Calories influence energy levels and body fat.

Protein influences everything from muscle growth, appetite control right through to hormone production.

Fiber feeds the bacteria in our guts which play a role in the health of our immune system.

Carbs influence blood glucose and exercise performance.

Vitamin C protects against the damaging effects of high blood glucose and oxidative damage.

Salt influences water retention.

etc… We could go on forever.

The nutritional components of food serve many different roles within the human body.

This article aims to highlight 5 key nutritional aspects of food which have been shown to improve the action (or sensitivity) of insulin, resulting in improved blood glucose management in people with diabetes.

Before we go into details – it is important to understand a few key terms surrounding insulin and diabetes.

Key Terms

Insulin is a key hormone involved in the use and storage of fuels within the body.

Insulin sensitivity refers to how effective the hormone insulin is at doing its job in the body. This varies between individuals and is reduced in people with diabetes.

Insulin resistance is when muscle, liver and fat cells do not use insulin properly. As a result, glucose builds up in the blood, overflows into the urine and is excreted out of the body, never fulfilling its role as the body’s main source of fuel.

Diabetes is a group of metabolic diseases characterized by different degrees of insulin resistance, where not enough insulin is produced, or the current insulin produced does not work effectively.

Disorders in insulin production and signalling can have widespread and devastating effects on the body’s organs and tissues if left uncontrolled. Therefore, it is important that people with type 1 diabetes (who produce next to no insulin) have an uninterrupted supply of high-quality insulin medication to replicate their own natural insulin production.

Individuals with type 2 diabetes may also need to take medication to improve the effectiveness of their natural insulin production.

In both cases of diabetes, certain lifestyle factors are advised to support medication therapy. Nutrition is one of them.

5 Incredibly Powerful Eating Tips That Boost Insulin Sensitivity Naturally

Consume Foods That Have Been Scientifically Proven to Boost Insulin Sensitivity.

Scientific research has demonstrated foods like vinegar, lemon, lime, walnuts, almonds, green tea, cinnamon, and turmeric have insulin-sensitizing properties. Including nutrient-dense foods like these in your diet may help improve the body’s sensitivity to insulin and ability to store consumed carbohydrates within muscle glycogen stores instead of as fat. That’s why I included all these kinds of foods inside the Ultra Lean and Muscle Building Cookbooks. If you haven’t checked these cookbooks out already, you’re missing out on over 200+ mouth-watering diabetic friendly recipe ideas that will help you get you in shape without giving up the foods you love.

  Consider Supplementing with Magnesium and Vitamin D.

Magnesium and vitamin D have been shown to improve the body’s sensitivity to insulin. Low magnesium levels are common in people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes.

Magnesium is an essential dietary mineral and the second most prevalent electrolyte in the body besides sodium. Magnesium has a strong relationship with insulin and thus plays an important role in carbohydrate metabolism _1,2.

Research has shown that subjects who supplemented with oral magnesium improved their fasting blood glucose levels and increased their insulin sensitivity.³

The standard dose for magnesium supplementation is 200-400mg.⁴

Vitamin D is a fat-soluble nutrient essential for human survival.

Vitamin D is known to aid in improving insulin receptor function, prevent islet cell death, as well as improve beta cell function.

Research in both type 1 and type 2 diabetes have shown positive results in that supplementing with vitamin D has the potential to lower haemoglobin A1c compared to baseline.^5,6 Much of this may in part be due to improving insulin resistance.

Individuals with diabetes should get a 25(OH)D blood test to assess their current vitamin D status. The Vitamin D Council recommends a blood level between 50–80 ng/mL year round.

If needed, 1,000-2,000 IU (25–50 mcg) of Vitamin D per day is more than adequate. ⁷

Both magnesium and vitamin D may be consumed via supplements. However, they can also be obtained from food.

Magnesium rich foods include green leafy vegetables, pumpkin seeds, cashews, and broccoli.

Vitamin D is easily received by getting sun exposure daily; however, people who live further away from the equator or experience harsh, cold winters are at a disadvantage and may need an additional vitamin D supplement. Also, foods such as fatty fish like salmon, dairy, eggs, and cod liver oil may be consumed to achieve adequate vitamin D levels.

 Prioritize the Essential Fatty Acids, especially Omega-3.

The human body can synthesize most of its fat needs from the diet. However, there are two essential fatty acids, known as Omega 6 (linoleic acid) and Omega 3 (alpha-linolenic acid) which cannot be produced in the body and must be consumed from food. Both of these fats can be found in plant and animal foods.

Consuming a healthy balance of omega-6s and omega-3s is very important for human health.

However, in today’s modern society many populations at risk of obesity and diabetes have an imbalance in their consumption of omega 3s and 6s, whereby too much omega 6 is consumed at the expense of omega 3.

While both of these fatty acids are essential for good health, the stark imbalance is pro-inflammatory and detrimental to insulin sensitivity. The imbalance is a result of the world’s growing food intake, particularly increased consumption of processed food cooked in processed polyunsaturated fats like sunflower oil.

The first line of defence in rectifying this imbalance involves eating fewer calories and improving energy balance with physical activity. The next step is to increase omega 3 consumption from cold water fatty fish or use of high-quality Omega 3 food supplements.

Ideally, 340-453g (12–16 oz.) of cold-water, fatty fish such as salmon, sardines, and mackerel each week, if personal taste allows for it. Otherwise a good quality fish oil supplement.

 Avoid Trans Fats.

There is nothing positive or healthy about man-made trans fats. They are well established to cause insulin resistance, resulting in a decrease in insulin sensitivity. Additionally, trans fat may increase abdominal fat storage.

Food products that contain trans fat include, cakes, vegetable oils and margarine. Substitute these common cooking products for healthier oils like olive oil, avocado oil, coconut oil or real butter.

Trans fats are mentioned on nutrition labels.

Strive to purchase and consume foods that contain 0g Trans Fats.

Food over Macronutrients.  

Carbohydrates have the greatest effect on blood glucose levels, protein has a moderate effect and fat a relatively small effect.

However, when it comes to mealtimes, we mostly consume mixed macronutrient meals comprised of different food sources.

Think about it. You rarely eat a potato on its own. Rather, a combination of potato (carbs), meat or fish (protein) and a good dab of butter (as fat).

If you keep consistent with the amounts of carbs, fat and protein at meal times, you’ll have a much better chance at working out a reliable insulin to carb ratio.

This is great, but what happens when you make an extreme change and decide to consume a food dominant in one macronutrient? Or, vary the composition of your set meal in favour of a certain macronutrient such as a pepperoni pizza which is super high in fat?

When the time comes, you must be willing to increase or decrease your insulin accordingly. This requires an in-depth understanding of how to dose and spread your insulin for mixed and, or, single macronutrient-based meals.

Dosing your insulin accurately is extremely important for avoiding hyperglycemia and further insulin resistance.

Want to put this learning into practice?

I’ve taken all of these principles and incorporate them into Diabetic Shred Guide – a 112-day fat loss system for men and women living with diabetes. It contains everything you need to know about eating, training and living to get lean. You get weekly meal plans tailored to your metabolism and over 50 challenging workouts.

If you want to learn more about flexible dieting you can check out my body transformation diet and training guides created exclusively for people with diabetes.

Diabetic Shred –  112-day Advanced Body Transformation Guide Built for FAT LOSS.

References

1. Paolisso G, Scheen A, D’Onofrio F, Lefebvre P: Magnesium and glucose homeostasis. Diabetologia33:511–514, 1990
2. Nadler JL, Buchanan T, Natarajan R, Antonipillai I, Bergman R, Rude R: Magnesium deficiency produces insulin resistance and increased thromboxane synthesis. Hypertension21:1024–1029,
3. Mooren FC, Kruger K, Volker K, Golf SW, Wadepuhl M, Kraus A. Oral magnesium supplementation reduces insulin resistance in non-diabetic subjects-A RCT. Diabetes, Obesity, and Metabolism. 2011;13(3);281-284
4. http://www.nap.edu/read/5776/chapter/8#223
5. Aljabri KS, Bokhari SA, Khan MJ. Glycemic changes after vitamin D supplementation in patients with type 1 diabetes mellitus and vitamin D deficiency. Ann Saudi Med. 2010;30(6):454-458.
6. Mitri J, Muraru MD, Pittas AG. Vitamin D and type 2 diabetes: a systematic review. Eur J Clin Nutr. 2011.65(9):1005-15.
7. Example.com The Supplement-Goals Reference Guide

It’s beautiful.

What else feels this good right after a long day at work, and hard gym session?

The warm plates are sitting out, the food is on the table and your family (or better half) mumbles with a half-eaten piece of pizza in their mouth, ‘Sit down and have a few pieces, there’s dessert too.’

You really wish you could, but there’s one big problem…

You are 2 weeks into your new fat loss diet and want to be in the shape of your life for once.

You know this type of food isn’t going to help you. It’s one of the reasons you need to lose weight in first place.

Add to that, you know this food and diabetes don’t get along. You’re anxious about the amount of insulin you are going to inject for the massive blood sugar spike you are about to experience.

But, in the famous lyrics of R.Kelly – Bump N’ Grind. Your mind is telling you no, but your body is telling you YES!

See, our food environment is a pretty big deal.

As humans, we make hundreds of decisions about food every single day¹. This tends to get more challenging when you start dieting and get ‘hangry.’

When you live with your family, a partner or friends you are exposing yourself to their way of eating. This can be a problem…

Like I say in my book if you live with three other people who eat crap and don’t value a lean healthy body, there is a high probability that you will become the fourth person in the group.

Cooking and eating food has a massive social element that many people overlook. This is one of the biggest challenges when it comes to food environment.

Just think of how awkward the following circumstances can be when you are trying to diet.

• Being asked out to a buffet meal with friends and family.
• Cuddled up on the couch for a movie with a brand new date who brought you a share size bag of M&M’s to enjoy.
• Eating at a restaurant with a group of friends and the breadboard comes out.

Then there are other factors like convenience and prevalence of junk food in your fridge or naughty cupboard.

IT’S EASY TO FEEL GUILTY

… when you turn down someone’s cooking efforts, the surprise pizza order or that share size bag of M&M’s.

It’s easy to become overwhelmed, give in and say, ‘I’ll start back on the diet tomorrow,’ which, of course, rarely ever happens.

Willpower Has a Fuse

It can run out, especially when you are under stress, and have to make hundreds of decisions about food on a daily basis.

When you’re tired and running low on calories, you are much less likely to exert willpower and far more likely to jeopardize your fat loss efforts by indulging in excess calories. Especially, if they are ‘offered on a plate’ or just down the stairs.

This relates to the model of behaviour known as “Ego depletion” ²

A large amount of scientific evidence (meta-analysis) by Hagger et al in 2010 showed that:

• Ego depletion significantly affected self-control task performance.
• Ego depletion was significantly affected by the degree of effort, perceived difficulty, perceived negative effects and subjective fatigue.
• Low blood glucose levels affected ego depletion negatively.

Given the fact that willpower is a limited resource,

it makes sense to elevate your food environment and improve it by either removing unhelpful food choices that are contradictory to your end goal or simply not putting yourself there in the first place.

Changing Your Environment Can Help

Let’s take the same situation you were in earlier on, but this time you don’t smell pizza or brownie, nor get tempted to ‘have a piece’ because you know your family, or better half sits down at the same time every single week to eat a takeaway.

Eating a filling meal before you arrive home grants you permission to use the, ‘I’ve eaten already’ excuse.

Or, if you live with a partner, you could tactfully plan your daily calories around the takeaway meal using an intermittent fasting style approach, backloading your calories into the evening. Another solution would be to ask your better half to have a friend round to eat with.

Losing body fat is a process that requires food restriction.

Sacrifices have to be made if you want to look a certain way or want to hit a target bodyweight. If your friends and family can’t support your goal, educate them on why you’re doing it and how it will improve your quality of life. In turn, letting you live life to the fullest.

If they can’t accept that, stick to your guns.

No one needs to eat pizza and brownies to fit in.

Having competed as a bodybuilder for many years I know too well how to enhance my food environment for muscle gains and fat loss.

Try any of these tactics if you suspect your environment is holding you back

• Empty your naughty food cupboard of sweets and confectionary. Out of sight, out of mind. Just make sure you keep some fast-acting sugars for hypo prevention. Sports drinks are perfect as they are the least likely food product to be consumed when you are bored or hungry.

• Diet soft drinks are great for killing a sugar craving and support fat loss due to their zero calorie content.

• Equip yourself with great tasting diabetic friendly recipe and snack ideas. That’s why I created the Ultra Lean Diabetic Cookbook – it’s loaded with 100 delicious diabetic friendly recipes you will love including Tortilla Pizzas, Protein pancakes and much more. All the calories and macronutrients are outlined for you – they even come with a Myfitness pal barcode for easy food tracking.

• If you use flexible dieting as an eating strategy, keep all junk food in opaque tins at the top of a cupboard so they are hard to see and reach.

• When the share board comes out, excuse yourself and nip out to the toilet. Tell the table to “eat away” and by the time you get back most of it will be gone.

• Avoid going shopping when hungry.

• Avoid hoarding junk food when it is on offer at your local supermarket. Before you place it in your trolley, ask yourself, ‘Do I need it?’

• Don’t walk down the sweetie isle when dieting. That’s just torture.

• Don’t watch Man Vs. Food or any form of bakery program when dieting. It might push you over the edge and cause you to say, ‘F**k it, let’s eat!’

• Increase your protein, and fiber intake when dieting to keep hunger under control.

• Coffee (pre 5 pm) can help suppress appetite.

• Master your insulin dosing. Be mindful that a hypo will require you to eat. Keep your food environment in mind and do your best to consume straight sources of glucose rather than cakes and crisps which contain a lot of excess calories.

• Sugar-free jelly is ultra-low in calories and provides a temporary fill me up.

• You can also use the good old diabetes excuse and tell people that junk food doesn’t have a place in your diet. Obviously, make sure your friends and family know what a hypo is and what foods are best to treat it.

There are many other strategies you can use, but these are great examples.

While you are here, make sure to check out the Diabetic Shred Guide a 112-day fat loss system for men and women living with diabetes. It contains everything you need to know about eating, training and living to get lean. You get weekly meal plans tailored to your metabolism and over 50 challenging workouts.

Quick Summary 

• Everyone who goes to the gym with the goal of getting stronger and leaner is technically bodybuilding whether you like it or not.
• Competitive bodybuilding is fat loss taken that little bit further.
• The best diabetes bodybuilding diet plan is the one you can stick to the longest.
• Bodybuilding involves set periods of eating a calorie surplus and deficit.
• Bodybuilding is more challenging for people with diabetes. There are many important nutrition considerations.
• 99% of people looking to lose weight or gain muscle mass prioritse the wrong things when it comes to diet.
• If you don’t assess your diet you won’t reach your true potential.
• You need fewer supplements than you think. Both whey and creatine are valid options for people with diabetes.

What you’re in for?

3,500 Words

Reading Time ~ 20 minutes

If you live with diabetes and love bodybuilding, this article is for you.

I’m all for building muscle and shredding fat 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 muscle, gaining body fat and looking the same (or worse) from year to year

Sound familiar?

Bodybuilding with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes, is more challenging than you think.

That’s why so many people living with diabetes fail to look and perform their best in the gym.

It’s taken me ten years of academic learning, 1000s of blood glucose tests, 1000s of hours in the gym and over 700 clients later to develop, The Ultimate Bodybuilding Cutting and Mass Building Diet Plan for people living with diabetes.

BEFORE WE BEGIN:

WHAT IS BODYBUILDING?

When you hear the word bodybuilding what comes to mind?

Most people, conjure up images of overly tanned men and women hitting muscle poses on stage in their underwear.

While this represents the ‘competitive bodybuilder’, what about the vast amount of everyday gym goers who have no intention of getting on stage, but simply want to look better naked?

Like it or not, anyone who goes to the gym with the intention of looking better is bodybuilding.

Male, female, young, or old – it doesn’t matter. Bodybuilding is about building muscle, minimising body fat and looking your physical best.

Competitive bodybuilders train year-round in an attempt to increase their muscle mass and strength. They dedicate set periods of time (usually 20 weeks) to ‘MASS GAIN’ followed by another 10-20 weeks of fat loss, doing what is commonly termed CUTTING. When the time is right, the competitive bodybuilder steps on stage with other competitors to be judged.

The judging criteria is based on overall aesthetic development which includes muscle size, muscle symmetry, level of body fat and presentation skill (i.e. posing).

What is required to compete and look your best?

Nutrition, the right training stimulus and dedicated periods of rest are essential in every bodybuilder’s journey to building the perfect looking body (competitive or not).

This particular article focuses on the nutritional aspect of bodybuilding, specific to people living with type 1 and type 2 diabetes. I will cover the training aspect in another article.

Bodybuilding with Diabetes

Bodybuilding and Physique sports are becoming increasingly popular nowadays. Just look at the increased availability of protein supplements, meal prep services, and healthy eating restaurants.

Bodybuilders who live with diabetes are few and far between. The fear of low blood glucose, the frustration of high blood glucose, lack of support and not knowing how to eat are the main reason so many people with diabetes fail to pursue their bodybuilding or physique body transformation goals.

Does this mean bodybuilding with diabetes is out of reach?

Living with diabetes doesn’t mean you can’t partake in body building or transform your body.

Just look at the likes of IFBB PRO Anth Bailes, IFBB PRO Jason Poston, IFBB PRO Collete Nielson, Aidrian Brodlell and other leading diabetic bodybuilding stars.  All of these individuals have won trophies and graced the front of many muscle and fitness magazines, all while living with type 1 diabetes.

While it’s great to see so many people take an active interest in their health, it’s a hard push to find good quality, evidence-based diet information for bodybuilding and diabetes. As a result, many individuals end up following sub-optimal advice that jeopardises their health and bodybuilding results. You may have experienced this yourself?

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 a bodybuilder living with diabetes faces 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 building muscle when blood glucose levels are not controlled. You can safely say diabetes is not an advantage to bodybuilding, 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 Diabetic Bodybuilding Diet Plan.

When it comes to creating your own diabetic bodybuilding 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 your ‘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 bodybuilding diet for fat loss or muscle gain with diabetes, from most important (at the bottom) to least important (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 new 112 Day Body Transformation Guides, Diabetic Shred and Diabetic Mass, developed exclusively for people living with diabetes.

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.

Quick hint, you’ll need a lot more reasons than simply wanting to look better to fit in.

I’ll do a separate article on the psychological aspects of getting in shape as it’s a complex subject well beyond the scope of this nutrition article.

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 controlled (i.e. uncontrolled) diabetes, adversely affects body function and well-being, in addition to predisposing individuals to disease and delaying recovery from illness.

The point of the matter – 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, gain mass 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 diabetes bodybuilding diets 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 nailing your calorie intake and essential nutrient targets, the secret to building 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 which researched pretty much every fat loss diet on the planet to find ‘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 very seriously in my guides. I’ve even incorporated detailed instructions on how you can eat the foods you love and still get in amazing shape. The breakthrough diabetes bodybuilding diet and training guides are Diabetic Shred and Diabetic Mass.

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

Focus on sustainability and killer consistency.

Know Your Goal:

To Cut, Build or Maintain?

Now you’ve got to terms with the foundation of your diabetes bodybuilding diet plan, let’s discuss your goals before going any further.

1. FAT LOSS – Fairly self-explanatory. The goal is to get as lean as possible while maintaining, and where possible increasing, muscle mass at the same time.

2. INCREASE BODYWEIGHT & MUSCLE MASS – When the primary focus is an increase in body weight, muscle size and strength. Successful mass gain involves very little fat gain.

3. MAINTAIN BODYWEIGHT – Maintaining your current level of body fat and muscle mass. Typically reserved for retired bodybuilders or individuals who no longer have the time or resources to commit to a full-time bodybuilding lifestyle. If you want to keep looking great naked, with the minimum effective dose, maintaining is your goal.

Once you’ve identified your diabetes bodybuilding goal you will need set yourself a time frame, measure your progress and get accountable.

Let me elaborate…

1. Set a time frame.

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

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

There is a huge difference between

• Losing 10lbs of fat vs. 100lbs
• Gaining 2lb of muscle mass vs. 20lbs

While building a great looking physique takes years, generally speaking, 16 weeks is enough time to make significant body transformation changes.

2. Measure your rate of progress.

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

To get the most out of your diabetes bodybuilding 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 bodybuilding 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.

Mass gain requires eating slightly more than you burn off. Overeating will increase your chances of gaining unwanted body fat, while eating too little will slow muscle growth and prevent you adding size.

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 bodybuilders and physique athletes, I know only 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 and Diabetic Mass.

Both guides give you a crystal clear decision process for when and where to adjust your calories, once you hit a plateau. The plateau is usually the time when people give up on their goals. Have you given up when improvements have slowed?

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 diabetes bodybuilding 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.

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

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 build muscle and shred fat ¹.

If your goal is to lose body fat or increase body weight, 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.
• Mass gain – Eat slightly more calories than you need to maintain your body weight.
• Body maintenance – Keep eating the same amount of calories.

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 itself.

The best diet contains all the macronutrients in the right amounts specific to your overall calorie goal for fat loss, mass gain 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 have 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 into account the different government and health organisations’ recommendations, 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 from 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 fiber 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 men 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 for men looking to shred fat.

….and The Diabetic Muscle Building Cookbook for men looking to pack on muscle size and strength.

These books are are jam packed with 200 mouth-watering diabetic friendly recipes. They include everything from beef burgers, tortilla pizzas, tacos the whole way through to protein bars and pancakes. 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 bulking to add size.

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 periods of low-calorie dieting and poorly controlled diabetes. A varied diet is a great way to get in a range of micronutrients.

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 micro nutrient 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. Decreasing 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 is 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 building 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 consider these key principles for cutting, bulking or maintenance phases.

• Proper diabetes bodybuilding 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 to 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.

• At all times, whether gaining, losing or maintaining, the ultimate nutritional approach for diabetic bodybuilding is a calorie controlled, nutrient dense diet that supports exercise performance and recovery.

• To get the best possible results an individual’s 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 your physique, so

I’m going to give you an 85% off coupon for what many have coined the most advanced diabetes bodybuilding diet and training programs in the world. And, yes before you ask you can do SHRED first, then MASS (or vice versa)

They are also both an absolute steal too, at only £13 ($16)

If your goal is fat loss -> GET DIABETIC SHRED   

If your goal is lean weight gain –> GET DIABETIC MASS

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 metabolic and low-grade inflammation markers Diabetes, 59 (2010), pp. 3049-3057, 10.2337/db10-0253
9. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/256290225_A_Call_for_an_End_to_the_Diet_Debates

Before we discuss creatine and diabetes let’s discuss what creatine actually is and abolish some of the common myths and fallacies around this ever popular sports nutrition supplement.

Quick Fire Myths Dispelled

Q. Is creatine a steroid?

No

Q. Does creatine make you go bald?

No

Q. Does creatine cause cancer?

No

Q. What happens when you stop taking creatine?

Generally nothing.

What is Creatine?

Creatine is a molecule we naturally produce in the body. It is a natural tri-peptide which means it has three amino acids. If you eat a diet rich in animal proteins like beef, fish and dairy you will naturally be consuming creatine

Creatine has profound effects on exercise performance by increasing your body’s availability of Adenosine-Triphosphate (ATP) the body’s primary source of energy, especially when performing resistance based exercise. Increased ATP availability allows you to lift heavier for longer which amplifies your ability to stimulate muscle growth.

Creatine Supplementation = More ATP = More Energy = Greater Training Stimulus

There is also research supporting the cognitive benefits of creatine supplementation in those with depression.

Noted benefit and possible side effects include:

• Increased strength
• Water retention
• Stomach cramping (if insufficient water is consumed)
• Diarrhoea of nausea (if too much consumed)

There is some concern that it could harm the kidney, liver, or heart function. However, a connection between high doses and these negative effects has not been proven.

Q. What is the best type of creatine?

There is a host of different creatines available on the market including Creatine monohydrate, Kre-Alkalyn and Creatine Ethyl Ester.

Which form of creatine is best?

Creatine monohydrate is the best form. It is the cheapest and most researched creatine of the lot.

How Do you take creatine?

There are two approaches to dosing creatine.

Approach 1 – Loading Phase

• 0.3g per kg bodyweight per day
• 80 KG male = 24g (broken up into 5g doses)

Approach 2 – Maintenance

• Supplementing with 5g per day.

Q. Do you need to cycle creatine?

Given the current body of evidence, you do not need to cycle creatine.

CREATINE AND DIABETES

How does the holy grail of supplements fare against diabetes?

The research to support creatine consumption in people living with T2 is relatively large. Unfortunately, there is zero research investigating the effects of creatine consumption in people living with T1 which definitely warrants future research.

Benefits of Creatine in Diabetes

Increased muscle mass and frequent muscle contraction in people without diabetes is known to improve insulin sensitivity and glucose uptake into cells.

Creatine has the ability to improve glycemic control, based on its ability to increase training performance.

Muscle tissue acts like a vacuum and storage house for glucose.

When muscle tissue is contracted such as during resistance training, specific glucose transporters known as GLUT-4 translocate (rise) to the surface of the muscle cell and assist with the disposal of glucose out of the bloodstream and into the muscle cells.

The harder an individual trains the greater uptake of glucose.

It is well established that people living with Type 2 diabetes have a marked increase in GLUT-4 activity following strength training ² which assists in the lowering of blood glucose.

These favourable changes could also be seen in people with Type 1. However, due to a complete lack of insulin production, the liver’s production of glucose can often outweigh uptake and thus lead to hyperglycemia.

Is it fair to say these benefits would be useful in well-controlled type 1 diabetes, especially if the liver’s production of glucose is accounted for with appropriate amounts of injectable insulin?

Maybe so….

Either way, more research is needed.

If you want to learn more about building muscle tissue with creatine, I’ve covered an absolute tonne of useful strategies in my book The Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Guide.

Is creatine safe for diabetics?

One of the main concerns with creatine is kidney trouble.

The underlying theory does make sense. The more creatine consumed, the harder the kidneys have to work to process it. And, since people with diabetes already have an increased susceptibility to kidney disease, especially when poorly controlled, creatine consumption might exacerbate the issue.

In fact, there isn’t one single peer-reviewed study or case report suggesting creatine as the causative factor behind kidney damage, which is a marked complication of poorly controlled diabetes.

Research by Gualano in 2010 studied a man with one functioning kidney who consumed more than 20g creatine monohydrate per day. His remaining kidney failed to show any signs of damage ³.

A significant double-blind trial by Gualano and colleagues in 2011 looked at the kidney function of people with Type 2 diabetes who consumed 5g of creatine/day versus those who consumed a placebo. Both groups performed a mixture of aerobic and resistance based exercise, but neither presented any evidence of kidney damage ⁴.

In a separate study, Gualano and colleagues also noted that creatine consumption could improve overall diabetic control by lowering HbA1C levels ⁵.

Two groups, one consuming a placebo and one consuming 5g of creatine/day, both took part in a mixed exercise plan of aerobic and anaerobic exercise. Those who were consuming creatine found a significant reduction in HbA1C compared to the placebo group within a period of 12 weeks.

It was proposed these beneficial effects were a result of increased GLUT-4 activity and ensuring glucose disposal into cells ⁵.

If you want to learn more about the effects of creatine on the diabetic body before taking it you definitely need to check out the hour-long webinar I recorded with Dr Darryn Willoughby (one of the world’s leading exercise researchers) inside the exclusive webinars section of The Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Training Lab.

If you’re obsessed with building a better body, The Training Lab contains a gold mine of information you will benefit from.

Take Home

People living with T2 can safely consume creatine. Research among people with Type 1 diabetes is lacking and should advocate further studies taking place.

Creatine has demonstrated significant benefits on glucose metabolism when used alongside exercise, raising its potential as a possible nutritional therapy in this population.

For the benefit of your overall care, you must mention it to your medical doctor.

Creatine is a proven supplement. But make sure you’re confident in your blood glucose control before using it. Even the best supplements in the world can’t protect against hyperglycemia.

Interested In Using Creatine As Part of Your Muscle Building Efforts?

Since you have made it to the end of this blog, you are obviously serious about your physique, I’m going to give you an 85% off coupon for what many have coined the most advanced diabetes bodybuilding diet and training programs in the world.

Both of these plans incorporate creatine monohydrate as part of their 112-day diet and training program.

The best thing about it…

For all the information you get, these guides are an absolute steal, at only £13 ($16) each.

IF YOUR GOAL IS FAT LOSS -> GET DIABETIC SHRED   

IF YOUR GOAL IS LEAN WEIGHT GAIN –> GET DIABETIC MASS

References

1. Ritcher, EA and Hargeaves M, (2013). Exercise, GLUT4, and skeletal muscle glucose uptake. Physiology Reviews
2. Holten MK, Zacho M, Gaster M, Juel C, Wojtaszewski JF, Dela F., (2004). Strength training increases insulin-mediated glucose uptake, GLUT4 content, and insulin signalling in skeletal muscle in patients with type 2 diabetes. Diabetes.
3. Gualano B, Ferreira DC, Sapienza MT, Seguro AC, Lancha AH Jr. (2010). Effect of short-term high-dose creatine supplementation on measured GFR in a young man with a single kidney. American Journal of Kidney Disease.
4. Gualano B, de Salles Painelli V, Roschel H, Lugaresi R, Dorea E, Artioli GG, Lima FR, da Silva ME, Cunha MR, Seguro AC, Shimizu MH, Otaduy MC, Sapienza MT, da Costa Leite C, Bonfá E, Lancha Junior AH., (2011). Creatine supplementation does not impair kidney function in type 2 diabetic patients: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled, clinical trial. European Journal of Applied Physiology.
5. Gualano B, DE Salles Painneli V, Roschel H, Artioli GG, Neves M Jr, De Sá Pinto AL, Da Silva ME, Cunha MR, Otaduy MC, Leite Cda C, Ferreira JC, Pereira RM, Brum PC, Bonfá E, Lancha AH Jr., (2011). Creatine in type 2 diabetes: a randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial. Medicine and Science in Sports and Exercise.

Other References – Benefits of Creatine

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/1…

https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/arti…

https://link.springer.com/article/10….

https://www.researchgate.net/profile/…

https://link.springer.com/article/10….

http://journals.humankinetics.com/doi…

http://go.galegroup.com/ps/anonymous?…

http://jap.physiology.org/content/91/…

• People with diabetes can eat junk food, provided they monitor their calorie intake and dose their medication accurately.
• Junk food should never make up the bulk of your diet, even if the food choices fit your calorie needs.
• Junk food isn’t filling and may leave you feeling hungry. This can be problematic for fat loss.
• People with diabetes need to be vigilant with blood glucose management when including junk food in their diets.

CAN YOU EAT JUNK FOOD IF YOU HAVE DIABETES?

The simple answer is YES.

You can include junk food as part of your daily eating regime if you live with diabetes.

However, this doesn’t mean you can eat as much Oreos, Ben & Jerrys and Pizza as you like. There are certain rules and principles you must respect before you rush off and start snacking.

First, let me ask,

Is junk food good for you?

Honestly? Is It…?

Are there any benefits to including junk food in your diet?

Ask a health professional or someone on the street, and their first reaction will be a confident ‘NO’.

‘Junk food is not healthy and should be avoided or kept to an absolute minimum.’

Let’s explore this common dogma a little more.

Here are the main reasons why most people have a negative perception of junk food:

• Junk food is high in calories and increases fat gain.
• Junk food is low in vitamins, minerals and fibre.
• Junk food doesn’t fill you up and increases your chances of overeating the rest of the day.
• Junk food can spike blood glucose levels, increasing the potential for hyperglycemia.
• Dosing the correct amount of insulin with different types of junk food can be challenging and increase the potential for hypoglycemia.

All of these points are true.

However, these negative aspects only become apparent when junk food is overeaten or makes up the bulk of someone’s diet.

THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A GOOD OR BAD FOOD. JUST GOOD OR BAD DIETS.

Too many people look at food in isolation, blaming individual foods as the sole cause of obesity and other metabolic disorders like diabetes.

This couldn’t be further from the truth.

Excess calories and low levels of physical activity are the main reason for today’s obesity epidemic. This is a huge topic well outside the scope of this article.

IT’S BETTER TO REVIEW YOUR DIET OVER A PROLONGED PERIOD OF TIME. NOT JUST ONE DAY. THINK ACROSS THE WEEK, MONTH AND YEAR. 

For example, if you maintain your bodyweight on 2500kcals.

Which diet would prove more healthful?

A. 2500kcal of entirely fresh, whole minimally processed fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat.

Or,

B. 2500kcal of Oreos and processed beef burgers.

The answer is ‘Option A’ of course.

Even though both diets yield the same energy, Option A provides you with all the essential nutrients, vitamins minerals and fibre; whereas, option B is lacking and will inevitably pose a nutritional health deficiency risk if consumed over the long term.

Now, If I added a third option that included

C. 2500kcal of mixed food sources, with 2000kcals coming from fresh, whole minimally processed fruits, vegetables, dairy and meat and 500kcals coming from Oreos and other sources of junk food goodness.

Would this be unhealthy?

Not necessarily.

The bulk i.e. 80% (2000kcals) of the diet is made up of whole foods and a mere 20% (500kcals) is comprised of junk.

It still allows me to control my energy balance, body weight and obtain all my essential nutrients, whilst at the same time include 500kcals of junk food for intuitive or social nibbles if I really wanted it.

YOU CAN TACTFULLY INCLUDE JUNK FOOD AS PART OF YOUR DIABETIC BODYBUILDING AND FITNESS REGIME.

Some people call this style of eating ‘If It Fits Your Macros – IIFYM’ or flexible dieting.

If It Fits Your Macros and Insulin sound pretty cool.

I digress.
Call it whatever you want.

The flexible dieting approach has been shown to be superior to a more rigid-type approach (e.g. clean eating) for long-term weight loss/maintenance in the research. ^1,2

This terminology simply represents three important principles involved in goal-orientated diabetic bodybuilding nutrition.

#1 Energy balance.

Calories are important.

Provided your diabetes is kept in control, weight loss is pretty much the relationship between calories consumed from food versus calories expended by the metabolism, physical activity and exercise.

1. When people are in a caloric deficit, they always lose weight.
2. When people are in a caloric surplus, they always gain weight.

Eat within the lines – according to your goal.

#2 You are what you do on average.

In other words, if you eat the bulk of your diet from low-quality junk food, you will look and feel like junk. Hence, why fresh, whole minimally processed food MUST make up the bulk of your dietary intake.

As a general rule of thumb, I try to eat 70% + of my diet from whole food ingredients, but with up to 30% from junk. Very rarely do I go crazy and consume 50% + of my diet from junk food, bar Christmas. Then again that’s only 1 day out of 365 per year. See my point?

You are what you do and ‘eat’ on average.

#3 Adherence.

Modern food technology and marketing tantalise our taste buds and get us salivating from the moment we wake up to the moment we go to bed. We are faced with so much more pressure to eat nowadays than ever before. Add to that the convenience of foods – we are spoilt for choice.

Sometimes you have to face it.

A cold chicken salad won’t cut it. But your favourite chocolate bar will.

What do you do?

1. Give in and then feel guilty for eating a ‘bad’ food.
2. Be strong and restrict yourself, until you crack at the weekend and end up eating more chocolate than you could ever imagine.

Been there done that.

Feeling restricted is one of the biggest reasons why most diets fail.

If people only knew how to tactfully manage ‘desired’ junk food choices within their calorie intakes, we would undoubtedly see less obesity and more sustained fat loss.

What about ‘clean eating’ for people with diabetes?

The popularly coined way of dieting ‘clean eating’ has no real definition.

How do you know what you’re eating is ‘clean’?

Rather than focusing on ‘clean’ eating.

Get your calorie intake right,

Eat a colourful diet,

Vary your vegetable, fruit, meat and dairy sources,

Don’t overly restrict food groups

If you want a little bit of junk food, eat it.

Just ensure you cover it with the right amount of medication. Note as many details down as possible,

• Calorie intake
• Carb intake (this affects blood glucose the most)
• Protein (also affects blood glucose levels)
• Blood sugar before eating
• 45 mins to 120 mins after eating.
• Insulin Dose
• Any stress or physical activity that may have influenced blood glucose levels between eating and injecting.

Keeping a tab on all these details will help paint a better picture of how your blood glucose will behave when you consume certain foods leading to better long-term blood glucose control.

Check out this video of me eating ice cream in Barcelona. I discuss how I manage my own diabetes whilst eating sugary junk foods.

JUNK FOOD IS A USEFUL TOOL FOR HYPO PREVENTION.

Sugary drinks and confectionary are rapid treatments for hypoglycemia. If fat loss is your main bodybuilding goal, focus on using fast-acting carbohydrate sources of junk food that are low in fat and protein.

These foods bring blood glucose back into range faster than mixed macronutrient foods. You also avoid the unwanted consumption of fat and protein calories, which can add up over time.

Take Home

• People with diabetes can include junk food as part of a healthy muscle building and fat loss diet.

• The danger is in the dose. Never let junk food comprise the bulk of your diet. It’s generally low in vitamins, minerals, protein and fibre.

• Blood sugar levels may be more prone to hyperglycemia especially as you vary junk food choice and timing.

• Fast acting carbohydrate forms of junk food can be useful in treating hypoglycemia.

• Obsess over keeping your blood glucose levels in range. Track your food, medication, and how your blood sugars respond to set foods. This will allow you to predict and dose in the future. This may take some time.

As long as the bulk of your nutrition comes from high-quality foods, you keep your diabetes well managed, your body fat in check, avoid chronic stress, get enough sleep and are regularly active, you are going to be successful with your bodybuilding and strength training efforts.

I have incorporated these exact nutritional tactics into my incredibly popular Diabetic Shred 112 Day Body Transformation Guide. The transformations and results people are achieving are incredible. Every day I am tagged in posts by people with Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes who are now increasingly mindful of their calories, not feeling restricted, and are losing large amounts of body fat while still eating the foods they love like burgers, ice-cream and chocolate.

References

1. Stewart TM, Williamson DA, White MA. Rigid vs. flexible dieting: association with eating disorder symptoms in non-obese women. Appetite. 2002 Feb;38(1):39-44.
2. Stotland S. Moderation: an alternative to restraint as a mode of weight self-regulation. Eat Behav. 2012 Dec;13(4):406-9.

There are many challenges and distractions to getting in shape. The temptation of high-calorie convenience food presents itself everywhere you go and machines are taking your jobs.

It’s becoming easier and easier to overeat, move less and become an obesity statistic.

In this article, I want to highlight 5 useful tips that will help keep you on the straight and narrow with your muscle building and fat loss efforts.

1. Persistence is important, but planned, periodic bouts of “being bad” can actually be a good thing.

This can include everything from holidays, training breaks, sleeping in. right through to portion-controlled food options that lie outside normal ‘clean eating’.

 2. The SMART method is a great way to approach your diabetic body building and fitness goals.

Specific,

Measurable,

Attainable,

Realistic,

Time-Bound

Are your behaviours allowing you to achieve your goals?

If not, what can you do to alter these behaviours or habits?

3. If you keep slipping up (take note)

You either don’t want it bad enough or your diet and training programmes need to be tweaked.

One of the easiest ways to overcome poor dietary adherence is to follow delicious diabetic friendly recipe plans. They remove the stress of thinking ‘what’s safe to eat’ and give you done-for-you meal ideas that can be cooked in a flash.

Thats exactly why I created the Ultra Lean Diabetic Cookbook – it’s loaded with 100 mouth-watering diabetic friendly recipes. They include everything from beef burgers, tortilla pizzas, tacos the whole way through to protein bars and pancakes. All the calories and macronutrients are outlined for you – they even come with a Myfitness pal barcode for easy food tracking

One of the easiest ways to overcome this is to follow simple recipe plans.

4. A rigid, all-or-nothing approach to fitness is self-sabotaging to the majority of individuals, especially those who try to do it long term.

Staying in contest or photo shoot ready shape 365 days a year is not practical for 99% of the population both physiologically (physically) and psychologically (mentally) speaking.

Realise most of the incredibly shaped bodies you see on the fronts of magazines and Instagram eat, sleep and breathe fitness 24/7.

It’s their full-time job to look good. And, they usually have more time, money and effort to dedicate towards their goals than the average member of the public who works a full-time job.

There are various reasons behind an ‘all or nothing’ approach. Most people follow what they deem necessary, largely as a result of media influence, yet they fail to question or critique their approach.

Other reasons include habit, deep-rooted insecurity and even a superiority complex of ‘I’m working harder than you.’

Anxiety, depression and loss of opportunity in life and business can often result from being too fixated on your fitness endeavours.

You must find balance, be patient and realise not everything goes to plan.

5. Enjoyment is often more important than progress.

Building a great looking body is a life long journey – it needs to be enjoyable, manageable and most importantly sustainable.

–       Healthy is enjoying your life.

–       Healthy is being able to eat the food you want and at the time you want.

–       Healthy is not stressing if you missed a training day, especially if it’s because you’re doing something better or more enjoyable with your time.

Take Home

How you look, feel and perform right now is a result of what you do on average. If you can’t stick to your approach over the long term, your results won’t last.

If you want to learn the exact science of how to build a diet that is super easy to stick to, and doesn’t leave you feeling miserable you need to grab a copy of The Diabetic Muscle and Fitness Guide.

With over 400+ pages of evidence-based theory on how to build a stronger, better-looking body with diabetes, this is an absolute must for any dedicated gym goer living with diabetes.

I go into great depth on how you can create your own diet principles, incorporate ‘cheat foods’, even if you crave something every single day.

The only food you ever need to feel guilty about is the food you steal.