Carbohydrates: The True Fuel To Perform

Hey guys, we are back with another short guest post from someone who really knows what they are doing in the nutrition world. Mike Kesthely is the owner over at Dynamic Nutrition, you can contact him at Mike@dynamicnutrition.ca or follow him over on facebook. I have been talking to him recently about his philosophies and ideas on what you need to put in your mouth. We discussed grains and carbohydrates, and how you really need them if you are working out at a relatively high intensity. Sure, low carb diets work for fat loss for sedentary people, but there are a lot of you out there that are busting your butts working out and not giving your body the fuel it needs. Lets take a quick look…

All About Carbohydrates

These come in all forms, from natural sources like fruits, to veggies, to tubers like potatoes and turnips, to processed forms like flour, HFCS (high fructose corn syrup), table sugar (sucrose) and pasta. A quick primer on the different forms of carbs looks like this:

• Glucose: The most basic and more easily used sugar. Broken down from starch (potatoes, rice, corn)
• Fructose: Found in fruit. Preferential to the liver, NOT skeletal muscle.
• Lactose: Found in dairy, broken down into glucose and galactose. Can be problematic in some folks.
• HFCS: Acronym for high-fructose corn syrup, which is usually either 55% or 42% fructose.

Working Out Hard? You Need Carbs

One of the biggest misconceptions is that Low Carb = Health = Athletic Performance; while different authorities continue to argue, two main facts exists that are specific to HIIT (high-intensity interval training) athletics:

1) Intense, short duration training in the glycolytic pathway utilizes muscle and hepatic glycogen—this must be present for performance, and replaced for recovery (Translation, you use carbs when you work out really hard. So you need to replace them adequately or you are going to have nothing in the tank the next time round).

2) Chronic low carb intake will negatively affect  hormone creation/cascade, resulting in acute onset of adrenal dysfunction and exacerbate over-reaching/over-training (Translation, if you go low carb for a very long time, you are going to have a lot of health issues that will make you feel really tired, down and low on energy).

Post Workout Fuel

This is highly individual, and dependent on a variable of factors:  Training, age, body fat percentage, training age and carbohydrate tolerance.

Here are some general post workout formulas, based on body fat percentage:

Post Workout Fuel Male:

• Above 12% – 30g prot/10g carb
• 8-12% – 30g prot/25g carb
• Below 8% – 30g prot/40g carb

Post Workout Fuel Female:

•  Above 16% – 20g prot/10g carb
• 12-14% – 20g prot/20g carb
• Below 12% – 20g prot/30g carb

Don’t forget to eat a balanced meal of protein fat and carbs, 45-60 min after consuming your post workout fuel.

The Bottom line:  Athletes NEED carbohydrates for performance, hormone health, and recovery.

This post is full of great information but is pretty high tech for beginners. If you can’t understand something or need some clarification just leave a comment below and Mike or myself will answer as soon as we can.