Dodging Fat by Mitigating the Insulin Spike from Carbs

Do you eat carbs?

Check.

Do you want more muscle?

Check.

Do you want less fat?

Check.

Before eating your next high-carb meal, complete 4 sets of:

• 10 Air Squats
• 10 Wall Presses (Standing Push-Ups)
• 10 Standing Reverse Lateral Raises

That’s it.  It takes less than 5 minutes.  You can do it in the bathroom of a restaurant…if it’s a well-kept establishment.  Your blood sugar will not spike as high.  Less insulin will be released.  Insulin promotes fat storage, so less insulin leads to less fat.  Plus, Squats, Standing Push-Ups, and Lateral Raises build muscle.

Details

Why does this work?  Exercise increases your insulin sensitivity.  What does that mean?  Normally, I need 1 unit of insulin for every 10 grams of carbohydrates I eat.  If my blood sugar is 100 and I eat 10 grams of carbs and give myself 1 unit of insulin, I expect my blood sugar to be 100 3-4 hours later when the effects of the insulin and food are complete.   If I exercised just before I ate the 10 grams of carbs, I might only need 1/2 unit of insulin to remain at a blood sugar of 100 or I could eat 20 grams of carbs and take 1 unit of insulin.  These are the basics of insulin sensitivity considering only a few variables and a simple example.

Research indicates that part of the reason for the increased sensitivity is that glucose is shuttled to muscle cells for storage after being burned when working out.  In other words, your body likes to keep a full supply of glucose stores in your liver and muscles and prioritizes replenishing storing glucose in your muscles over your your fat cells.  There’s a limit to this benefit, since there’s a finite amount of glucose that can be stored in your liver and muscle cells.  This is typically 400 – 500 grams (about ten 12-oz Cokes).

Why do squats, wall presses, and lateral raises?  Big muscle groups.  Legs, butt, chest, arms, upper back.  Without much effort you can trigger these useful metabolic processes, because you’re using multiple muscles with a big surface area.  The extra glucose from your meal is sent to the muscles you just trained, not fat storage.  Woohoo!

Instructions

How do you do squats, wall presses, and lateral raises?

• I’m not explaining squats.  They’re the king of exercises.  Look it up.  Find a trainer.  Your life will be better with squats.  Guaranteed.

• Wall presses are like a push-up against a wall (i.e. a vertical push-up with a slight angle).  Stand two feet from a wall.  Lean in with your upper body.  Push away.  Repeat.

• Reverse lateral raises are like the bent-over dumbbell lateral raise, but who has dumbbells easily accessible?  Stand upright with your arms shoulder height straight out in front of you.  Bend your elbows slightly.  Pretend like you’re pulling apart a giant rubber band as your hands travel back and out to your opposite sides with the same slight bend in the arm.  Contract your rear delts, rhomboids, traps, and lats as you pull.  Easier said than done.

If you want more details, read The 4-Hour Body by Tim Ferriss.  I picked up this trick from his book and slightly modified the exercises.  I don’t know all the details behind the science, but my blood sugar isn’t spiking as high and I have 24 hours of data to prove it.  Ask me to show it to you on any Sunday after my Saturday carb binge.  That’s another productive (and addictive) experiment to explain another time.

All life is an experiment.  The more experiments you make the better.ˆ

– Ralph Waldo Emerson