The types of carbohydrates you choose are important, yes, but when you eat them matters, too.
Low-carb diets have always been controversial: some experts say they're too high in saturated fat and therefore bad for your heart, while other research suggests that reducing starchy and sugary carbohydrates could not only boost weight loss, but actually reduce your risk of heart disease.
One thing all diet pros seem to agree on, however, is that certain types of carbs are no good, no matter what. Science shows that eating added sugar and processed grains like white flour, specifically, can spike your blood sugar and promote fat storage. But a lesser-known carb fact? When you choose to eat carbohydrates can also alter how your body responds to them.
Here, Lose Weight Here authors Jade Teta, ND, and Keoni Teta, ND, founders of Metabolic Effect, sharefour carb-timing strategies that can help you reach your weight-loss goals:
Eating All Carbs Post-Workout
Carbohydrates are a major stimulator of the muscle-building and fat-storing hormone insulin. After a workout is a great time to include carbs because exercise is an insulin mimicker. Just the act of contracting your muscles increases the number of glucose receptors on muscle cells. This is the same thing insulin does.
Carbohydrates are a major stimulator of the muscle-building and fat-storing hormone insulin. After a workout is a great time to include carbs because exercise is an insulin mimicker. Just the act of contracting your muscles increases the number of glucose receptors on muscle cells. This is the same thing insulin does.
So eating most of your starch after a workout allows for increased glucose uptake by muscles, which increases glycogen storage and muscle protein synthesis without much insulin. This accentuates the muscle-building impact of insulin and deemphasizes its fat-storing effects. Translation: It’s the best of all worlds. Do keep in mind, though, that overloading on carbs post-workout immediately slows down fat burning.
Eating All Carbs in the Morning
Insulin sensitivity is highest in the morning, after your overnight fast, and lowest in the evening, after a full day of meals. This means that generally, there is less negative impact from eating starch in the morning compared with the evening. This morning approach might also cause some adjustments to your leptin curve, making it peak in the early evening instead of the middle of the night which canhave benefits in reducing hunger in the evening (leptin is the hunger hormone that makes you feel full and satisfied).
Insulin sensitivity is highest in the morning, after your overnight fast, and lowest in the evening, after a full day of meals. This means that generally, there is less negative impact from eating starch in the morning compared with the evening. This morning approach might also cause some adjustments to your leptin curve, making it peak in the early evening instead of the middle of the night which canhave benefits in reducing hunger in the evening (leptin is the hunger hormone that makes you feel full and satisfied).
If you find you are ravenous at night, first increase your protein intake. If that doesn’t work, try this approach with your carbs. The morning strategy works well if you prefer a morning workout or if you’re dragging during the day. It also works if you wake up craving pastries and coffee.
Eating Carbs When You Crave Them
If there is a particular time of the day you tend to crave starchy foods, there are two strategies to try. The first is to have your carbohydrates before that time -- to beat the carb craving, essentially. For example, let’s say you crave sweets or bread at 3:00 p.m. almost every afternoon. Ask yourself about your meal at lunch: Did you skip carbs or overload on them? This will tell you a lot about an approach that can work for you.
If there is a particular time of the day you tend to crave starchy foods, there are two strategies to try. The first is to have your carbohydrates before that time -- to beat the carb craving, essentially. For example, let’s say you crave sweets or bread at 3:00 p.m. almost every afternoon. Ask yourself about your meal at lunch: Did you skip carbs or overload on them? This will tell you a lot about an approach that can work for you.
Perhaps you need to trade in the gigantic burrito for a salad at lunch. Or perhaps you want to add a bit of starch to your tossed salad and chicken breast. Or maybe you want to save your daily carb allotment for that late afternoon snack so you can relax and attack the craving head-on.
Eating Carbs at Night
Carbohydrate intake is believed to trigger the release of serotonin, a relaxing brain chemical that can aid sleep, in the brain, though the discussion on this topic has sparked some controversy. Essentially, insulin pushes most other amino acids into the tissues, leaving tryptophan with less competition to cross the blood-brain barrier and raising serotonin in the process.
Carbohydrate intake is believed to trigger the release of serotonin, a relaxing brain chemical that can aid sleep, in the brain, though the discussion on this topic has sparked some controversy. Essentially, insulin pushes most other amino acids into the tissues, leaving tryptophan with less competition to cross the blood-brain barrier and raising serotonin in the process.
Eating starches at night can also lower cortisol and catecholamine levels, which can be elevated at night in people who experience insomnia. This strategy also works well for those who work out in the evening and/or crave starch at night. It might also help curb cravings the next morning.
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