Eating Carbs Before Bed - Gaining Mass Article

[gymBum]

what should i eat before bed? why not carbs? (As said in the gaining mass article)

Thanks
David

[IamFat187]

Eating Carbohydrates before bedtime causes your body to have decreased production of the hormone that rebuilds your muscles during sleep.

http://www.healthcrazed.com/articles/get-fit-plan.htm

The thing is though there are SOOOO many theories to why not or why to eat carbs before bed. I personally never do. I will have cottage cheese(about 4g lactose) and 2 tbs peanutbutter. Works great for me.
Some sources state that people can eat carbs because you burn a lot of calories when sleeping(~600-660) and so its ok to eat carbs, and some sources state that eating carbs is going to increase your Body Fat just because you aren't burning them for energy in the night.
I just go by what the source I posted states, plus I haven't lost any gains over the years I haven't been eating carbs before bed so I just stick to it.

[Largeman250]

Really, if you eat anything before bed. It should be some type of casienate protein and as little fat and carbs as possible, unless your ectomorphic OR trying to put weight on. The reason I suggest that specific protein is the fact that it takes longer for your body to digest and staves off catabolisim while your sleeping providing a steady flow of BCAA's to your muscles for repair of the damage caused by training.

[Chris]

I think it's important to understand that not all carbs are created equal. Different kinds of carbs can be best utilized if you understand their effect on the body. All foods are ranked on what called the Glycemic Index, or GI, which basically refers to how quickly and how much they raise your blood sugar level. Foods with a high GI are broken down quickly and raise blood sugar levels rapidly. These are usually starchy carbs like white rice, potatoes, some pastas, sugary cereals, certain fruits ect. This foods give you a quick spike in blood sugar, ie energy, then followed by a decrease.

Foods with lower GI levels are absorbed much slower, these are foods like meats, many vegetables, especially greens, many legumes, dairy products, ect. Each has a purpose. Post workout is a time when you want to resore energy levels that have been spent from intense training. You want small, frequent meals of high GI carbs, and protein sources. Later in the day, like before bed is when you want lower GI foods to give you a more constant slower absorbing energy supply to your body as you will be fasting while you sleep. This use of carbs gives your body a constant energy supply instead of having peaks & valleys that many people do by consuming large meals, but spaced out far apart in the day.

Sorry, for the long anwser to a seemingly simple question. So before bed, carbs are ok, but opt for lower GI carbs. To learn more about what foods have what GI, you can always search on google for Glycemic Index or a good book is the Nutritional Almanac.

[gpowlftr]

I always eat cottage cheese before bed. It's a caseinate protein and a low glycemic carb, plus doesn't have all the sugar that milk and yogurt contain.

[ryuage]

thats all fine and dandy, but the gi index goes out the window assuming you eat something besides carbs. Combining carbs with fat or protein will already change the glycemic response of the carb in question. In the end, is carbs ok before bed? sure... does it fit your calorie requirements whether you are cutting or bulking is the question you should ask yourself.

[gmMonkey]

nice lil forum here

ok here's my throw for the team...

if you want to replenish glycogen stores, ya need carbs, sure if ya consuming more than ya coloric fair share, its likely to be stored, and what does our clever body store it as?.. fat.. but if you are bulking more cals are better than less. so carbs are fine in my opinion if growth and recovery are goals in mind.

GI carbs... if ya wanna get ya body storing and making use of the nutrients ya put into it, ya have to make use of growth hormone, released mostly in stages 3 and 4 or ya sleep, now to help and make better use of that GH release ya need insulin... in the same way and for the same reasons bodybuilders will go on insulin when on HGH. So if you create an insulin spike by eating the correct GI carbs at the right time.... your GH release will coincide with the insulin spike and make for better muscle growth and repair. That theory would lend itself to eating carbs before bed.

to be fair im tired and just thought id chuck in some ideas.
and on that not g'night!

[Angela]

As far as possible, try and avoide eating carb before going to bed.

Angela

[kingkole02]

Originally Posted by gymBum

what should i eat before bed? why not carbs? (As said in the gaining mass article)

Thanks
David

Be leery of articles you are reading. IF your looking to gain alot of weight, then follow this routine.

I'm an endomorph with 14% approx body fat that I diet and train hard to maintain. I can practice weight training and running 3 days or each a week for total of 6 days a week and only drop to 12% body fat. No matter what I eat or how I train I keep the fat on. So in my experience, I decided to add muscle. That has been the biggest turning point period.

I don't eat like a retard either. Little to no fat possible, besides peanut butter and some oils. Super lean meat, no red. Only complex carbs in little amounts. 1 protein shake a day, not 2 not 3, thats just stupid unless you want to gain alot of unnecessary weight.

Practicing this routine has allowed me to size up my weights by 5-10 lbs in all areas in little over 2 weeks. If I wanted to get fat, then I would eat protein shakes like crazy and keep all that as fat, not muscle.