There is a time to eat carbs!
OK, so let's not go crazy Y'all I am not saying to put carbs back into your diet, well...not really anyway.
If you are a typical WLS patient and you have returned to full foods then you have a budget of probably somewhere around 40 carbs. Carbs come in several different forms and we can debate the whole slow carb versus fast carb thing if you like but I am telling you there is a smart way to utilize your budget of 40 carbs per day versus spreading them across your entire day. ESPECIALLY if those carbs that you are going to eat are fast carbs (white/sugar/fruit). First I NEVER recommend that you eat a refined sugar...EVER! So if you are thinking "whatever he says next, my carbs are going to be cookies", no that's not it.
So if you are going to use your carb budget wisely the best time to use your carbs is right after a workout or strenuous exercise. So let's say for example you drink a protein shake and head to the gym and knock out a workout. When you get home eat some more protein and use up to half of your carb budget int that post-workout meal and her is why. When you consume carbs your body produces insulin. We know that insulin tells our bodies to store fat, so your post-workout meal MUST be low fat (with a few exceptions) and high in protein and carbs. What happens when you have an insulin spike with protein is the insulin (being an anabolic hormone) carries or shuttles the protein into your muscles giving your muscles the food they need to get stronger (for women) and grow (for men). We know bigger/stronger muscles means more calories burned at rest. Now an insulin spike can take 2 to 4 hours to return to normal levels so no more carbs during that time and no saturated fats (except coconut oil) during that time. Polyunsaturated and monounsaturated fats are fine. Protein is always fine. Your body will not convert protein to body fat, particularly at the amount of food a post-op patient can eat.
A typical pre/post workout meal for me looks like:
Pre-workout (30-60 mins prior)
1 Scoop of hydrolyzed whey protein powder (Dymatize ISO-100 Gourmet Chocolate is my favorite) with 1 cup of unsweetened vanilla almond milk) along with a pre-workout supplement or fat burner
Post-workout (within 30 mins of working out)
1 organic brown rice cake, 1-2 tbsp all natural chunky peanut butter, 1 small banana sliced on top of the peanut butter
lately I have also been eating a protein bar (Quest Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough) along with this for the extra protein as I am trying to gain muscle weight
The rest of my day is all protein and green veg and as low carb as I can get it with a moderate amount of fats from nuts and coconut oil.
Before bed I will consume some slow digesting protein like casein to keep my muscles stocked with protein for up to 8 hours.
So that is another potential debate but I have been using full blown peanut butter for most of my weight loss and I have not had any issue with it. The ratio of saturated to unsaturated fat is about 1:4 so you are not getting a lot of the fat your body is likely to store as body fat, so let's say 6 grams of or 36 calories gets stored but your body takes the 40 g (160 calories) of protein and goes to town fixing muscles, is there a benefit? Definitely. The other thing about fats is that there is a lot of new research that shows our bodies at certain times are ready to use certain fats for fuel. So in the times that I am eating low carb, I eat high fat, healthy fats, but higher fat. I do not have problems with fatigue. In times when I am eating carbs (post-workout or cheat day) I always eat low fat. If you eat carbs and fat, your body is just going to store it all and not do anything beneficial.
Casein is a slow digesting protein found in milk products, yogurt, and cottage cheese. You can also buy casein protein powder. It digests slowly and provides muscles with a steady stream of protein, particularly when you are sleeping where your body is likely to turn to muscle for its protein needs. Given the amount of food we can consume we do not really get enough protein to sustain us through the night. I will warn you casein powder can be hard on your stomach so I would not go crazy with it.
