Don't be a carbophobe; low carb lifestyles can be self-sabotage for athletes

Carbs!

Unless you’ve been on an extended vacation from reality or been living on Mars for the past several years, you’ve no doubt heard of the low-carb phenomenon. You’ve seen countless food brands alter their marketing, low carb diet gurus emerge from beneath the bridges from whence they came, and Atkins branding become a sensation on restaurant chain menus nationwide.

It seemed like everyone and their dog (seriously, even dogs were not left victimless) hopped onto the low carb bandwagon. From Atkins to Oprah, it wasn’t hard to find this fad – it was always in the spotlight.

Such was the rise of the low carb diet fad.

Knowing that most serious athletes are quintessential Type-A thrill seekers and tend to devour new performance products and technologies, it isn't difficult to see why the low carb diet became popular amongst some professional athletes, and then trickle down to recreational athletes.

It makes sense though, right? The thinking goes like this: all carbs aren’t all created equal, so if we cut out the “bad” carbs thereby forcing our body to burn fat (of the adipose variety) for energy instead, we can therefore get rid of those pesky love handles! And what athlete doesn’t want to be leaner for their sport?

Seems simple enough. Unfortunately, much of the claims parroted by the low carb gurus just simply aren’t based on fact. Coaches and sports nutritionists alike have been shaking their heads since the rise of this carbophobia, and now breathe a collective sigh of relief as it falls from grace.

So whats wrong with the low-carb scheme?

Well, actually I don’t have anything wrong with the strategically siphoning monosaccharides to achieve certain nutritional goals, as long as it doesn’t interfere with somebody’s nutritional needs. It’s a powerful tool that can be successfully employed to help people shed weight, too. (Notice I say weight, not fat. There is a big difference between the two, but the bathroom scale doesn’t discriminate.)  I've even done it myself to temporarily toggle my body composition. But I’m never tipping the scale more than 10-15 pounds in any direction.

Gluconeogenesis

But, to put it bluntly, if you’re an athlete, engaging in the low carb mania is self sabotage.

Here’s why.

As an athlete, you have an increased need for food (fuel) to power your workouts and competitions. No surprise there; everybody has felt that massive craving for food (fuel) right after a tough workout, and noticed that their appetite skyrockets during bouts of intense training.

Nutritionally, your body has three main sources of calories: fat, carbohydrates, and protein. Fat provides the most calories per gram, but consuming large amounts has obvious drawbacks. Protein is great stuff, too, but needs to be converted once in the body into energy, which isn’t as efficient as eating carbohydrates in the first place, and becomes very costly on renal systems.

For energy, carbs are king; there is a reason why the food pyramid is based on a foundation of carbohydrates.

Finally, carbohydrates come in two basic varieties – simple and complex - not good and bad, as the low-carb gurus would have you think. Carbohydrates aren’t like some fats. Neither are intrinsically bad. The only bad carbs are the carbs you eat in excess of your caloric needs.

Demonizing simple carbs (sugars or monosaccharides) makes no sense to an athlete who relies on these to fuel their training.  As muscle activity increases, it requires more fuel supply for ATP synthesis by the muscle. Muscle activity anticipation increases the secretion of adrenaline, which in turn increases muscle glycogen degradation.  After exercise, adrenaline secretion ceases. Only when glucose is present post-session will muscle glycogen stores be replenished, and that glucose can only come from stored muscle glycogen or from the liver.  Muscles themselves are incapable of carrying out gluconeogenesis.

Glucose fuels your muscles.

Brown wins Germany.

Here is the real kicker – the most efficient source of glycogen is from simple carbohydrates. They break down faster than complex carbs and get shuttled to the muscles that need them quickly after strain, which is when receptors are most apt to accept them.

If you neglect to consume enough simple carbs, which is exactly what low carb diets hinge on, you never give your body even a fighting chance to replenish muscle glycogen. The consequence? You burn off most of your fuel and run on empty for as long as you keep yourself in a glucose deficit. Failure to replenish muscle glycogen adequately with carbohydrates will eventually lead to chronic glycogen depletion. Symptoms include chronic fatigue, increased risk of injury, mood swings, and upset nutritional homeostasis.

Consistent consumption of carbs post-training facilitates muscles glycogen replenishment and results in effective recovery between training and competitions.

And that, friends, is why you’ve never heard of a successful in-season professional athlete sustain a seriously low carb lifestyle.

Keep your carbohydrate intake at %55 - %65 of your total daily calories to set yourself up for success.