Everyone here has heard me say many times that food is the most anabolic substance you can put in your body! Some say garbage in equals garbage out. Here's my take on food consumption. Eating clean is best, but some individuals have a hard time eating in a surplus because it takes so much more clean food to get to that 500 calorie surplus. If you're a high metabolism low bf% guy then a little dirt in your diet can be beneficial as long as you don't go overboard.
Imo the most important time to spike insulin is post workout. Your body uses glycogen in its cells for energy as you train. These glycogen stores become depleted after a hard training session. Now your body is in need to replace this lost glycogen, and protein and amino's to repair the cell damage done by your session. The fastest way to spike insulin is by consuming glucose because the body instantly converts glucose to glycogen which in turn tells the body there's an excess of blood sugars, so then insulin is secreted. Insulin is like a key that unlocks the door to your cells to allow glycogen, protein, and amino's to be shuttled in. The problem is that insulin also does the same for fat cells, so anything more than what your muscle cells can take in is stored as fat which is why post workout is the very most optimal time for isulin spikes. A candy that contains glucose and not high fructose corn syrup is best. Gummy bears, bottle caps, and pixi sticks are a few. Fructose type sugars are not good for this because they must be processed by the liver and converted to glucose before it can be converted into glycogen and spike the insulin. A handful of gummy bears post workout followed by a whey shake, and a meal shortly thereafter is what I do for my post workout.
Another option to grow is the ketogenic diet. Keytones are very efficient at transportation of nutrients throughout the body. Most see keto as a cutting diet, but eating in a surplus will make it a bulker. The biggest problem bulking with keto is that fats make you feel fuller for longer periods. My keto split is 65 to 70% fats, 25 to 30% protein, and 5% carbs. Figure your TDEE then add 300 to 500 calories to get total calories needed. Then figure your percentages from that number.
