solotripper wrote on Jan 6^th, 2014 at 3:52pm:

... brain is a muscle and needs protein, that's why if you have that "brain fog" first thing in morning ...

Sorry, ST, the brain is not a muscle. Muscles can use carbs or fat as fuel, but the brain is a specialized organ that *only* burns glucose.

That being said, I eat mostly the same way you do: a cup of custom-made granola in the morning (high carb; no time for coffee), constant snacking on GORP and dried fruit during the day (more carbs), then protein and carbs (need to recharge those muscle and liver glycogen stores) for dinner. For a full paddling/portaging day, I usually plan on about 2900 calories, typically 70% carbs, 20% protein, 10% fat. For an easy day, I cut back on the mid-day fruit and dinner carbs.

I don't try to fine-tune simple vs complex carbs. The carbs in Granola and GORP (for me) are about 50% sugars, 50% other, dried fruit is about 75% sugar, and lentils, rice, and pasta at dinner are almost all "non-sugar" carbs. (yeah, I know that's not the same as how fast the stuff gets converted to blood glucose, but I don't have handy data on that).

If you want to perform - mentally and physically - you gotta eat those carbs!