Timing your Meals

Timing your carbohydrates and protein is a myth that refuses to go away. So, does it matter when you eat your carbs and protein?

To understand this, we need to dive a little bit into the essence of what it means to consume a carbohydrate or a protein.

The energy of food is measured in calories. One gram of carbohydrates and one gram of protein both contain four calories. So, if you ate the same amount of both, the calorific effect would be the same.

But food is a little more complex than that.

Another factor we need to consider is the satiety of the food. How full does it make you feel? In general, protein has a greater satiety as it takes longer to digest.

In the case of carbohydrates, the satiety will depend on what you ate. While bread has low satiety, but an green apple has higher satiety. Yes, both have carbohydrates.

If you take both calories and satiety into account, should we now time our food? 

Technically speaking, no. A calorie is a calorie. When you consume it will not matter.

But what does come into play is hunger. Imagine that you ate a fast-digesting white bread for breakfast. Humour me and imagine you did not eat anything else, not even butter.

The carbohydrate will digest quickly, leaving you hungry and wanting more.

Instead, if you had eaten the apple, you would have done much better.

So what should you do? 

If you don’t have professional help, eat moderate-sized meals. Don’t worry too much about timing your meals. Eat high-quality protein, fats, and carbohydrates. Try to include protein in every meal. That itself is all the effort you need to make.

If you try and time your food without knowing what you are doing and why, chances are you will end up eating more than you should or resorting to junk food.

 It would just mean a wasted effort and an unnecessary loss in the confidence that nutrition cures.

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