Why eating carbs at ANYTIME of the day or night isn’t a problem!
When it comes to experimenting with “dieting” or a way of eating I’ve tried it all. I’ve had clients who’ve tried it all and I know when it comes to slamming one food group as the route of all evil (and fat gain) its carbohydrates which cop it.
Who really wants to give up pasta, rice or even fruit for that matter? Fruit is evil, right? WRONG. Anything in EXCESS is “evil” in regards to your fat loss. Let’s focus on fruits for the moment. Fructose is the reason behind most of the drama. The theory behind fruit being responsible for fat gain is that muscles can’t store fructose, so the liver bears the responsibility for converting this into glycogen. The liver can only store a certain amount of glycogen at any given time, with the EXCESS stored as fat for use later on.
The key word here is “EXCESS”. Too much of anything can lead to fat gain, not only from carbohydrates.
If your aim is to lose fat, you don’t need to deprive yourself of foods you love or completely cut out whole food groups (protein, fats, carbs) to lose body fat. Burning fat comes down to pretty simple maths. Calories in vs. calories out. To burn fat you need to eat less than what you are burning on a daily/weekly basis, not whether they come from carbs or fats. As everyone agrees, protein is the staple and can’t be substituted.
Keto diets or diets high in fat and extremely low in carb do work, but a lot of the initial weight loss is water weight leaving the body. Whether this is sustainable to do long term is solely up to you but I can take a wild guess that the majority of us would still like to enjoy a meal with friends without wondering if there are a few grams of carbs in it! And sure, you will lose weight on a high fat diet if you are eating very minimal carbs because more than likely you’re eating less than you burn – after all, you are CUTTING OUT AN ENTIRE FOOD GROUP!
From my clients experiences and my personal experience I have been the leanest when I ate carbs and ate a lot! I’m talking 4-5 bowls of porridge a day and especially my favourite bowl right before bed! This worked because I still consumed an overall number of calories that would put my body into a deficit and due to the fact I had way more energy to go hard in my workouts and enjoy my day to day living without trying to keep myself awake all day (keto). This is why eating carbs at any time of the day or night isn’t a problem! It is a problem in regards to fat loss if you’re eating an OVERALL EXCESS number of calories from all types of food groups being protein, fats and carbohydrates, BUT CARBS AREN’T THE ENEMY. In fact I will go so far as to say carbs are king! Cos, really …. who doesn’t want to be able to eat a pizza every so often or a delicious bowl of home cooked pasta or even a damn apple or banana! We need to enjoy life and killing off entire food groups, in my humble opinion, doesn’t lead to an enjoyable life.
So, next time someone tells you not to eat fruit and to cut out carbs, think about it. Is it really good to cut out a whole macronutrient food group? Is it really helpful to cut out essential micronutrients that fruit provides, the countless different vitamins, minerals and fibre? I’m sure if you’re reading this you’re over qualified to know the simple answer to these questions is an undeniable NO!
So if fat loss is the key, focus on calories in vs. calories out, rather than killing off your carbs and walking through your days like a vitamin deficient zombie. I’m sure you’ve heard the saying before “the best diet is the diet you can stick too”, well, this isn’t a diet. No food groups are cut out, no foods need to be off the list, everything you love can be eaten and you can still reach your goal, it’s a matter of knowing the maths and what works for your body with your lifestyle in mind.
If you want help with this, I offer custom made training and food intake guides as part of my monthly training packages at www.bodyweightbuilt.com – head over, join the movement and see the life changing results for yourself!