Carbs in the a.m.

[SoulJourner]

Aajonus mentioned at a recent talk that carbs shouldn't be eaten until 6 hours after getting up, at which point all the glycogen has been made for the day from pyruvate.  I'm not sure why this is important - and why glycogen made from glucose isn't ok - does anyone have an answer for that?  Also, he recommends a coffee substitute in his book made with hot water, 2-5tbs honey, and 1/2 lemon +/- vanilla extract, and since most people drink coffee in the a.m., I'm wondering how this squares with the first recommendation and would be interested in any thoughts about this.

[KD]

Its a good question. I don't know what the answer is or the science behind this (if there is at all any) but pretty sure when he says 'carbs' he isn't speaking of honey...since I believe honey is involved in just about every meal/thing including juices which also wouldn't be 'carbs' and are recommended first thing. Some people might be more versed then myself however.

[Hannibal]

AFAIK people who are very sensitive to carbs, esp. simple ones, feel rather out of sorts after eating them as the first meal in the a.m.
They feel the best when they eat them in the evening, as the last meal.
But I feel very good when I start my day with some fruits, usually at 10-12 a.m. After 1-2 hourse after them meat and fat goes.

[thumas]

Where did he hint it ?

[Löwenherz]

Aajonus mentioned at a recent talk that carbs shouldn't be eaten until 6 hours after getting up, at which point all the glycogen has been made for the day from pyruvate.  I'm not sure why this is important - and why glycogen made from glucose isn't ok - does anyone have an answer for that?  Also, he recommends a coffee substitute in his book made with hot water, 2-5tbs honey, and 1/2 lemon +/- vanilla extract, and since most people drink coffee in the a.m., I'm wondering how this squares with the first recommendation and would be interested in any thoughts about this.

From my own experience, YES, Aajonus is right.

I never eat fruit before 11 or 12 am any more. Otherwise I feel cold and sluggish.

[michaelwh]

Aajonus mentioned at a recent talk that carbs shouldn't be eaten until 6 hours after getting up, at which point all the glycogen has been made for the day from pyruvate.

Such a broad and general statement cannot possibly be always true. The body's production and utilization of glycogen will depend very much on the amount and type of physical activity that you do.

For example, suppose you do some hard exercise 7 hours after you wake up. You deplete all your glycogen stores in the process. Then after the next meal, your body is going to start replenishing that glycogen!

I'm not sure why this is important - and why glycogen made from glucose isn't ok - does anyone have an answer for that?

The reason probably is that meat->pyruvate->glucose->glycogen is a much slower and steadier process than fruit->glucose->glycogen. A zero-carber would certainly agree with this.

Also, he recommends a coffee substitute in his book made with hot water, 2-5tbs honey, and 1/2 lemon +/- vanilla extract, and since most people drink coffee in the a.m., I'm wondering how this squares with the first recommendation and would be interested in any thoughts about this.

As for unheated honey, Aajonus says that only 10% of it acts like a carbohydrate. I don't know what to make of this. I wonder how he came up with it. Maybe he did blood glucose tests and found that the height of an "unheated honey sugar spike" was only 10% of the height of a "heated honey sugar spike"?

[actionhero]

Until recently I always had fruit as my first meal in the morning. I would have to eat anywhere between 600-1000 cal to feel like I had a good meal. Now I drink 1 liter of raw milk as my first meal and then have fruit some 4 hours later. If I do it this way I have no desire to eat more than 200 cal fruit but feel more energy than when I used to have a large fruit meal. So the lower & later my fruit intake the more energy I seem to have. Just an observation I wanted to share.

[klowcarb]

I find it easy to just not eat carbs all day.