Growing up, we always had a bag of chocolate chips in the kitchen. Every night before bed, I would reach into the bag, take two big handfuls, and eat them. It’s a modern miracle I didn’t turn into a chocolate chip by the time I left for college.

I wish I knew then what I know now: my chocolate chip snack wasn’t unhealthy just because of what I was eating but also when I was eating it.

Carbs and sugar are a part of most of our lives. It’s true that moderating them is important (we’ll talk all about keto in another newsletter). But, did you know that using carb timing is also a powerful way to improve your health?

Read on to learn how to make this hack work for you.

Our ability to process carbs and maintain healthy blood sugar is highest in the morning and lowest at night. This makes sense when you think about the body’s internal clock, which is designed for us to consume food when we’re awake but not when we’re asleep. 

In addition, lack of movement when we’re asleep causes high blood sugar to stay high longer and then be converted into fat. Eating a big meal and then sleeping is an actual strategy sumo wrestlers use to gain weight. (As a child spending summers in Japan I dreamed of being a champion sumo but that is no longer a goal of mine.)

The takeaway:

Decreased carb tolerance plus lack of movement means a meal or snack that might have been reasonable during the day is much more likely to trigger a blood sugar roller-coaster when eaten in the evening.

What’s the harm?

In the research, eating carbs before bed has been linked to disrupted sleep, weight gain, inflammation, elevated levels of the stress hormone cortisol, and high blood sugar during the night and the next day.

Minimize carbs in the evening when your body is most vulnerable

Try to eat high-carb foods early in the day (if at all). Focus on protein, healthy fats, and fiber (primarily from vegetables) to keep your blood sugar stable and reduce cravings in the evening.

Here’s how I stay low-carb when I want an evening snack:

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Here’s to a week of good snacks and great timing,

Dr. Kelley-Chew
@drkelleychew

I’m a Stanford and Penn-trained MD and health tech founder with over a decade working on health optimization in Silicon Valley. Biohacking for the Rest of Us is my answer to medical elitism – I want all people to have access to cutting-edge science that can dramatically improve their health.

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