Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates.  An athlete’s best friend?

As discussed in an earlier post, carbohydrates are the single most important nutrient in an athlete’s diet.  Research also shows that carbohydrates are the most commonly deficient nutrient in the majority of athletes’ diets.  Carbohydrates give us both immediate energy and energy we can use later after we convert glucose from carbohydrates in glycogen that is subsequently stored in our muscles and liver.  When we need energy during exercise the first fuel we use is carbohydrate based (well this is not entirely true, the first few seconds of exercise actually uses creatine phosphate but this runs out very quickly and I am sure you get my point).  As an ergogenic aid carbohydrates consumed before or during exercise are the most successful in terms of performance enhancement when compared to other supplements and nutrients.

Our carbohydrate stores, however, only get us as far as about 60 minutes of exercise.  We can then top up and “pay-as-you-go” but nonetheless our bodies eventually switch to fat utilisation and protein breakdown.  Ensuring our stores are at their maximal before exercise is the point of a high carbohydrate diet and the well talked about carbo-loading regimens some athletes choose.  A high carbohydrate diet will provide sufficient glycogen in our muscles to push the 60 minutes a little further toward the 90 mark before we again increase the rate of burning other fuels.

Regularly active individuals may need somewhere in the region of 3-5g carbohydrate per kilogram body weight per day.  More strenuous exercise will up this to 6-8g/kg/day and endurance and ultra endurance may need 10-12g/kg/day.  This is a lot of carbohydrate but includes snacks and drinks taken pre/during/post exercise. Bear in mind these recommendations are tweaked according to the periodisation of your training (future post).

Your general meals and snacks consumed should provide a variety of carbohydrate foods and ideally be high in fibre.  Cereals, grain products, fruits, vegetables and legumes should be the basis of the carbohydrate portion of the diet.  Foods eaten around or during exercise should be quicker releasing carbohydrates and sugars, something like the high GI foods.  The glycaemic index is a post I will come to in time as I believe it to be a load of.... Anyway, sweetened foods or foods with sugars (sweets, chocolates, carbohydrate drinks) and processed grains (white bread, muffins, cereal bars) can be consumed around the exercise times mentioned earlier.  Certain fruits (bananas, grapes, peaches, dried fruit) provide sugar quickly too that may assist recovery or provide immediate energy during exercise.  Remember to add a little protein to post exercise snacks to get the most out of recovery, a good goal is a 50-60g carbohydrate portion with 20g protein.  A carb-protein recovery drink, a couple bananas and a yoghurt or 500ml of sweetened chocolate milk sound pretty good.

Eating regularly, 5-8 times a day, will help you get to the higher intake levels if this is needed.  More than that it will also assist in body composition management, control of insulin and blood glucose and increase the thermic effect of food.  This is the energy we spend digesting and using our food which helps with that energy balance and body composition thing. Regular eating will also ensure we are topped up before we train to get the most out of any session.

Below – a table of carbohydrate rich foods and how much we actually get from each.

Food item	Portion	Grams of carbohydrate
Bread	1 slice	15-20
Muesli	60g	40
Oats	60g	45
Weetbix	2 biscuits	30
Pasta	100g	35-70
Potato	Large (200g)	70
Sweet potato	Large (200g)	60
Beans/lentils	2 Tablespoons	15
Banana	1 medium	20
Grapes	Handful	12
Pear/orange/apple	1 medium	10
Dried fruit	Small handful (60g)	40
Yoghurt	175ml tub	30
Sweetened milk drinks	330ml	30
Energy/cereal bars	1 bar	20
Energade/Powerade	500ml	40

Over the next few days I will add posts on the glycaemic index vibe as well as the hot topic of very low carbohydrate diets.