Ok, not really but there is a new shift in my nutrition now that allows us to have our carbs at night and to also burn fat more efficiently and build a little muscle in the process.
We first should talk about the more practised method of “no carbs after midday “ approach or carbs for breakfast is best. I’m not even going to get started on the breakfast thing, I will save that for another post. You should at least remember that starting your day with breakfast is important to maintain a healthy diet and lifestyle.
But the carbs at midday rule pretty much came about from the golden rule of that only carbs can be used as energy, which is an absolute crock of bull s#&t!! It’s called Lipolysis, but check it out here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lipolysis
So the whole theory of needing carbs through the day for energy is a bit of a joke, don’t get me wrong you can still get results eating that way, but wouldn’t you want your body to burn your fat stores throughout the day and while you sleep?
So let’s look at it from a few different perspectives, the first one is the whole carbs at night, how does it not store as fat. It’s a really good question and the biggest reason is for increased release of insulin at only one part of the day, a rise in insulin can make you anabolic or in simple terms make you grow. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anabolism
The main problem here is, is that it can make fat and muscles cells grow, so if we consistently feed insulin then we run a higher risk of increasing growth rates in our fat cells as well as our muscle cells, that’s not what I want. The other point here is that when we are asleep we release growth hormone http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/23447518 and this is also another hormone that will help us burn more fat.
As far as a social standpoint it’s also another great thing to be able to have your carbs at night and not feel guilty. There is also another good window for carbs and that is post workout, due to our muscle cells being open and exposed this is a good time to take on extra nutrients that will help re build and also help performance.
But at the end of the day if you don’t like the way this is then that’s fine, go and continue your method, it may work fine for you. I just want to list a few disadvantages to having carbs early in the day other than post workout
- Weight gain
- Insulin resistance
- Make you sleepy
- Depression
- Increased hunger levels
But like I said this is just my opinion and I stand behind it, not only with studies as long as my arm, but also trial and error on a personal level and also with clients.