Why eating most of your carbohydrates early in the day is a bad idea

Nutrition is one of the most powerful time givers for controlling our mental energy (or autonomic arousal).

When you think about it systematically, you can pull three levers around drinking and eating: timing, quality and quantity. 

I’ve covered all things timing in my last two posts. First, when we ingest coffee can make or break our day – because it governs a fascinating dance between caffeine and the "sleepiness chemical” adenosine.

Second, intermittent fasting (IF) releases the "alertness chemical" epinephrine (aka adrenaline) while stabilizing our blood glucose. As a result, IF provides us with relatively high and stable levels of alertness, ideally early in the day.

Now, whenever we’re not fasting, the specific kinds and quantities of the food we ingest impact not only our health, but also our productivity.

As it turns out, eating most of your carbohydrates early in the day is a bad idea. To be alert throughout the day and drowsy in the evening, doing the opposite usually is a much better approach. Here’s why.

The dance between epinephrine and serotonin

Eating foods low in starchy carbohydrates – and richer in healthy protein and fat – provides us with relatively high and stable levels of mental energy. As with fasting, this works by releasing the "alertness chemical" epinephrine as well as by stabilizing our blood glucose levels.

Conversely, eating foods high in starchy carbohydrates brings down our mental energy by activating our parasympathetic nervous system (or "calmness system"). These foods contain a substance called tryptophan. Our body uses that substance to produce serotonin, a chemical associated with calm, drowsiness and sleep.

In a sense, serotonin is the antagonist to the "waking-up hormone” cortisol and the "alertness chemical" epinephrine. That's why you can think of it as the "calmness chemical".

In a nutshell, we can modulate our level of mental energy by eating specific kinds of foods – and staying away from others – during certain times of the day. Based on these findings, here are some guidelines for (not) eating around the clock.

What to eat when

In the morning and afternoon, eat for alertness. As starchy carbohydrates – think bread, rice or pasta – promote the production of the "calmness chemical" serotonin, try to limit your intake of these foods early in the day.

As I explained last week, skipping breakfast is an excellent way to pull that off. If you have breakfast, go for foods low in carbohydrates and rich in healthy protein and fat. Great breakfast options include everything made from eggs, cheese, or dairy. Think eggs with avocado, omelets with vegetables, or Greek yogurt with blueberries.

In any case, avoid the more common breakfast foods like white bread, cereal, and fruit juice. These contain processed carbohydrates, which are a sure way to set you up for the roller coaster ride in blood glucose and mental energy throughout the day.

For lunch, again go for meals rich in healthy protein (e.g., vegetables or chicken) and fat (e.g., nuts or salmon) to stay more alert in the afternoon instead of falling into a food coma. My favorite is an "energy bowl" with avocado, a mix of vegetables or salads, an egg, some wild salmon and a bit of olive oil. Tasty!

In the evening, eat for calmness. During that time of day, ingesting starchy carbohydrates is a good idea. While it might surprise you, this won't make you fat. Conversely, having a starchy dinner will set you up for both a good night’s sleep and for burning fat during the night – if you have it no later than three hours before bed.

Go Genius

More generally, eat foods that don’t contain unhealthy macronutrients (i.e., the “bad” sorts of carbohydrates, protein and fat) and instead provide your brain with the nutrients it needs to function well.

If that advice confuses you, don’t worry. There’s an excellent framework for identifying these foods. Laid out in the book Genius Foods by Max Lugavere, it's the most practical approach I’ve come across for picking foods that optimize your brain health and mental performance. 

The book’s premise is simple: To maximize your brain’s processing power and minimize its decline, build your diet around low-sugar plants and properly raised animal products.

Here are Lugavere's ten eponymous "Genius Foods" for pulling that off:1) Extra-virgin olive oil2) Avocados3) Blueberries4) Dark chocolate5) Eggs6) Grass-fed beef7) Dark leafy greens (e.g., spinach, kale, and arugula)8) Broccoli9) Wild salmon10) Almonds 

An even shorter version of that advice comes from author and activist Michael Pollan, who summarized his take on nutrition in seven words: "Eat food, not too much, mostly plants". Let's have a look at the second part of that triplet. 

Lastly, portion control

Eating too much of anything is not only bad for our health, but it also sinks our productivity. 

Throughout the day, doing so activates your calmness system and makes you feel sleepy and less alert (the “food coma”) – exactly when you would want the opposite. And during the evening, overeating prevents you from having a good night’s sleep.

Since portion control has long been my nemesis, here are three practices that I found to work best:

First, have plenty of healthy protein with each meal to blunt your appetite and make you feel full quicker. A good rule of thumb is going for 1g per kg of body weight per day. Many of the ten Genius Foods contain high amounts of protein, notably salmon, grass-fed beef and eggs. My favorite is Skyr, a Scandinavian dairy product loaded with protein. This article by WebMD includes many more protein-rich foods.

Second, eliminate processed carbohydrates – such as pastries, cookies, and cake – from your everyday diet, and resolve to have them on special occasions only. As a result, you'll naturally start to eat less. Also, try to go for complex instead of simple carbohydrates if you can – for example by having whole-grain instead of white bread. 

Third, pay attention to the order of food. Eat the salad and vegetables first, go for fish, meats and legumes second, and eat carbohydrates – bread, rice, pasta, potatoes and fruit – last. That will trigger a significantly smaller spike in your blood glucose levels, thus lowering your appetite. This is, by the way, one of the reasons why restaurants serve you bread before the actual meal – you'll end up wanting to eat and drink more.

TL;DR

In a nutshell, here’s how to optimize food types and quantity for mental energy:

1) When having breakfast or lunch, go for meals that are rich in protein and healthy fat and lower in carbohydrates – and have starchy carbohydrates for dinner instead.

2) "Go Genius" by building your diet around low-sugar plants and properly raised animal products, such as dark leafy greens, avocados, eggs, and wild salmon.

3) Ensure portion control by having 1g of protein per kilogram of body weight per day, staying away from processed and simple carbohydrates, and eating carbohydrates last.

Finally, it’s never about perfection. Most people (including myself) love their occasional treat, and that's great. You'll get most of the rewards if you follow these recommendations 80% of the time. 

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Until next week,
Christian