How Diabetes Affects Muscle Building
Diabetes is a condition caused by the body’s lack of insulin, or the resistance for insulin to convert sugar into energy for use within the body. As a result, those suffering from diabetes often feel tired, exhausted and building muscle through exercise is difficult. There is a constant balancing act in the blood and the blood sugar level can easily become too high (hyperglycemia) or too low (hypoglycemia) without insulin to regulate it.
There are two very important nutrients in the diabetic diet, and these are protein and complex carbohydrates. Protein serves to help muscles to grow, and complex carbohydrates are essentially energy that releases slowly (and therefore do not cause a spike in blood sugar, leading to hyperglycemia). When the minimal levels of insulin present in the diabetic body cannot find enough protein or complex carbs then the muscles quite simply go without and cannot build.
As you may have guessed already, there needs to be a good store of protein and complex carbohydrates within the body before exercise, so that there is energy to be used. Once this is done and the muscles have been built, the energy levels need to be restored again (to avoid exhaustion) and another meal of protein and complex carbohydrates should be eaten. General advice is that a small high protein, high complex carb meal should be eaten 30 to 60 minutes before exercise, and immediately after exercise for optimal results. It’s also important to check your blood sugar if you are planning to do a heavy workout, so that if your levels are very low then you know to inject insulin and regulate your blood sugar levels properly first.
There are some great foods such as sunflower seeds, oats and wholemeal pasta which release energy slowly but at just the levels that your body needs to convert into muscle mass. It is certainly possible to build muscle when you are diabetic, but it is a very good idea to consult your doctor or ideally a professional nutritionist to devise some exercise meal plans.
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April 22nd, 2010 at 12:25 pm
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April 22nd, 2010 at 6:07 pm
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April 23rd, 2010 at 12:01 am
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January 6th, 2011 at 5:01 am
how can i beleive the information in this when, it states if your blood sugar levels r very low before a workout you should take an insulin shot to regulate sugars…. insulin lowers blood sugar levels.. u need glucose or other high gi foods to bring the level up or u will find yourself unconcious on the gym floor.. this arctile does not seem very reliable!
January 18th, 2011 at 1:05 pm
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February 26th, 2012 at 2:07 pm
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March 24th, 2012 at 11:23 pm
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August 21st, 2013 at 11:11 pm
I agree with Grant if you take insulin when your sugar is already low you will end up in a coma! you either don’t know anything about diabetes or its a miss print!
October 25th, 2013 at 4:51 am
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March 13th, 2014 at 6:35 am
Useless how can u give advice by telling a diabetic to take insulin if low dont worry about muscle gain if your alive after taking that insulin injection when low. Get the facts right