Originally Posted by Al.canoe
I don't know how one can operate with out Glycogen replenisment. Ask an athlete who tried the Atkins diet. The biggest con in medicine for decades. I personally have no interest in reading a fringe theory since I feel so much better when I eat to relenish Glycogen after riding then when I don't. I tend to go with consensus opinions on the science.
Suggest you educate yourself on the principles of nutrition for both health and athletics. A very good place to start is Chris Carmichael's Food for Fitness. Carmichael is Lance Armstrong's personal trainer. He and Armstrong controlled the diet of USPOSTAL/Discovery during training and races. The book is coauthored with a nutritionist. The emphasis is general good health and how to eat to perform/recover well. It's consistent with the updated ('05) USDA nutrition guidelines which is a free 40 page download.
Basically, you should eat "quality carbs" vice empty carbs when you eat to recover. Quality means you go for the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants. If you have a Triglyceride problem, minimize the simple carbs and go for the complex ones and recover a little slower.
Al
Basically, what the posts are saying, is that you need to train to operate in your fat metabolism instead of carb loading, and in some respects, re the bodies physiology, he is absolutely right. The body can operate very nicely operating on lipids. Matter of fact, there is 5X the available energy from lipid metabolism than there is from the Kreb Cycle and Glycolisis. The only drawback is that when you burn through the Glycogen completely, you bonk. The BONK isn't as much a physical thing as it is a neuro thing. The brain can ONLY operate on glucose to power the cellular metabolism of it's cells. The Bonk occurs when you begin to lose cognitive function from insufficient glucose for full brain operation. Basically, you deplete the glycogen, which stores in the muscles and the liver, there are no reserves for the liver to convert to glucose for brain operation and you bonk. We all maintain about a 24 hr reserve of glycogen in the body, under normal activity. Cycling is not under the normal category though if you are racing, or doing sustained rides. You can operate on a caloric deficit that is quite large, but you do need to replenish glucose/glycogen for the most efficient mental operation. This is primarily done in form of carbs, either simple or complex.
A balance does need to be maintained as well as far as Carbohydrates and protein and Vitamins and minerals and electrolytes, all of them.