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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 |
Mine was 10. This is really helpful!
Private Member |
montreal, canada
6/20…I have started a diet last June that excludes all dairy, wheat & corn products because I had gut issues. It did help my gut problem at 95% and I lost weight (although I don’t really have weight to loose), mainly because I was quite bloated. I have replaced those carbs with rice and quinoa. But since I’m on this diet, I am almost obsessed with food, mainly in the evening. I crave food that I didn’t even eat before, like sweets, fries and poultry. I just came back from one week vacation in an all inclusive resort, and I’ve been cheating all week with my diet and eating like a pig. So I don’t really know what is wrong with my food, as from a gut perspective it is a lot better now.
Private Member |
I have a very poor carb tolerance. I have been diagnosed with prediabetes after two pregnancies with Gestational Diabetes.
Gladly I have achieved to ban my sugar cravings and going wild on sugar and carbs. For me my way is going sugarfree, glutenfree and low carb. Every once in a while I indulge in my sugarfree desserts and cakes.
In my humble opinion it is important to know which way works best for you!
Private Member |
valras plage, france
7 are yeses. But I am “irritable, restless, tense, or anxious in the early evening before dinner” because of my kids..They are monsters before dinner..oh and I am in Europe dinner is at 8pm
Private Member |
uk
4 yeses for me, so i guess i can carry on eating normally and don’t need to kick anything out of my diet:)
Private Member |
I answered “yes” to 4 of them!
I am 21 years old vegetarian and I am nutritionist in my country, Greece.
I also have a website (with a friend and partner) with our vegetarian and vegan recipes, articles written from us and nowadays we start shooting videos about vegetarian nutrition. i especially love vegetarian nutrition in fitness!
I have adopted your method about carbohydrate intake (about 2 years now) while doing your workouts and I absolutely agree that counting calories is unnecessary like you already said, for many reasons.
I’m glad I found you because you have helped me in personal level and in starting my job too, so I really appreciate your work!
Private Member |
Is it better to eat a meal every 3-4 hours or small snacks throughout the day? If I do my protein shake at 9, should I eat at 12 (chicken/lettuce/ roasted squash recipe), 3pm apple or meal? and 7pm dinner. Is this enough to eat?
I am a first grade school teacher and snacks are always around so I feel I may eat more calories but not sure. Since I am a teacher.. I am also a planner. Having a specific plan is what I need and I usually have the same meals for the week… to make it easy.
Private Member |
Love love love this post!! 13 TIMES!! Shocking and something to think about… Thanks Z!!
Private Member |
Hi Zuzka,
This test confirmed that I have a poor tolerance to carbs. I have a few questions regarding healthy carbs/dairy:
– How do you feel about eating cottage cheese, Greek yogurt, etc. for a snack, not necessarily after a workout?
– If you do you workout in the evening, how do you feel about healthy carbs for breakfast, such as oatmeal, whole grain toast with almond butter?
I would love to hear your feedback, as I’m curious if making a few small changes in my diet would make a difference. Thanks so much!
Private Member |
I would love for people to post their eating schedule and what they eat at the scheduled time. It seems that this gets so “stale” for me. I would love insight into everyone else’s day… and maybe get some new ideas:-)