IM GO PRO
True Blood
By Mike Carlson
For IFBB pro and type-1 diabetic Dr. Brett Kahn, nutrition is a matter of life and death.
I
t was the near the end of his senior year
season at Michigan State when running
back Brett Kahn was diagnosed with type-
1 diabetes. He had been feeling sick and
lethargic for almost a year and lost weight
despite eating around 7,000 calories day, but
he had grinded through the football season
before doctors were able to confirm that he
was suffering from a form of late-onset ju-
venile diabetes and his pancreas was slowly
shutting down its insulin production.
Over a decade later, Kahn is now a Dyma-
tize-sponsored athlete, IFBB Men’s Physique
pro, fitness model, and has his doctor of chi-
ropractic. He owns Mobility Spine and Rehab
in Charleston, South Carolina, where he lives
with his fiancée, IFBB Bikini Pro and fellow
Dymatize athlete Katherine Ampolini.
Kahn’s meteoric rise in the fitness world
is a testament to his determination and
knowledge of how the body—specifically his
body—utilizes nutrients. As a type-1 diabetic,
he injects himself with insulin upwards of 10
times a day. For Kahn, macronutrients are a
game of chess rather than checkers.
“A type-1 is always evaluating his diet,” he
says. “Eating is like keeping a scale balanced,
but there are seven sides instead of two
sides. Is it morning or afternoon? What kind
of carbs are these? Am I going to be exercis-
ing later? I call it the ‘what’s next’ factor.”
Mike Carlson: As a type-1 diabetic, what’s
your diet like?
Dr. Brett Kahn: If you know what you’re
doing, you can eat anything you want. But
the diet that is best for type-1 really is pretty
close to a bodybuilder’s diet. It’s consistent
food throughout the day and a moderate but
steady carb intake throughout the day.
MC: Has that happened to you?
BK: Absolutely. You’re flying, getting a good
pump, workout is good, but maybe you didn’t
have as many carbs as you needed, or you
took a little too much insulin and your blood
sugar plummets. You get shaky, you start to
get the sweats, and get real weak. If I don’t
42 april 2017 | ironmanmagazine.com
MC: What does moderate carbs mean?
BK: I get around 300 grams of carbs a day.
I’ll go higher in the off-season. Into the sea-
son, I usually don’t drop below 150. Consis-
tent eating throughout the day allows you to
check your blood sugar. You prick your finger,
get a little blood, put it in the meter, see
what it is. If your blood sugar goes low in the
middle of workout, you are done. You have to
pack it up. You have to get some sugar into
you and wait around for 20 minutes for it to
come back up.