Does Metformin inhibit recovery and muscle building?

[Kiril]

I am not diabetic, and only borderline pre-diabetic with hA1c at a mere 6.0, and as such I have no "need" to diet or take meds for the purpose of lowering blood sugar. The primary reason I started metformin is because its weight loss success appealed to me, and since my endocrinologist recommends it for anyone with hA1c above 5.6.

Oh no, you must be on a diet, especially in your case, when you have a really good chance to lower the blood glucose to almost normal levels. Some people are not lucky that much. And why doing this? Because of the potential complications of even the "not real diabetes(=prediabetes)" after a few years, depending on other risk factors, including a history of heart disease in your family. Though, your doctor sounds pretty NAZI, like we call it in our local dialect, prescribing Glucophage to anyone who is hardly prediabetec. But you know how they say: there is always the Beit Hillel and the Beit Shamai approach. Even in medicine.


Pluripotent,

For most people, low to no carbs is the answer to insulin resistance, if they'll do it. Some people just can't do carbs, like at all.

I guess, under the word CARBS you mean only the BAD ones? Because as far as I know(and I'm not a doctor, just have a high interest in health issue, and the all around, including strength and diet), even a diabetic person needs about 50% of his calories to come from carbs. One thing is an apple, another one is a candy or honey, and then you have rice, spaghetti, or vegetables, who are also carbs, in fact. I mean, without carbs at all, we won't be able to exist. Will we?

[Pluripotent]

Pluripotent,

I guess, under the word CARBS you mean only the BAD ones? Because as far as I know(and I'm not a doctor, just have a high interest in health issue, and the all around, including strength and diet), even a diabetic person needs about 50% of his calories to come from carbs. One thing is an apple, another one is a candy or honey, and then you have rice, spaghetti, or vegetables, who are also carbs, in fact. I mean, without carbs at all, we won't be able to exist. Will we?

Stop eating simple carbs if you are insulin resistant. Where are you getting this 50% number?

No rice, no pasta, no honey. Limit or eliminate grains. Some fruits and vegetables would also be better avoided. No potatoes, no bananas, no juice. Whole fruits and vegetables only.

But this is also pretty good advice for nondiabetics. Why are people fat? One, because carbs are cheap and high quality proteins are expensive (this is why you get so much rice in your burrito and very little meat and you have to pay extra for any avocado). Two, because everyone is so messed up about what to eat (thanks, food pyramid!)

Carbs may have a place for an athlete in training for a little boost, but you are taking about a disease (insulin resistance and DMII). Don't confuse these things.

[hector_garza]

I guess, under the word CARBS you mean only the BAD ones? Because as far as I know(and I'm not a doctor, just have a high interest in health issue, and the all around, including strength and diet), even a diabetic person needs about 50% of his calories to come from carbs. One thing is an apple, another one is a candy or honey, and then you have rice, spaghetti, or vegetables, who are also carbs, in fact. I mean, without carbs at all, we won't be able to exist. Will we?

You would survive. You don't need to consume carbs. Your body can manufacture glucose via gluconeogenesis, even if you're only taking in fats and protein. There are groups of people who traditionally ate very few carbs (far less than 50%). While carbs are awesome, you certainly don't need 50%+ of your diet coming from carbs.

(Maybe you were being sarcastic and it didn't come across.)

[Kiril]

Stop eating simple carbs if you are insulin resistant. Where are you getting this 50% number?

I once saw this number. Now I've read some articles, talking abut 10 - 20%. Anyway, thanks god I'm not a diabetic yet, my a1c is 4.9, FPG 80 - 90. This all is about Yonason Herschlag and people with a similar condition.

No rice, no pasta, no honey. Limit or eliminate grains. Some fruits and vegetables would also be better avoided. No potatoes, no bananas, no juice. Whole fruits and vegetables only.

Are you serious??? No rice? It's one of the main sources of a carbo, which I can consume. WHITE rice, preferable, but can eat another type. I like it with chicken breast or some steak. No pasta, potatoes? Why? Are you kidding? And bananas, a very good product. Unless the person has a high glucose at a moment.
Even diabetic people are allowed to eat small amount of SIMPLE carbs, in case they are being balanced, with a1c on their normal range(according to their physician).

Why are people fat? One, because carbs are cheap and high quality proteins are expensive (this is why you get so much rice in your burrito and very little meat and you have to pay extra for any avocado).

It depends on the amounts of the food. No way I'm going to eat only protein(which I consume maybe 80 - 100 g. for my almost 60 kg bw) and fat. And I won't advice it to anyone. A normal, balanced diet, small amount of alcohol - red wine will be a good idea -, strength training, and good genes. What else do we need?


hector_garza,

You would survive. You don't need to consume carbs.

You're too optimistic. I will become sick. I don't like that much protein food. Bread, rice/ potato/ pasta, and a small amount of fruits(mainly apples, banana) and vegetables(tomatoes, olives, onion, that kind), and a chocolate. The dark one.

I think, both of you are sarcastic. Pluripotent, particularly.

[Yonason Herschlag]

I mean, without carbs at all, we won't be able to exist. Will we?

According to the Institute of Medicine (IOM) (Dietary Reference Intakes, 275), “The lower limit of dietary carbohydrate compatible with life apparently is zero.”

The IOM is a branch of the National Academy of Sciences authorized by Congress in 1863 to advise the government on scientific matters. Its 1,331-page book on diet recommendations, Dietary Reference Intakes, or the DRI, was written and edited by a team of over fifty university professors and doctors. Congress has authorized the IOM to determine the standard dietary guidelines, and since many places prohibit giving diet recommendations without being licensed, the IOM guidelines have effectively become law.
According to the Institute of Medicine, the acceptable macronutrient distribution range for adults is as follows:
• Carbohydrates: 45–65 percent
• Proteins: 10–35 percent
• Fats: 20–35 percent
However, the IOM explicitly writes that the RDAs are what they recommend for healthy individuals (Dietary Reference Intakes, 22). In other words, whereas 45 percent carbohydrates may be high for diabetics, prediabetics, obese persons, and people with cardiovascular disease, for healthy people, 45 to 65 percent is acceptable.
Although only 9.3 percent of the total adult population has diabetes, an additional third of the entire adult population suffers from prediabetes (not including the 9.3 percent with full-fledged diabetes). Sixteen percent of adults ages forty-five to sixty-four have diabetes, and over one-fourth of the population over sixty-five suffers from diabetes. Diabetes is the seventh-leading cause of death in the United States, and the epidemic is only getting worse each year.

According to the US Department of Health, more than two in three adults are overweight or obese, with more than one in three obese (BMI 30+).

According to the American Heart Association, 40 percent of middle-aged adults (between forty and sixty years old) suffer from cardiovascular disease.

In other words, the RDA of 45 to 65 percent for carbohydrates does not apply to the general population at large, because most adults are either prediabetics or diabetics, overweight or obese, suffer from cardiovascular disease, or a combination of the above. Rather, the RDA applies only to the healthy minority of the population.

There is much evidence that total dietary carbohydrate intake is associated with type 2 diabetes. In one study comparing a diet of 55 percent carbohydrates to a diet of 20 percent carbohydrates, the low-carbohydrate diet ingested for five weeks dramatically reduced the circulating glucose concentration in people with untreated type 2 diabetes. Several other studies demonstrate that very low-carbohydrate diets are beneficial in respect to improving insulin sensitivity. Other studies demonstrate that a low-carbohydrate diet is not only effective for improving glycemia but also successfully reduces the need for medications in patients with type 2 diabetes.
An additional study compared thirty-nine overweight young adults reducing weight by 10 percent via a restricted calorie intake, either by a low-glycemic or low-fat diet. It concluded that in the low-glycemic diet, participants were less hungry and had improved insulin sensitivity, triglyceride levels, and blood pressure, leading to the conclusion that “reduction in glycemic load may aid in the prevention or treatment of obesity, cardiovascular disease, and diabetes mellitus.”

The high-carbohydrate allowance of the Institute of Medicine is contested by numerous doctors: Dr. Atkins recommends perhaps the lowest amount, limiting carbohydrates to less than 10 percent of caloric intake. Dr. Barry Sears, creator of the Zone diet, says the ideal macronutrient distribution is 40 percent carbohydrates, 30 percent protein, and 30 percent fat. Dr. Loren Cordain, founder of the Paleo diet, sets the upper limit for carbohydrates at 40 percent.

Carbohydrates are either simple sugars or complex chains of sugars that can be hydrolyzed (broken down) into simple sugars. Even though the body depends on carbohydrates to function (the brain and nervous system are especially dependent upon glucose—blood sugar), carbohydrates are not “essential” (needed in your diet) because the body can alternatively convert proteins and fats into glucose. However, deficiencies in dietary fiber, a type of carbohydrate, are linked to a higher risk of numerous types of cancers, heart disease, and diabetes. As such, the RDA (recommended daily allowance) of fiber is fourteen grams per one thousand calories of intake—roughly thirty-two grams for the average adult. Additionally, without a minimal consumption of carbohydrates, there would most likely be deficiencies in micronutrients such as vitamin C and certain B vitamins.

[Pluripotent]

I once saw this number. Now I've read some articles, talking abut 10 - 20%. Anyway, thanks god I'm not a diabetic yet, my a1c is 4.9, FPG 80 - 90. This all is about Yonason Herschlag and people with a similar condition.



Are you serious??? No rice? It's one of the main sources of a carbo, which I can consume. WHITE rice, preferable, but can eat another type. I like it with chicken breast or some steak. No pasta, potatoes? Why? Are you kidding? And bananas, a very good product. Unless the person has a high glucose at a moment.
Even diabetic people are allowed to eat small amount of SIMPLE carbs, in case they are being balanced, with a1c on their normal range(according to their physician).

If you like it, eat it. But don't pretend that it's good for you. Rice is junk food. People are misinformed on this point. It's just a cheap, simple carb filler to bulk up whatever you're eating, so that they don't have to give you the more expensive ingredients. Potatoes are the vegetable version or rice and bananas are the fruit version (also plantains) and pasta is just flour. Diabetics should not be eating simple carbs. But no one is willing to do this. So, eat your donuts (or donut equivalent) and inject your insulin and/take your metformin. What do I care?

[Kiril]

So, eat your donuts (or donut equivalent) and inject your insulin and/take your metformin. What do I care?

Which donuts are you talking about? Where is rice, and where is donuts?
100% you're laughing at me, which is fine. For a moment I thought you's serious.

[Pluripotent]

Which donuts are you talking about? Where is rice, and where is donuts?
100% you're laughing at me, which is fine. For a moment I thought you's serious.

What I'm saying is that these foods might as well be donuts. Once they hit your stomach, there's little difference. Potatoes, rice (esp. white rice), grains (the hull is really the only nutritious part of any grain, the rest is sugar), bananas, plantains, pasta...this is all junk food.

[timelinex]

What I'm saying is that these foods might as well be donuts. Once they hit your stomach, there's little difference. Potatoes, rice (esp. white rice), grains (the hull is really the only nutritious part of any grain, the rest is sugar), bananas, plantains, pasta...this is all junk food.

You are battling against a lifetime of indoctrination and misinformation. It amazes me that in this day of widespread information at the fingertips, that people still don't know the "truth" about carbs. They help athletes, they are fine for normal people in reasonable doses, most people have no reason to try and be low carb, but there is a reason they are the only food group of the 3 main ones that has zero requirement. Fruits, some veggies, starches, "complex carbs", "simple carbs", etc there is no "healthy" carbs. If it's not for the purpose of athletics (or a small amount for a more efficient energy for the brain) , the consumption of carbs is purely for taste, convenience, or some other non-health reason.

[johnnys]

Stop eating simple carbs if you are insulin resistant.

Do I understand correctly that Mr. Herschlag could have a 5.9hA1c for reasons OTHER than insulin resistance? Maybe impaired fasting glucose? If so, any better approach than lower carbs?