Timing carbohydrates to maximise results

Here's the deal, carbs are great. They taste good and make you feel warm and fuzzy on the inside, and the good news is that as long as you eat within your tolerance, there is no reason not to enjoy them in your diet. But when is the best time to have them? Morning, night time or all the time?

Let's hear the argument for the morning



When you wake up, it should be at least 8 hours since your last feeding. As a result of this overnight fast your insulin sensitivity is a little higher than it is during the day. The benefit of this is that the food you consume for breakfast is more likely to be shuttled into your muscles than it is at other times of the day, meaning more energy and less body fat. 

But there is a second effect of carbs, they affect serotonin levels in the brain. Serotonin is a neurotransmitter which affects mood, the more of it you have, the better you feel. This is one of the reasons why you get that happy feeling when you eat a sugary treat. Chocolate really is as good as prozac. 

Breakfast sets your brain chemistry for the remainder of the day. So if you begin the day with a sugary breakfast cereal, your body will want to keep that kind of food going for the rest of day. Eating carbs in the morning may be better for body composition in the short term; when it is contextualised into a whole day of carb cravings it may not be such a clever idea. 

How about the evening?



Rule one of dieting not to eat carbs after 6pm. The reason for this is when you go to sleep you are just going to store all of the sugar as fat. After all you can be less active than when you're asleep. 

Wrong

When you are asleep you are actually very active. Your body uses this time to heal recover and grow, so you need fuel to keep you going.

Also you can cash in on that serotonin rise as it will help to reduce stress and allow us to sleep better.   

So all in all I would recommend starting the day with a low carb meat breakfast, smoked mackerel and cashew nuts is a personal favourite, and then end the day with a moderate portion of carbs to go with you meal. 

Even better would be to train in the evening and then treat your carbohydrate meal as your post workout meal.