I was assuming this to be the case. And pro cyclists, teams and their nutritionists and doctors would be on top of this matter if it were a competitive advantage. Although, I think managing carbs and eating good fat such as omega threes is highly desirable. I like the idea of raising my fat burning capability. However, I need a maximal top end performance.

The Inuit have centuries of conditioning to a diet of fats & protein with little , if any, vegetation to provide carbs for their diet.

Soooooooooo.........

Your comparison is apples to oranges. Sorry.

There you go again, guessing why your opinion may be correct but not providing anything substantive. In Good Calories, Bad Calories, Gary Taubes describes a early 20th Century British group who happily and healthily lived for a year among the Inuit and adopted their all meat diet. Upon returning they accepted a Royal Society challenge to their assertions and did the same diet under controlled circumstances back in London. They stayed thin and fit despite weekly blood tests to catch out cheating.

Evolution does not work so quickly that whole populations (Inuit, Masai) shift over to radically different metabolisms in a few hundred or thousand years. To a large extent, what they can do, we can do.

The little I have learned from my friend, and his kid too, is that it's something you need to be on top of every single day. I wish you luck, it's scary to me.

He exercises a lot, he runs, and rides, all the time. He says riding keeps him feeling better longer than running. ???

Sorry if this has already been stated, but I skipped the last couple of pages. I just wanted to offer my two bits after 40 years of riding, racing, randonneuring, etc:

What has worked for this sample of 1 is the standard balanced diet according to what the government nutritionists have pretty much been repeating for years. My official Latin motto has always been, "medio tutissiumus ibis." Always take the middle path. Moderation in all things.

If you do a lot of cycling, what confounds diet is the corresponding efficiency one gains from all that riding. I have noticed that there are quite a few "overweight" riders out there who can still ride very well - hard, fast, and long. The only conclusion that explains this is that their bodies have become so efficient at cycling that they need less food, yet they keep eating the copious quantities their bodies have become used to. This could explain why eating less carbs and more fats appears to work. Your body no longer needs as many carbs; it just stores the extra as fat anyway.

I'm 6'1" and 175 lbs, and I have found that over the past few years, my body has become so efficient at cycling longer distances that I am able to go on long rides, on a standard "4 basic food groups" diet, without bonking, even if I tried. I did a couple of double centuries in California the last two weeks, and I started them without having breakfast. I wasn't even hungry at the first rest stop (but yes, I was pretty hungry at the last one! But nowhere near bonking!

So this is just to say that your body will look after you as long as you don't go to extremes. Yeah, riding a 3-week stage race is probably an extreme, but I don't think pro's adopt fad diets. They just eat very well. The human body is extremely good at adapting, so I think that the less you try to mess with it, the better.

Luis

This has been a very interesting and informative and lively exchange. I believe discussions like this are what a forum like this is designed to host.

I really appreciate everyone's input, even those who have a strongly different opinion.

Will I remain on this program long term? I don't know. Since I am not a diabetic, I don't have to. But since I had high blood pressure ( just barely) and since my dr want's me on a statin, this offered a chance to perhaps get off these meds. If that proves to be the case, I will remain on this as long as I can. If it fails to get me off of meds, esp statins, then I won't bother.

The biggest problem with "getting out of ketosis" is hunger. Ketosis limits insulin production which triggers hunger, and fat is very satisfying, so you never get "really hungry" though the course of a day. And sugar and sweets don't beckon. Don't know if that's mental or a change in taste. But it is freeing, and makes it easier to stick to it.

But my wife and I have both decided that no matter what we will continue to limit our sugar/starch/carb intake.

Well, dang me and hang me! I didn't know this was a damn test!

Some people are sooooooooooooo picky!