Right time.
Limit all carbs to your evening or post-workout meal
For maximum fat loss you’ll want to eat your carbs with your dinner time meal OR post workout. In short, the reason we want to avoid carbs early in the day is that we are MOST sensitive to the hormone insulin in the morning. Even a slight rise in blood sugar will produce a larger insulin response in the morning because we’ve fasted overnight. The presence of insulin turns off our fat burning machinery so an exaggerated AM response puts us at a major fat-burning disadvantage for the day.
The other reason for avoiding carbs early in the day is that the hormone cortisol is highest in the morning. That’s just part of our normal sleep/wake cycle. Cortisol, a stress hormone, peaks in the morning to help us wake up. We always want to avoid spiking insulin when cortisol is naturally high, because cortisol exaggerates the fat-storing potential of insulin, especially around the abdomen.
So what should eat in the morning for fat-burning?
Right carbs. Choose unprocessed carbohydrates
Let’s first talk about the WRONG carbs for fat loss. You want to avoid the carbs that will send your blood sugar through the roof. You want to avoid the highly processed, chemical-laden kinds of of foods you get in boxes and bags. I’m talking chips, cookies, cakes, etc. If it is made in a factory, it is not the right carb for fat loss. It doesn’t mean you can never enjoy an Oreo, it just means that for optimal fat loss, you’ll want to choose healthier carbs MOST of the time. The more processed carbs are generally higher in sugar and starch and will have a more significant impact on blood sugar and insulin than whole food carbohydrates. Remember, the more you spike your insulin, the longer you stay out of fat-burning mode and the more likely you are to experience chronic hunger and carbohydrate cravings.
The carbs you want to emphasize are going to be those that are as close to their natural state as possible. Ideally, we’re talking about fruit (especially berries, apples or citrus fruit) and starchy vegetables. Starchy vegetables are things like potato, sweet potato and squash.
Right amount. Start by limiting your serving size to 1/2 cup and adjust up or down from there
That means 1/2 cup of sweet potato or 1/2 cup of berries – one carb limited to roughly 1/2 cup. If you’re cruising along and burning lots of fat, you can add a little more and monitor your results. On the flip side, if you aren’t getting the results you want, you can try scaling back to 1/4 cup and see how that goes. For me personally, I try to stay around 1/4 cup with my dinner time meal or post-workout (depending on the length and intensity of my workout) and that’s where I get the best results.
Right company. Pair carbohydrates with protein or fat
For optimal fat loss, never eat your carbs alone. Always pair your carbs with either fat or protein (or both). Why is this important? Because eating your carbs with either fat or protein will slow down the digestive process as fat and protein are more cumbersome to digest than carbohydrates. By slowing down the digestive process you slow the release of sugar into the bloodstream. What does that do? It requires less of an insulin response. This is one of the important ways we can enjoy carbs and still stay in fat burning mode!
