Transcription
I used to think carbs were the enemy until I learned how to hack them. Now I eat bread, rice, and potatoes without spiking insulin or storing fat. And the results are insane. This trick flips your metabolism into fat burning mode even after eating your favorite foods. If you're over 40 and miss carbs, this will change your life.
I want to start with a confession. For years, I thought the only way to lose fat was to cut out carbs completely. Bread gone. Rice off limits. Potatoes and fruit, forget it. And what happened? I was perfect for 10 days. Then on day 11, I'd fall face first into a giant bowl of rice, half a loaf of bread, and every craving I had been fighting. The binge would spike my glucose, blow up my insulin, and I'd gain about 3 to 5 lbs just overnight. Does that sound familiar to you?
What I didn't know back then is this. Carbs aren't the problem. Carb timing and carb pairing is the actual problem. Once I fixed that, everything changed. And today, I'm going to show you exactly how to eat carbs without spiking insulin or storing fat, even after you're over 40, and even if you're insulin resistant right now.
Let's talk physiology first. When you're younger, your muscle cells are insulin sensitive, meaning glucose slips right in. But after 40, muscle insulin sensitivity drops, liver fat increases, stress hormones rise, sleep gets disrupted, the mitochondria slow down. The result, the same bowl of rice now spikes your insulin two times higher than it did in your 20s. But here's the key. Your carb tolerance is not fixed. You can change how your body responds to carbs within minutes. And you could flatten your glucose curve without cutting out your favorite foods. And I'm going to show you exactly how.
This is one of the biggest lies in nutrition, and I've been guilty of saying this in the past, but here's the truth. Carbs do not automatically turn into fat. Here's what really happens. You consume carbs, it raises glucose, which is also blood sugar, in your bloodstream. Insulin rises, and then high insulin blocks fat burning. So, the problem isn't the carb, it's the spike. The spike is what triggers fat storage, drives cravings, destroys energy, causes belly fat, ages your skin, and damages your hormones. If we flatten the spike, everything changes. And we could flatten the spike using four metabolic levers you're about to learn.
I want you to envision an example of two plates. Plate one, we're going to categorize as the wrong way to eat carbs. On this plate, you're eating either the bread first, the rice first, the potatoes first. It has no protein, no fiber, no fat, and you're probably eating while stressed. This plate causes a big glucose spike, big insulin surge, crash 90 minutes later. Intense cravings, and fat storage mode has been activated.
Now, let's compare plate one to plate two, which we'll call the smart carb plate. This is the fix, the solution. Okay, imagine this second plate here. You're eating protein first, vegetables or fiber first, healthy fat is added, vinegar or lemon beforehand, and your carbs are the last bite on this plate. And then after the meal, you do postmeal movement. When you do it this way, this causes a 30 to 70% less glucose spike, lower insulin response, better satiety, better sleep, and better fat burning overnight. You see, when you sequence food correctly, you literally change the hormonal outcome of the meal. And these four levers give you all of the control.
This is the part that changes lives. Okay. Lever one, fiber first. This is the single fastest way to flatten your glucose spike. Before touching your carbs, eat a cup of greens, a handful of arugula, a small salad, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, sauerkraut, pickles. Why? Because fiber forms a gel-like matrix in your digestive tract. This slows down glucose absorption, gastric emptying, and the insulin response. It literally creates a mesh that blocks glucose from rushing into the bloodstream. The result, 30 to 40% lower glucose spike with the same meal.
Lever two, protein and fat before carbs. Protein tells your pancreas to chill out. Here's how. Protein stimulates a hormone called glucagon. It's insulin's counter hormone. Glucagon keeps blood sugar stable and prevents giant insulin surges. Adding protein and fat before carbs slows digestion. Lowers glycemic impact. Reduces cravings. Enhances muscle uptake of glucose. So, here's an example of these meals. Eat your eggs and steak before your potatoes. Eat your salmon before your rice. Eat your chicken before your bread. Add olive oil to your greens. Add avocado to anything. and add nuts and seeds to your salad. This makes a huge difference.
Lever three, apple cider vinegar or lemon water before carbs. Apple cider vinegar is not a gimmick. Just one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar in water 10 to 15 minutes before eating slows stomach emptying. Improves insulin sensitivity. Reduces the glucose response by 20 to 30. Sometimes I've seen studies that show 34% in diabetics. And it helps to shuttle glucose into muscle instead of fat. You can also use apple cider vinegar, white vinegar, red wine vinegar, and even lemon juice. It all works. It's one of the simplest hacks with the biggest payoff. Personally, I don't like the taste of apple cider vinegar, so I get the Paleo Valley apple cider vinegar complex. And I'll take three before a carbrich meal about 10 to 15 minutes before. It also contains other superfoods and uh amazing antioxidants that help with inflammation, digestion, and that postprandial glucose spike. If you go to the link in the notes down below, we have a link and a coupon code for you to get Paleo Valley's apple cider vinegar complex.
Which brings us to now lever four, the 10-minute postmeal walk. This one is mind-blowing. Walking for just 10 minutes after eating opens up your glute for transporters in your muscles. This pulls out glucose out of the bloodstream into your muscle cells. This lowers insulin, lowers glucose, boosts mitochondrial activity, and increases fat burning for hours. Think of muscle as a glucose sponge. The more you move, the more glucose your muscles soak up without insulin even needing to rise. This is why walking after pizza, bread, pasta, rice, potatoes, any carb dramatically reduces the metabolic impact. You can walk, do stairs, pace on a phone call, march in place, do slow air squats, do calf raises, do wall sits. Movement is medicine.
Now that you understand the four levers, let's discuss some more variables here. This is what I call the carb timing blueprint. Here's the timing strategy. When to eat carbs? earlier in the day, after workouts, after walking or movement, after a high protein meal, and as I mentioned, anytime for breakfast and lunch, when you are more insulin sensitive, when to avoid carbs, late at night, when stressed, when sleepdeprived, when sedentary all day, when inflamed or sick. Now, the best windows for carbohydrates, which I recommend to my students, are it's going to be during your eating window after your first protein-rich meal or after a strong workout, like a resistance training workout, after sunlight exposure, ideally in the morning, and before or after a walk. Look, you're not cutting carbs, per se. You're strategically placing them where your body can handle them.
Now, let's address the question all of you are thinking of and asking right now. Can I still eat my favorite foods, Ben? Uh, yes. But you still want to follow these rules. Fiber or protein first. Movement after. Here's an example. If you have like pizza night, eat a small salad or protein first. Add olive oil. Drink apple cider vinegar water. Eat your pizza last. Then go for a 10-minute walk. You will be shocked how flat your glucose stays after doing this.
Now, here's the three-step smart carb formula. Here's a memorable formula I want you to use forever. Step one, prep the body. 1 tsp of apple cider vinegar. Eight ounces of water. Protein first, fiber first. Add olive oil or avocado. Step two, eat carbs last. Your meal order should be in the following order. Protein number one, fiber number two, fat number three, carbs last. This alone changes everything. Step three, movement after always. Walk, stairs, stretching, cleaning, pacing. Just 10 minutes.
When you follow these steps, it's going to flatten your insulin curve, which improves cortisol, ghrein, the hunger hormone, ghrein, leptin, the fat burning satiety hormone. It's also going to improve thyroid hormones, estrogen balance, deep sleep, liver detox, belly fat reduction, inflammation, cravings, energy, and brain clarity. Look, when insulin stabilizes, everything improves. This is why you can even lose weight while eating carbs.
Now, before I address your questions, I'm curious. Which carb are you most excited to bring back? Bread, rice, potatoes? If you're watching on YouTube, comment down below and let me know. I'm going to address your questions here. Before I do, I want to give you a valuable resource. Look, if you've been busting your butt and not losing fat, your body isn't broken, your insulin is. I created a free 7-day protocol that shows you how to drop one pound of fat per day without counting a single calorie, starving yourself, or killing yourself with cardio. You'll learn the exact fasting schedule, food swaps, and fat burning tricks to finally unlock your stored fat naturally. This is the blueprint for metabolic freedom, not another gimmick. Click the first link in the description box right below, or if you're watching on YouTube, scan the QR code on the screen to get it now. Don't wait for the New Year's. Your reset starts today.
Now, let's get to your questions. Does the carbs last rule still work if I'm insulin resistant or pre-diabetic? The answer is yes. If you are insulin resistant or pre-diabetic and you choose to have carbs, all of the rules that we talked about today, including the carbs last rule is for you. With that being said, the more insulin resistant you are, the more pre-diabetic or diabetic you are, I recommend you lower your carbohydrates. Now, you could get away with a few, especially when you implement some of the tips here, but you know, from for a short period of time, you want to restrict carbohydrates to really force your body to lower insulin. Uh, I really believe that's still a game changer, low carbohydrate diets, keto, fasting, I'm still on board with all of that. And the more overweight, insulin resistant diabetic you are, the less carbs you should have. Now, if you have carbs, everything I talked about will also help you.
How long before the meal should I take apple cider vinegar or lemon water? 10 to 15 minutes right before your meals. Now, if you do it right before, no big deal. If you do it 30 minutes before, no big deal. But the ideal time is 10 to 15 minutes before your meal is when you want to have the lemon water or apple cider vinegar with water or the apple cider vinegar supplement that I mentioned.
What's the best type of vinegar or the exact dosage that works? If you're doing the liquid, you want to get organic, raw, unfiltered with the mother, one to two tablespoons with 8 ounces of water.
How much protein do I need to eat before the carbs for this to work? I would recommend at least 30 g of protein before your carbs to really maximize the benefits here. And there are apps where you could type in certain foods and it tells you how many grams of protein are in it. The one that I use is chronometer. It's a free app over at chronometer.com/toamp. We'll drop that link down below.
Can I still eat carbs at night if I walk afterward? I don't recommend carbs at night. You're just more insulin resistant at night time. But if you do have carbs at night, absolutely go for a walk afterward. It's best to have your carbohydrates for breakfast or lunch, not dinner.
Are certain carbs better for insulin control, like sourdough versus white bread or jasmine versus brown rice? You know, I've tested this on hundreds of students wearing different continuous glucose monitors, and it seems to be different for everyone. So, um, the answer is I don't know. You know, you might have jasmine rice and compare it versus brown rice and see a better response with jasmine rice and I and I might see a better response with brown rice. I really wouldn't get fixated on that per se, the nuances there. I would just follow the simple rules I gave you and don't worry about that other stuff.
Should I cool my rice or potatoes first to increase resistant starch? Yes, I wrote about this in my book, Keto Flex. Um, it does help to cool your your rice or potatoes and it makes it more resistant, which just to put things in in a different um a short little sentence that makes sense, it has less of a glucose and insulin impact when it becomes a resistant starch. And if you do white rice and cool it with uh coconut oil, that's delicious and it turns into a nice resistant starch.
What if I intermittent fast? When should I place my carbs in my eating window for your first meal of the day? So, if you have breakfast to break your intermittent fast, breakfast should be the high carb meal. If you have lunch as your first meal, lunch should be your high carb meal.
Should I eat carbs before or after my workout for the lowest insulin spike? Ooh, this is a good one. Okay, I recommend you for the lowest insulin spike, you have your carbs after your workout. You'll see the biggest benefit and you're going to really absorb like a sponge the glucose after that workout, especially when it's high intensity or strength training.
How long do I need to walk for after high carb meals like pizza or pasta? I said at least 10 minutes to make it simple, but if you really want to get the most benefits from that walk, especially when you have something heavy like pizza or pasta, it should be at least 30 a 30 minute walk right after the meal.
Can I combine all four hacks at once or is that overkill? You could do it all at once. I'm that type of person sometimes. Let's do them all. What to do premeal, during the meal, after the meal? Combine it all. Whatever works for you.
How long does it take for insulin sensitivity to improve doing this daily? You you're probably going to notice a difference within a first few days. I mean, for sure, the first day you do this, you will improve insulin sensitivity, but in terms of what you'll notice with energy and fat loss, that might take about a week. And then as you do this progressively, you'll see a huge difference within 30 days of doing this protocol. That's the protocol. I hope this is beneficial. Hey, please share this with somebody you know. Thank you for watching. Thank you for listening. And hey, if you love this lesson, you know you can actually slow down aging with a fat that I want you to consume every day. I brought on a researcher to break down this amazing fat. You got to watch this brand new episode I just published. Here's a clip from that video and then click the video on the screen and I'll see you in that next lesson. Uh, olive oil is also what's considered a monounsaturated fat. And I'd love for you to break down the differences in these three main types of fats. poly which we get a lot of bad news like >> and just to throw it out there we do you know olive oil there is some fraud in the olive oil industry >> huge frauds >> and it's really hard to manage it what we've decided to do is we buy ours direct