Coffee throughout the day

[RicH]

HeyI'm a CBL'er and have been some quite some time now.  I was re-reading Kiefer'sCaffeine Therapy post recently and found myself questioning something.Coffee, increases insulin resistance, which can be used to ones advantage (as per the post);but it would seem to be me that drinking it throughout the day isn't such a great idea.I understand having it initially upon waking to aid in the continuation of fat burning but I tend to have several cups throughout the day, as most people seem to on this forum (I'd go as far as to say many people on here are coffee addicts but I guess that's not necessarily a bad thing), but having it around meal times would seem to encourage a larger insulin response than would be the case without the coffee.  Does this make sense?We can expect an insulin response, of sorts, after eating (albeit small due to the fat / pro combination and lack of carbs) but, by making cells more insulin resistant don't we increase the magnitude of that insulin response?Is this negligible or am I missing something?  Can anyone explain?Thanks.

[T-Bone300]

Would “increases insulin resistance” not mean a decrease in insulin sensitivity therefore not an issue unless you wanted to maximise the insulin response post workout.I drink coffee all day however not around the carb loading mealOut of interest what makes you ask the question, is it that some part of the diet isn't working for you?

[RicH]

Hey,Thanks for responding."Would "increases insulin resistance" not mean a decrease in insulin sensitivity"I agree with what you say here.  Yes, in my mind these two are one in the same.  I feel that being insulin sensitive during the ULC phase would be a more desirable state meaning any rise in blood sugar would be met with a small insulin response.  Being insulin resistant, as is the case when drinking coffee, would mean the same rise in blood sugar would result in a larger insulin response."therefore not an issue unless you wanted to maximise the insulin response post workout."I do not agree with this, however.  If cells are sensitive to insulin a smaller response is required to lower blood sugar.  Post workout, surely the desired state is insulin resistant (or less insulin sensitive, if you'd prefer) to me, this is the reason the optimal training time is PM not AM; this way we ensure an insulin spike.  Fat cells struggle to uptake glucose (since they are resistant to insulin) while muscle cells, on the other hand, can soak them up due to their GLUT 4 transporters.  This, to me, is the entire basis of CBL.I drink coffee pre-workout, not after, although it would appear to be beneficial to do so.  I also, like you and most others, drink it regularly during the day, but I'm beginning to think that it may not be optimal to do so, aside from possibly the first cup upon waking.The reason for the question is purely curiosity, I am happy with the diet and find it works well with my lifestyle.  If, however, it is more beneficial to be insulin sensitive during the ULC phase, I'd be looking for ways to improve this.I could be totally wrong, I may even have confused myself trying to think about it too much, or it may simply be an area of the diet I don't fully understand.  I'm just thinking there could be something in it and thus far no one seems to have mentioned or asked about it.Any further thoughts?RicH.

[T-Bone300]

I've only read cbl and didn't come across the term ucl so not sure what phase this is.coffee is used in the morning to suppress ghrelin which is a hunger hormone. This repels hunger enabling you to avoid  carbs therefore extending fat burning for as long as possible - you could eat protein/fat but then you wouldn't be burning stored fatcaffeine, contained within coffee, is a stimulant and is therefore good to boost the training effect. It also appears to suppresses insulin release (insulin accelerates tissue growth, both fat and muscle, by boosting the GLUT response) therefore it's probably better to stop drinking caffeine when you want to spike insulin (e.g. post resistance training) which is when you want to create the insulin spike to shuttle the glucose into the muscles as fast as possible, and avoid impacting the release of growth hormone during sleep (this is why you avoid slow releasing carbs late at night). - also worth remembering that resistance training is what prevents the fat cells absorbing the glucose during the insulin spikewhat have you read already - all the above is from the cbl book and his blogs

[RicH]

Hey,ULC = Ultra Low Carb.I’m aware of everything you’ve stated aside from caffeine being an insulin suppresser – I’ve never seen this mentioned before, but it’s good to know and is certainly a good reason to drink coffee during the ULC.As stated, I don’t take coffee post workout but I’ve seen it posted that other people do, the purpose being to further increase insulin resistance (and some other reason which escapes me right now).  Both fat and muscle cells are affected equally so while fat cells struggle to uptake glucose due to the increased resistance to insulin, muscle cells, with the benefit of GLUT translocation (post resistance training) are able to soak it up.The question remains, and I still feel it would be beneficial to be insulin sensitive during the ULC phase (pre-workout phase).

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