Eating protein alone can trigger the same insulin response as eating carbs, so you don’t need both.

When carbohydrates are consumed, the body releases insulin, which lowers the rate at which muscle proteins are broken down and slightly raises the rate at which new muscle proteins are made.

Even though sugar and alanine make insulin go up, that doesn’t stop your muscles from breaking down any more than protein alone does.

Insulin doesn’t make your muscles grow bigger after lifting weights—it just helps stop your muscles from breaking down, especially if you’ve eaten enough protein.

Eating a meal high in carbohydrates before doing cardio exercise increases how effectively insulin promotes the building of muscle and fat tissue in the body.

Even if you pump insulin into a healthy young person’s body and boost certain amino acids by 150%, their muscles still won’t grow more—because insulin needs other amino acids too to make muscle.