Eat like a caveman, use carbs like a delivery man

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Caveman or Paleo eating is primarily Meat and Plants, roughly speaking whatever could be hunted or gathered. A brilliant rule of thumb for anyone is to eat vegetables and meat, good fats, some fruit, a little starch and no sugar. But when the demands of the body elevate through exercise, then carbohydrates should be used like a fuel. I got this advice from a great article by Nate Miyaki here.
The nuts and bolts are to eat paleo food day to day and when your at rest. When you train or increase your activity levels sufficiently, start to replenish your energy with carbohydrates from whole sources, so complex carbs like rice and sweet potatoes. Personally, I've found Bread and pasta to be ok in moderation, but not the go to carbohydrate, definitely not. I feel if it requires a process other than cooking to take it from its natural state to edible than it should be eaten sparingly for sure. Sugar to be eaten very moderately, it has absolutely no value.
Another good article to support using carbohydrates as a tool, is Charles Poliquin’s article here.
Poliquin says that Carbs should be deserved, and there are some people which deserve “ten licks of a dried prune every 6 months” 😂 I believe they would know who they are. Interestingly he says there are people which can get lean from eating high carbohydrate diets, but unanimously you look at their blood work and they have high levels of inflammation and many risk factors, so appearance isn’t everything! I’ve always believed that there is no free lunch (as much as I’ve searched for it), because there are tangible effects to these things. Just because someone doesn’t get a hangover it doesn’t mean to say the alcohol hasn’t done any damage; and people who appear like they can eat anything and not gain weight are actually doing tangible damage on the inside. Their bodywork may well look trim, but they've got the engine of a fifties lawnmower.
I’ve found the best result in my own nutrition to be saving the carbs until the end of the day, around 4pm onwards. They help me wind down and get a good nights sleep, if i’ve eaten next to nothing and go to bed hungry I will for sure sleep badly and it often take ages to get to sleep, conversely if I eat a lot in the day I feel sluggish. If I have carbs in the morning I tend to find my concentration is lower than if I have a protein and fat meal, or a fast. If I am doing an intermittent fast for that day and I break it with carbs I will feel quite bloated and possibly tired, but again meat veggies and fats I’m all good. Carbs after training any time of the day always work for me, they will provide instant replenishment and begin muscle recovery and as long as I didn't have a massive meal, my energy levels stay pretty good.
For me, breaking down my food into grams and macros, weighing stuff and being conscious always of what I was intaking wasn't sustainable, and it promotes the wrong messages. Food consumption shoulder mindful and intrinsic, know when your full ask yourself have you earnt the carbs your about to chow down or would the fish and roasted veggies suffice. Now I view my carbohydrates like a deliveryman views the petrol station, I don't fill up if I don't have any deliveries, on a half tank I would get a fair amount done, and I wouldn't expect to travel back from the highlands if I haven't filled up after the journey up there!
If we kept filling up and not burning it off then there would always be an excess of it. The only difference being, excess fuel in a car can always be burnt off eventually, but if there is always a surplus of carbohydrate or glucose, in the body it will become harder and harder for the body to burn it! Not to scare, but a surplus of glucose over time leads to insulin resistance, there's a good article on that here.