (29).

This combination is a true stress on the body, and leads to serious activation of your LEAN GENES.

The research evidence on the benefits of fasting is vast and beyond dispute (29). Not to mention that it’s been practiced throughout human evolution, is practiced routinely by many religions, AND IT’S WHAT OUR GENES EXPECT REGULARLY TO BE HEALTHY!

In western society we have just forgotten about it.

Why?

Because there is an abundance of food on every street corner and takeaways just the click of an app away. Instead of fasting being imposed on us by seasonal food scarcity. We have to purposefully pursue the practice of fasting to get the benefit!

This is the challenge. We, humans, love immediate gratification, that’s why we love tasty food, we get in the car for all our trips, and we often prioritize being on our phone until late, in place of seven hours quality sleep.

To meet our evolutionary need to fast, we need to understand the benefit, then shape our environment to make occasional fasting a way of life!

We are now clear fasting is beneficial and that our current environment works against us. But what is not so clear is;

“What type of fasting is the best choice for people with diabetes.”

There are several different ways to employ fasting popular types of fasting are:

Intermittent Fasting:

• 20:4 – Eating window 14:00 – 18:00
• 18:6 – Eating window 12:00 – 18:00
• 16:8 – Eating window 10:00 – 18:00
• 14:10 – Eating window 8:00 – 18:00

5:2 Diet – Popularized by Michael Moseley

• 5 days’ maintenance calories
• 2 days 300-500kcal

One or two 24 hours fast a week – Popularised by Brad Pillion – Eat Stop Eat.

• Usual fasting window 20:00 to 20:00

3-7 day prolonged fasts:

• Water only

In my ten years of clinical and coaching experience, there is one clear winner for people with Diabetes. Before I tell you which one, let’s break each of them down.

If you go for 24 hours without eating, once or twice a week, then back to maintenance caloric intake, your basal insulin requirement changes drastically. Even though modern background insulins have improved, they cannot keep up with this fluctuation. People on an insulin pump have a better chance, but they need two or three basal profiles – this requires a high level of daily management.

In my opinion from lots of clinical and coaching experience, the Eat Stop Eat method often leads to erratic blood glucose.

This is a similar story for the 5:2 diet. Changing from maintenance caloric intake to 300-500kcal twice a week will require two different regimens. Not quite as challenging as Eat Stop Eat, but a level of inconsistency that does not match diabetes medications.

If you are considering a 3-7 day fast, please seek medical support.

You will need a planned gradual reduction in background insulin or medications. You will need to understand the difference between nutritional ketosis and diabetic ketoacidosis. You will need to stop resistance training. Finally, you will need a crazy level of grit and determination.

You may have guessed by now. The best choice is Intermittent Fasting.

Why?

Matching diabetes medications (especially insulin) to metabolism requires one thing, CONSISTENCY. Intermittent Fasting provides a level of consistency from day to day that allows diabetes medications to be matched very effectively.

I have helped countless people with diabetes get the benefit from intermittent fasting with very few blood glucose issues.

Here are my top tips:

1. An 18 (fast) 6(eat) regimen you can improve your hba1c. If you stop eating at 6 pm then your quick acting insulin is out of your system by 10 pm (bedtime). If you get your glucose in the target before bed and your background insulin set correctly, you get the next 18 hours target range.

2. You may need a small correction dose of insulin first thing in the morning if you experience dawn phenomenon.

3. Train at 4 or 5 pm after you have eaten so you have the energy to smash a tough session. Fasted sessions can be challenging.

4. You may need a reduced dose of background insulin in the morning If you take a split dose or you are on an insulin pump. Why? Your liver glucose output drops in favour of burning fat as the fasting period goes on.

This sounds GREAT, so I should use Intermittent Fasting all the time, right?

Not quite. There are times when Intermittent Fasting will be beneficial, and other times detrimental.

When Fasting is beneficial?

• Maintaining current physique or slow body fat loss phase.
• Time pressures.
• Training intensity is not of primary importance.
• Issues with post-breakfast glucose spikes.

Intermittent Fasting will not be optimal when you need to spread out protein feeds, and prioritize recovery from training:

• Gaining size and strength.
• Training twice per day.
• Heavy periods of training requiring on point pre and post nutrition.
• Physique contest preparation.

We have had some amazing results in the Training Lab from those who have taken on the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Four-Week Intermittent Fasting Challenge.

The Challenge takes you from a 14:10 to a 20:4 over four weeks. It also provides you with a detailed guide on how to adjust medication to manage blood glucose control. Obviously, you need to agree on any medication changes with your Health Care Professional.

Let’s recap on what we now know.

Our Genes only determine 20% of our health, the most important thing is which ones we turn on. Simply, it’s not the size of your fridge or freezer that counts, but the selections you make from them.

The Sirtuin enzymes are the master regulators that fire-up your lean genes by a process of deacetylation. Simply, the Sirtuin enzymes are the conductor and the Lean Genes are the Orchestra.

Hormesis is the process that stimulates the Sirtuin enzymes and elevates the level of NAD+ in the cell to fully activate your Lean Genes. Simply, what does not kill you makes you stronger.

The big three for activating your Lean genes are:

• Polyphenols – High and diverse intake.
• Cold Stress – Fat burning and mood elevation.
• Intermittent Fasting – Consistency is key.

The Training Lab is the place to go for:

• A detailed video guide and practical handbook to further your knowledge.
• The unique Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Four-Week Challenges to convert understanding into real learning by taking ACTION.
• A Community of like-minded people to learn from and get accountable for.

I hope you enjoyed this article. If so, please share with friends who have Diabetes.

John Pemberton

Head Coach at Diabetic Muscle and Fitness

Diabetes Specialist Dietitian/Educator

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28. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/10085493
29. Physiol Rev . 2012 July ; 92(3): 1479–151

2. Persuasion is the best way to win an argument.

3. The reason why success often doesn’t feel as good as it should do is because your idea of ‘success’ is based on what you want other people to think about you, rather than doing it for yourself. If you’ve had success this year, great! But, in order to keep advancing and developing make sure you evaluate yourself and commit to developing all the other areas of your life. This allows you to go to the next level. If you’re sitting down to plan your 2018 over the next few days, then do yourself a favour and set goals that serve you! At the end of the day, no one really cares how successful you are. Don’t waste your entire year trying to fit in again!

4. A great way to tell you’re not being true to yourself is when you say things likes, “I have to, should do…”

5. It’s wise to do things because of priority NOT history.

6. Pride gets in the way of mastery. Really cocky = tragedy.

7. It is easy to get complacent and find yourself doing low-value s**t if you do not plan your day or have a vision (goals).

8. Important distinction. At the level of the soul, we are the same. At the level of the physical senses and awareness, we are not.

9. Opinions are the cheapest opinions on earth – especially those that circulate the most. By the time the truth reaches – the lies have spread around the world.

10. The minute you put someone on a pedestal you blind yourself to their downsides. Everyone has another side, a dark side – including you!

11. Anything you repress always surfaces at some stage. It’s wise to dissolve your drama, understand how it served you and affirm it- rather than live through it.

12. In order to really not give a f**k what other people think, you need to know and love yourself. You’re the author of the most important story in the world – your life.

13. It’s ok to turn your phone off and shut your inbox down. Your social media and email accounts aren’t going to vanish and will be waiting for your patiently when you return.

14. For the amount of people that love you – there will be an equal amount of people that dislike you. So what! Live with it and stop trying to please everyone.

15. It is wise to have an inner vision rather than conform. Be …’in the world, not of the world.’ (John 17:16)

16. You will merge and unmerge with people over the course of your life. Learn from every relationship and embed the new found knowledge into the next relationship.

17. Expect people to be disloyal, dishonest and at times an enemy – People only live according to what they perceive is the best option for them. They did what they felt was best for them at the particular time. Don’t hold a grudge over that – you’ll only get ill.

18. 5 ways to embrace your entrepreneurial spirit. 1. Find something you really love doing. 2. Solve a problem that hasn’t been solved. 3. Be able to build the solution yourself. 4. Know when to be patient and when to act fast. 5. Manage your emotions.

19. Stop getting attached to the fantasy of being a success 24/7. If you’re attached to success you’re on your way down. Futile. The majority of your current success is a result of hitting rock bottom.

20. You get most creative when you’re challenged. Invite criticism. It’s kinda useful.

21. 1 true friend is better than 10,000 fake ones. Stop sweating over how many people follow you on social media.

I hope you found immense value in my life lessons from 2017.

Let’s smash 2018 together!

Life is beautiful.

Phil Graham

1094 words, 10-minute read.

Key Points

• There is no doubt about it – Sleep is a prerequisite to high-performance living. Skip it at your peril.
• Sleep in the darkest environment possible.
• Enforce a technology ban at a certain time every night.
• Take advantage of modern-day apps that filter blue light, if you need to work on a computer late in the evening.
• Do your best to avoid strength training right before bed.

‘I’ll sleep when I’m dead’…

LOL – Good luck – you’ll die quicker without it!

Sleep is a prerequisite to high-performance living.

Sleep hygiene, as the name implies, equates to ‘clean uninterrupted flawless sleep’.

In order to achieve good sleep hygiene, you must focus on building consistent habits and practices that are conducive to sleeping well.

Most people’s sleep environment is far from optimal.

Whilst some sleep disorders are outside your control such as shift work, sleep apnea and the neighbour’s dog barking its f****ing head off, there are many other factors negatively affecting sleep but which develop from environmental factors within our control.

Check out these 7 key tips you can use (as of today) to improve and maintain your sleep hygiene.

1. Buy a pair of blackout blinds and don’t sleep with the light on.

Make your sleep environment like a bat cave.

The hormone melatonin is linked to a series of biological processes that recur naturally on a twenty-four-hour cycle, even in the absence of light fluctuations known as the circadian rhythm. These include darkness related behaviours such as sleep initiation and a decrease in body temperature and mental alertness.

The production of melatonin is primarily controlled by an enzyme called AANAT. The production of melatonin is blocked by light very quickly, as AANAT activity decreases by 50% every 3 minutes after the introduction of light. This is why exposure to light is so detrimental to you getting a good night’s sleep. Melatonin is great at getting you to sleep, but won’t keep you asleep once you’re there.

It is important to stress that, whilst melatonin prepares the body for sleep and helps to maintain sleep once it is initiated, it is not a sleep hormone/sedative or hypnotic.

2. If toilet breaks are interfering with your sleep during a fat loss phase, consume the bulk of your carbohydrates and sodium towards bedtime.

This useful strategy is more typically used with athletes and individuals taking part in physique competitions.

Anyone who has dieted to an ultra-low level of body fat is susceptible to more toilet trips during the middle of the night. These can result from several factors, such as lower levels of muscle glycogen (stored carbohydrate), loss of sodium loss through sweating and increased use of stimulants with diuretic properties like caffeine, green tea, and coffee etc.

Both carbohydrates and sodium are osmolytes, meaning they attract and retain water.

Carbohydrates retain x4 times their weight in water, whilst sodium retains an astonishing x50 times its weight. Carbohydrates are typically eaten in larger amounts compared to sodium, meaning more can be consumed.

Although there appears to be no current research on this strategy, if you consumed the bulk of your carbohydrate and sodium later in the evening it would help retain fluid before bed, and so potentially reduce the number of toilet breaks throughout the night.

Anecdotally, having worked with many bodybuilders and physique competitors, this strategy has worked well for many. The effects are more noticeable with high carb/sodium-rich cheat meals like pizza consumed before bed. However,  this may prove problematic for blood glucose management.

That being said, brief awakenings happen.

Sleep is cyclical, so waking up very briefly during the night is to be expected. Sometimes you’ll be more aware of it than other times, especially if your cortisol is high, but follow the rules of step one and you should get back to sleep.

3. Eliminate Blue Light.

Electronic devices such as phones, TVs and computers all have screens which emit predominantly blue light.

If you can’t get a blue light filter on your phone (most major operating systems are bringing them in) minimise the amount of time you spend looking at it, and completely stop looking at screens at least an hour before bed to give the melatonin concentration time to build up.

Check out these apps which automatically pull blue light from your screen, come evening time, in preparation for bedtime.

Mac Users -> https://justgetflux.com/

Android Users -> https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.urbandroid.lux&hl=en_GB

The iPhone has a built-in nighttime setting – set it to a time that suits you.

4. Avoid Caffeine after 5-6 pm.

Caffeine is a stimulant – it will keep you awake, plain and simple.

It has the ability to reduce or eliminate the feelings of fatigue by blocking adenosine receptors. As adenosine is involved in the initiation of ‘deep’ sleep, this is not a great thing to happen before you go to bed.

Individual clearance of caffeine varies, with some studies showing a half-life (concentration dropping by 50%) of between 1.5 – 9.5 hours. With that in mind, monitor your caffeine intake and eliminate it in the afternoon to ensure you can achieve proper deep sleep.

De-caff, unfortunately, might have to be an option! The struggle is real.

5. Avoid High-Intensity Exercise Before Bed.

High-intensity exercise, like weight training or interval training, stimulates the production of various stress hormones, all of which serve the purpose of increasing mental clarity and awareness.

Performing such activities within a few hours before bed is not ideal, and will, without question, reduce sleep quality. The best time to train in my honest opinion is first thing in the morning. The stress hormone response dampens across the day and reaches its lowest point later in the evening, naturally in line with a working day, like it should.

6. Avoid Evening Naps

While napping can prove useful during the day, napping within a few hours of going to bed is a bad idea.

How many times have you tried this and then found returning to sleep difficult?

Doing a lot of travel, I’ve found the best thing to do in this case is either:

A) go to bed super early and wake up when you wake up, and proceed with your day,

or,

B) hold off sleeping (without stimulants) until you reach a state of exhaustion.

These simple strategies will allow you to get the most out of your sleep!

7. Chill the F**K out

Horror movies and anxiety before bed aren’t a good mix.

They stress the system and drive up the production of stress hormones which, as mentioned earlier, increase mental alertness and prevent you from falling asleep. Your body doesn’t know the difference between a real vs perceived threat.

Take time to unwind before bed, read, meditate or make love to your significant other.

Avoid spiking your heart rate and priming your system for fight or flight.

So there you have it,

“Sleep hygiene is the key to sweet dreams”

Don’t use the bed for anything but sleep (and sex!)

Want to learn more? 

If you found this article interesting. You’ll love The Definitive Guide to Sleeping Better for Health, Strength and a Better Looking Physique inside the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Training Lab. The guide goes into super depth on the science of sleep and includes over 4 hours of video presentations, detailed articles and multiple resources to help you sleep better.

It will add immense value to your diabetes management, health, muscle building and fat loss efforts. Click here to join today and claim 2 months free membership and a free training tee and Diabetic Muscle and Fitness protein shaker!

Written by Phil Graham

Founder of Diabetic Muscle and Fitness

Sports Nutritionist, Strength Coach, and Fitness Educator

Type 1 Diabetic for 12 years

The success of your diabetes control is directly proportionate to your mind-set. In this video, I share three incredibly useful mind-set tactics for better diabetes management.

Self-Control Is Strength

Right Thought Is Mastery

Calmness Is Power.

Implement them and let me know how you get on!

If you liked this video and want to learn more about exercising with diabetes. You need to check out the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Training Lab.

It contains a vault of in-depth knowledge and resources you can’t find anywhere else on the internet. You’ll gain valuable new found knowledge on diabetes, nutrition, training, mind-set and more.

Join 1000s of other diabetics just like you and start building muscle, shredding body fat and build the best version of you.

It’s imperative to know what diabetes is and the fundamentals of diet, exercise, lifestyle, and medication management. Here are five important points a healthcare or fitness professional should understand before engaging with T1D individuals involved in sport or fitness.

1. High-intensity exercise like weight training can increase blood glucose levels, even without the consumption of carbohydrates. This is a result of counter-regulatory stress hormones that increase in circulation as a result of high-intensity exercise. It is imperative that such increases in blood glucose are anticipated and dealt with.

2. Low-intensity exercise like cardio has the potential to lower blood glucose and cause hypoglycemia.

3. The psychological aspect of managing diabetes is undervalued and not talked about enough. If T1D athletes and fitness enthusiasts were to place a higher value on their diabetes management, they would excel in their fitness or sporting efforts. Poorly managed diabetes will have a highly detrimental effect on muscle building, fat loss, and sporting performance.

4. Whey protein and supplements like caffeine have the potential to increase blood glucose levels and may require insulin.

5. People with diabetes are more susceptible to podiatry problems, which can have implications for exercise program design.

• Women with Diabetes can develop a great looking body, they just need to think differently, and require unique information and support.
• Improving your body is more challenging if you have diabetes. There are many important nutrition considerations.
• The best fat loss and body sculpting diet plan for females with diabetes is the one that fits your lifestyle and isn’t difficult to manage from a diabetes perspective.
• Improving your body involves set periods of eating a calorie surplus and deficit.
• 99% of women looking to lose fat and develop their shape prioritise the wrong things when it comes to diet.
• If you don’t assess your diet you won’t reach your ideal shape.
• You need fewer supplements than you think. Women do well with whey and creatine, and these are valid options for people with diabetes.

What you’re in for?

4,000 Words

Reading Time ~ 22 minutes

Before we begin, let’s get straight with each other why you’re reading this exact article.

You’re a female living with diabetes who wants to look better naked and buy a completely new wardrobe?

You’ve tried to lose weight and get in shape countless times but you still aren’t happy.

No matter how many diets you have tried, you keep asking yourself,

‘What do I need to eat?’

‘How much do I need to eat?’

‘Am I allowed to eat this? Am I allowed to eat that?’

‘What should I do for this night out I have coming up, will my diet fail?’

‘Why am I constantly hungry?’

‘Is diabetes the reason I’m struggling to lose weight and get in shape?’

‘Dieting downright sucks and I have no hope of building a body that men will bow down to.’

Ok, Stop.

Panic over.

If you have struggled to find decent diet information for creating a better-looking body with diabetes, you’ve come to the right place.

This article is grounded on ten years of academic learning, 1000s of blood glucose tests, 1000s of hours in the gym and over 700 client transformations.

You will learn many new things and discover various aspects you haven’t considered before. You’ll walk away equipped with the right knowledge to make massive changes and create the body you always desired.

I’m all for creating a great looking body as fast as possible. However, to achieve this, your diet MUST be set up correctly.

There is a fine line between…

• Eating too much vs. eating too little.
• Taking too much insulin vs. taking too little.
• Training too much vs. training too little.

Overlook one detail and you run the risk of burning out, losing shape, gaining waist inches and looking the same (or worse) from year to year.

Sound familiar?

Let’s look at how we can fix it.

In order to build a great looking body, you’ll need to build muscle and lose body fat.

Nutrition, in conjunction with a well-structured training program and dedicated periods of rest are essential in every woman’s journey to creating the perfect looking body.

This article focuses on the nutritional aspect of developing a great looking body.  If you want to learn more about the training, make sure you read this article after.

___

The diabetic body is governed by a different set of rules and requires a much more tactful approach to diet than would be advised by the mainstream fitness media or your local gym hero.

___

Let’s look at the challenges females with diabetes face in their quest to build a better-looking body.

• Increased levels of muscle protein breakdown.
• Reduced strength.
• Decreased joint and muscle mobility due to glycation.
• Increased potential for injury.
• Increased fatigue.

These challenges are real.

However, they only become a serious problem to creating a great body when blood glucose levels are not controlled. You can safely say diabetes is not an advantage, BUT, with the right knowledge, plans and guidance, diabetes DOES NOT have to be a disadvantage.

The more you know about diet, the better you will control your blood glucose levels.

GETTING STARTED:

THE BODY SCULPTING DIET PLAN FOR FEMALES WITH DIABETES.

When it comes to creating your own diabetic fat loss diet plan a number of factors need to be considered. Some are more important than others and must take priority. It’s easy to get excited and place more attention on the small details like the newest supplement, diabetic special food or the best time to consume your whey protein, rather than prioritizing the more important (yet sometimes boring) aspects like the ‘WHY’ behind eating better, overall, calorie intake or diabetes management.

THE DIABETIC MUSCLE AND FITNESS NUTRITION PYRAMID

The Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Nutrition Pyramid (pictured below) outlines all the nutritional aspects of building a successful fat loss diet for females living with diabetes. The most important factors are at the bottom and the least important factors are at the top.

Structure your nutrition like this and you can guarantee high-quality results.

This is the exact hierarchy of importance I have incorporated into my 112-Day Female Focused Fat Loss Transformation Guide for Females. 

1. PERSONAL VALUES FOR HEALTH AND FITNESS.

Your personal values for health and fitness are your WHY behind your HOW TO.

Find as many reasons as you can to support why improving your diet will enhance the quality of your life. These answers are the driving force behind your daily attitude and actions.

Confidence, better sex, tastier fashion, job opportunity, and improved quality of life are all obvious benefits of losing fat.

2. DIABETES MANAGEMENT.

Even if a diet is comprised of the best quality and freshest food or most expensive supplements on the planet, poorly controlled diabetes can predispose individuals to malnutrition, a condition where the cells of the body cannot utilise fuel properly.

Malnutrition resulting from poorly uncontrolled diabetes adversely affects body function, well-being, predisposes individuals to disease and delays recovery from illness.

Your diabetes must be exceptionally well controlled in order to reap the full benefits of healthy eating.

3. ADHERENCE.

Whether your goal is to shred pounds of body fat, create a perfect body shape or maintain body weight, your diet plan must be able to accommodate social occasions, days off, and the odd slice of pizza when you fancy it. Yes, a diabetic just said pizza.

The best body sculpting diet plans for females with diabetes incorporate a little give and take. If set up correctly, the total number of calories you consume will allow you to achieve your goal without restricting the foods you love.

Eating ‘clean’ doesn’t mean you’re doing things optimally. This is especially true if you find yourself craving the foods and macronutrients you restricted.

What good is a diet that drives you crazy?

You’ll struggle to get results, never mind maintain them.

Besides being ultra consistent with your calorie intake and essential nutrient targets, the secret to developing a better-looking body is eating a diet you enjoy. Adherence is everything. This viewpoint is also supported by the Journal of the American Medical Association who researched pretty much every fat loss diet on the planet and found ‘adherence’ was the most significant factor behind a diet’s success ⁹.

How many massively restrictive diets have you started, only to stop once your burst of enthusiasm has been replaced by pure monotony? Time to re-think things?

As for training. It’s only the fun part.

I take dietary adherence seriously. I’ve even incorporated detailed instructions and principles on how you can eat the foods you love, and still get in amazing shape in my breakthrough fat loss diet and training guide for females living with diabetes. 

Forget overly restrictive, dull, boring chicken, broccoli and rice diets, carb cycling, detoxes and super expensive supplements.

Focus on sustainability and killer consistency.

Once you’ve identified the goal of fat loss you will need set yourself a time frame, measure your progress and get accountable.

1. SET A TIME FRAME

You need to set yourself an adequate time frame for getting in shape.

How long will depend on how much progress you want to make.

There is a huge difference between,

• Losing 10lbs of fat vs. 100lbs

While developing a great looking physique takes years, generally speaking, 16 weeks is enough time to make significant body transformation changes. This is the exact length of Diabetic Shred – the breakthrough fat loss diet and training plan for women with diabetes.

2. MEASURE YOUR PROGRESS

If you aren’t assessing you’re just guessing.

To get the most out of your body sculpting diet plan, you must learn to evaluate and measure your food intake.

“Tracking food may seem like a mundane task”

Think again, tracking allows you to build portion control habits, and eat more flexibly in relation to your body transformation goals.

Fat loss requires eating less than you burn off. Overeating will hinder your fat loss efforts, while under eating will increase your chances of muscle loss and fatigue.

Far too often people blindly drop their calories and increase their training when there is no need. You must adjust when the time is right. How will you know? Tracking of course!

Having worked with 100s of females in the pursuit of getting a great looking body, I know too well how confusing it can be when it comes to making decisions about when to cut calories and where from. I paid great attention to this dilemma when developing Diabetic Shred.

The plateau is usually the time when people give up on their goals. Diabetic Shred outlines a crystal clear decision process for when and where to adjust your calories, once you hit a plateau.

Having a clear set of questions and actions like this saves hassle, gets better results, and most importantly keeps you progressing not quitting!

3. GET ACCOUNTABLE

To get the most out of your body sculpting diet plan, you must get accountable.

Hiring a coach or personal trainer with a proven track record who understands diabetes management will be worth its weight in gold, especially if it is your first time getting serious.

A good coach will give you that much-needed push during training, along with good honest critical feedback on your development and shape.

Now let’s get into the nitty gritty of nutrition and talk calories, carbs, protein, dietary fat and supplements.

4. Energy Balance

The first place to start when building your diet plan is calories.

Calories play a crucial role in everyone’s attempts to get a great looking body¹.

If your goal is to lose body fat or develop your shape, you must first establish how many calories you need to maintain your current bodyweight, and then work from there.

How do I work out my maintenance calories?

Record your body weight and calorie consumption over 14 days. Total the values up and divide each of them by 14 to get your fortnightly calorie and body weight average. Compare this value to your starting body weight…

• If your body weight has gone up, this indicates a calorie surplus.
• If your body weight has gone down, this indicates a calorie deficit.
• If your body weight has remained the same, this indicates maintenance calories.

Oh, and if the idea of weighing yourself seems daunting, here are some useful tips on how to weigh yourself properly.

Another way to calculate maintenance calories is by using a calorie calculation.

These aren’t 100% bulletproof, but they do get you on the right path.

Once you’ve established a maintenance level of calories, you’ll need to adjust it to your goal.

Generally speaking, for fat Loss – eat slightly fewer calories than you need to maintain your body weight.

 5. MACRONUTRIENTS.

Everyone gets confused about macros. It’s no surprise considering the vast amount of conflicting and over-complicated information found online and in the papers.

Low carb,

High carb,

High fat,

Low fat.

Which macro split is best for diabetes?

Here’s what you need to know about macros…

Certain macro nutrients are essential, others not.

Protein and the essential fatty acids (Omega-3 and Omega-6) need to be consumed via the diet.

Carbohydrates and other forms of fat are non-essential as the body can produce them by itself.

The best diet contains all the macronutrients in the right amounts specific to your overall calorie goal for fat loss, shape development or body weight maintenance.

What ratio of macronutrients you decide to eat is largely down to personal preference once you have met your essential needs for protein, essential fatty acids and carbohydrates for hypo treatment/prevention purposes.

How much protein do I need?

To keep it simple, 1.4-2.0g per Kg (0.6-1.0g per lb) of protein for the majority of people reading this.

In other words, if you weigh 67kg (147lb) you would consume 90-150g of protein per day. Split equally over 3-5 servings of 20-40g each day.

How much fat do I need?

Generally speaking, consuming 20-30% of your calories from fat is a great place to start. You might consume different amounts each day. However, over a period of weeks/months – they should average out.

In respect to your overall fat intake, certain types of dietary fat are essential, others not.

Omega-3s are essential long-chain polyunsaturated fatty acids that need to be supplied through the diet

There are three types of omega-3s involved in human physiology: ALA, EPA & DHA. Predominantly of marine origin, EPA and DHA are better than ALA found in plant oils, due to their greater bioavailability ^2,3.

Consuming fatty fish and fish oil supplements has been shown to improve dozens of aspects of health and disease, including insulin sensitivity, blood lipids, depression, inflammation and blood pressure, to name a few ^2,3,4,5,6.

Taking the different government and health organisations’ recommendations into account, 1-3 g of combined EPA-DHA per day suffices. The upper dose of 3g would be more suitable for people with diabetes due to the predisposition of a high triglyceride level and elevated blood pressure.

1 gram of fish oil is the equivalent to around 3 fish oil capsules per day or three to four 112g portions per week of oily fish like salmon, mackerel or sardines.

You’ll want to check how much Omega 3 you can take with your health care professional if you’re taking blood thinning medication.

How many carbs do I need?

Carbohydrate should make up the remainder of your calorie intake once you have calculated your calorie intake for protein and fat. The more carbs you eat, the less fat you’ll eat, and vice versa. The more dietary fat you eat, the fewer carbs you’ll consume.

Think of carbohydrate as a performance fuel, not a recovery fuel. The more training you do, the more you’ll need.

Do I need to go low carb if I live with diabetes?

Not necessarily.

If you are highly active and strength train 3-6 times per week, carbohydrates will help fuel your exercise performance and provide your body with a better training stimulus.

The fibre aspect of carbohydrates has also been shown to play a key role in the health of our microbiome, which has now been repeatedly shown to play a key role in body weight management ^7,8.

Carbs provide a range of different vitamins and minerals. They also taste great and help with dietary adherence.

Provided you manage your blood glucose levels and account for the calories you consume from carbohydrate, there is no reason to exclude them. On a side note, you must account for the carbohydrate calories you use to treat hypoglycaemia. This may vary from day to day.

If you”re like most women with diabetes, trying to figure all this out can get pretty overwhelming. One of the easiest ways to overcome this is to follow simple recipe plans. That’s why I created the Ultra Lean Diabetic Cookbook – it’s jam packed with 100 delicious diabetic friendly recipes. All the calories and macronutrients are outlined for you – they even come with a Myfitness pal barcode for easy food tracking.

6. NUTRIENT TIMING

Nutrient timing is more important for people with diabetes, especially when it comes to preventing/treating hypoglycaemia or preventing hyperglycaemia.

Refer to the infographic below and review when nutrient timing is Very Important, Worth Considering and Not Important. It’s the perfect size for Instagram, so please do feel free to share on social media (remember to tag us)

Getting your nutrition timed right has favourable effects on body composition, mood, and diabetes management. However, it should never be prioritised over the more important levels of the pyramid such as energy balance and macro nutrients.

A prime example of this would be the ‘no carbs after 6 dogma.’

In terms of meal frequency, 2-4 meals for fat loss and 3-5 if developing shape.

7. MICRONUTRIENTS/FIBER/WATER.

The topic of micro-nutrition may sound mind-numbing but you can’t overlook it.

Long-term micronutrient deficiencies will have a detrimental impact on your health and ability to perform/recover optimally from your training efforts.

Micronutrient deficiencies can result from prolonged period of low-calorie dieting and poorly controlled diabetes. A varied diet is a great way to get a range of micronutrients in

If you have any problems with energy levels, hunger, skin, or problems sleeping, you might be short of a few vitamins or minerals. Rather than assuming, the best way to check for micronutrient deficiencies is by getting a blood test done.

Fiber Intake

First of all, it is worth noting fiber is not an essential nutrient.

1. It makes you feel fuller (helps with fat loss)
2. Slows gastric emptying and nutrient absorption (can help with blood glucose management)
3. Decreases blood cholesterol
4. Decreases mineral absorption
5. Provides food for the bacteria in our guts which are shown to play a massive role in health and obesity prevention.
6. Helps you go to the toilet.

High-fiber foods like fruits and vegetables contain lots of other nutrients (vitamins and minerals) that are important to health.

If your fiber intake is low, don’t start ploughing it down. The body, particularly the bacteria within your gut need a little time to adapt. Otherwise, you’ll be pretty bloated and be blowing a lot of gas.

Provided you don’t suffer from IBS or any other serious bowel condition, 30-40g of fiber is a great target to shoot for daily.

Water Intake

Water is important for all things health, muscle building and exercise performance. There isn’t really a fixed water goal you should work to, per say, as hydration needs vary widely with body weight, sweat rates and frequency of hyperglycaemia.

Generally speaking,

• Aim for at least 5 clear urinations a day.
• Make sure you’re not dehydrated before training.
• Hydrate yourself well both during and after hyperglycaemia.
• Your hydration needs will increase if you are using the likes of creatine.

  8. SUPPLEMENTS.

When it comes to supplements, let’s get five things straight.

1. Supplements are the least important part of the nutrition pyramid.
2. Supplements can be a great nutritional insurance to someone living with diabetes. However, they will not mop up the damage caused by poorly controlled diabetes.
3. Supplements are a healthy addition to a good diet plan, but they will not make up for a poor one.
4. Generally speaking, supplements are not needed. Unless you don’t eat oily fish or natural sources of omega 3.
5. Supplements are never to be seen as shortcuts.

What supplements do I need?

Generally speaking, protein powder is a convenient easily digested source of high-quality protein, creatine along with caffeine are useful for boosting strength and cognition, Vitamin D is good for health if you live in a dull climate, fish oil seems to improve many elements of health – which makes all of these a worthwhile investment.

Since I consider the subject of supplements such a non-important topic, I’ll cover them in greater detail in a separate article, as I don’t want them distracting from the more important parts of this article.

In fact, I guarantee some people will have skipped everything I’ve said up until now. If you have – go back and start afresh.

If you’ve read the whole way up until here. Great!

Respect the hierarchy of importance for each element outlined in the Diabetic Muscle and Fitness nutrition pyramid, get focused on creating healthy habits over the long term, assessing your progress and just eat real food.

TAKE HOME

Before you pay for another month of gym membership ladies please consider these key principles for losing fat with diabetes.

• Proper female fat loss nutrition is about understanding how to eat healthily and sustainably towards your goals. All diet plans work (for a while), use them as a template from which you can adjust according to your results and personal circumstances.

• Never hop from diet to diet. It’s best to measure progress after about 2 to 4 weeks and then continually adjust.

• The ultimate nutritional approach to sculpt a great body will always be calorie controlled and nutrient dense, along with a diet that supports exercise performance and recovery.

• To get the best possible results your diabetes must be extremely well-managed through regular blood glucose testing and appropriate amounts of medication. This is essential for the proper absorption and metabolism of nutrients from food.

Since you have made it to the end of this blog, you are obviously serious about losing fat and building a new wardrobe (ha).

I hope you take action on what you’ve learnt!

If the idea of building your own diet and training seems too daunting for you,

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REFERENCES

1. The poor, misunderstood calorie: calories proper: Volume 1 Lagakos Ph.D., Dr. William
2. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28289069
3. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23794360
4. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/25278765
5. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4013121/
6. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/24117792
7. Le Chatelier, T. Nielsen, J. Qin, E. Prifti, F. Hildebrand, G. Falony, et al. Richness of human gut microbiome correlates with metabolic markers Nature, 500 (2013), pp. 541-546.
8. -P. Furet, L.-C. Kong, J. Tap, C. Poitou, A. Basdevant, J.-L. Bouillot, et al. Differential adaptation of human gut microbiota to bariatric surgery-induced weight loss: links with
9. Pagoto, Sherry L, Appelhans, Bradley M. A. Call for an End to the Diet Debates