[bammerman]

First off I would like to say hi, this is my first day here. I was diagnosed with Type 1 last year. The doctors told me that the anthrax vaccination I got while deployed overseas is what caused it. Military didn’t need me any more so they discharged me. Oh well. I was really into working out before I got Type 1 and was taking tons of supplements. Androstene, creatine, NO2, glutamine, lipo6 or hydroxycut, and others. I am wondering what supplements are safe to take. I read that there have been no studies as of right now showing that creatine is either or. Do any of you take any supplements? On bodybuilder.com I found this list, but none of the ones I am looking for are on there.

Supplements I found that are ok to take:
Vitamin C
Vitamin E
Vitamin B6
Folic Acid
Vitamin B12
Biotin
Magnesium
Zinc
Selenium
Copper
Manganese
Chromium
Gymnema sylvestre leaf extract
Bitter melon whole fruit extract
Fenugreek seed extract
Bilberry berry extract
Mixed bioflavonoids
(citrus)
Vanadyl sulfate

[GinaLynn]

I work out and try to eat right but in the past i have taken a number of diet pills in order to lose a couple more lbs. On the warning label it doesn't say anything specifically towards diabetics, and I've never had anything go crazy.

The things to watch would be the sugar and carb in take (if any) of the supplements you want to take. Also some of the appetite suppressors can get a little touchy if you are not eating at all. Other than that little advice- I haven't noticed any big changes when taking supplements

[BrianSCohen]

Creatine is well studied and has been shown to be safe. I take it, 5g/day. I take whey protein to increase my protein intake. I get mine at costco, it includes BCAAs and glutamine. I take a range of vitamins, 10-12 fish oil pills, flaxseed oil and extra electrolytes, potassium, magnesium and zinc. I also take glucosamine/chondroitin and a green tea extract. My wife thinks I overdo it.

I have taken bitter mellon in the past in pill form. It did seem to improve my blood sugar control. I might very well start taking it again. I used to take extra vitamin C, but heard it could disrupt blood tests. I can't really tell anything more about the other natural supplements. Personally, I avoid any steroids or weight loss supplements.

[bammerman]

I figured the androstene was going to be one I could no longer take. They basically outlawed it in the Army so I couldn’t take it there either. Can you post some documentation about the creatine? This is the article I found against it.

Using Caffeine and Creatine in Your Workout - Diabetes Health

I just need some evidence to show my doctor at today's visit and my wife so she stops yelling at me for taking it. lol

[BrianSCohen]

Creatine is perhaps the most studied sport supplement out there. It is also the only one I am aware of that has any real evidence that it is useful. A good background can be found at this link from Baylor University (Creatine: What AT's Should Know). Creatine is not a banned substance in the NFL, NBA, MLB, NFL, NCAA or Olympics.

Sheri Colberg is big on diabetic athletics, but in this article she is just a little misleading. I have read some of her books and she is usually a good source for information on fitness for primarily type 1 diabetics. However, she comments on high dosing (20-30 g/day), the recommended dose is 5g/day of creatine monohydrate. The safety concerns seem to all be based on anecdotal evidence and at high or superhuman doses. Also, Dr. Colberg claims no benefit, but actually the biggest benefit is for strength conditioning, not endurance which is the focus of her athletic interest. If you need more information, I can provide more references.

Just ignore your doctor, don't tell them, they are likely so totally misinformed on the topic as to be useless. I really can't help you with your wife. My wife does not respond to reason and is constantly moving and hiding my protein powder and creatine.

[bammerman]

My wife does the same thing! Thanks for the link I will look into it.

[RikBrooks]

Originally Posted by BrianSCohen

My wife does not respond to reason and is constantly moving and hiding my protein powder and creatine.

LOL

My wife is an RN that has become very disenchanted with most of the medical field. She says that on the whole they are prostitutes to the drug reps.

She is sold on creatine though and uses it herself. We both practice Muay Thai, do a walk/run, and bodybuild. She doesn't like me taking protein powder. She's right about that too. I can get all the protein that my body can use from my diet.

[BrianSCohen]

Originally Posted by RikBrooks

LOL

... I can get all the protein that my body can use from my diet.

I still have trouble getting high levels of protein from my diet. How do you eat high quantities of meat and other high protein sources? How do you do it? I can eat fat, I can put butter and olive oil on almost anything. What do you do?

[RikBrooks]

Your body can only digest a certain amount at any one time. The rest passes through as waste. I don't mean a day, I mean at a time.

I heard somewhere that it was 40 grams. So if you want to USE 100 grams then you have to ingest 40 then 40 then 20 or something like that. What you can do is eat several small meals a day.

[bammerman]

Do any of you know if lipo6 or hydroxycut is bad? I have put on a few pounds since while I was in the army they didn't let me workout at all. I actually had to sit in my room for a year while I was doing my medical discharge. I know green tea is a good fat loss supplement, but what about the ones with the caffine?

[RikBrooks]

Note that I'm oversimplifying the issue in this message. To give it the treatment that it needs would take a book.

Oh my, here we go. Dropping weight, on the whole, is a simple matter of burning more calories than you ingest. The problem with saying that is there are a ton of ways to burn calories. Some are better than others.

The very best way is to exercise and watch your diet.

Then the kind of exercise makes a difference. Cardio burns calories RIGHT NOW and for a few hours after you stop exercising. Resistance burns less RIGHT NOW but burns for longer. Resistance, done right, adds to your lean dense muscles and that ramps up your metabolism. Your metabolism is how many calories you burn just sitting there watching TV or sleeping. Some people burn more than others while at rest. usually the reason is that the ones that burn more have more lean muscle mass and less fat.

I don't know about the newest hydroxy-cut, I haven't looked into it in years but the older stuff raised your metabolism by causing your heart to pump faster. It also caused a thermogenic burn which basically just makes your body burn hotter (ooooh what an over-simplification, but accurate).

Here it is, bottom line, hydroxy-cut is a temporary fix. You'll probably put right back on whatever you take off. Exercise and diet is the way to go. You need to consider specifically exercise, resistance and cardio is best. Be sure to give your muscles recuperation time. Be sure to feed the muscles so they can grow. As for your diet you need to make sure you get enough nutrition and eat several small meals a day.

There really is no shortcut.

[TomB]

Diabetics, regardless of being type 1 or 2, have no business playing games with suppliments. There are 0 reputable studies about how these magic brews act in the body, especially the diabetic body. But there have been a few studies that have shown most bottles of suppliments to contain weird stuff and little of the advertized stuff.
I think it would most prudent to focus on diet, excersise, prescribed meds and keeping glucose under control. Adding snake oil to that list only makes it more complex with the potential of damaging side effects.
TB

[BrianSCohen]

Originally Posted by bammerman

Do any of you know if lipo6 or hydroxycut is bad? I have put on a few pounds since while I was in the army they didn't let me workout at all. I actually had to sit in my room for a year while I was doing my medical discharge. I know green tea is a good fat loss supplement, but what about the ones with the caffine?

About two years ago I tried a variant of hydroxycut with bad side effects. My blood pressure increased markedly and I threw them out. I am not sure about the specific ingredients, but most contain some stimulant, at least caffeine. I had a negative reaction and consider most all of these "fat burners" to be bad news for myself.

Originally Posted by RikBrooks

Your body can only digest a certain amount at any one time. The rest passes through as waste. I don't mean a day, I mean at a time.

I heard somewhere that it was 40 grams. So if you want to USE 100 grams then you have to ingest 40 then 40 then 20 or something like that. What you can do is eat several small meals a day.

I have not heard of any digestion limit. My understanding is that circulating protein is limited, and that excess digested protein is processed by your liver. Protein digestion is slow, and depending upon the particular protein mix can take up to several hours.

Originally Posted by RikBrooks

Oh my, here we go. Dropping weight, on the whole, is a simple matter of burning more calories than you ingest.

You might want to read Amazon.com: Good Calories, Bad Calories: Gary Taubes: Books. If you visit low carb and bodybuilding forums, you will find many people have had great success losing weight and leaning out with low carbs, independent of calories. I am currently trying to gain a few pounds of lean mass, and I just can't seem to eat enough.

Originally Posted by TomB

There are 0 reputable studies about how these magic brews act in the body, especially the diabetic body.

I have to disagree with this. You may not find JAMA reputable, but just go to the site JAMA, the Journal of the American Medical Association, a weekly peer-reviewed medical journal published by AMA and type in fish oil. There is a great deal of discussion of the benefits of fish oil supplementation and virtually nothing negative about safety or side effects. Even consumer reports recently tested a wide swath of fish oil pills and found that the current distillation manufacturing process removes all the mercury.

I would agree with you that there are many patent medicine concoctions like the lipo6 which have not been studied, but don't lump everything like vitamin D, fish oil and creatine into the same bin.

[pumper]

Bammerman

welcome to the forum - great to have another real bodybuilder here.

Originally Posted by bammerman

I was really into working out before I got Type 1 and was taking tons of supplements. Androstene, creatine, NO2, glutamine, lipo6 or hydroxycut, and others. I am wondering what supplements are safe to take.

So, someone with Type 1 can lift heavy in the gym and pack some serious muscle just like a non-diabetic can. And, many of the supplements that non-diabetic bodybuilders use can also be used by you and I as diabetic bodybuilders.

I envy you for having been able to take androstene - by the way, does it work as well as people say? - some days I just feel like going for that stuff. However, from a diabetics perspective, hormones will mess up you blood sugars. So, that makes them extraordinarily difficult to take. But, remember also that insulin is one of the most powerful muscle building hormones out there.

Originally Posted by bammerman

I read that there have been no studies as of right now showing that creatine is either or.

Quite the contrary. There are tons of studies out there proving that creatine is safe. The only problem is that non of these studies have been done with diabetics. But, there is no reason to believe that creatine could cause problems in a health diabetic with good blood sugar control (contrary to what alot of uninformed people out there will claim...)

Originally Posted by bammerman

Do any of you take any supplements? On bodybuilder.com I found this list, but none of the ones I am looking for are on there.

Yah - here's my creatine stack - I've posted it around in the past, but this stuff really rocks. It has completely transformed my workouts, I'm lifting more then ever, have a great pump that lasts for hours afterwards, great focus and energy. Though, I"m certain that it is probably nothing like andro...

I got this from a good buddy of mine on the bodybuilding.com site:

German Creatine Mono - 5g pre - 2g post
Beta-Alanine - 1.5gpre - 1.5g post (I use HMB instead)
Bcaa - 5g pre-5g during-5g post
Arginine-AKG - 3g pre-1.5-post
Glutamine - 5g pre-5g post
Caffeine/Tyrosine tabs 200 to 300mg caffeine-250 to 375mg tyrosine pre

On the bodybuilding.com site, this is a great forum:
A Thread for people with Type I Diabetes (Insulin-dependent) Only - Page 7 - Bodybuilding.com Forums

Hope that this helps on the supplement end of things.

I agree also about the doctors and supplements - they really don't know anything about supplements. So, as a diabetic bodybuilder, I'd personally stick with legal supplements and avoid brining it up with your doctor. And regarding the wife, well, I've got the same problem too...

[pumper]

Anyone here used ECA?

Did it work - and did it affect your blood sugars.

I know that I've already asked this question on this site, but I didn't get many answers - so I'm asking again...