A Simple Carb-Cutoff for Weight Loss
WARNING: If you like articles that tell you what you want to hear – then this article is not for you!
The hype around dieting today is all about carbs. South Beach, Atkins, and hundreds of other “weight loss miracles” that center their philosophy around carbohydrates, I think they all miss the bigger picture with hype and propaganda, but particularly reinforcing bad information.
The body needs carbs, plain and simple. They are the fuel for the fire to keep you alive, functioning – the energy that keeps you going through the day. The practice I’m going to preach today is a simple carb-cutoff. The philosophy behind carb-cutoffs is easy, you only need carbs when you will be expending energy. The best idea with carbs is have complex carbohydrates early in the morning, lunch, and an hour or two before a workout. That’s the only time the body truly benefits, and utilizes carbohydrates.
When a person is asleep their body uses energy, but very little. Many people like to snack on sugary goods, chips, cereal, and other carb-rich items before bedtime. This is the single most destructive force to any diet or weight loss regimen. To consume a large amount of energy, when the body will expend very little.
So how does someone defend against this force that works against us? Simple, select a time that fits a person’s lifestyle when they can start cutting off carbs. This doesn’t mean that they cannot eat ANY carbs after that specific time, but should try to keep carbs to a minimum. I’ve always liked to cut off carbs around 4 hours before I’ll be asleep, so if I went to bed at 11PM I would stop consuming carbs around 7PM. This gives the liver time to use the glucose that is in the blood, and not provide more energy when it won’t be used.
So what is the end result? Well, to sum all of this up – the body will have used most of the available glucose (or energy) in the liver within the 4 hours before bed, and when you go to bed the body will remain in an anabolic state (assuming protein is present, which is why cottage cheese is good before bed!) and will draw energy from fat stores, instead of what’s present in the liver!
But that’s not the biggest effect, the biggest contributor to a person’s failure is the body having so many carbs from a large snack before bed that the energy present in the body is not burned off, and stored as fat after they are sound asleep.
This article was written by IronGuru, a guest author on FatManUnleashed.com, with over 5 years experience in bodybuilding, fitness, nutrition, supplements and weight training. Stay tuned for more articles with tried and true methods for fat loss and training!
Hi, I also don’t advocate no carbs, but I do advocate “whole” carbs … oatmeal, sweet potatoes, potatoes, brown rice for example…no sugar, and I don’t add salt. At the same time, I don’t eat carbs at every meal, and I use portion control. If I’m going to work out, I up my carb portion as well as include fruit, and protein, of course.
It’s great to hear someone else speaking (in this case, blogging 😉 ) about the fact that your body does need carbs, thanks!
I eat brown rice once a week or once every two weeks. I also eat whole wheat pasta and bread when I eat those.
In the program I’m following right now, there are 5 days of low carbs and 5 days of low fat with in between one day with only proteins and one day of only carbs (from fruits)
It’s working so far, but I guess anything I’d have done instead of going on with my previous lifestyle would have worked equally.
As long as you made that conscience effort to positively change your life you will be fine. Keep it up man.
The strategy of not eating carbs when inactive is sound…
But your claim that the body needs carbs to survive is untrue. The body will create ketones to survive if carbs are unavailable. And no, your body won’t be thrown into some dark, sinister state of acidketodosis.
For example, researcher Vilhjalmur Stefansson documented how, up until about the beginning of the 19th century, the native Inuit people of Northern Canada would go as long as nine months on zero carbs and remained perfectly healthy. Read http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vilhjalmur_Stefansson for more info.
Just my .02.
Interesting. Thanks for the link.
Great post — I think it’s important for people to understand the “why” behind things, for me it’s adds motivation to stick with my healthy plan.
I’m glad you mention the body needs carbs too — about 10 years ago, after years of a friend of mine telling me to do Atkins, I finally did it – gained tons of weight — called Atkins office directly and they said EAT CARBS! Your metabolism shuts down without healthy carbs. So I went back to my friend and told her – she was shocked. Any way – the lesson is healthy carbs are fine, moderate lower carbing is fine – but don’t over do the protein and don’t go no carbs or low carb long term – it strains the kidneys and isn’t healthy.
I eat carbs. I make sure to practice portion control, as I do with anything I eat.
I may come across as a strong advocate of low-carb eating and that would not be entirely correct. However, I find the myths and misunderstanding surrounding the topic incredible.
Take the myth about kidney damage. Eating high (whatever that means) levels of protein is only a concern if you already have kidney damage, not if you are a healthy individual.
But don’t take my word for it…
Read what Dr. John Berardi, one of the best in the business, has to say…
http://www.t-nation.com/readArticle.do?id=459807
Hi Curtis, I like your site, thanks for stopping by and commenting.
Hi Israel,
Thanks for the compliment. I’m actually in the process of implementing a new theme I came across and have been flip-flopping between the old and new look.
I’d also like to say how I’ve enjoyed visiting your site and wish you well on your fat loss journey.
Feel free to stop by anytime.
No Problem. Cool new news-like theme. I am a visual person myself.
When creating a diet plan, it’s better to put all of the nutrients in it and make fruits and vegetables a main part of the plan.
Great tip on when to eat carbs. Most people don’t realize that you can eat high carb foods just don’t eat them before you go to sleep or lay on the couch. Best time to eat potatoes is right before a brisk walk or something.