Working Out and eating low-carb will NOT kill you, but you will get stronger and faster

Posted by Ryan Robitaille in Fitness, Food, Question, UncategorizedJul 20th, 2009 | Comments

The other day I noticed that someone stumbled upon this blog by searching google for “low carb danger working out” (minus the quotes), and that isn’t the first time I’ve heard that particular myth either. I’ve had several conversations with people at the gym that are completely CONVINCED that you need an adequate amount of carbohydrates for your body to perform properly.

First off, this is patently false.

Secondly, an “adequate amount of carbohydrates” is an oxymoron. It doesn’t exist – if it did, it would be ZERO – because that’s how much our bodies actually “need”. I’m going to cite the oft talked about Intuit Eskimos on this one – they eat meat with NO vegetables or carb sources for much of the year (since nothing grows) and they are virtually devoid of the “diseases of western civilization” which we all are sadly all too familiar with.

So not only will you not drop dead (as they’d like you to believe), but it should actually INCREASE your strength as well. The reason is that most people don’t get anywhere NEAR enough protein in their diets – and when that level is finally attained (using the guidelines of a quality low-carb diet) many will see an increase in muscle mass, even if they aren’t working out at all! Hows that for a “fringe benefit”!

I’ve got a much bigger post coming up on this exact topic.

Does anyone else get bombarded with “nutritional advice” like this from so-called trainers and fitness “experts”? Are there any specific fitness nutrition dogmas that need to be addressed?

Related posts:

  1. How to “Fail” your Way to Bigger, Stronger Muscles in a Matter of Weeks
  2. Eating Low-Carb on a Low Budget OR “Cheap Meats”
  3. Wednesday Question: Whats are your preferences on alcoholic beverages when eating low-carb?

  • timrangitsch
    Follow up, I just did a 70mile atb race/ride (www.laramieenduro.org) on Zero Carb. I've been zero carb/all meat for 90 days now (a little test with before blood work and after bloodwork in the mail to me right now). But for the ATB race I took water, salty home made pemmican (dried deer meat, beef tallow from USWellness), hardboiled eggs, and bacon.

    Had a good ride, seemed even keeled, energy/attitude ebbed and flowed as you'd expect on such a ride, but no bonk or cramps. Overall, good, did not die due to no carbs! Had a bit of altitude sickness in the middle 1/3, but snapped out of it. A faster finish at 6'50" than my prior times fully carbed up. Apples to oranges (ugh, carbs) comparison, as the last race I was 220+ lbs and now am 170 (thanks to low carbin')
  • timrangitsch
    I'm on day 81 of a 90 day all meat/zero carb test period (on top of being committed zero grain/zero legume/zero sugar ultra low carb anyway) and I certainly get comments about "necessary carbohydrate" intake from folks. I mostly try to avoid the conversation, as I'm not going to convince anyone otherwise. I've had a handful of interested folks see the changes in me, and come along for the ride as they read the same sources I have. A person has to pursue the knowledge, sadly it is counter to the mainstream.

    A master's Dietician and a Nurse Practitioner (both outdoor athlete types) are following my progress in this, and they are surprised a little by the "lack of damage" this way of eating is causing. Not that they yet have come around to seeing the benefits, but at least they recognize the "lack of damage". I compete in a few mountain bike events each summer, and have had nothing but gains with my ultra low carb eating. It is impossible to "bonk" when you are fueled by fat!

    I really do not miss the grain/legume/sugar/alcohol carb foods. I miss veggies only slightly, and will likely re-introduce limited veggies to my diet if only to keep my wife happy on the home front. I don't think most veggies are all that bad for a guy ;-) but breakfast and lunch are on my own most weekdays, so fatty meat will likely dominate my diet.
  • Ben P
    Tim, what do you fuel your races with then if not glucose? Anything special? I read a comment somewhere about a marathon runner taking olive oil during a race and not doing well with it. I wonder if cream might be better. Do you do any reading on sports nutrition?
  • timrangitsch
    Just pemmican, jerky, hardboiled eggs, dried anchovies, that sorta thing. ATB races up to 5 hours long. Once you shut down carbohydrate intake, your body is free to burn the fats, ketones that are always at hand (even among the leanest athlete, there is some fat to burn!) But getting carbs out of the system allows those other fuels to be utilized.

    And the human body produces 150-200 grams of glycogen every day from protein, so that's a couple hours of carb power like it or not! Even the other competitors burn up that same 150-200g of stored glycogen, but then must ingest the carb drinks and gels as they don't have a metabolism able to make use of the fats/ketones for fuel. Seems like a secret advantage to me.

    http://ezinearticles.com/?How-Fat-Is-Burned:-Turning-Fat-into-Energy,-Carbon-dioxide-and-Water!&id=76031
  • Ben P
    I wasn't questioning low-carb, I've just not read enough to convince me of it's usefulness for endurance sports, but what you say sounds good to me. Do you have a source for your 150-200 grams of glycogen being made from protein? I've never read that before. I have heard a Dr. Scott Connelly, formerly of Met-RX, talk about how the liver produces a steady amount of glucose from protein, regardless of protein or glucose intake. I wonder if they're related.
  • timrangitsch
    Dr Eades covers this (gluconeogenisis) in his blog a few times:

    http://www.proteinpower.com/drmike/ketones-and-ketosis/metabolism-and-ketosis/

    and wade into the comments, too!

    Nora Gedgaudas in "Primal Body, Primal Mind", and Gary Taubes covers gluconeogenisis in "Good Calorie, Bad Calorie". The 150-200 grams is a range dependent on individual needs, naturally.

    I find it to be advantageous to have my metabolism using fat as primary fuel from the beginning and through the duration of any sporting event or day of activity. Re-fueling the body does not become that nauseating bonk and panic stricken need for sugar, causing a short lived spike, followed by a bonk, repeat. Now, I'm not winning or dominating any events, but my ability to stay even-keel through a 5 hour day of riding, and at better levels than before when I was fueled by Conventional Wisdom's high carb intake is wonderous.

    I can't help but imagine what would be possible for the sugar-powered athletes I see winning these events (with amazing speed) if only they saw the "need" for carbohydrate as the fallacy it is!

    My zero carb personal experiment has shown to me that carbs are an inferior fuel choice to base human metabolism on, for sport, or normal daily living. Lots of reading has been supporting this for me. There is simply no daily requirement for carbohydrate intake, and certainly no need to ingest the 40+ grams/hour of sugar sports drink/gel companies suggest! 8 times normal bood sugar levels!
  • Ben P
    Thanks Tim. Both Gedgaudas's and Taubes's books are on my 'to read' list. If that's the amount of glucose your body makes from protein, then carbs really are totally unnecessary, since that's already about the minimum a human body needs on a daily basis. I've read much of Eades's blog, but have never noticed a number of grams of glucose created from protein given. Hmm, maybe your right: http://www.nutritionandmetabolism.com/content/1/1/2


    Have you read Vilhjalmur Stephansson's book yet? It's available here: http://www.zerocarbage.com/library/FOTL.pdf Seems like you'd enjoy it if you haven't read it yet.
  • timrangitsch
    Thanks, Ben for the two links! I've read that eating protein beyond structural needs can drive a little carb over-production in the liver, leading to some insulin production. And a metabolic pathway known as mTOR is amped up with protein abundance:

    http://www.primalbody-primalmind.com/blog/?cat=3

    But however you slice it, there is no need for a human to ever ingest a single gram of carbohydrate. Don't know if that infers that we should never eat a single gram of carb, but that's certainly what I've been fiddling with in my personal zero carb test.

    I'm increasingly sold on high fat, minimal protein, ultra ultra low/zero carb nutrition from natural sources, mainly the animal kingdom, as being the perfect human diet.

  • Great post Tim. People get so worried and confused about low-carb and athletic performance.

    In fact, your post reminds me of a little discussion (maybe "argument" is too strong a word) I had with a lady at the GNC vitamin store yesterday - they are neck deep in "athletic conventional wisdom". Carbs, Fiber, Sugar... you name it and they SWEAR you'll drop dead if you don't eat it and, god forbid, workout or compete in sporting events.

    Not that vitamin and supplement stores are very "primal" anyways, but still... :)
  • So you're going to stay on it? Nice. I'm glad its working out! I come pretty close on zero-carb on most days, although usually not very primal, but it depends on what the fridge is full of, and what I can find at the farmers market (or not).

    Oddly enough in the past month or two - I've actually been hearing a lot about people doing full-on "carnivorous" zero-carb diets lately - sounds good, but if people freak out about "low-carb", I'd imagine they'd have a conniption about an "all meat" diet.

    You know that whole broken "conventional wisdom" thing again. We need to take care of that! :)
  • timrangitsch
    EZ to stay with the Paleo program! I highly recommend all meat, even if just for a week or two as a test.
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