To Eat Carbs Or Not To Eat Carbs, That Is The Question

Q: I wanted to know your opinion on daily carb intake. I've been reading these books (Protein Power, Dr. Eades) and they seem to be very negative on any insulin in the system. I'm wondering what you think is the role of carbs especially for someone weight training.

A: We at GTS do Biosignature readings with a 10 site skin fold reading. Biosignature readings are the best non invasive way of finding out what's going on hormonally in the body.

The subscapularis and the suprailliac identify how carb tolerant you are. The subscap is a marker for genetic carb tolerance and cardiovascular disease (CVD). If you're not carb tolerant and yet there's a lot in your diet, your liver will increase triglycerides and thus increase your chances of CVD. The suprailliac is a environmental marker for carb tolerance. So even if your subscap reading is low (telling us you're carb tolerant), we still monitor your suprailliac to make sure you're not eating more carbs than you can metabolize.

Even if you're carb tolerant, we advocate carbs with a high phytonutrient (PN) value. So pop tarts and rice cakes are out. Some of my favorites are sweet potatoes, yams, quinoa, couscous, and brown rice. If you're carb tolerant, you should eat carbs at every meal or you won't achieve your leanest potential. If you're not, we typically only recommend them post workout and occasionally your last meal of the night to raise gaba and serotonin, which will help you relax and, therefore, improve your sleep quality. Keep in mind, how lean you are in the two mentioned sites would determine if and how much carbs you get. If an athlete's body fat is above 10mm, we have them consume glutamine and glycine with their post workout shake instead of carbs. This will replenish glycogen without spiking insulin. We only have athlete's spike insulin postworkout, and only if insulin is their friend. If your body fat is over 10%, insulin is not your friend.