By Team ICG® Master Trainer Joan Kent
Because of the bad press carbs have received for a number of years — and the new gluten-free trend is only its most recent manifestation — many of your students may be avoiding carbs.
People who avoid “carbs” tend to define them as starches (bread, pasta, crackers, cereals, potatoes) and sugars (cakes, cookies, candy and syrups). I include agave in that last group, but few people want to acknowledge it as the sugar it is.
As indoor cycling instructors probably know, there are plenty of other carbs out there, such as vegetables, lentils, beans, sweet potatoes and more. Many of them are good for us, particularly as fuel for training.
It”™s a bad idea for your students to avoid carbs, especially if they”™re working out on a regular basis. Here are a few reasons for that, some of which you may already know.
Avoiding carbs doesn”™t fit well with athletic training, especially tough training. In extreme cases, a low-carb diet could cause a full-fledged bonk. But even without that, low-carb eating can make it difficult, if not impossible, for the student to reach higher workloads in high-intensity classes.
A very low-carb diet can lead to cardiac arrhythmia, particularly in people who train hard. If you run hard workouts in your classes, you might need to remind your students to eat some starches both prior to, and following, a class. Fueling and refueling appropriately are important factors in fitness and health. In turn, the right carbs become an important factor in both.
Eating too few starches can increase appetite. This has to do with serotonin production, which involves carbs. Serotonin gives us a feeling of satiety, that we”™ve had enough food and don”™t need to seek more. Satiety caused by serotonin can be general, and its lack may lead to increased appetite. Satiety caused by serotonin can also be carb-specific, so a high-carb lunch might lead to a lower-carb dinner.
Someone who avoids starches as a general dietary strategy may not feel the satiety that starches (and serotonin) would produce. They may crave lots more food in general, and/or carbs in particular.
If your students avoid starches, the cravings could lead them to sugars. Because that general feeling of satiety might not be there, when they finally eat sugar, they”™re likely to eat a lot of it. Sugar is dietary trouble, and health issues may ensue. (Don”™t get me started.)
Eating too few starches can also lead to cravings for alcohol. See the preceding paragraphs for the mechanism of action; it”™s the same for sugar and alcohol. I”™ve seen this in many food logs submitted by clients — low starch intake, combined with substantial alcohol consumption. Alcohol can cause a host of heath, sleep and mood issues, as covered in previous post.
Less known is that the long-term effects of a low-carb diet can include an up-regulation of insulin receptors. Up-regulation is sometimes misunderstood. It takes place when the level of insulin is low, such as when the diet contains few insulin-triggering foods. In its ever-vigilant effort to maintain homeostasis, the body responds to the shortage of insulin-triggering foods by increasing both the number of insulin receptors and the sensitivity of the existing ones.
The result is that the body is ready to receive ANY insulin that”™s triggered and respond vigorously to it. In someone who”™s susceptible, that may translate to serious weight regain if and when the student returns to “normal” eating, even if only for a temporary period of time.
If your students need, or want, to avoid gluten, they can still consume healthful starches. Gluten-free starches include vegetables, lentils, various beans, sweet potatoes, yams, turnips and other root vegetables, squash, quinoa, and brown rice. These foods can help your students avoid the various health issues described above and keep them training well and often.
Contact her at drjoan@foodaddictionsolutions.com
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Hi joan,
read your article when first posted and coming back to ask further questions. I want to get the real “scoop” and information not only for myself but to pass on to my participants. Occasionally i’ll make an bring in a healthy treat after a particularly hard ride to my class and want to make sure i’m using the most healthy of ingredients possible.
I am a label reader and very conscious about the choices of what goes in my body but there is a lot of mixed information out there. one day it’s good the next it’s bad.
can you elaborate more on Agave and the body? Is it a better substitute than other sugars?
What about stevia? and another one i just read about Erythritol?
Thanks for your time and effort
Hi, Renee.
Thanks for reading my post and for your questions. I need to keep this brief for time but was afraid to wait, lest the delay become longer and longer.
Agave is a plant-derived sweetener. The sugar in it is fructose, as it is in many other “natural” sweeteners. Fructose can cause a number of problems, including gastric issues, high triglycerides (an independent risk factor for heart disease), cavities, weight gain and many more. It’s not a good post-training food because it goes to the liver, rather than to the muscles, which need glycogen replacement immediately following a workout. I wrote a post on the best refueling combination some time ago, if you’re interested in reading it. I believe the title was “Refueling: A Small Window Makes a Big Difference.”
Erythritol is a sugar alcohol. Sugar alcohols have fewer calories than sugar, although not necessarily a lot fewer. Some have 3 calories, versus 4 in sugar; not a big difference. However, they aren’t fully absorbed by the body, which may cause GI disturbances. Food should be absorbed. Another point about sweeteners in general is that they affect brain chemistry much the way sugar does, which in turn affects insulin and more.
Stevia itself doesn’t seem to be quite a bad as other sweeteners, but as soon as the FDA approved it, various companies began making products that contained both stevia and additional sweeteners. If you decide to use it, make sure it’s 100% stevia without anything else. Be aware, though, that the sweet taste can trigger the same neurochemical responses as other types of sweetener.
I hope that helps; I’m afraid it’s all time permits for now.
Thanks,
Joan
thanks for the time and information. will read your other suggested post.