Originally Posted by Labarum
The second of these simply quotes an independent academic study which suggests low to moderate energy expenditure of energy can be maintained without carb loading, but "the oxidative contribution of fat for exercise metabolism and in exercise performance have not been systematically studied during moderate- to high-intensity exercise in humans."
No, it *reproduces* an *abstract* of a study published in a journal whose impact factor I don't know.
And it says explicitly that carbo loading is a good way to improve performance: "Moreover, preliminary studies suggest that mean cycling 20 km time-trial performance following prolonged submaximal exercise is enhanced by 80 s after dietary fat adaptation and 3 days of carbohydrate loading."
Problem is, carbo loading (glycogen depletion through days of low carbo diet followed by high carbo and consequent supercompensation and optimal glycogen storage) went out in the seventies because it's horribly stressful to an athlete's body. You can hardly train while you're in a depletion phase convincing your body you're starving to death and then all of a sudden you turn all your metabolic mechanisms upside-down? People sometimes use carbo loading these days for single events, like if you wanted to run ONE Ironman in your life you might do such a procedure just prior to the event, but for an ongoing diet to support continual training and regular competition, sports nutritionists are generally telling us what our common sense is telling us: whole-grain carbo sources are nutrient rich and provide fuel for endurance exercise; veggies are essential in copious amounts; lean protein sources, especially fish and legumes, are superb; vegetable fats and essential fats are important but saturated animal fat is associated with increased health risk and carries the composite of all the contaminants that have been in that food chain until the critter died.
badhabit, I read New Diet Revolution and I know many people who are in Maintenance finding that this is a good way for them to keep their weight down. However, Dr. Atkins himself says that staying in Induction for years is just fine. Add that to the hoards of people doing "low carb" on a whim by choosing "low carb" snacks and lots of animal products, and is it any wonder that the whole shebang has a bad rep? Though I am aware that it is possible to make reasonable dietary choices and stay within the Atkins philosophy, in my personal view it seems very clear for myriad reasons that animal products should be limited in a healthful diet, which means I can't consider a high-fat high-protein diet to be healthful. I wish you a long and happy life, and kudos on kicking the smoking habit, but "steak good hot dog bad" will never be a central premise for my dietary choices!