The Carbohydrate Tipping Point Carbohydrates impact hormones differently in each person. Establishing your burner type is just a starting point to help you understand how to use food to send signals to your body to burn fat. This is different for everyone too; one mixed burner will not have the same needs as the next. Becoming your own nutrition detective will give you the freedom to use carbohydrates to balance and sustain your ideal body shape.

The smart use of carbohydrates is one of the most important concepts in fat loss and body change. Smart manipulation of hormones allows for two of the most critical aspects of fat loss: the right amount of calories and balanced insulin. Notice that it’s not “lower” calories and “lower” insulin, but the “right amount” and this again is different for everyone. One of the most common mistakes made is the “lower is better” mantra. This is especially true of carbohydrates.  However, cutting carbohydrates or calories too low can cause a slowed metabolic rate, insatiable hunger, uncontrollable cravings, unbalanced energy, a lack of energy for workouts, changes in mood, and most importantly a loss of muscle. It is no wonder that most diets rely so heavily on willpower. The solution is not to make the mistake of assuming lower is better, but rather to find the right tipping point (the amount of carbohydrates or calories that is low enough to initiate fat loss, but high enough to maintain energy, reduce cravings, and blunt hunger). The “carbohydrate tipping point” is individual, it needs to be adjustable, and when used correctly is a reliable and reproducible way to help people find their fat loss formula (the unique mix of diet, exercise and lifestyle factors to generate fat loss and eventually sustain your ideal shape).

Adjusting to the tipping point Your carbohydrate tipping point is the amount of starch/sugar you can eat to supply energy for tough workouts, but not over produce insulin, and to engage fat burning. Finding this spot is important. The burner types are simply a blueprint and in no way can represent every person. However, knowing your type can take much of the guesswork and trial and error out of this process. We are all uniquely different and require a unique blend of macronutrients. Here is how you can find your tipping point:

1) Know your burner type and start with that. Using the burner plate specific to your burner type is an easy way to control carbohydrate intake based on bites. Monitoring your HEC, hunger, energy, and cravings are the key to knowing your carbohydrate tipping point.  These biofeedback measures need to be balanced, otherwise there is no way you can sustain any body change effort. For fat loss, dropping carbohydrate intake to 100g total for the day is a good starting point. From that beginning point you can increase or decrease your intake based on two measures: fat loss results AND monitoring of hunger, energy, and cravings. Paying close attention to these two measures helps you quickly dial in on your carbohydrate tipping point.

2) Again, pay close attention to your body’s hormonal feedback mechanisms.  These include hunger, energy levels and cravings but also include mood, motivation, digestion, focus and sleep. The proper response should be no hunger between major meals, no cravings, and increased energy. You should also feel motivated and focused without anxiety and depression. Gas and bloating should not be present and sleep should normalise. Don’t make the mistake of assuming these symptoms are not related to food intake. Getting your carbohydrate tipping point correct will balance metabolic function. Get it wrong and your body will let you know. Use these

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symptoms to monitor the mix of energy you put in your body.  Remember carbohydrates don’t work alone. Your protein, fibre and fat intake will need to be regulated as well.

3) If hunger, energy and cravings are stable you can be assured you have things balanced, but you will need to monitor fat loss.  If all the biofeedback sensations are stable AND you are losing fat, you have found your carbohydrate tipping point. All you need to do now is stay there. Do not make the mistake of trying to cut carbohydrates further to speed things up.  Doing so will sacrifice your energy and make your fat loss results unsustainable. Besides, one thing many forget is that insulin, while it does increase fat storing, also increases muscle building. Insulin in the right carbohydrate balance with plenty of protein and quality exercise will help build muscle and do little to hinder fat burning.  This is the best of both worlds.

The AIM process in module 3 is there to help you find your tipping point.

The Carbohydrate Tipping Point has three primary parameters: the amount of carbohydrate, the type of carbohydrate and the timing of carbohydrates.

The Amount of Carbohydrate For fat loss, each person needs to find the right amount of carbohydrates that will deliver sustained energy but not slow fat loss. This is different for everyone. It is important to learn to think in terms of bites since in today’s fast paced society people often eat on the go and don’t carry around weighing scales. They also do not eat all of their food out of boxes that contain labels with clearly marked grams of carbohydrates. Using the bites method allows for a quick and adjustable means to manipulate the amount of carbohydrate intake. Think of one bite as approximately the size of a tablespoon and equal to roughly 5g of carbohydrates. Eat no more than your recommended bites of carbohydrates, the starch eaten exclusively at dinner in this plan. This can then be adjusted up or down based on your fat loss results as well as your responses to hunger, energy and cravings. This is an individual process that needs to be approached with the mindset of a detective.

The Type of Carbohydrate The type of carbohydrate integrates with the amount of carbohydrate. The more favourable carbohydrates are consumed in greater amounts of bites and those bites can be bigger. The more detrimental carbohydrates are

consumed in fewer bites and should be smaller. As an example, if you are eating white rice have the lower amount of bites, but if you are eating brown rice you can eat a greater amount of bites. The types of carbohydrates have much to do with how fast the carbohydrate will raise blood sugar (glycemic index and glycemic load) and the allergy producing potential of the carbohydrate.

In a fat loss lifestyle the carbohydrates with the highest fibre relative to sugar/starch are basically eaten in unlimited amounts (for most burner types). These include non-starchy vegetables and low sugar fruits (berries, apples, pears). But the starchy carbohydrates and sweet carbohydrates have to be managed tightly. These include

white grains, whole grains, beans, and other carbohydrates. This is often a point of confusion for people as they have heard that the  “healthiest carbohydrates” are whole grains and beans because of their high fibre content.

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These carbohydrates ARE high fibre, but they are also much higher in starch/sugar and therefore are not as beneficial. This is an essential insight to the carbohydrate tipping point.

White grains have nothing but starch/sugar with little fibre. Whole grains and beans have more fibre and less starch, but they are still over 70% starch. They may be healthy, but they are not the best for fat loss. Vegetables and fruits (best to stick with the less sweet ones) may have less fibre than whole grains and beans, but they have far less starch/sugar and also much higher water content. This means they have a low glycemic load and make for great fat loss foods. The graph below demonstrates this point. The only truly freely eaten carbohydrates are non-starchy vegetables and low sweet fruits (even fruits can be an issue for some). All others carbohydrates should be consumed as bites.

Another consideration for carbohydrate type is their allergy producing potential. The term allergy refers really to food sensitivities and not a true allergy. All grains and beans are usually avoided in the fat loss lifestyle due to their concentration of gluten, lectins, and saponins, which can create negative consequences for the immune system and fat loss. The cleaner carbohydrates include rice, oats, potatoes, including sweet potatoes, and high glucose fruits such as bananas, pineapple and grapes.

The Timing of Carbohydrates By "the timing of carbohydrates” we mean the best time of day that you should consume them and this involves using them to control your hunger rhythms and fuel partitioning. A high carbohydrate meal induces an insulin response, which has been shown to adjust the leptin rhythm determining how hungry we feel from one day to the next. For some, having carbohydrates at each meal is still too much to allow fat loss. In this case it is helpful to reduce carbohydrates further and focus the entire carbohydrate intake at specific times. Eating all your carbohydrates at breakfast can help allay hunger at night. Eating all your carbohydrates at night can help allay hunger in the morning. A carbohydrate load at night also helps sleep by dampening the stress hormone response many insomniacs experience. This leads to faster times falling asleep and less waking at night.

Another great time to include a higher carbohydrate load is post workout. Because exercise makes us uniquely carbohydrate sensitive, especially weight training, carbohydrates taken post workout will be partitioned to liver and muscle glycogen stores first and aid muscle building before they are stored away as fat. This means higher

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loads of carbohydrate as well as higher glycemic index carbohydrates can be better tolerated at this point if desired. However, this still has to be viewed in context. There is a fine line between maximising glycogen storage for performance compared to controlling carbohydrate amounts for fat loss.

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