GatsbyGlen

I'll never be professional cyclist. I went with low carb for other health reasons, not so I could be a faster cyclist. If someone told that going high carb would make me a better cyclist, I wouldn't do it. There are just too many health benefits (*for me*) to be low carb. My goal is no more than 50g in a given day, and no more than 15g at any given meal. I'm 42 - I wish I would have done this at 22!

zenzo

Joining late to the thread and did not read it all so maybe someone has already mentioned the paleo diet. For the last few months I'm on the plaeo diet for athletes (Cordain, Friel) and find it very good and efficient both for weight loss and general well being. The good thing is that you get carbs when you need them (during and after exercise) while the rest is real paleo. The book also explains in much detail which nutrients and in which amounts a human needs.

In general I find this diet very good: it is both flexible so you can customize it to your specific needs and you really feel the health benefits.

elcruxio

You should try living without. Does wonders and you can eat as much as you like and still lose weight!

Now that I consider, there was a time I tried low carb for a year. My cholesterol levels were skyrocketing at the end of it, my liver numbers were really worrying, as were my kidney numbers etc etc. I was 23 at the time. Essentially everything was going bye bye in my body. Glad I got off that diet, could have killed me... Phew!

I did learn afterwards however, that the body can handle as many carbs you throw at it with absolutely no ill effects as long as those carbs are used for fuel purposes. If you're riding 8 hours in a day you can also easily eat 400g of carbs per day without it having any ill effects. Try doing that while lying on the couch all day and you're gonna have a bad time at some point.

wolfchild

If you're having problems at such a young age then it's not the diet , it must be something else, go see a doctor...A lot of older people have adopted LCHF diet and are doing just fine.
Joe Friel has gone LCHF after he was 60 in order to loose weight and keep his racing weight, he is still alive and doing well.

Sixty Fiver

Type 1 diabetes ?

Carbonfiberboy 

Absolutely. I lost weight on a recent long ride while consuming 750g of sugars. Wasn't dehydation, either.

Gary Taubes got an editorial in today's NYT:
https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/30/op...es-hunger.html
saying basically don't diet! You'll go nuts and chop off body parts with an axe! Whatever you do, don't restrict calories! This flies in the face of the many, many successful dieters here at BF who have lost huge amounts of weight with only good effects, simply through calorie restriction. YT has lost ~20 pounds over the past few years using calorie restriction: smaller portions, with no change in my macros and all my body parts still intact. This is just more misinformation from a national stage. Bizarre.

elcruxio

Bingo. Body was receiving zero carbs at the end stage.

Anyways there seems to also be people who are not diabetic and go all out of whack from low carb diets with higher insulin resistance and worsened blood values such as cholesterol and BP as well as higher fasting BG.
This can actually be seen pretty well from actual diabetics who try the low carb way. For some it works, for some it doesn't. Those who are incompatible report much higher basal insulin rates and worse overall control than they had with higher carb diets.

Also an interesting fact about dietary cholesterol or saturated fat. Apparently people think there's a consensus there, but there really isn't. It would seem that in Finland and in Scandinavian countries as well eggs and butter consumption have a pretty direct correlation with higher blood cholesterol. There was an actual stude where they has test subjects and all. Kinda tells you about the power of genetics and how that should affect dietary considerations.

wolfchild

It's not butter or eggs that are causing problems it's too much sugar.

Sixty Fiver

Generally...

One should not crash and burn on a reduced carb diet if the macros are properly balanced, a lot of people confuse low carb with higher protein intake and protein is a poor source of food energy and excess amounts of protein cause many health issues.

One can function with a zero intake of carbs, the small amount of glycogen one needs can be metabolized via glyconeogenesis and the citric acid cycle (my wife's aunt shared the Nobel prize for her work in this area).

This is still not a good diet as many foods that contain carbs also contain a lot of essential vitamins and minerals... but one should skip the soda and pastries and other foods that are devoid of any significant nutrition.

Fats are an excellent fuel source as long as you are not mixing them with excess carbs and protein which can both elevate blood glucose and trigger an insulin reponse (and then you cannot burn fats), sugar consumption raises triglycerides and throws off the HDL / LDL balance while the consumption of fats (as fuel) does not raise triglycerides and keeps cholesterol in balance which is more important than actual values.

We need cholesterol and most folks do not understand that there are more than two types and how they behave in our body, a higher LDL tells nothing unless you know the LDL ratio between the types... Lp(a) (small particle lipoprotein) is most likely to cause vascular issues while Lp(b) is benign and HDL2 is most beneficial.

My overall cholesterol went up a little when I reduced my carb intake but is still within the excellent range with excellent ratios, my triglycerides dropped from what was already a good number.

My HDL increased along with the LDL and the low triglycerides speaks to a low Lp(a) and a lot more Lp(b) on the other side of the equation.

Speaking to type 2 diabetes... insulin resistance does not happen overnight and the majority of people who deal with this by improving their diet and lowering their carb intake generally do very well although for some, the carbs have to be strictly limited so that their bodies can reset.

I don't have to be that strict... the humus and pita at last night's (vegan) block party was irresistibly good but this was a treat and not something I do on a regular basis.

KonaRider125

I've lost about 30 pounds in the last year, riding more and eating smaller portions when I'm not riding.

It's simple, if your sitting around, restrict your calorie intake. If your exercising, eat. Put more time on the bike, go a little harder, and make smart healthy food choices.

RIP Chainrings

Without question always, carbs before and during rides. Post rides a little carbs and the remainder as ketogenic meals before bed will increase growth hormone output. In essence, carbs before on and after bike are excellent, carbs before bed not as good (Insulin inhibits Growth Hormone secretion during sleep)

zenzo

I disagree a bit with this. Most carbs should be taken during (depending on how much one can digest) and directly after rides in order to replenish glycogen stores fast.

RIP Chainrings

Yes I get what your saying, i wrote before on and after just said not to over do it on the after part near bedtime or won't get as much GH

Carbonfiberboy 

Well, there's two ways to do it depending on objectives. If you carb during the ride and then only have protein at the end, your body will still be hollering for calories and will start ferrying fatty acids out of your adipose cells. IOW you'll probably feel hungry and will lose fat as long as you don't eat carbs right away. OK if you're only riding moderate or not at all the next day. But if you'll train hard again the next day, then absolutely follow the standard advice and carb up after the ride. Agree about no carbs just protein at bedtime. Been doing that for years. Assuming that you'll finish your ride in time to eat dinner well before bedtime. Otherwise you gotta do what you gotta do.

Drew Eckhardt 

I suspect it's mostly endogenous from being fat and unfit. Being leaner and fitter is more likely in places with high population density, more walking, and less driving; and such places are more common in Europe.

As of Fall 2013 I started riding again, ate less carbs, and consumed more fat of all sorts. In 2015 I went from base miles to loose weight to a polarized plan with more volume.

[TABLE]
[TR]
[TD][/TD]
[TD]2012/12/18[/TD]
[TD]2014/05/19[/TD]
[TD]2015/09/04[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]weekly hours[/TD]
[TD]1-2[/TD]
[TD]6-7[/TD]
[TD]10-11[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]weight[/TD]
[TD]190[/TD]
[TD]186[/TD]
[TD]136[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]BP[/TD]
[TD]136/90[/TD]
[TD]153/84[/TD]
[TD]111/61[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]pulse[/TD]
[TD]77[/TD]
[TD]74[/TD]
[TD]48[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]total[/TD]
[TD]244[/TD]
[TD]185[/TD]
[TD]181[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]LDL[/TD]
[TD]166[/TD]
[TD]131[/TD]
[TD]112[/TD]
[/TR]
[TR]
[TD]HDL[/TD]
[TD]61[/TD]
[TD]55[/TD]
[TD]74[/TD]
[/TR]
[/TABLE]

elcruxio

What? I do not see your point. Are Scandinavians fit or not? As a hint, Scandinavians are likely fitter than Europeans in general.

Can't remember the study perfectly but one test method was direct measurements before and after high cholesterol food consumption. It was pretty well shown that at leat for some people eating high amounts of saturated fat raises cholesterol numbers. Might not be the case with other populations.

GatsbyGlen

Has anyone seen Cerealkillers and/or Run on Fat?

CEREAL KILLERS MOVIE