In my opinion, we should eat everything: carbohydrates, protein, fats, of course in doses customised for every person. We need carbohydrates, it’s said that around 100g-150g is a minimum that we shouldn’t lower, as it can impact our health, especially the proper functioning of our thyroid. Unfortunately, a lot of people eat much more carbohydrates than they need (around 500-600g), and we know that it’s a basic and easiest source of energy. I am just asking you, do we really need that much of it when we’re sitting on our bums behind a desk for ¾ of the day?!
Of course, this isn’t applicable for people who work hard physically, or sprinters or endurance athletes, but how many of us work in a mine or are a marathoner?;)
Times have changed. Some time ago, you’d have to go down to a well a few times a day to get water, chop wood so it’s warmer, wave a scythe to gather crops, go through half of your village to get a good piece of meat for your family, and today we’re at a gym 3 times a week (if we’re working out), and food is available on every corner.
We’re not able to burn everything that we eat, and our body has a very useful for our ancestors, not necessarily for us, an ability to store different nutrients;). Unless someone fancies growing fat rolls for the winter to keep warm, that’s cool.
Let’s not forget, that carbohydrates increase sugar levels, and eating them during every meal has a strong impact on it, knocking our body out of homeostasis (balance); it’s constantly increasing and decreasing due to widespread production of insulin. And you know what it’s like when you p**s someone off… I mean bring them out of balance. At the beginning the person starts defending themselves, and in the end the person has enough and kicks someone back. It’s the same with our cells, constantly exposed to insulin, they have a defence mechanism, and because of that their insulin regulation becomes weaker, and in the end they finish us with insulin resistance (which is a straight path to diabetes). So if you’re eating white bread every morning, for brunch a sweet bun and a juice, then a lunch with a big portion of potatoes, dessert, then for dinner a sandwich with cheese, then know that this issue includes you!
The truth is that we have four hormones, which job is to quickly increase blood sugar levels, e.g. adrenaline and cortisol. And only one hormone that lowers it. This hormone just stops working in the end.
From an athletic point of view, insulin is a very important anabolic hormone, but insensitivity of the cells quickly changes that, and then your muscles stop growing, even though you supply them with a large portion of carbohydrates and proteins.
In addition to that, most people don’t realise that the flatulence, gas, decrease in energy during the day, turning over in your stomach, constant cravings for something sweet, desire to snack, it’s usually the cause of eating too many carbs.
Usually this shouldn’t surprise anyone, because since the 90’s of XX century they were trying to drum the food pyramid into our heads, which includes rolls, bread, breakfast cereals and other grain products. Unfortunately, I’m sorry to disappoint you, but we can officially say that this nutrition model just isn’t working. Actually, not enough said – because this nutrition model, let me say it nicely – sucks and brings a lot of lifestyle diseases with it, such as obesity, diabetes, insulin resistance, intolerances, celiac, autoimmune diseases and even cancer and premature death.
Then why is no one working on changing it, since we’re observing it happen in front of our eyes for a good few years? The answer is easy. Money. Carbohydrates are the cheapest possible source of food and energy, so it’s perfect for „leaders” of this world. World Health Organisation (WHO), is nothing more than a pharmacy and political elites lobbying cartel, they are the ones telling us to eat grains, fruits and vegetables, while demonizing meat and fats (mainly saturated). Their latest report? Meat can cause cancer. I will leave this without a comment. As a counterargument I will tell you that the oldest woman in the world (107 years old), eats bacon and eggs for breakfast every day for a few decades ;). ACSM and ADA (American College of Sport Medicine, American Dietetic Association) in year 2000 recommended eating fat at the level of 20-25% of energy intake (!), mostly covered by NNKT, and the basis of this diet was supposed to be carbohydrates! Both organisations, and even WHO, are currently retreating from this statement, directing the diet towards saturated fatty acids and monounsaturated with EUFA's reduction.
How should we find ourselves in all this, how to plan our diet and find a golden remedy for ourselves to keep ourselves healthy? To start with, I think it’s good to limit meals that contain carbohydrates, gradually decrease their amount (*customised for everyone), at the same time looking after the quality of the food.
The key is also the “timing”, which means appropriate times of eating specific macro ingredients and define an adequate supply of carbohydrates.
Of course, the supply of macro ingredients will be different for everyone. We’re all different, for example we’re different types of somatic, we have different lifestyles, height, weight, age and physical activity etc. If someone is an endomorph – they should eat significantly less carbohydrates than a mesomorph, but it’s the opposite for the intake of fats. If someone is a sprinter, their carb intake should be significantly higher than a normal person (even >4g/kg). And if someone’s physical activity is limited to getting out of a chair to photocopy a few A4 pages, then they shouldn’t eat as much as 500g carbohydrates per day. In addition to that, there are also different goals we set ourselves. Some want to build, others want to reduce. So the amounts will always be different, but the timing of eating carbohydrates can be similar.
I am a supporter of three methods of carbohydrate intake in a diet:
- CT – Carb targeting, meaning carbohydrates are taken before or after training; of course they can also be three meals, for example one before, one after, and another one later.
- CBL – carbbackloading, eating carbohydrates as our last meals, afternoon and evening, or so called loading carbs for the night.
WARNING: For people who don’t have an acidified stomach, but want to begin CBL, it’s best to start from CT
- CC – carb cycling, carbohydrate rotation, so we eat different amounts of carbohydrates depending on our rest days or workout days. Forgive me, but we will leave this topic for another article;)
I will only use the abbreviations from now on.
I am currently using CBL and CC, mainly because of my morning training sessions and battle with cortisol, but for most people that work out, I recommend starting with CT. Of course, the systems can be combined, and the perfect one is probably CT + CBL for evening training sessions.
While carb targeting, we follow a few simple rules:
Before training we eat – starch, complex carbohydrates, BW meal
After training – simple carbohydrates, preferably rich in glucose.
I, for example, make a shake from a ripe banana, yolk (or avocado), coconut milk, cinnamon and protein supplement.
Other BT meals, you’re free to choose: meats + vegetables, it can be a beef steak/wild boar sausage + pickles, which are great with meaty meals because they help with their digestion.
For the night I recommend – beef tartare – long-absorbable protein, better than casein;).
It would be perfect if the before training meal wouldn’t be the first meal of the day, here I would like to take you back to the previous part of this article (look PART1) and information about the highest level of cortisol in the morning. But, of course, as it usually is, there are exceptions. If someone has a regulated sugar economy, and heavy or sprinter trainings in the morning, then those people usually have to eat carbohydrates in the morning, to get energy from them. In this case, you can try the CBL system, and eat carbohydrates after training, but it doesn’t always work. Even Jakub Mauricz in one of his courses, showed us a diet of one of his pupil – a MMA fighter, who couldn’t have a good training session without having a millet in the morning. Really, everything depends on an individual, we just have to test it on ourselves and choose something that is best for us, suited for our lifestyle, predispositions and specially health. I do make an exception and use CT on the weekend, because I wake up late and have a training session in the evening. I eat carbohydrates before and after a physical workout. Those training sessions are the best in my opinion, but also because I am well rested, I’m not rushing anywhere and I don’t think about work. People that work out in the evening – I encourage you to try this system; our physiological system will support that;). We’re not only giving ourselves time to lower the cortisol levels in the morning, which reduces the risk of insulin resistance, the lower requirement for insulin in the morning increases the expression of glucagon and leptin, which positively impacts our satiety and burning fat tissue (recomposing of the body).
For most people, especially those on a reduction diet, I recommend starting the day with a protein-fat breakfast, without carbohydrates or with really small amounts of it. It can be a bulletproof coffee, or scrambled eggs with veggies and meat. Our sweet omelettes with rice flour, oatmeal, can be safely eaten later;). Though, there are ways even for that.
However, don’t listen to those who say that sugars in the morning are necessary for our intellectual capacity, because our brain needs glucose to function properly XD. In reality, our brain uses around 65g of carbohydrates per day, and that amount can be safely stored by your liver and partially released when you wake up. The truth is that an oatmeal in the morning will slow us down more than the lack of it;). Why is it like that? Furthermore, why the same meal during the day won’t have the same effect? The answer can be found while looking at the ways food impacts our hormonal system and metabolism.
On one side, eating carbohydrates releases tryptophan, which after crossing the blood-brain barrier, causes synthesis of serotonin, stimulating the parasympathetic system. This is why sometimes, after eating them, we feel sleepy and lose motivation; that’s not necessarily what we want when we’re starting our day, while trying to get through our responsibilities for that day;).
However, the main hero here is the repeatedly mentioned, unfortunately close to me cortisol, a stress hormone. Because who would think that its increased production happens in the morning, when we wake up. Our body doesn’t distinguish the difference between the stresses that impacts us. Suddenly waking up, is one of those things, even if waking up was natural. We call it cortisol’s morning response. In consequence, after waking up we have a high and sudden increase in this hormone (in reality, it was growing at a steady rate for half of the night). After around 30-45 minutes after waking up, cortisol reaches its maximal capacity. Most of us then sits down for breakfast.
Regardless of what we eat (!), food causes insulin burst, and the first meal gives a much larger response from the endocrine system than the following ones during the day. In addition to that, we have a peak level of cortisol, which also has its consequences in form of insulin bursts. This increased insulin production eventually causes the blood glucose levels to drop rapidly, which is taken as a threatening stimulus, which causes cortisol to rise even higher. Of course, it’s irrelevant what we eat, the more processed the carbohydrates, and even some amino acids, the higher the insulin burst.
Of course, this mechanism doesn’t apply to everyone, but athletes are in a high risk group, especially people with low fat tissue and on a reduction diet, who lost a lot of weight in a short period of time. That’s because they are more sensitive to insulin. Of course, people with insulin resistance or reactive hypoglycaemia should definitely follow BT breakfasts.
Since I started to eat three first meals that contain mainly protein and fats (only a protein shake contains a ripe banana), and loads carbohydrates for the night (in the last two meals), my energy doesn’t decrease during the day, it’s easier for me to concentrate, and I work mentally for a minimum of 8 hours. My body became really efficient. The blood sugar level stabilised. I don’t have hunger pangs. My sleep is a lot better and more refreshing; I sleep around 6-8h, and I’m more regenerated than after 10 hours of sleep. In addition to that, I sleep like a baby after eating a dinner containing carbohydrates ;). My quality of life also improved, not mentioning better test results! My diet, now rich in fat, satiates me more, I don’t feel hungry after 2-3h after eating and I don’t constantly think about food, which sometimes took place when I was on a reduction diet before competitions. As a true meat-eater, I’m in heaven, because I can legally eat every type of it; pork, beef, venison, mackerel, I don’t have to cut away the fatty bits of poultry;). From time to time my beloved bacon. And I finally don’t have to throw away the yolks XD. It’s important to remember, however, that saturated fat should not be included in 100% of our daily needs ;P. I don’t necessarily mean eating a whole jar of a nut or peanut butter. We should include a few sources of fats. Make sure that we get enough omega 3. But I have already said this multiple times;).
And at the end, just a short scheme of my diet, workout day (Monday-Friday):
MEALS:
- Decaf bulletproof coffee + coconut oil + protein supplement
TRAINING SESSION:
- Shake: banana + yolk (or avocado) + protein supplement + coconut milk
- Beef minced meat + vegetables / or omelette with bacon and vegetables
- Meat + sweet potatoes + vegetables + nuts/oil
- Chestnut omelette or a sweet oatmeal with avocado mousse, carob, strawberries / or quinoa with a beef stew
Of course, on my blogs you will find a lot of recipes that you can adjust to match your diet, and I will keep adding new ones
Kisses!! <3
Karola Kocięda
