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Carbohydrate Tolerance Test
Health | January 31, 2015
Hi guys,
Some of you have been asking after reading the Body Types article, how to assess your carbohydrate tolerance. If you want something more accurate, you can ask your doctor to do a glucose tolerance test, a fasting insulin level, or a hemoglobin A1C test. There’s also a pretty good method you can try at home called TWT which requires you to track your diet for a month and see which carbs your body reacts to negatively. There’s a lot that goes into this assessment method, so I will make sure to cover it soon in another post. For now you can take this simple quiz that will give you at least a basic idea of where you stand in terms of your sensitivity to carbs.
- Do you feel sleepy or foggy 2 hours or less after eating a meal or snack that contains sugars or starches? Especially in the mid-afternoon?
Yes - Do you tend to gain weight around your middle, instead of in your hips and thighs?
Yes - Does your weight fluctuate a lot?
Yes - Do you feel hungry when you shouldn’t need any more food?
Yes - Do you frequently crave sweets, starches, or dairy products?
Yes - Do you wake up in the middle of the night and have a hard time getting back to sleep unless you eat something sweet or starchy?
Yes - Do you get irritable, restless, tense, or anxious in the early evening before dinner?
Yes - Do you have a hard time controlling how much sugar or starch you eat?
Yes - Do you have symptoms of “hypoglycemia” if you don’t eat every 2-3 hours? Typical hypoglycemic symptoms include feeling shaky, panicky, irritable, anxious, or lightheaded when you’re hungry.
Yes - Are you an “emotional eater?”
Yes - Do you gain weight easily? Did you gain weight easily even as a child?
Yes - Do any of the following diseases run in your immediate family?
- Obesity?
Yes - High cholesterol?
Yes - Type 2 Diabetes?
Yes - Polycystic Ovarian Syndrome?
Yes
- Obesity?
- Do you often binge on sweets, starches, or dairy products?
Yes - Are you obsessed with food?
Yes - Do you prefer sweets and starches over all other types of food?
Yes - Do sweets and starches make you feel temporarily less depressed or less anxious? Oh yeah 🙂 I can name a few that can do that for me.
Yes - Do you feel you need to carry food with you wherever you go, because you’re afraid you’ll get hungry?
Yes - Are you very hungry first thing in the morning?
Yes - Do you tend to get panicky or hungry while exercising? That’s a funny question. I can only imagine how I stop in the middle of the workout, run into the kitchen and then continue leading you through it with breadcrumbs on my face.
Yes - Women only: Do you feel much more emotional in the days prior to your period? In another words are you a raging b*tch during your PMS, like me?
Yes
The more YES answers you have the more likely you’re sensitive to carbs, and should really consider cutting down on carbs. My controlled carb diet is quite simple, and all I do is separate my meals in to two categories FM and WEM which I have further explained in one of my recent articles.
You answered YES 1 – 5 times = Good carbohydrate tolerance
You answered YES 6 – 12 times = Moderate carbohydrate tolerance
You answered YES 13 times and more = Poor carbohydrate tolerance
You can find in my Body Types post how to adjust your diet according to your carb tolerance so make sure to check it out. Let me know how many times you have answered YES in the comments and what do you struggle with the most.
Private Member |
I got 12, I tend to crave the sweets/carbs during stressful time and before my period for sure. I am actually borderline hypoglycaemic and always have to carry an apple, almonds or a quest protein bar in my purse because I get the shakes and panicky after going 3 hours or so without food,,, it’s scary for me because I already suffer with panic and anxiety and then it makes me feel like I’m having a panic attack,,, I experienced this most recently while in Mexico on a family vacation. The combination of the heat and not eating for three hours I felt like I was going to die, my husband had to go to the hotel restaurant buffet and ask them for some fruit and a banana,,, once I ate it, I started to feel a bit better,,, less anxious.
I am extremely committed to my workouts in zgym but find that my eating is off a bit which is making it a bit hard to get more defined and a bit leaner, Which is my goal,,,, I also find after a clean good dinner, I get hungry while we are watching tv or a movie and walk in the kitchen to open and close the refrigerator door 10 times,,, lol
Zuzka, did you ever experience similar ‘shaky feelings ‘ with food and those after dinner,, “I want to eat something feeling”?
Private Member |
I have a 13. I’m not too upset about this because it confirms what I suspected. Thank you for these articles, now I know exactly what I have to do and I can be confident that it will work.
Private Member |
balestrand, norway
I have 10 yes. I’m going to try Z’s way of eating to see what happens. I’ve tried different things before, like higher fat, lower carb but I think I went to low in carbs and too high in fat because I was not acting like myself and have digestive issues. So I’ll try the “controlled carbs” and see how that works.
Private Member |
Hah.. not surpising.. 19/20. So, Zuzka (or anyone else who might know the answer), what constitutes a workout earned meal vs. a free meal? Is it the amount of carbohydrates, type of carbohydrates, protein? Also, the carbs and sugars in yogurt and milk, do those fall into the WEM or FM category?
It’s ironic that this topic has been posted because I have been trying to learn more about lower carbohydrate diets over the past week. I need a serious plan and a grocery list in order for this to work for me, but I really think it would.
Private Member |
I answered YES 9 times so i’m moderate. Being an Intermittent Faster (i fast 20 hours and eat for 4 in the week) i just don’t feel hungry in the morning anymore or at night but i do sure crave sweets (candy) after i’ve broke my fast with protein….i need to learn how to control those sweet cravings. Intermittent Fasting works for me and i’ve been following this approach for 7 months now but i’m definitely going to look at your approach to eating during my eating window, Zuzka. A great article!
Private Member |
Oh… I have been really interested to see if we can combine these two approaches but wasn’t’ sure if I should pick one or another. Please keep us informed of how it goes:-)
Private Member |
Exactly! I am in the same boat. My fasting regime is 20 hours starting Mon at 2 pm and again Thurs at 2 pm. If I go low carb (and reduced calorie), how should I determine what to eat just before the fast — in order to best sustain my fast?
Private Member |
Hi Paulette,
It’s great to see another Intermittent Faster! Do you do alternate day fasting? I’m in no way qualified to answer your question nor do i have enough knowledge as I’ve only been intermittent fasting for 7 months – do you use a macro calculator? I usually start my fasted training with a glass of BCAA’s and nothing to eat until 4pm when i break my fast with protein. I don’t do low carb as such as i like my bread and potatoes too much ha ha! I got all my information from Dr Sara Solomon’s website and also the Lean Gains site. I’m sorry I’m not much help – i hope Zuzka can help you.
Have a great day/night – its 11pm here in the UK
Private Member |
Funny, I was actually eating carb free paleo (only proteins, healthy fats and veggies) for six months last year and if I would’ve done this test then, I would have answered yes 20/20. Now I am back to eating carbs and I got 0/20, so this test confirmed that this type of diet works best for me! I have also gotten leaner in just one month than during all those six months 🙂 My body type is ectomorph, so that explains a lot. Thanks for this test Zuzka!
Private Member |
naples, fl, usa
13. Omg. When I get home I am going to definitely stick with we or fm Hopefully it will do the trick!!
Private Member |
I answered 7, but am more Endomorph in my body type. I have noticed, however, when I get cravings for sweets, I take it as a cue that my body needs more protein & other nutrients. So I do my best to do that instead. Still…curbing that sweet tooth seems almost impossible. But I know it can be done!!
Any reformed endomorphs have any other tips?
Private Member |
So I have a question about the FM and WEM. I eat a mostly vegetarian diet which consists of a lot of fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans and lentils. Since Those all have a lot of carbs in them am I just screwed on the weight loss? I do eat meat once or twice a week but the bulk of my foods come from meals zuzka would consider WEM. Thanks so much!
Private Member |
12… but only because I’m addicted to sugar. I need and look for sugar on every emotion including being bored. I will continue to eat the sugar foods even though I feel full and almost sick. That is sick:-( Working on replacing some things in my diet.