Should I eat carbs at night? Do carbs make fat? what should my daily carbohydrate intake be? Let’s take an unbiased view on popular carbohydrate myths
“Over the past 15-20 years, there has been an increase in the low carb diet revolution and many now believe that eating carbohydrates is bad for you. For me, this is due to the emergence of social media. Being able to post what you like on social media and claim “it worked for me” and be viewed as a fitness and nutrition expert to advocate it without the qualifications or experience needed in the industry. Admittedly I’m no expert or claiming to be one, but I’ve had the privilege of now working with a few hundred clients, so I do understand the most common problems people have”
Have you heard of these popular saying before? “Carbs make me fat, I can’t eat them at night, too many carbs will increase the risk of health diseases”. It’s really frustrating to hear these sayings. These people have all fallen into the trap of these “Experts”
The benefits of carbohydrates are endless and crucial to our health. Here are a few important reasons:
Benefits of Carbohydrates
- Carbs are important for our brain function
- Carbs are the main energy source for the body. Limit your carbs and your energy levels may be affected
- Carbs contain essential nutrients for our body to function. For example, fiber. Fiber helps our bodies digestion
These are just some of the great benefits of carbohydrates. They provide a great source of energy keeping a lot of our bodily processes functioning properly. Especially our brain. Having a lower carbohydrate intake can work wonders for people, but this is something you will need to work out, not just following what an Instagram Fitness model says and follows.
So, we have had a look at the benefits or carbohydrates, but which type of carbs should we be really eating?
Complex Carbs – Are food sources that have been relatively untouched. They are in their natural, unprocessed form providing us with a large amount of nutrients and have a slower effect on our blood sugar levels. We want the majority of our carbohydrate intake coming from the following sources.
- Oats
- Legumes
- Brown Rice
- Vegetables
- Sweet Potato
Simple Carbs – Are food we ideally want to stay away from if possible. They are quite high in sugar and have been processed. The processing of these foods has removed a lot of the vital nutrients in them.
Example of simple carbs:
- White Rice
- Breads
- Wrap
- Pasta
- Chocolate
- Sweet
Now we know which carbs we should include in our diets, let me take the unbiased approach of debunking 5 BS Carbohydrate myths now.
1: Carbs Make Me Fat
This conception of ” carbs makes me fat ” is one you just have to laugh at.
The process of getting “Fat” really comes down to a calorie surplus. A calorie surplus is where we consume more calories through our food and drink choices than our body expends. Eating carbohydrates won’t put us into a calorie surplus. Only if we overconsume them. The average person can store an average of 300-700g of (glycogen) carbohydrates in their muscles and liver at any one time.
Let’s break this down a little further. If you are active throughout the day and continue to burn more energy (calories) than you consume through food and drink, whilst eating carbs all day long, you will NOT get fat. I wouldn’t recommend this as your body requires a good amount of protein and fat as well.
But if you mix carbs along with highly processed foods which are high in sugar and fat, you will most likely go over your daily caloric intake called a caloric surplus making you then gain weight.
Don’t be scared of the myth that carbs will make you fat. Carbs don’t make you dat, a prolonged period with a caloric surplus with minimal will make you fat.
2: Don’t Eat Carbs At Night
Well, this one amazes me. The theory of that you can’t eat carbs at night or it will be stored as fat is complete BS. The only common-sense reason I have found is that it can help reduce your overall calorie intake if you reduce your carbs at night.
My question to every who advocates to not eat carbs at night is, I I haven’t hit my daily carbohydrate intake for the day, do I still refuse to eat carbs at night? What happens now?
My unbiased view on don’t eat carbs at night is this. A lot of the population tend to the have majority of their daily carbohydrate intake during the hours of breakfast and lunch. Do cereals, muesli, Burgers with chips, wraps, pasta all ring a bell? Especially when you lack the time to prepare any food so you have to head down to the local café or food court. So, yes they are the people that should look to limit the amount of carb of carbs they eat at night.
But, here’s better option.
Your body handles and utilises carbohydrates much better after a workout. (I’ll go into this a bit later). Regardless of what time your workout, whether that be at 5 am in the morning or 9 pm at night, look to consume at least ¼ of your daily carbohydrate intake after your workout.
Slow digesting carbohydrates can promote the secretion of the neurotransmitter called serotonin. Serotonin levels can be stimulated with foods that are high in tryptophan. If you want a better night’s sleep, try this little trick. If you are still under your daily carb intake, have a bowl of oats, 1-2 hours before you go to bed. I personally use this with myself and a lot of my clients, and it works great. Have they put on fat for eating carbs at night? NO!
A great meal swap that you can try so you can eat carbs at night is trying a High Protein Breakfast. Working with many highly successful business professionals, they are always very busy and finding time to eat can be a struggle. Have you ever gone 5-6 hours without food? How did you feel? Pretty hungry right.
A high protein breakfast will keep you much fuller for longer, as protein is a very satiety macro-nutrient and takes a lot longer for the body to digest. This will then leave some carbs for you to enjoy at night!
The don’t eat carbs at night is a load of BS. If you want to have carbs at night, then enjoy it, try reducing the amount you have during the day, so you don’t go over your caloric intake which will make you fat.
3: Removing Carbs Will Make Me Lost Weight
Cutting out carbs WILL NOT make you lose weight. As mentioned before, to lose weight, you need to be in a caloric deficit. Meaning that you are burning more energy (calories) than you consume through your food and drink.
Famous low-carb and ketogenic diets have claimed to of helped in weight loss, which they do. But, they place you into a caloric deficit by removing carbs in your diet. I’m not going to go into the fine details of each diet, but they in my opinion, I don’t feel its right to follow any diets that make you completely restrict any food group, unless you have a proper medical reasoning behind it.
4: Carbs Increase Diseases
A controlled carbohydrate intake will not cause any diseases. An excess carb and calorie intake over a long period will potentially increase the risk of any diseases. (Diabetes) But this can be the same for fat, so it just doesn’t come down to carbs.
When I say carb, the carbohydrate sources are mainly from what we call simple carbohydrates. Foods that are very high in sugar or have been processed out of their natural form. But, we solely cannot say that just an excess amount of carbohydrates will affect our health. An excess amount of the wrong types of fat can affect our health. So, the fact that carbs are blamed for this is wrong.
It all comes down to moderation and control. If you consume the right amounts of carbs and of each macronutrient and control it well, your risk of developing some diseases related to food will reduce.
5: Carbs are ok
So, above were some of the more common theories about carbohydrates that are always circulating around the health and fitness industry.
It really comes down to what works best for you. Not what other people do/preach of. Everyone’s bodily functions and goals are different. Find what approach works best.
The restriction of a certain food group not only isn’t the best approach for you, but it gives you a complete brainwash. Potentially affecting your relationships with your friends and family.