How to Stop Prediabetes and Insulin Resistance Without Cutting Carbs | Ep 347 - Wits & Weights | Fat Loss, Nutrition, & Strength Training for Lifters

Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Philip Pape (00:02):
you've been told that if you're pre-diabetic or
insulin resistant, carbs are theenemy.
Cut the bread, ditch the rice,avoid fruit.
But what if I told you that'snot only wrong, it might be
keeping you stuck.
96 million american adults havepre-diabetes and most of them
are fighting the wrong battle.
They're cutting carbs when theyshould be building muscle.

(00:23):
They're reducing fuel when theyshould be upgrading their
engine.
Today we're exposing the realculprit behind insulin
resistance and prediabetes, andit's not carbs.
You'll discover the researchshowing how muscle mass directly
determines your carb tolerance,why a single strength training
session can increase glucoseuptake by 40%, and the exact

(00:45):
strategy to reverse insulinresistance while still enjoying
rice, potatoes and even fruit.
Welcome to Wits and Weights, theshow that helps you build a
strong, healthy physique usingevidence, engineering and

(01:07):
efficiency.
I'm your host certifiednutrition coach, philip Pape,
and today we're tackling one ofthe most misunderstood
conditions in modern healthprediabetes and insulin
resistance.
Now, if you've been diagnosedwith either condition, you've
probably been handed a list offoods to avoid.
Carbs are demonized.
You've been told to eat likeyou're already diabetic, and

(01:30):
even there there's an asteriskon that as to how to manage your
blood sugar.
On diabetes, but I digress.
Here's what they're not tellingyou.
Insulin resistance is not acarbohydrate problem.
It is a muscle problem.
When you understand the realmechanism behind insulin
resistance, everything willchange for you.
You'll have more power andflexibility and freedom in your

(01:51):
life.
You'll discover today whybuilding muscle is more powerful
far more powerful than cuttingcarbs, how you can increase your
capacity to handle glucose, andwhy the solution isn't about
eating less but becomingmetabolically stronger.
Now, before we get into thescience that will change how you
think about prediabetes, Iwanna make sure you have the

(02:14):
tools to put this into practice,and so I created a free
nutrition one-on-one guide thatbreaks down how to structure
your nutrition, including carbs,for optimal health and body
composition, based on your goal.
It's gonna show you how tostructure your nutrition,
including carbs, for optimalhealth and body composition,
based on your goal.
It's gonna show you how todetermine your personal carb
tolerance, optimize your macrosfor insulin sensitivity and
create a sustainable approachthat works with your body and

(02:35):
where you're trying to go,whether it's fat loss, building
muscle, even just to maintainyour results.
So get your free copy atwitsandweightscom, slash free,
or use the link in my show notesand let's get into the topic
today, which is pretty much whyeverything you've been told
about pre-diabetes might be,I'll say, backward from reality.
So let's start with the facts.
Pre-diabetes affects 96 millionAmerican adults the country I

(02:59):
live in and that's one in threepeople.
It's defined as having bloodglucose levels that are elevated
above normal, but not quitehigh enough for a type 2
diabetes diagnosis.
So we're talking about fastingglucose between 100 and 125
milligrams per deciliter, orHbA1c between 5.7 and 6.4%.

(03:20):
Now the standard advice fromthe medical field is essentially
eat like you already havediabetes.
Cut your carbs, avoid sugar, beafraid of fruit.
But this is like a band-aid.
This is treating the symptom.
It's not treating the cause,and that's because the issue
isn't carbs themselves.

(03:41):
Carbs are not inherently bad foryou in just about any context.
Well, I shouldn't say in justabout any context.
We're going to talk about howyou set your context up so that
they're not at all bad for you.
In fact, they are beneficialand you're going to want to eat
more of them by the time theepisode is done, but the real
issue is that your body has lostthe capacity to handle them
efficiently.
So it's like you have a smallgas tank and you're being told

(04:09):
the solution is go ahead and useless gas instead of just
upgrading to a bigger, moreefficient tank and I don't know
about you.
I'd rather have more capacitythan trying to restrict and
deprive myself for the rest ofmy life.
Research from the third nationalhealth and nutrition
examination survey looked atover 13,000 people and found
something remarkable For every10% increase in relative muscle
mass, there was an 11% reductionin insulin resistance and a 12%

(04:30):
reduction in prediabetes risk.
Your muscle mass was literallydetermining your metabolic
health Very powerful.
What's even more wild is thatthis relationship holds true no
matter your age, your ethnicity,your sex, your obesity history.
In other words, two people withthe same body fat percentage

(04:51):
could have completely differentinsulin sensitivity based solely
on how much muscle they carriedright.
So it's not just about body fat, it's about muscle, it's about
overall body composition.
So if we want to understand whythat is why does muscle matter
so much, which we talk about alot on this show, but it's
something I will never fail torepeat because it's powerful,

(05:11):
it's central to what we do wehave to talk about what insulin
resistance is at the cellularlevel.
It is highly misunderstood.
Insulin resistance occurs whenyour cells, especially your
muscle, your liver and fat cellsdon't respond well to insulin,
and they can't easily take upthe glucose from your blood
right.
Hence the word resistance.
They are resisting that.

(05:32):
And muscle tissue muscle massis your body's largest glucose
sink or battery.
It's where the majority of theglucose gets stored as glycogen
after you eat, and so when youhave more muscle mass, you
literally have more capacity toabsorb and store glucose without
it causing blood sugar spikesto the same extent.

(05:53):
A study published in theProceedings of National Academy
of Sciences showed that just one45-minute bout of exercise
could completely normalizeinsulin-stimulated muscle
glycogen synthesis inindividuals who are
insulin-resistant.
We're talking a single workout.
We're not even distinguishingthe type literally just getting

(06:14):
your butt off the chair andmoving, going for a walk,
exercising of any kind strengthtraining we're going to get into
that.
All of it is extremelybeneficial because you are now
activating your muscle machinery.
We did an episode not long agoabout how two minute walks every
30 minutes if you tend to sitdown all day in a desk job can
increase your muscle proteinsynthesis by 47%, and how

(06:36):
sitting for almost eight hourscan reduce it by 50%.
That's how powerful this wholemechanism is, and I almost fell
over while I'm standing hererecording this.
This whole mechanism is and Ialmost fell over while I'm
standing here recording thisthat is how powerful muscle is.
And then the research gives useven more compelling data to
lean into here, because strengthtraining specifically increases
what's called glut4 transporterdensity in your muscle cells,

(06:58):
and these are like littleglucose doorways where the more
that you have, the easier it isfor glucose to get into your
muscle cells where it belongsright More of them can unlock,
rather than the glucose floatingaround in your bloodstream
causing problems, which is whenwe talk about blood sugar
management.
That's what we're talking about.
Ben Zeal was on the show.
He's a type one diabetic.

(07:18):
Talks all about that, thatspecific mechanisms.
And it's even more pronouncedwhen we talk about your training
right, having strength trainingin your lifestyle.
A 16-week strength trainingstudy with older Hispanic adults
with type 2 diabetes found notonly improved muscle quality and
fiber hypertrophy, but alsosignificant improvements in

(07:40):
insulin resistance markers.
And again, these were not youngand fit individuals.
These are older adults who hadestablished metabolic
dysfunction and strengthtraining still worked.
Wow, now I'm not shocked.
I say it sarcastically, likewhat a surprise.
But if you're new to this game,if you don't train right now.
If you found this episode orthis video because you're

(08:01):
curious about prediabetes oryou've been diagnosed with it,
understand that doing what ittakes to build muscle strength
training is going to be probablythe biggest game changer of all
, like that's the TLDR of thisepisode.
So if muscle is the solution,then how do we build it
strategically to reverse insulinresistance?
And I don't think it takes alot of skill, is the way I'm

(08:22):
going to put it.
We talk a lot on the show abouthow to build strength and
muscle and do it efficiently.
But even very just basics likegoing to the gym and just giving
it a shot believe it or not canin and of itself be a step
change in your health when itcomes to insulin.
But of course, we want to do itefficiently because a lot of us
are busy.
We don't have time to just bein the gym all day.
So this is where theengineering mindset comes in
time to just be in the gym allday.

(08:43):
So this is where theengineering mindset comes in
right.
We're not just going to randomlylift weights.
We're going to upgrade yourglucose disposal machinery.
That is your goal here.
If prediabetes is your concern,if blood sugar management is
your concern, if carbs are yourconcern, that is the goal.
So first, understand thatstrength training is a
non-negotiable.
From now to the time you die,it becomes non-negotiable, of
course, you're your health spanand your longevity and solve a

(09:11):
lot of these things that peopleare worried about and you're
probably worried about relatedto your diet and nutrition, your
health, everything.
So what we're talking abouthere is progressive resistance
training, probably at leastthree times a week, focused on
the basic fundamental humanmovement patterns, compound
movements that engage the mostmuscle mass squats, deadlifts,

(09:32):
rows, pressing right, themovements that recruit massive
amounts of muscle tissue andcreate the greatest adaptive
response.
Now, if you want to go check outmy episode, strength Versus
Hypertrophy, you can get a gooddeep dive into all of that, and
I'm not going to tell youexactly how to train on this
episode, just that it's veryimportant.
It has to be donesystematically so that you get
the best out of the effort.

(09:54):
Where it gets interesting isthat high intensity strength
training is probably superior,according to the research, than
moderate intensity strengthtraining for improving insulin
sensitivity.
There was a meta-analysis ofresistance training studies in
older adults with type 2diabetes found that higher
intensity protocols producedbetter outcomes for both muscle

(10:16):
mass and glycemic control.
I don't want to overplay that,though.
When we talk about intensity, itgets confounded by the term
itself.
We have lifting heavy, butthat's a wide range as little as
35% of your max all the way upto your max, and if you're

(10:37):
focused on strength, it's above65%.
And if you're an olderindividual and you're worried
about bone density as well, Iwould focus on the slightly
heavier type of lifting early on, before you then branch out.
But intensity can also meanyou're training hard.
You're training within a fewreps, shy of failure, getting
that muscular tension that isrequired for the stimulus and
the adaptation to build muscle.
That's all we're talking about.
We're not talking aboutCrossFit or cardio when we talk

(11:00):
about intensity in this context,these are a secret weapon.
Walking after a meal I've talkedto so many experts on this and
I've read so much on it and I'veseen the research.
There's research fromDiabetologia hard to say that

(11:20):
that showed that just two-minutewalks every 30 minutes reduce
glucose spikes significantly.
And guess what?
We just talked in the otherepisode not long ago how
two-minute walks every 30minutes has tons of benefits for
your muscle, protein synthesis,blood flow, everything else,
and so you shouldn't besedentary is the point.
But in addition to that, goingfor walks, especially after

(11:40):
meals, especially when combinedwith strength training, you get
a synergistic effect with all ofthis.
The muscle contractions fromyour workout, for example,
create like a muscle memory thatimproves your glucose uptake
and it lasts for a couple daysafter your training.
So if you're lifting regularly,if you're walking regularly and
you're not super sedentary, youare just a walking

(12:03):
glucose-sucking machine, whichis an amazing thing, especially
if you're concerned about thisand you want to stop and reverse
prediabetes.
The third here is we want toaddress the nutrition piece, but
not how you think.
Right, the whole premise of theshow is you're not going to cut
carbs.
We actually want tostrategically include carbs, and
here's why If you neverchallenge your glucose disposal

(12:24):
system, it is not going to adaptand improve.
So you've actually got toreintroduce those carbs.
It's like you've you know.
It's like if you never liftweights, you're not going to get
stronger.
So if you never eat carbs,you're never going to be able to
use those carbs and get used toeating them as well.
And the key here is you startwith thinking about your
training and eating in thecontext of your training.
Peri-workout is what we call itBefore and after your workout,

(12:47):
around or during your workout,that whole period of your
workout.
That is when your muscles aremost primed to absorb the
glucose.
This is when the sweet potatoor the rice or the fruit becomes
the biggest tool for improvinginsulin sensitivity, rather than
just glucose you need to getaway with because you're trying
to eat some food you think isbad, for example.

(13:07):
So training carbs, you know,before your workout to give you
glucose and glycogen for yourmuscles and after your workout
for recovery, is a startingpoint.
There are other aspects ofcarbs we can get into related to
how it reduces stress.
I've done episodes on that.
Uh, related to thesustainability of your diet,

(13:28):
obviously Right.
But more importantly for thisepisode, if you are strength
training, you can now use thatglucose highly effectively and
you should and you shouldconsume it, and that gives you
the flexibility to enjoy it andinclude it.
The fourth thing here isprioritizing protein.
This is always somethingeveryone should do, so it's kind
of an easy one, not just formuscle building, but because

(13:48):
protein has the highest thermiceffect of food.
It helps with satiety.
It's just going to be great asa part of a balanced diet and
having it in every meal.
The rule of thumb we alwaystalk about is 0.7 to 1 grams per
pound of body weight, and youcan distribute that across your
meals.
It's a good way to manage bloodsugar, a good way to
practically get it in.
You don't have to have it atevery meal as long as you get

(14:09):
your total protein.
That's the most important thing.
But I think if, again, yourconcern is blood sugar
management, it's not a bad ideato have balanced macros in all
your meals, and this willsupport this muscle building
process that you are nowengaging in and, like I said,
help with blood sugar control.
So I want to be clear, thoughthis whole thing it's not just
exercise or movement trainingand eating more carbs.

(14:32):
There are other factors thatmatter for insulin sensitivity
that we can't ignore, and sleepquality is probably the biggest
one.
Sleep quality Just five days,five days of poor quality sleep,
can reduce insulin sensitivityby 20% to 25%.
Your muscles literally can'trespond to insulin as well when
you are deprived of sleep, andthe mechanism here is cortisol

(14:58):
being elevated and your glucosemetabolism is being disrupted at
the cellular level.
This is an understood mechanismfrom sleep deprivation, and it
also affects other things.
When you deprive yourself ofsleep, you have greater visceral
fat storage, you have morecravings, your hunger hormones
are out of whack, all of it.
There's nothing good that comesfrom it.
Plus, you don't get recoveredfrom your workouts, so sleep

(15:20):
quality is huge.
Stress management is probablyequally critical.
You know, I know you don't wantto hear it Sleep and stress,
sleep and stress.
There, philip goes again, butchronic stress is associated
with that elevated cortisol, andthat's directly tied to insulin
resistance and visceral fataccumulation.
Okay, here it is.
We're talking about it againover and over, and what's

(15:40):
interesting is that strengthtraining itself is one of the
most effective stress managementtools we have.
It provides something.
Now, I hardly use this word onthe show, but it's called
eustress, e-u-s-t-r-e-s-seustress.
This is beneficial stress thatimproves your stress resilience.
I usually just call it acutestressors, but it's called

(16:00):
eustress.
Body composition matters, again,not necessarily in the way you
think, because it's not justabout losing weight.
I will say, though, thatsomebody who has excess weight
to lose, who then loses weight,is probably going to see a
massive improvement in theirinsulin sensitivity.
But really, we want to changeyour body composition ratio,
because you can actually improveinsulin sensitivity at the same

(16:21):
body weight simply by addingmuscle and reducing visceral fat
.
So again, training, sleep,stress management here's another
mind bender.
The location of your fatmatters more than the total
amount of your fat.
Right Visceral fat I alluded toit twice already.
That's the kind of fat aroundyour organs.
It's metabolically active.

(16:41):
It releases inflammatorycompounds that worsen insulin
resistance.
We did a whole episode aboutchronic inflammation being
caused by lifestyle, not by whatyou eat.
It's caused by lifestyle.
Again, common theme here youguys can eat carbs and we want
to eat carbs, we want to usethose carbs.
But you have to be training andactive, getting enough sleep,
managing your stress.
The subcutaneous fat in yourskin is much less problematic

(17:04):
than the visceral fat, andstrength training preferentially
reduces the visceral fat whileyou build muscle.
It's all tied together.
So we talked about how muscleis a glucose storage unit.
I've mentioned that time andagain.
But think about the fact thatit's also an endocrine organ and
when you contract your musclesduring training they release

(17:25):
signaling molecules calledmyokines.
I talked about this on theinflammation episode.
It's all coming together.
These myokines communicatedirectly with your pancreas,
with your liver, with your fattissue to improve insulin
sensitivity throughout yourentire body.
And there's a specific onecalled erysin and that's
released again duringcontractions of the muscle that
it browses the white fat cells,let's say right, it like browses

(17:48):
them and it turns them intobeige fat cells and we think
those might burn more caloriesand improve metabolic function
as well.
Whatever and by whatevermechanism it occurs, you are
changing the behavior of yourfat tissue when you lift weights
and we've seen time and againI've seen this with clients that
your ability to lose fat andpreferentially store fat and
reduce belly fat improves themore you lift, even when

(18:10):
everything else is not perfect.
And, yes, you're eating a lotof carbs and there's some
interesting things happeningunderneath the surface.
And this you're eating a lot ofcarbs and there's some
interesting things happeningunderneath the surface.
And this happens with everyworkout, with every training
session.
Right, because we're not justtalking about the muscle itself,
we're talking about the act ofbuilding muscle, which is
another, I guess, incentive totrain regularly, consistently
and frequently, because allthese signals, they persist for

(18:35):
several days.
And therefore, just by being alifter, just starting to lift
weights, today when you hearthis podcast, or tomorrow, and
incorporating, let's say, threedays of weight training a week,
you're going to improve yourinsulin sensitivity in the
moment and then it's going tolast even before you start
changing the other things, andthat's why people can sometimes

(18:56):
reverse pre pre-diabetes fairlyquickly.
Um, I've seen this happen veryquickly when they start lifting
weights, like within weeks.
Right, I can't guaranteeanything, of course, um, and
it's not like you have to waitfor massive growth of muscle.
Is the point, like you're, thesignaling pathways we talked
about today that improve yourglucose handling right away have
a benefit.

(19:16):
And so it's kind of like if youthink of software and hardware,
the muscle mass is yourhardware.
It takes a while to build thatup and upgrade it, but the
software you can upgrade toversion 2.0 right away.
Just go to the gym and startlifting.
Learn today prediabetes andinsulin resistance.
They are notcarbohydrate-related diseases,

(19:42):
they are muscle diseases.
The solution isn't to eat likeyou're already sick and have to
avoid carbs again, with thecaveat that even that isn't
totally true.
It's to build the metabolictank right, the gas tank that we
talked about, making it bigger,to then make you healthy and
mitigate all of these thingswhen you shift your focus, then,
from trying to restrict andavoid carbs which, by the way,
you're probably under eating inthe process to building muscle,

(20:05):
eating enough and eating enoughcarbs.
Everything changes.
Everything changes the benefitsthat I hear from individuals
who just literally add a pieceof fruit before their workout,
who might have been fastedtraining.
It's incredible.
You're talking about likewithin a day, right, holy crap,
I have so much more energy.
Oh, my God, I feel recovered.
Oh, I'm not sore from myworkout.

(20:25):
I was able to get more reps,right.
Those kinds of statements,those kinds of wins happen when
you do this, and it's becauseyou're training at the same time
.
So you're building insulinsensitivity to be able to handle
those carbs and you'rereversing prediabetes in the
process, which is awesome.
Like you're not just survivingand limping along and feeling
like you have to restricteverything.
You're now starting to be avery capable, thriving person

(20:47):
who can enjoy all these thingslike everyone else.
I think the research in thisarea is overwhelming because
it's such of interest to thepopulation.
Muscle mass directly correlateswith insulin sensitivity period.
Strength training immediatelyimproves glucose uptake period.
The ability and the capacity tohandle carbs isn't fixed.
It's a totally trainable thing.
Your pre-diabetes diagnosis orthose of you concerned about it.

(21:10):
It's not a life sentence.
It's an early warning system.
It's telling you you're at thebrink and now what we need to do
is build a stronger, morecapable version of yourself.
So immediately, the next sessionin the gym is gonna start
having a benefit.
The next walk after a meal, thenext protein-rich, balanced
meal, the next time you takebreaks during the day instead of

(21:31):
sitting all day, the next timeyou get a good night's sleep all
of those things separately andespecially together, are going
to move you in the rightdirection.
All right, if you want to takeaction at the practical level
for everything we discussedtoday, go ahead and grab my free
guide Nutrition 101 Guide linkin the show notes, or you can
always go to witsandweightscomslash free.
It's going to show you thebasics on how to structure your

(21:52):
nutrition, depending on yourgoal, so that you can support
all these things your musclebuilding, your insulin
sensitivity.
I do have other guides thattake it to another level for
specific goals like musclebuilding, but this is where you
want to start to get a handle onthe basics and strategically
include carbs in your diet,while you are, of course,
strength training and beingactive.
Again.
Go to witsandweightscom, slashfree or click the link in the

(22:15):
show notes.
I think it's the perfect nextstep to implement what you
learned today.
Remember the goal isn't tomanage prediabetes, it's not.
You just want to eliminate thatsucker, get rid of it, get it
out of your life, build themuscle, fix the machinery,
reclaim that health, like fewpeople do, but you're going to
do it.
You are going to do it.
Listen to this podcast, followit.
Listen to what we talk aboutwith lifting weights.

(22:37):
Yes, it's a skill.
Yes, you have to learn it, butyou can get there.
Until next time, keep usingyour wits and lifting those
weights and remember you're notbroken.
You just need to build thecapacity to handle what life
throws at you.
I will talk to you next timehere on the Wits and Weights
podcast.

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How to Stop Prediabetes and Insulin Resistance Without Cutting Carbs | Ep 347

Episode Transcript

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.css-14f5ked{margin:0;word-break:break-word;display:-webkit-box;-webkit-box-orient:vertical;box-orient:vertical;-webkit-line-clamp:2;overflow:hidden;}How to Stop Prediabetes and Insulin Resistance Without Cutting Carbs | Ep 347