Question
Eating carbs make me feel sick and tired and the carb source doesn’t matter. Tried coca-cola, maltodextrin, fruit, rice, oatmeal, potatoes, sweet potatoes and much more. Always the same result. I feel like crap. Why is that and can you give me a solution to the problem?
Answer
At the heart of the issue here, is whether one oxides carbs or fats well.
Along those lines, I would highly recommend some type of DNA testing looking at that. It’s inexpensive, gives you a wealth of knowledge and I’ve seen it really help people – including my wife. That same testing can also uncover any unknown food allergies, that may well be making you feel bad.
How, What & When
Be that as it may, the first things I’d want to know are how many carbs, what type, at what time and consumed with what else.
Generally speaking, big carb based meals are going to make you tired, weak and mentally foggy. Remember those two words though – “big” and “carb” as I’ll come back to them shortly.
For athletes then, eating like this before a workout is bad news. Some people will eat like this before bed in an effort to fall asleep easier, but all that does is under mind your biggest Growth Hormone output for the day, so that should be avoided as well.
If you’re going to consume carbs then, I’d recommend consuming them within the 90 minutes or so post workout. That, given the enzyme glycogen synthase should still be jumping, which preferentially stores carbs as glycogen in the muscle.
Eating Carbs By Themselves
But I would also ask this: Have you tried consuming carbs BY THEMSELVES?
Here’s why…
Ingesting 100g of carbs from say, brown rice yields just 400 calories. Ingest that same 100g of carbs though with protein, fats or other macros and its not uncommon for the caloric yield of that meal to jump to 1,000 calories or more.
This makes a BIG difference in how much insulin your pancreas squirts out, and consequently the carb coma that ensues for most people. Another strategy I’ll use during carb days is IF. Which is to say, I get almost all of my carbs for that day in a 4-6 hour window. As a result, I feel great while fasting and can get done whatever I need to during the day, then have my carbs later.
Another strategy you might want to try is one high carb meal every 3rd or 4th day. That might suit you much better than longer carb re-feeds. It’s still a form of carb loading (more so reloading), although it was Vince Gironda’s and not Dr. DiPasquale’s idea.
For many people that can’t tolerate longer periods of carbs, shorter re-feed windows work well.
Finally, you may want to try 2-3 grams of L-Tyrosine an hour or so prior to your carb meals. Giving Tyrosine a head start over the resulting high tryptophan levels seen with a big carb meal should help.
Hope that helps!
