How much veg
bonoeuf
Posts: 58 Member
I eat tons of veg with my meals. I will have two chicken breasts stir fried in canola with a huge bag of mixed stir fry veg and more often than not a bag of diced squash fried up with it. I eat this style of food most days, sometimes with pork or beef. If I have fish I will have a huge pile of broccoli. Breakfast is fat and protein with a few mushrooms and more often than not a protein drink for lunch. Every now and again I find I crave carbs. Today was one of those and I caved. I ate the biggest bowl of granola with milk and then instantly felt so tired and slept for two hours feeling awful when I woke. I finally felt ok and ran for an hour to burn some of the carbs off. I eat very little carb normally, but I cycle between 50 and a 100 miles twice a week and do eat energy bars to keep me going. Do we have any long distance cyclists or runners that can complete their sport without carbs. If so, how?
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You might find this post from Dr. Peter Attia interesting and relevant -- http://eatingacademy.com/sports-and-nutrition/ketones-carbohydrates-can-co-exist
More generally, carb cravings are often hunger in general. If you're tracking, you might want to do so for a week or two (including your bike rides) and see if you're getting enough food for the amount of output you're doing.
It might also be worth trying some coconut oil or MCT oil when you feel the carb cravings. MCTs are a quick fuel like glucose and ought to satisfy the "need energy now!" signals.1 -
Check out "The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Performance" by Jeff Volek and Stephen Phinney. It's aimed at performance atheletes and covers a lot of the details and science behind it. It's also a good follow-up to their "The Art And Science Of Low Carbohydrate Living".
Both are available on Amazon.3 -
Thanks guys0
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How long have you been eating low carb?0
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@JessicaMcB had a post a few pages (5 or 6) that was a zombie thread. She does Keto and is a runner.1
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Echoing @Sabine_Stroehm here but are you fat adapted yet? When you say you're eating "energy bars" are we talking Clif or equivalent? Where are your carbs post-massive vegetable consumption?
To answer your question though I've competed in full marathons with zero in race Fuel. I am not a proponent of strategic carb use, I tried it a handful of times to see if it would help my time and it actually did the opposite and my pace was erratic for weeks.2 -
I have been low carb for around a year. Energy bars are from My Protein lots of fruit and grains. Not sure what you mean by "where are your carbs post veg" I only eat veg with my usual meals along with fat and protein. I will eat a high carb breakfast if riding 100 miles and then have a sugar fest all day during the ride. If short i.e. 50 I have energy gels with me but don't always use them. I can't think of a high fat style no carb snack I could eat during the ride. My breakfast is nearly always bacon, eggs with a few mushrooms fried in canola.0
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I have been low carb for around a year. Energy bars are from My Protein lots of fruit and grains. Not sure what you mean by "where are your carbs post veg" I only eat veg with my usual meals along with fat and protein. I will eat a high carb breakfast if riding 100 miles and then have a sugar fest all day during the ride. If short i.e. 50 I have energy gels with me but don't always use them. I can't think of a high fat style no carb snack I could eat during the ride. My breakfast is nearly always bacon, eggs with a few mushrooms fried in canola.
You have been "low carb" (that can mean a lot of things so I can't be sure what you mean without more info) but are you tracking your carbs to aim for ketosis? Because that's where the proverbial money is endurance athletics wise- fat adaptation resulting from training consistently in glycogen depletion.
I feel like you probably aren't achieving a meaningful length of ketosis if your diet is including grains, "high carb breakfasts" and you are still glyco fueling your rides with GU or similar. Not judging how you choose to low carb at all, there is no one right way for dietary purposes, but in distance cycling and running you can't be half in imho.
I have played with my carb threshold to be technically low carb (under 150g of carbs per day) but out of ketosis and it was honestly terrible. None of the endurance benefits of keto, none of the speed benefits of glyco fueling- like one incredibly long bonk. 10/10 would not recommend.4 -
I have been low carb for around a year. Energy bars are from My Protein lots of fruit and grains. Not sure what you mean by "where are your carbs post veg" I only eat veg with my usual meals along with fat and protein. I will eat a high carb breakfast if riding 100 miles and then have a sugar fest all day during the ride. If short i.e. 50 I have energy gels with me but don't always use them. I can't think of a high fat style no carb snack I could eat during the ride. My breakfast is nearly always bacon, eggs with a few mushrooms fried in canola.
Mascarpone cheese seemed to be a go to for the ultra cyclist I mentioned above. Not sure how he managed it in regards to packaging and eating it along the route.
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I aim for 100g to 150g per day. As my distance has increased and the time I was indeed struggling to function. Two hours was ok, three getting tired any more and I needed something to keep me going. The only thing I knew was to turn to carbs which as you have said made me feel bad but got me through the ride. I get the all in or all out reasoning and I am happy to be all in but need to know how. I will have to research the snack with fat and no or very low carb. I will have to experiment with what works and what doesn't. I hate eating energy bars and sports drink as the make me feel sick. On my last 100 mile ride I was so fed up of the sugar by the end. Any tips for the on the go food will be helpful. Not sure how soft cheese would work out in the middle of summer, could be fun.0
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What about nuts? Sodium and fat in a delicious bundle.0
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I aim for 100g to 150g per day. As my distance has increased and the time I was indeed struggling to function. Two hours was ok, three getting tired any more and I needed something to keep me going. The only thing I knew was to turn to carbs which as you have said made me feel bad but got me through the ride. I get the all in or all out reasoning and I am happy to be all in but need to know how. I will have to research the snack with fat and no or very low carb. I will have to experiment with what works and what doesn't. I hate eating energy bars and sports drink as the make me feel sick. On my last 100 mile ride I was so fed up of the sugar by the end. Any tips for the on the go food will be helpful. Not sure how soft cheese would work out in the middle of summer, could be fun.
Personally I would give keto (under 20 net carbs) a shot for 8 weeks with no glyco fueling so you can fat adapt adequately and judge your performance from there. You will obviously have performance losses in the interim but you should find post-FA your performance will be up by a mile and your need to fuel in ride will be little to none.
If you aren't happy to try that then I would accept you may have to move more towards carb cycling, especially towards competition, and basically living as a glyco athlete in competition and a low carber in the off season.
Random aside but re: ricotta and other soft cheese delivery there are a few companies online that sell bite-off packets similar to GU design that you can fill yourself. I'd start there if that's something you want to try
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Thanks for the advice. No harm in giving the eight weeks a try. I only ride for pleasure as my racing days are long gone. So nothing to stop me trying. Thanks again.0
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I aim for 100g to 150g per day. As my distance has increased and the time I was indeed struggling to function. Two hours was ok, three getting tired any more and I needed something to keep me going. The only thing I knew was to turn to carbs which as you have said made me feel bad but got me through the ride. I get the all in or all out reasoning and I am happy to be all in but need to know how. I will have to research the snack with fat and no or very low carb. I will have to experiment with what works and what doesn't. I hate eating energy bars and sports drink as the make me feel sick. On my last 100 mile ride I was so fed up of the sugar by the end. Any tips for the on the go food will be helpful. Not sure how soft cheese would work out in the middle of summer, could be fun.
Nuts, seeds, pemmican, nut butter packs (they make single serve packs of various types), coconut manna/butter, MCT oil, cheese (depending on heat, of course; hard cheese would work better, probably).0
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