This is from author Chris “The Kiwi”, founder of Athletic Greens. This guy is a trained nutritionist who practices what he preaches.
You Exercise, You Are Lean – But That Does That Mean You Can Eat Whatever You Want? It Depends
Hey mate,
I hope this finds you better than ever. By the end of this long post, you will have a pretty good idea how to answer the following questions:
When should you begin to introduce carbohydrates post workout?
When should you reintroduce a carbohydrate RE FEEDING day?
When should you move off of Food for Fat Loss and alter total protein, fat, and carb ratios to a much higher carbohydrate intake on a daily basis?
You should also understand the following:
Insulin Resistance and what that means for carbohydrate intake
Training demands and what that means for carbohydrate intake
These are important questions that are all going to have an influence on how you feel, how you perform and on how good you can ever look naked, as such there is going to be a fair bit of background.
Let’s get to it.
The fundamental idea behind the Food for Fat Loss Protocol is simple; use a food quality approach tacked to an enforced macro nutrient ratio that will get about 95% of the population moving dramatically in the right direction health-wise and for fat loss.
By MACRO nutrient ratios I am referring to how much protein, fat, and carbohydrate you are eating as ratios in your daily food consumption.
The Food for Fat Loss protocol enforces a macro nutrient profile that is low in carbohydrate, moderate in protein, and moderate to high in fat.
Whether you are FAT OR NOT, whether you think you are insulin resistant or not, most people do great if they get in there and give it a shot.
30 days. Pure. Clean. Simple. One month of Food for Fat Loss. A food quality based, low carb protocol to jumpstart your body back into health, and kick of some serious fat loss, while giving your body an insulin “reset”. Volume of training may need to be pulled way back for the highly active, especially when starting out. Most people are pretty darn insulin resistant, and even when not, the “insulin reset” plus food quality focus can work wonders. As a plus to rocking out the low carb high food quality approach, you tend to greatly assist DIGESTIVE health by making life easy for your gut lining, while making life pretty hard for bad bacteria.
SIGH – Food for Fat Loss, a thing of beauty
As a one size fits (nearly) all approach, it is a ripper.
Lets take a step back and think on some eating rules for a minute.
The Kiwi’s Rules for ALL eating.
EAT for nutrient density
EAT to minimize systemic inflammation
EAT to improve gut absorption of nutrients and support a healthy GI system
EAT for a positive hormonal response
EAT to support your body’s own immune system – host resistance IS key
EAT a macro nutrient profile that lends itself to improved body composition and less disease
EAT sufficient quantity of quality food to deliver your body its macro and micro nutrient requirements
DO NOT EAT anti-nutrients
DO NOT EAT toxins or any foods that harm you
Note these two here particularly, since even more than the others they dictate MACRO nutrient ratios:
EAT a macro nutrient profile that lends itself to improved body composition and less disease
EAT for a positive hormonal response
When we talk macro nutrient ratios, we are always always always (say, “always”) talking about protein, carbs, and fat from food quality “clean” sources.
Ultimately it is FOOD QUALITY plus lifestyle choices that matter ahead of pretty much all else. Eat first to heal your gut and to reduce systemic inflammation, get your body as far out of complete metabolic disorder (disaster) as you can (this means low carb for the majority of people, at least for a period), then just eat with food quality as your foremost priority for the rest of your now healthy and energetic life. You will do great.
What is food quality? One that ticks the boxes on those rules for all eating! This means real food.
Real food quality = Meat, fish, fowl, eggs, veges, fruit, tubers, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices and for some people, a little bit of white rice, a little bit of full fat dairy such as cheese and butter to tolerance.
Too easy!
But what, you ask, does this mean to YOU?
This is a post about how and when to introduce CLEAN carbohydrates back into your eating pattern. It is not about cheat meals.
Food quality first, nutrition rules first. (Say “always” again).
All that is left is adjusting the fuel mixture and timing of macro nutrients depending on individual goals, exercise type and level, existing health conditions and your own lifestyle, and considering the timing of those nutrients depending on your own individual goals, exercise type and level, existing health conditions and your own lifestyle.
Who are YOU on the insulin resistant spectrum? Where are you at in terms of health? Are you after performance? Can you tolerate carbohydrate intake? Should you even care?
BIG Insulin Metabolism PARAGRAPH starts:
Those with superior genetics and superior insulin sensitivity, or whom have exercised a-plenty all their lives and are still exercising currently and therefore have superior insulin sensitivity, or have never really let themselves get out of whack metabolically through any of the contributing factors in this non-exhaustive list such as below…..
Things Other Than Food That Can Impact Insulin Sensitivity and Blood Glucose Levels
Lifestyle
Lifetime exercise level and type
Current exercise level and type
Gut integrity and gut health
Genetics
Fatty liver disease
Inflammation
Autoimmunity issues
Stress
In other words, those who are maintaining good blood sugar management and insulin sensitivity…..
……can get away with a higher carbohydrate intake.
The VERY IMPORTANT FLIP SIDE TO THIS.
If that is NOT YOU, then you CANNOT GET AWAY with a higher carbohydrate intake
BIG Insulin Metabolism PARAGRAPH ends.
Unfortunately, for many of us, we are so far gone towards the insulin resistant side of things that we may NEVER be able to eat a decent whack of carbohydrates on a regular basis without compromising our health and body composition.
All of us fall within the following spectrum, the important thing is for YOU to figure out where you are
Awesome Insulin Sensitivity ————————————————————————— Ugly Insulin Resistance
Despite a lifetime of hard training and continuous exercise, I am very much in the more “insulin resistant” camp.
This is a result of numerous factors, including but not limited to:
– Complete adrenal blowout from overtraining made worse by being coupled with stimulants at age 21
– Persistent sleep issues
– Serious viral infections in 2007 and 2008
– Unknown gluten intolerance ALL MY LIFE
– Compromised gut integrity for majority of adulthood
– Stress levels
As a result, I can only get away with a regular increased carbohydrate intake when
1. I am maintaining a reasonably high training volume (but not too much, a fine line which if I cross puts me into poor recovery status)
2. I am sleeping really well (remember that ONE night of poor sleep can impact insulin sensitivity!)
3. I am controlling my stress levels really well (cortisol impacts both blood sugar levels and insulin sensitivity)
4. I have one, two, and three above sorted, and as long as I eat any significant portion of carbohydrates POST WORKOUT ONLY.
If I don’t attend to 1-4 above then watch out! A round midsection promptly ensues – see pic of the last time I ignored this and played with it!
