Does less carbohydrates make you irritable and depressed? Here’s how to solve the problem of rising blood sugar and gaining weight

Author: Fan Zhihong and Hu Jiahui (students)

In recent years, many people have become extremely afraid of foods rich in carbohydrates, and some people even often only eat vegetables without rice during meals.

A woman told me that she had not eaten carbohydrates for dinner for a long time, and had given up all kinds of snacks containing carbohydrates. She even stopped eating fruit at night.

I asked: What are you having for dinner?

She said: I eat a lot of vegetables, and then add fish or meat.

I asked: Do you feel you have lost weight after eating like this? Actually, you are not fat to begin with, so why do you need to be so strict with yourself?

She said: Because I am no longer young, I am particularly afraid of getting fat. After not eating staple food at night, I lost a few pounds in the first two months, but then I couldn't lose weight anymore . If I eat a little more, I will easily gain fat, which makes me very anxious.

I asked again: Do you feel better? Do you sleep well? Do you have more energy? Do you feel happier?

She said: "Now that you asked me this question, I realized that my health seems to have deteriorated . I am prone to insomnia at night, lack of energy during the day, and my work efficiency has declined. My husband said that my temper has deteriorated, like a menopausal woman. I also feel that I am particularly irritable and always unhappy. I rarely felt these irritable feelings before."

She seemed to have an epiphany: Could it be that this is because I don’t eat staple food at night…

I said: It is very likely.

This year, a study published in Nature Human Behaviour analyzed data from more than 400,000 Chinese respondents and found that consuming more carbohydrates in the diet can reduce the risk of depression[1]. In other words, if people eat too little carbohydrates, they are more likely to suffer from emotional problems such as depression.

A woman said: No wonder! Every time I eat more carbohydrates, I feel very happy. But afterwards I blame myself for not gaining weight.

I said: If there are too few carbohydrates in dinner, the quality of sleep at night is also likely to be affected. After eating carbohydrate foods, blood sugar rises and insulin increases, making it easier for the serotonin precursor, that is, tryptophan, to enter the brain[2], making people calm and not overexcited and suffering from insomnia. There is also a linkage between the insulin and melatonin secretion rhythms. Too little sleep can easily lead to disordered insulin secretion and insulin resistance; and too little insulin secretion can easily cause insomnia...

A woman said: It seems that I can’t sleep well now because I don’t eat enough carbohydrates at night? I remember one day when I came back from a business trip, I ate a box lunch on the train at night. There were not many dishes in the box lunch, just a lot of white rice. I had no choice but to rely on rice to fill my stomach. Miraculously, I slept very well that night! Could it be because of the rice...

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I said: That's right. In addition, for girls who are not fat, eat a small amount of food every day, and have little muscle mass, not eating staple foods may also bring other risks.

First, the brain does not work well because when blood sugar drops below the normal range, the ability to think also decreases.

Second, the bowel movement is not smooth. Insufficient food causes the intestines to be deflated, the intestinal microorganisms lack food, and the intestines have no strength to move.

Third, hands and feet are more likely to get cold. The food supply is not much, and after deducting a part of the energy supply, the body is in a state of insufficient energy every day, and the body automatically enters energy-saving mode, lowering the body temperature and slowing down the blood circulation, so hands and feet are prone to cold.

Fourth, lack of energy during exercise. Exercising on an empty stomach, or eating only a vegetable salad, will not give you the same physical strength as exercising 1-2 hours after a meal.

She said: You are right, I am more tired and sleepy than before, and my hands and feet are cold. However, I haven't eaten staple food for a long time, and now I gain weight when I eat staple food at night. How can I solve this problem?

I said: Think about it, those people around you who are not fat, don’t they all eat very little carbohydrates?

She said: It seems not. Several of my thin colleagues and relatives eat quite a bit of staple food and have a normal meal at night. Are they born with special talents?

I said: Yes. It can be seen that there is no absolute correlation between eating staple food and gaining weight. Everything has a limit. As long as it is not excessive, staple food and slimness can coexist peacefully.

She asked: But staple foods will increase blood sugar? If blood sugar is increased, insulin will be high? If insulin is high, will I get fat?

I said: staple food will definitely raise blood sugar. But if blood sugar does not rise all day long, is it healthier? As long as the increase is within the normal range, plus moderate exercise, you will not gain obvious weight.

Although insulin inhibits the decomposition of fat, it also promotes muscle synthesis. With enough staple food + protein, plus moderate exercise, the body can maintain muscle vitality, and the muscles can accommodate more blood sugar. This is a virtuous metabolic cycle.

Look at those porters, rickshaw drivers and other manual laborers, as well as those long-distance athletes, they eat a surprisingly large amount of staple food, one meal can be equivalent to the daily intake of an average girl. But they don't have any extra fat on their bodies.

Therefore, eating staple foods normally can keep you slim. The key lies in the following three points.

1. Improve the quality of staple food and increase the amount of slowly digestible carbohydrates.

Under the premise that digestion capacity permits, moderately increase the amount of whole grains and beans such as oats, millet, brown rice, and kidney beans, and you can slowly increase the amount to one-third to one-half. People who used to eat less staple food will easily experience a surge in blood sugar in a short period of time once the amount is suddenly increased. Using some slowly digestible ingredients can alleviate this "carbohydrate intolerance reaction" and control the fluctuation of blood sugar after meals. On the other hand, increasing whole grains can also increase the intake of vitamins, minerals, polyphenols and dietary fiber , which in itself is beneficial to improving physical condition, and can also help increase satiety and prevent obesity.

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2. Adjust your eating habits and control your postprandial blood sugar response.

If you really can't eat whole grains and beans, and can only eat white rice and white steamed bread, you can also consider changing the order of eating[3]. Eat some vegetables and meat first, and then eat the staple food after a while, and eat the staple food with the remaining meat and vegetables. You can also consider the pre-meal loading method, eat half an apple or pear first[4], or drink a glass of milk first, and then start eating half an hour later[5]. In this way, the post-meal blood sugar response can be greatly reduced, and it is less likely to experience dizziness and drowsiness after a meal.

3. Move promptly after meals and get at least 30 minutes of moderate-intensity exercise every day.

Many studies have confirmed that post-meal activities can effectively reduce blood sugar peaks and fluctuations[6]. The so-called post-meal activities do not mean running and jumping, but do not sit down or lie down immediately. You can wash dishes, sweep the floor, tidy up the house, take a walk, buy groceries, throw away garbage, etc. Intensive activities should be carried out at least one hour after a meal.

An aunt said that since she accepted my suggestion to exercise for half an hour after meals every day, she would go out for a walk after breakfast, lunch and dinner.

After breakfast, I go to a supermarket far away to buy groceries. After lunch, I do chores like picking up newspapers, dry-cleaned clothes, and nucleic acid tests. After dinner, I walk the dog. Each round trip is an average of 3 kilometers and takes 40 minutes. I do this three times a day, a total of 8 or 9 kilometers. Since then, my blood sugar after meals has been easily controlled within the normal range, my waist has become thinner, and my figure has improved.

In addition, there are three common questions about eating staple foods, which are all answered here .

1 How much staple food should I eat? I have no idea now.

According to the minimum amount specified in the Dietary Reference Intake Standard, you should eat at least 120 grams of carbohydrates per day, which is equivalent to 160 grams of dry food. If you are a bedridden person, or just want to diet and lose weight without exercising, it is okay to eat this amount.

But for most adults, the work and study burden is relatively heavy, and there are some physical activities, so 200~300 grams of grains (raw weight) per day is the appropriate amount for women. This amount is equivalent to 70~100 grams of staple food ingredients (raw weight) per meal, which can be converted into 2~3 full bowls of cooked rice (cooked weight 450~700 grams) per day. If you exercise a lot or are in puberty, you need to eat more.

According to evidence from multiple epidemiological studies, it is best for about 50% of daily energy to come from staple foods [7] . According to the 1,800 kcal energy standard for women with light physical activity per day, 900 kcal should come from carbohydrates, which is 225 grams of carbohydrates, equivalent to more than 500 grams of cooked rice (of course, whole grain rice is best).

2 Is it okay to eat carbohydrates in the morning and at noon and not eat them at night?

This is not recommended. Recent epidemiological studies have found that eating more fat and protein at night is not conducive to the prevention of chronic diseases, while eating carbohydrate foods does not have this harm [8]. At the same time, as mentioned earlier, eating a moderate amount of staple food at night is conducive to good sleep quality. Therefore, you can reduce some staple food at lunch to avoid excessive sleepiness, and eat a normal staple food at dinner to prevent insomnia.

3 I am no longer young, do I still need to eat so many staple foods?

Studies have found that the benefits of eating carbohydrates increase with age. A major interdisciplinary study found that increasing the proportion of carbohydrates in the diet after the age of 50 is more beneficial for health and longevity[9]. It is beneficial to increase protein intake appropriately when you are a minor or young person, but too little carbohydrate intake is not conducive to health and longevity for middle-aged and elderly people.

After reading this, do you feel more relieved when eating carbohydrate staple food at night? However, you can't eat sweets and snacks willfully, and the total calories of dinner should not be too high. Compared with a lot of steamed buns, flower rolls, sesame cakes and fried rice, eating a bowl of grain rice and drinking some thicker eight-treasure porridge may be a better choice for dinner staple food.

References:

1 Yao S, Zhang M, Dong SS, et al. Bidirectional two-sample Mendelian randomization analysis identifies causal associations between relative carbohydrate intake and depression. Nature, Human Behavior. 2022; Jul 18. doi: 10.1038/s41562-022-01412-9.

2 Wurtman RJ, Wurtman JJ, Regan MM, et al. Effects of normal meals rich in carbohydrates or proteins on plasma tryptophan and tyrosine ratios. American Journal Clinical Nutrition. 2003, 77, 128-132.

3 Kubola S, Lisuka K, Y Liu, et al. A review of recent findings on meal sequence: an attractive dietary approach to prevention and management of type 2 diabetes. Nutrients. 2020; 12:2502

4 Lu X, Lu J, Fan Z, et al. Both Isocarbohydrate and Hypercarbohydrate Fruit Preloads Curbed Postprandial Glycemic Excursion in Healthy Subjects. Nutrients. 2021, 13: 2470.

5 Sun L, Tan KW, Han CM, et al. Impact of preloading either dairy or soy milk on postprandial glycemia, insulinemia and gastric emptying in healthy adults. European Journal of Nutrition. 2015;

6 Bellini A, Nicolò A, Bazzucchi I et al. The Effects of Postprandial Walking on the Glucose Response after Meals with Different Characteristics. Nutrients. 2022; 14. 1080

7 Zhou C, Zhang Z, Liu M, et al. Dietary carbohydrate intake and new-onset diabetes: A nationwide cohort study in China. Metabolism Clinical and Experimental. 2021; 123: 154865

8 Ren X, Yan

9 Senior AM, Nakagawa S, Raubenheimer D, et al. Global association between macronutrient supply and age-specific mortality. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science, 2020, 117(48):30824-30835s

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