Nutrient timing is quite the hot topic in human performance, body building, and health related “wellness” advice tossed around these days. Understanding physiology and nutrition is a start, but what about those who simply want to know about simple and effective guidelines to follow? We will try to cover a bit of both in this article, and answer some of those questions as we go along.
“Whatever you eat after 8 P.M. will just be stored as fat”.
Have you heard this before? Have you been told that eating late is what is contributing to your health and wellness roadblocks? Unfortunately this kind of “fix” is not only misguided and misleading, it simply is not true. The body does not change how it processes calories — “carbs” included — based on where the minute hand is on the clock. We are operating sophisticated machines that know how to dispose of calories no matter the time of day or night. There can be many beneficial reasons to eating later in the evening — including stimulating protein synthesis.
The biggest factor in reaching your body composition and recovery goals is controlling dietary intake — i.e. over-all caloric consumption, not necessarily timing. Timing is a consideration throughout the day, yes, including important intervals such as pre/post-workout, but the keystone for all these details is still, simply, total daily caloric intake.