wake up shake needs carbs?

O.K. it’s been pretty well demonstrated that protein alone(particularly whey) consumed in a semi-starved state (i.e. morning) is not efficient as it is readily converted to carbs if they’re not present in glyc stores. So, when I roll my sleepy ass out of bed at 3:AM, do I need to throw some gatorade or Malto into the mix, so that the protein is not wasted?

I don’t necessarily see a need for any carbs. If you want, then throw in a 1/4 to 1/2 cup of oats.

But, unlike during the day when you are active, your energy needs are much less during sleep. Therefore, the protein in and of itself should be able to be utilized for protein synthesis needs.

This is pretty much speculation, but I don’t like the idea of consuming carbs during sleep, as to disrupt any hormonal factors (i.e GH release).

I am confused. Having a Whey Protein shake in the morning when you wake up is converted to carbs??? How does this effect a Ketogenic Diet. How can you follow a Ketogenic Diet if you have food converting over to carbs??

Wouldn’t adding some flax or olive oil to the protein help?

Er. Back up a second. I’m confused…

I wake up and in a few minutes of waking get a shake [Grow - Low Carb] into me. I also take my Tribex/M/EFA/Vits then. Now the questions are:

  1. Is this wrong?

  2. Is that what you mean by “wake up” shake?

  3. Can this be counter productive if I’m trying to gain lean muscle mass?

R-S

Timbo wrote: “Unlike during the day when you are active, your energy needs are much less during sleep. Therefore, the protein in and of itself should be able to be utilized for protein synthesis needs.”

I think he’s mostly right, but even if some of the protein you ingest is gluconeogenesized (?), your ingesting it is still an anti-catabolic activity – if you didn’t ingest it your body would pull aminos from your muscle tissue. Just to hedge your bets I think it’s wiser to ingest protein than carbs during the night, but yes, some of that protein will likely get used for energy, and that’s okay.

Universalcq:

There’s a whole thread devoted to that topic, “Protein converting to glucose,” it’s in the Training/Nutrition section.

What I meant to say was to just throw some flax or olive oil in there and it will slow down the digestion of the protein.

universalcg:

Duchaine talks about this in Body Opus- I loaned out my copy, or find the exact context. But no, Whey (because of its rapid digestion and low molecular weight?) is not an immaculate protein source for ketogenic diets, especially in the morning. Mixing the protein with MCTs or another fat should solve that problem though.