Post Workout Meal & Hair Loss

One of the things that is regularly advised on this forum, in regards to hairloss, is to keep insulin levels in check and too avoid simple carbs. While I generally follow this practice, there is one time of day that I completely avoid this advice. That is during my post workout meal.

After a workout, glycogen stores have been depleted. Your muscles have been broken down and need to be repaired, and require protein and carbs to achieve this. The easiest way to do this is through whey protein and simple carbs since they are both easily absorbed by the body. Simple carbs also create an insulin spike, which helps to move nutrients into your muscle tissue more quickly.

Creating an insulin spike is not reccomended when it comes to combating hair loss. My question is, in regards to post workout and the fact that your body muscles need repairing, is it "ok" to ingest simple carbs in regards to hair loss?

My other questions are directed to all the weightlifters on this forum. What do you take for your post workout meal? Do you try to avoid simple carbs? Have you noticed a difference in regards to hair when you take certain supplements vs. others? If you don't take simple carbs, do you notice a difference in muscle recovery?

The goal of this thread is to address whether or not taking simple carbs after a workout is detrimental to hair loss and to come up with a good post workout meal that will help repair muscles and not detrimentally affect ones hair.

Here is my post workout meal:
1 Scoop Whey Protein in skim milk
1 Scoop Cell Tech in water
Cereal in Skim Milk
2 Fruit Yoghurt's

LooseGroove wrote:One of the things that is regularly advised on this forum, in regards to hairloss, is to keep insulin levels in check and too avoid simple carbs. While I generally follow this practice, there is one time of day that I completely avoid this advice. That is during my post workout meal.

After a workout, glycogen stores have been depleted. Your muscles have been broken down and need to be repaired, and require protein and carbs to achieve this. The easiest way to do this is through whey protein and simple carbs since they are both easily absorbed by the body. Simple carbs also create an insulin spike, which helps to move nutrients into your muscle tissue more quickly.

Creating an insulin spike is not reccomended when it comes to combating hair loss. My question is, in regards to post workout and the fact that your body muscles need repairing, is it "ok" to ingest simple carbs in regards to hair loss?

My other questions are directed to all the weightlifters on this forum. What do you take for your post workout meal? Do you try to avoid simple carbs? Have you noticed a difference in regards to hair when you take certain supplements vs. others? If you don't take simple carbs, do you notice a difference in muscle recovery?

The goal of this thread is to address whether or not taking simple carbs after a workout is detrimental to hair loss and to come up with a good post workout meal that will help repair muscles and not detrimentally affect ones hair.

Here is my post workout meal:
1 Scoop Whey Protein in skim milk
1 Scoop Cell Tech in water
Cereal in Skim Milk
2 Fruit Yoghurt's

This is a good question.

Recently, I have been following Dr. Mercola's advice and NOT having carbs post workout for at least 2 hours. This is contrary to most of the advice you will get from bodybuilders.

I will see if I can dig up the article where Dr. Mercola discusses this.

Skim milk and cereals are a strict no when it comes to hair, which has already been discussed on this board. Celltech is basically regular creatine, ala and 75 gms of dextrose.

You could just have your protein shake, creatine, glutamine, R-Ala and Alcar postworkout minus the skim milk and simple carbs.

I follow more of a modified version of a Paleolithic diet..this is what I used to have a few months back...

2 scoops of whey
2 tsps of Raw cacao
1/2 can of coconut milk
1 tbsp of Maca
1 banana or berries
Water

R-Ala, Alcar, Vit-c, Taurine.

These days I just have a glass of raw cow's or goat's kefir...I follow this up with a solid meal 90 mins later consisting of grass fed beef, veggies and a small serving of carbs ( brown rice, buckwheat, sweetpotato or yams )

Might find this article useful...

http://robbwolf.com/2009/07/01/post-workout-nutrition-high-or-low-carb/

Thanks for the information NoctournalHorse. I knew that my post workout meal was severely lacking, but wasn't quite sure how to tweak it. I like the idea of goats milk and kefir. Unfortunately, based off my current situation, I don't have access to either. Will definitely give it a shot in the future though.

The article was quite helpful. One of the thing he advocates is not taking carbs post workout until you're below 10% body fat. I have always been quite lean and have been trying to add some mass. He also wasn't too sure on the amount of carbs to consume post workout and advised to base it off the intensity of the workout, which makes sense. Based off your advice and the article, I am going to continue to take the Cell-Tech, drop the skim milk and cereal, add a piece of fruit, probably banana, and 1-2 youghurts. He states he takes 50 grams protein post and you said you take 2 scoops whey protein, which is roughly the same. I read a long time ago that the body can only absorb approximately 30 grams at a time. Have you noticed a difference when only taking 1 scoop instead of 2?

Loose groove,

I would drop the cell-tech. Replace it with a creatine with less sugar. The amount of sugar in cell-tech is ridiculous, and horrible for your hair. You are totally blunting the gh response you elicit from your workout with such a large amount of sugar post workout.

75 gms of dextrose is way too much and not such a great idea postworkout. Just stick to regular ( german ) creatine monohydrate, glutamine, whey with R-Ala, Alcar, Vitamin C, Magnesium and you should be fine.

I generally take a serving of Magnesium postworkout followed by another serving before bed with Zinc.

Thanks for the advice guys. I actually only take 1 scoop of Cell tech. So it's only 37.5 grams of sugar. I know that's still a lot of sugar though, and I do avoid the simple carbs as much as possible throughout the day. I guess what I've been trying to figure out is, if you take simple carbs after working out, will it affect your hair the same as if you were just eating them as a part of a regular meal. Your body is in a different state after working out and it would seem that creating an insulin spike wouldn't affect the hair as much at this time. Any thoughts? Am I comlpetely off base here?

LooseGroove wrote:Thanks for the advice guys. I actually only take 1 scoop of Cell tech. So it's only 37.5 grams of sugar. I know that's still a lot of sugar though, and I do avoid the simple carbs as much as possible throughout the day. I guess what I've been trying to figure out is, if you take simple carbs after working out, will it affect your hair the same as if you were just eating them as a part of a regular meal. Your body is in a different state after working out and it would seem that creating an insulin spike wouldn't affect the hair as much at this time. Any thoughts? Am I comlpetely off base here?

Insulin spike is very important postworkout for people who have trouble gaining muscle ( especially ectomorphs ). If you are having only a scoop of celltech why even bother to spend so much money on that product. Why not buy regular ( german ) creatine and combine it with something like glycine, vitargo, waxy maize starch and you shall be fine.

I am planning to use a combo of creatine, glutamine, bcaa for postworkout myself but I am gonna just combine with R-Ala, Alcar as CS suggested in one of the threads. No simple carbs for me.

It depends on who you ask, some advise to spike your insulin in the post workout window, while others say you should not ingest a high amount of carbs. I guess it depends on your goals, if you are just looking to put on muscle, eat alot post workout with complex carbs. If you are more concerned with insulin sensitivity, it would probably be a good idea to forgo a heavy carb meal post workout.

Arthur De Vany just posted this on why low carb post workout is preferable:

"I have said this so many times and been criticized as often. The meals you eat after a work out fundamentally alter its effects, for days. The post workout energy deficit makes you burn fat. The post workout carbohydrate restriction increases you insulin sensitivity. Both are what you work out to accomplish. Why mess it up with a protein-carbohydrate shake or muscle booster?"

then from a study:

"Maintaining an energy deficit after exercise had the most potent effect on lipid metabolism, as measured by a higher plasma triacylglycerolconcentration, and increased plasma fatty acid mobilization and oxidation compared with when in nutrient balance. Carbohydrate deficit after exercise, but not energy deficit, contributed to the insulin sensitizing effects of acute aerobic exercise. Whereas maintaining an energy deficit after exercise augmented lipid mobilization"

Scotty, I read that Mercola article too and he mentioned not eating sugars for a few hours, which may include simple carbs, because they interfere with post-workout HGH production.

sigh..

insulin spiking =/= lead to insulin resistance

OP:
I would take a mixture of dextrose+maltodextrin then slam a protein shake right after. You're next meal should be 1hr later - something nice and starchy with another protein source. Sweet potatos and eggs