Full disclosure, I’m not a fan of carbs. That’s why I opt for a majority Paleo diet and a low-carb diet on high training days. But I’m going to be diving into some common misconceptions people have about carbs.
Especially this nonsense that all carbs are evil and are inherently bad.
Carbohydrates are NOT sugars. Well, not all of it. Let me explain. Take spinach for an example. It’s leafy. It’s got a lot of fiber. And it’s mostly water soluble. But it’s still considered a carbohydrate. See, carbs are broken up into 4 groups that are complex sugar, simple sugar, added sugar, sugar alcohols. We can take it a step further and give some examples for each. Complex sugars are things like oats, fruits, rice and potatoes. But did you know that these all also contain simple sugars? Now added sugars & sugar alcohols are the real enemy. Things like high fructose corn syrup or simply corn syrup or even beer. You know the good stuff!
2. So how does carbs work on humans? The human brain itself uses 40% of the glucose that’s generated in the body. Glycogen is also super important, mainly for your muscles and that is glucose stored in your body. And here’s the tricky part. You can use carbohydrates to the best of your advantage by understanding 3 important things:
Glycemic index (a ranking system from 1-10 that ranks foods based on their ability to spike your blood sugar levels)
Gastric emptying time (How long it takes you to ‘empty’ yourself after a meal)
Sensitivity & timing (how sensitive are you to carbohydrates)
3. If you are sensitive to carbs, especially with diseases like Celiac disease, where wheat & other carbohydrates becomes practically poisonous, I highly recommend taking carbs that are not as highly processed. Foods like oats, jasmine rice & sweet potatoes do amazing things for your performance and best part is they help to reduce bloating. With your sensitivity to carbs, it’s important to record key measurements. Record bloating, energy level, and force output. This will help you to find that ideal carb that works best for you.
Do this for at least 48 hours as that will give you a good estimate of what kind of carb will give you that edge in your performance. Not only that, but if you implement this strategy, you can get the best pump in the gym, promote proper digestion without bloating and it will also give you the best force output
4. Gastric emptying is another important factor that plays a huge role in the effectiveness of carbs in your workout performance. It's directly affected by the food you eat. Take protein for example. Since it takes more energy to metabolize, but therein lies the difference because protein can come in two types. Whey & Casein. Whey being the one that is more fast digesting and casein being the type that is slow-digesting. The same rings true for carbohydrates as well. Foods that are higher in rank on the glycemic index tend to pass the colon quicker. Why is this important? Because you wouldn’t want to eat a slower-digesting carb 30 min before a workout. That won't give you that quick boost of energy that you're looking for. If you are though, some carbohydrates that work remarkably well are bananas and jasmine rice, believe it or not
5. Carb timing is especially important, especially for rising-star athletes like yourself. If you tend to workout longer, fast-digesting carbs are great as a pre-workout and a combination of fast & slow-digesting carbs work like a charm post-workout. It’s important to note that the faster digesting carbohydrate usually help muscle glycogen recover faster. Here's the thing though. Carb timing works different for each person & is largely based on the amount of fatty adipose tissue one has in their body. For an example, for someone who may be an overweight diabetic, faster-digesting carbs may not be the ideal source of energy because it's not primed to break down fats by hydrolysis to make other fatty acids. Instead it will use slower-digesting incoming carbs.
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